Free Republic

The California Supreme Court says it plans to issue its long-awaited decision on whether to legalize same-sex marriage on Thursday. The high court announced the pending opinion on its Web site Wednesday morning. Justices heard oral arguments in a series of cases brought by gay and lesbian couples, the city of San Francisco and two gay rights advocacy groups in early March. The court has been asked to decide whether the state's one man-one woman marriage laws violate the civil rights of same-sex couples. If it rules in favor of the plaintiffs, California could become the second state after Massachusetts...

The State of New York has been ordered to recognize homosexual "marriages" performed in U.S. states and foreign countries where the practice is legal. New York's highest court – the Court of Appeals – refused to review a lower-court ruling that ordered recognition of so-called foreign "same-sex marriages" performed outside the State of New York. Such unions must now be honored in New York if they were created legally -- for example, in Massachusetts or Canada. Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality says activist judges are now forcing homosexual marriage on New York citizens. "[T]his is a very...

Manila, May 6, 2008 / 04:03 am (CNA).- Archbishop of Manila Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales has forbidden cross-dressing homosexuals from dressing up as female saints in religious processions, calling the actions an “insult to the Blessed Mother.” Every May, Catholics throughout the Philippines hold a “Santacruzan” flower festival in honor of the Virgin Mary.Speaking to the church-run Radio Veritas on Monday, Cardinal Rosales said the cross-dressing was “horrendous” and “defeats the real purpose” of the procession.  He said that the Catholic faithful should keep religious festivals sacred and solemn at all times."Gays should not be allowed to participate in Santacruzan since...

PHOENIX — A state legislator started a petition drive Friday to forbid all employers from discriminating against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender individuals. Existing law prohibits discrimination based on a number of factors, including sex. The initiative by Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Phoenix, would define that term to also include gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation. Sinema needs 153,365 signatures by July 3 to put the issue on the November ballot. The legislator, who describes herself as bisexual, said she intends to start gathering signatures immediately

Thousands of Oregonians a year change their names. But the case of a Bend resident who says he is legally male and five months pregnant has highlighted the much smaller numbers who legally change their sex. That option exists in Oregon, as in most states, for transsexuals who switch genders. "Oregon's law is very typical," said Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights in San Francisco. The crux of the decades-old law is one sentence. The same court with jurisdiction over legal name changes "may order a legal change of sex and enter a judgment indicating...

Just one year ago, Megan Wallent's co-workers at Microsoft knew her as Michael. Then, in an e-mail sent to his entire staff, he announced that he no longer considered himself a male. The long-time executive, in charge of the Internet Explorer division for Microsoft, underwent major feminization surgery and legally changed his gender. Wallent's wife, like his co-workers, had no idea that this guy's guy was conflicted about his gender identity. ABC's Neal Karlinksy has the story from Seattle. Read more here and view a slideshow of the transition from Michael to Megan.

You could call Chrissy Nakonsky a candidate of change. Until about five years ago, Nakonsky, who recently announced she's running for the Minnesota Legislature and will seek the Republican endorsement in her Brainerd-area district, was known as Jeff Nakonsky. Nakonsky said the 2006 reelection of the state's only openly gay Republican legislator, Sen. Paul Koering of nearby Fort Ripley, gives her hope that Brainerd-area voters won't deny her a legislative seat because of her gender change. "If people vote for or against me, it should be because of my values," Nakonsky said. While there are about 400 openly gay or...

"What will prevent the 250-pound linebacker from deciding he wants to share the locker room with the cheerleaders?" Deconstructionist professors have been trying for years to convince us that gender is a social construct. Now, it seems, politicians and even employers are doing their best to put this theory into practice--2007 may go down in history as the year of the transgendered person. Take the announcement in October that, under a state law that takes effect in January, schools in California not only can't discriminate by sex but also can't take into account "a person's gender identity and gender related...

Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air have announced a new program that will charge heterosexuals 10 percent extra for their air travel to specific locations during the Christmas season. The company actually offers the 10 percent as a discount but only if the purchaser obtains the ticket through a "gay" page of the company's website, a location not typically patronized by families seeking travel arrangements, according to an Idaho activist who was distressed by the offering. Bryan Fischer, of the Idaho Values Alliance, told WND the company boasts of its "nondiscrimination" policies, but, "here they are blatantly discriminating against heterosexuals...

Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) has used $23,000 in campaign funds to pay the top Washington ethics lawyer, Stan Brand, who is fighting his case before the Senate ethics committee, according to Craig’s latest filing with the Federal Election Commission. No additional legal expenses appear in the report, but they eventually will. Craig, according to his office, has decided to use his campaign committee for attorney fees related to his criminal defense in Minnesota as well. “A better read (of the latest report) is that Stan Brand bills more quickly,” Craig’s spokesman, Dan Whiting, wrote in an email. The report covers...

In a first, Interpol appealed Monday for public help to identify a suspected pedophile shown in photos posted on the Internet sexually abusing young boys in Vietnam and Cambodia.

NEW ORLEANS—The members of Integrity have prayed unceasingly for their bishops as they met this week to consider a response to the primates' communiqué. The bishops were pressured by the Archbishop of Canterbury and other international guests to comply with the primate's demands. The bishops struggled mightily amongst themselves to achieve a clear consensus on how to respond. Integrity is gratified that the final response from the House of Bishop declined to succumb to the pressure to go backwards, but rather took some significant steps forward. We are encouraged by their strong language against the incursions of uninvited bishops into...

Maryland's highest court Tuesday upheld a state law defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman, ending a lawsuit filed by same-sex couples who claimed they were being denied equal protection under the law. A divided Court of Appeals ruled that Maryland's 1973 ban on gay marriage does not discriminate on the basis of gender and does not deny any fundamental rights, and that the state has a legitimate interest in promoting opposite-sex marriage. The decision essentially sent the gay-marriage issue back to the legislature, where lawmakers on both sides of the debate predicted a flurry of...

Brasilia, Sep 3, 2007 / 09:25 am (CNA).- Brazilian Association of Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, and Transgender People (ABGLT) is attempting to silence its opponents, especially Christians, with a flurry of lawsuits designed to take advantage of the pro-homosexual atmosphere in the country. According to a report by Matthew Cullinan Hoffman of Lifesite.net, the organization has filed lawsuits against various websites for exposing the fact that the leader of Brazil's homosexual movement, Luiz Mott, is a promoter of pedophilia and pederasty“The sites, Media Without a Mask, the Christian Apologetics Research Center, and Jesussite, are accused of ‘charlatanism, infamy, defamation, and calumny’,...

Transgendered person charged with practicing medicine without license 05:39 PM EDT on Friday, August 17, 2007 Reported by: Lindsey Roberts Suffolk Police have arrested a man and charged him with practicing medicine without a license. According to police, Francis Renee White, 36, of South Main Street, injected silicone into other transgendered people. Police say the shots, used to plump up lips, cheeks and breasts, were administered inside White's home. The injections were with the consent of the transgender customers, but the practice is illegal and very dangerous. "They did them in different places, but generally the face the buttocks or...

<p>From NBC's Chris Donovan Melissa Etheridge, scheduled to be a panelist at tomorrow's Democratic presidential forum on GLBT issues, is no stranger to the political world.</p>

The marriages of more than 170 gay couples from New York who wed in Massachusetts before last July are valid because New York had not yet explicitly banned same-sex marriages, a Massachusetts judge ruled. Couples are barred from marrying in Massachusetts if their marriages would be prohibited in their home states. The New York Court of Appeals ruled against same-sex marriages on July 6, 2006. The Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders had asked for clarification of the status of New York couples who married in Massachusetts before that ruling. Massachusetts became the first state in the country to allow...

May 7, 2007 -- GOV. Spitzer's plan to legalize gay marriage is dividing Democrats, harming Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential ambitions, and handing Republicans their first strong campaign issue in some time, officials told The Post. "This could turn out to be the Democrats' Achilles' heel," crowed Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco, a Schenectady Republican who has seen a sharp drop in the Legislature's GOP membership in recent years. -- SNIP -- His action forced the Assembly's majority Democrats, who have avoided taking sides on the polarizing issue for years, to confront what is expected to be a bitter internal debate...

WASHINGTON, D.C., May 2, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A proposed "hate crimes" law that would impose special federal penalties against crimes related to sexual orientation is being denounced as a serious risk to freedom of religion in the US, as Congress prepares to vote on the measure. Passed by the House Judiciary Committee last week, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act would give special considerations to "hate crimes" committed against those engaging in homosexual activity and people who consider themselves transgendered or bisexual. Dr. James Dobson,  founder of Focus on the Family Action, told CitizenLink the bill's backers are...

Why is the forum endorsing a specific point of view for a Republican candidate for President by placing a link to anti-Guiliani articles on the header?Giuliani Truth File - In his own words and deeds. There are folks on the forum with both points of view and one should not be supported over the other.

An Illinois high school student is in federal court seeking the right to wear T-shirts that declare sentiments such as "Be happy, not gay." Heidi Zamecnik, of the Chicago suburb Naperville, wants to wear the shirt at school the day after the "Day of Silence," a nationwide observance April 19 to protest harassment of homosexuals in schools, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Zamecnik is asking the court to order her school, Neuqua Valley High, and Indian Prairie District 204 to allow her to express her family's "conviction that true happiness cannot be found through homosexual behavior." (Story continues below) The "Day...

The Forgotten Voice in the Adoption Debate BY GAIL BESSE May 7-13, 2006 Issue. National Catholic Register Dawn Stefanowicz and children like her are the most important voices in the debate over same-sex adoption.  And yet the voices of adult children raised by homosexuals are rarely heard.  Stefanowicz recently testified about her life with her biological father before a Massachusetts legislative committee in support of a marriage protection amendment. The amendment, which lawmakers will address May 10, would allow voters to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Stefanowicz, with her husband and children, spoke with...

FRESNO, CA--An Episcopal diocese in California overwhelmingly passed a series of resolutions yesterday that position it to secede from the Episcopal Church and affiliate with conservatives in the global Anglican Communion. If the Diocese of San Joaquin affirms the move in a second vote next year, the small diocese, with 48 parishes and 7,000 members, would be the first to try to break from the Episcopal Church, which has been torn by conflict since the consecration of a gay bishop in 2003. Until now, only individual parishes have severed ties. The vote by the diocese is one more step in...

The following is merely an excerpt from Nightmare at Franklin, by Tom Mountain, published Nov , 2006, by Newton Tab; we encourage you to continue reading the full story… Emer O’Shea knew something was wrong the minute she picked up her daughter from Franklin Elementary School. The third-grader was normally very perky upon seeing her mother and new baby sister, but this time she glanced at her mother without indicating what was wrong, except to say that the school’s social worker had visited the class. But Emer soon heard from another parent about what had happened in her daughter’s class...

I cannot believe no has a photo of the witch next to the NAMBLA president in the San Fransico parade.

MINNEAPOLIS, October 5 (UPI) — A group of Catholics in Minneapolis will celebrate "National Coming Out Day" next Tuesday at the Basilica of St. Mary. Fr. Michael O'Connell will preside over the event, sponsored by St. Joan of Arc Church, as a service is held in the basilica's St. Joseph Chapel. "Along with the planned retreat activities, there will be time for reflection, journaling, massage, friendship and recreation," organizers of the Dignity Twin Cities event said Thursday in a news release. "We encourage participants to stay overnight on Saturday for the full, rich experience of the retreat, but commuters are...

Do you think the Democrats are really incensed about Rep. Mark Foley's instant messages to congressional pages? Do you think the party of Barney Frank and Gerry Studds and Bill Clinton has finally had enough with powerful old men who use their positions to gain sexual favors from much younger and inexperienced pages and interns? Do you think the Democrats, the party of alternative lifestyles and same-sex marriages and group rights based on sexual preferences, is really morally outraged about what Foley did? Frankly, if I hear one more Democrat call for House Speaker Dennis Hastert's head, I think I'm...

A Lesson In Bias Joseph Farah It's unusual for me to devote an entire column to an otherwise obscure assistant professor with a less-than distinguished writing career – let alone a second column. But Mel Seesholtz of Penn State University, the subject of my musings Wednesday, has responded in a letter to the editor suggesting I ignored the substance of his argument in favor of "bias free" education and dwelled only on his thinly veiled call for my death, along with James Dobson's. Somehow, it had never occurred to me that I should concern myself with the substance of an...

THIS fall, stacked amid the hefty new college admissions books like "The Best 361 Colleges" and "Financial Aid for the Utterly Confused" is a guide about an entirely different sort of college acceptance. The Advocate College Guide for LGBT Students (Alyson Books) profiles 100 of the country's "best campuses for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students, and it arrives at a time when gay students are more vocal and visible. It's looking more like half or most gay and lesbian Americans are coming out before they get to college, said Bruce Steele, the guide's editor in chief. Unlike in the...

Glasgow, Sep. 05, 2006 (CNA) - The Archbishop of Glasgow condemned, this week, the decision to discipline nine firefighters for refusing to hand out safety leaflets at a gay pride march in June, reported The Universe. Archbishop Mario Conti described the disciplinary action against the Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Service staff as "dismaying." Some of the firefighters had argued that it would be embarrassing for them to turn up in uniform to the event, while others claimed it would contradict their moral beliefs. The nine firefighters have been ordered to go for intensive diversity training. One of the officers was...

The city of Paris renamed the plaza outside of Notre Dame Cathedral after Pope John Paul II and the AZT-for-Lunch Bunch is livid. Among the groups whose members turned up on Sunday to protest the French capital's official honoring of the late pope: Act Up - Paris, the Pink Panthers, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and the Secularism-Ecology Association. Some handed out flyers denouncing the proceedings. Sharply criticizing the mayor, some called out: "Delanoë is honoring an assassin!" A statement issued by the gay-and-lesbian activist group the Pink Panthers linked the "words and actions" of John-Paul II with "a far-right...

Elementary-age students have marched in a homosexual pride event under the banner of a San Diego public school, amidst triple-X rated behavior by "gay" activists, according to a Christian blogger who reports daily to 7,000 people. James Hartline, who issues "Action Alerts" in response to situations in the city, said he was shocked by the "immoral" actions. "In one of the most appalling displays of gross disregard for the safety of young children, the San Diego City School system allowed a number of small children to march inside of the San Diego Gay Pride parade under the banner of one...

Equality California's Political Action Committee, a sponsored committee of EQCA, announced Monday its endorsement of State Treasurer Phil Angelides for governor. "Electing Phil Angelides is Equality California PAC's top priority," said Geoffrey Kors, EQCA executive director. "California deserves a governor who will not play politics with our lives and is committed to equality under the law for all Californians. Phil Angelides will be that kind of governor." In addition to its list of currently endorsed candidates, Equality California PAC announced additional endorsements for the November general election. A complete list of EQCA PAC endorsed candidates can be found at eqca.org/pac/2006.

OLYMPIA — Medicaid officials plan to rewrite regulations to make it clear the state will no longer cover sex-change operations. But before the new regulations are in place, the state will likely have to pay for more surgeries. In a pair of rulings issued last month, a state appeals board ordered Medicaid to pay for two people to travel out of state to undergo sex-change operations. The state estimates the procedures, also known as sex-reassignment surgery, will cost $50,000 to $60,000 each... But Porter said the state plans to continue covering other services — such as hormone treatment and psychotherapy...

Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar on Tuesday sent a letter to The Holy See. What's in the letter? Neither a request for world peace nor a common prayer for merging Judaism and Christianity into one faith. In the letter, the rabbi asks Pope Benedict 16 to assist in efforts "to thwart the event of the world gay parade which will take place next month in Jerusalem."

A ripple of laughter went through Israeli Parliment meeting when Arab MK Ibrahim Sarsur said, “I have never had to participate in such a discussion, because in Muslim society we don’t have this problem.” Knesset Internal Affairs Committee meeting was as stormy as the one Tuesday morning, which discussed the upcoming World Pride Parade to be held in Jerusalem this summer.

The following GLBT related legislation is currently in process in the California Legislature.  While some of these bills sound generic in nature, all are being supported by major GLBT activist organizations in California as advancing homosexual rights.  AB 606 - Safe Place to Learn Act Assemblymember Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys)Would require school districts to establish and publicize an antidiscrimination and antiharassment policy that prohibits discrimination and harassment as specified under current law, including, but not limited to, actual or perceived gender identity and sexual orientation and provides penalties for school districts found to be in violation of that law, including...

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is reaching out to the state's gay community, nine months after vetoing a bill to allow same-sex marriage in the state. Schwarzenegger got a resounding reception at a fundraising dinner for the Log Cabin Republicans, an activist organization for gay conservatives. The group supports same-sex marriage and opposed Schwarzenegger's veto of the bill last year. There was no direct mention of the issue at the fundraiser although Schwarzenegger did tell the audience that no one should be judged by their sexual orientation. "I can't promise you that we will always be [of] the same mind," Schwarzenegger...

LOS ANGELES Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, on a mission to remind voters that he is not beholden to the party of President Bush, told a group of gay Republicans on Thursday that no one should be judged by their sexual orientation. "In politics, I believe we need to address problems rather than attacking people," the governor said at a fundraising dinner for the Log Cabin Republicans, a group that has supported him since the 2003 recall election. "Whether you're gay or straight, everyone needs someone to love." The governor's decision to appear at the fundraiser, although it drew television cameras, did...

HOLLYWOOD (CNS) - Undaunted by charges that he's turning the GOP in California into "a gay marriage party," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to speak tonight at a fund-raiser for a group of gay and lesbian Republicans. Schwarzenegger is expected to attend the Log Cabin Republicans event to raise money for the organization's West Coast chapters. "When he took the oath of office he said he'd be governor for all the people and that's what he's doing," said event organizer Ted Jackson. "He's coming to talk to us in an effort to reach out and be inclusive. He's got a strong...

If you're looking for a gay candidate to vote for in this fall's California legislative races, there are several out there. But they're more likely to be Republicans than Democrats. GOP voters nominated five openly gay candidates in Assembly races. But all five will face general elections in urban districts with heavy Democratic registration advantages. This group includes William Chan in Sacramento (AD 9), Ralph Denney in northern San Diego (AD 76), Brenda Carol Green in South Central Los Angeles (AD 48), Mark Patrosso in San Jose (AD 23), and Steven Mark Sion in West Hollywood (AD 42). Only Denney...

The Employment and Social Affairs ministry has provided a subsidy of €17,000 for a conference organised by homosexual associations that will take place in Valencia on the eve of the first visit by Pope Benedict to Spain next month. The conference, which coincides with the 5th World Family Forum at which the pope will officiate, includes a 'gay pride' demonstration outside Valencia cathedral, that has been described as "an offensive provocation" by the Archbishop of Valencia. The conference is being organised jointly by the National Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Transsexuals and Bisexuals (Felgt) and the Union of Family Associations (UNAF). Apart...

Surprise! Massachusetts is not the most liberal state in the US, according to a survey done by...by... Actually the Boston Herald story never does tell us who did the survey. But the story does drop an important hint, after quoting one state legislator who wonders aloud how a state that recognizes same-sex marriage can fail to be America's most liberal. Therein lies the point of the study, said Jason Cianciotto of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, one of three liberal advocacy groups that compiled the rankings. [Emphasis Added] “It shows there needs to be an intersection among human...

A coalition of radical homosexual groups put heavy pressure on the Bush administration to change its vote to allow accreditation of homosexual groups seeking UN recognition, the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute (C-Fam) notes in its latest "Friday Fax.". Although they were unsuccessful in gaining accreditation for the groups, the gay-rights groups are claiming credit on their web sites for getting the US to change what was a No vote to a Yes. Claiming credit for the change in US policy are Human Rights Watch, Human Rights Campaign, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and the International Gay and...

Know anyone with the Italian surname of Esposito or Innocenti? Most of them are descended from an orphan taken care of by the Catholic Church. For centuries, Italian cities had hospitals where abandoned babies (espositi, innocenti) were taken in and cared for, and a number of them married and passed on to their own children a family name reflecting the foundling hospital in which they grew up. Nor was it always a grim existence; a good part of Vivaldi's music was composed to be performed by girls at the Catholic orphanage in Venice where, in the early 1700s, he was...

CHICAGO, May 22 /PRNewswire/ -- The following statement was released today by the Rainbow Sash Movement (RSM). The RSM will respond to the fear and intolerance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Transgender (GLBT) persons, by many of our Catholic Bishops on Pentecost Sunday, June 4, 2006. We will be entering, with our straight allies, Catholic Cathedrals across the nation on Pentecost wearing Rainbow Sashes as a sign of identification. Some Bishops have welcomed us in the past, and we are thankful for their welcome.Nationally our Bishops have lobbied against our human rights. Our grief is intensified because many in the GLBT...

WASHINGTON For the second time, the Supreme Court on Monday shied away from getting involved in a child custody fight between a San Diego woman and her former lesbian partner. The birth mother, known as Sharon S., is trying to prevent her former partner from adopting one of the two children the women were raising together. Sharon S. and her partner Annette F. separated after an incident of domestic violence that Sharon blames on Annette. The California Supreme Court rejected the attempt by Sharon to prevent the adoption, which she consented to by signing an adoption petition in August 1999....

COVINA, May 17 (UPI) — Leaders of the American Baptist Churches of the Pacific Southwest have left the denomination, primarily over its handling of homosexuality.      The region's board of directors unanimously affirmed late last week an earlier recommendation to withdraw from its "Covenant of Relationships and Agreements" with the American Baptist Churches USA, Associated Baptist Press reported Wednesday.      The national denomination, which has its origins in a Civil War-era split from what is now the Southern Baptist Convention, is based in Valley Forge, Pa.      "God's heart is broken when sisters and brothers in Christ divide over matters...

This past week, a judge in Oakland, California said he thought the state’s high school exit exam is flawed, because it failed to account for English language learners’ inability to read the test. That is, since the test requires that those with limited English skills take and pass the test in English, it discriminates against those students. Never mind that, no matter where you go in this country, English language skills are an important part of success. Never mind that a student should be able to read the high school diploma they are receiving when they graduate. Insuring competence in...

SPIVEY’S CORNER, NC — The Sampson County school system stands behind a decision to suspend a student for passing out Christian leaflets at Midway High School, Superintendent Stewart Hobbs said Friday. Hobbs said the student was given in-school suspension for insubordination after disobeying the principal about distributing the fliers. The handouts, which presented a Christian viewpoint on homosexuality, caused a disturbance in the school and prompted some students, teachers and a parent to complain, Hobbs said. But the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal group, said the student, Benjamin Arthurs, was wrongfully punished for expressing his religious beliefs. The group...