Free Republic

Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who received international attention for denying gay couples marriage licenses, lost her re-election bid Tuesday, according to local reports. Davis, a Republican, was about 700 votes behind her Democratic opponent, Elwood Caudill Jr., in her bid for a second term as Rowan County clerk. In the Democratic primary, Caudill beat David Ermold, the man whom Davis had refused to grant a same-sex marriage license, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported. Caudill, Rowan County's chief deputy property valuation administrator, had unsuccessfully challenged Davis in 2014 in the Republican primary. Davis switched party allegiances in 2015. “I want...

It took a couple of months and was filled with charges and countercharges of dirty tricks and the suppression of free speech, but the Australian plebiscite on gay marriage is finally finished. The people responded in large numbers and in the end, the tally ran fairly close to what the current polling had indicated. More than sixty percent of respondents voted in favor of legalizing gay marriage and now the Parliament is vowing to bring it to a vote before Christmas. (Associated Press) Australians supported gay marriage in a postal survey that ensures Parliament will consider legalizing same-sex weddings...

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky, October 19, 2015 (LifeSiteNews)—There was a time when Church and State cooperated – when governing powers welcomed the influence of Judeo-Christian values and sought to harmonize its laws with morality. But since the radical secularization of Western society, Christians have been forced into an adversarial, politically incorrect role, much like the early Church in times of persecution. Since a "culture of death" began to dominate the West, genuine Christians have become counter-cultural. The leader of America's largest Protestant denomination, Dr. Albert Mohler, applies this Christian counter-culturalism to the latest politically correct trend in society: the approval of sodomy...

The Supreme Court’s abuse of its authority in the decision redefining marriage as an institution based on feelings rather than fact and sanctioning deviancy as a civil right was expected, but the surprise was its sentimental substitution of nihilistic narcissism for jurisprudence, expressed in an amorphous substitute for English diction. This passed a death sentence on Christian culture, just as Roe v. Wade sanctioned the deaths of millions of infants. As Christ rose from the dead, so can our nation, but only the cynic and the naïf will deny that the next steps will be attacks on Christ himself in...

The day after the same-sex marriage referendum revealed an Ireland overwhelmingly in favor of legalized sodomy, the Primate of Ireland, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, said to the press: "I appreciate how gay and lesbian men and women feel on this day. That they feel this is something that is enriching the way they live. I think it is a social revolution." His words echoed that of Leo Varadkar, Ireland's first openly gay Health Minister, who said the referendum was "almost like a social revolution." Shortly before the referendum, Martin had said he wouldn't tell Catholics how to vote. Although...

Ireland, for so long the most overtly Catholic state in Western Europe, has voted for gay marriage by a stupendous margin – 62 per cent. Never before has a country legalised the practice by popular vote. It would be naive to ask: how could this happen? Hatred of the Church is one of the central features of modern Ireland, thanks not only to the paedophile scandals but also to the joyless quasi-Jansenist character of the Irish Church, which was handed complete control of education in the Free State after partition in 1922. (Many of its priests were outstandingly holy and...

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge threw out Oregon's same-sex marriage ban Monday, marking the 13th legal victory for gay marriage advocates since the U.S. Supreme Court last year overturned part of a federal ban.

Imagine going to work one day only to be, in effect, fired -- not because of anything you did or didn’t do at your job, but because of something you did in your personal life. Something religious. Or maybe, something political. Imagine if you were denied a promotion at work because a co-worker found out you had made a personal donation to a conservative candidate. Imagine if your environmentally-correct boss discovered that, in your free time at home, you supported an organization that exposed the fallacies of man-made global warming and asked you for your resignation. Imagine if you were...

SAN ANTONIO — A federal judge in San Antonio has declared Texas' ban on gay marriage unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia, however, also issued a stay, meaning the ban stays in effect for the time being. One lesbian couple had to go to Massachusetts to get married, and they want Texas to recognize the union. A second gay couple have a courtship of 17 years and want to get married here in their home state.

Today U.S. District Judge Terence Kern ruled that Oklahoma’s ban on marriage equality is unconstitutional. His ruling is stayed pending appeal, meaning marriages will not occur immediately in the Sooner State. ... The ruling comes on the heels of a year-long string of electoral, judicial and legislative victories for marriage equality. In recent weeks both the New Mexico Supreme Court and a federal district judge in Utah have ruled in favor of marriage for lesbian and gay couples.

An openly gay teacher at a Pennsylvania Catholic school was fired after applying for a same-sex marriage license. Griffin, an alumnus of the Catholic school, told Philadelphia TV station NBC10 that the school knew he was gay and his partner had attended many school functions. He said he was blindsided by his firing. The school's headmaster, Fr. James McCloskey, told the station that Griffin violated his contract and the school's policy by obtaining the license. McCloskey did not return a request for comment from the Daily News. But he did tell the station, "Although, the school welcomes teachers from other...

All same-sex couples who are legally married will be recognized as such for federal tax purposes, even if the state where they live does not recognize their union, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service said Thursday. It is the broadest federal rule change to come out of the landmark Supreme Court decision in June that struck down the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, and a sign of how quickly the government is moving to treat gay couples in the same way that it does straight couples. The June decision found that same-sex couples were entitled to federal benefits,...

<p>The streets outside Minneapolis City Hall were filled with newly-wedded gay and lesbian couples reveling in their new marital status Thursday morning while inside dozens more waited their turn in lines that lasted until dawn.</p> <p>Down the street at the Hotel Minneapolis, Cathy ten Broeke and Margaret Miles, the first couple legally wed in Minnesota, partied into the night, wearing the same slinky dresses they wore 12 years earlier at their commitment ceremony.</p>

Wealthy gay dad, Barrie Drewitt-Barlow, says he and his civil partner Tony will go to court to force churches to host gay weddings. He told the Essex Chronicle that he will take legal action because “I am still not getting what I want”. A Government Bill legalising gay marriage passed Parliament recently but it included measures to protect churches from being forced to perform same-sex weddings. Challenge Mr Drewitt-Barlow said: “The only way forward for us now is to make a challenge in the courts against the church. “It is a shame that we are forced to take Christians into...

Five same-sex couples obtained marriage licenses Wednesday in a suburban Philadelphia county defying a state ban on such unions, but the governor's spokesman said the local officials lack the power to suspend state law. Alicia Terrizzi and Loreen Bloodgood, of Pottstown, were the only couple to marry right away, exchanging vows in a park before a minister and their two young sons. "We're not setting out to be pioneers. We don't think our family is any different than anybody else," said Terrizzi, a 45-year-old teacher. "We've been waiting a long time for this." The licenses issued Wednesday in Montgomery County...

There are few policy differences between Wyoming Republican Senate candidate Liz Cheney and the incumbent she's trying to oust in 2014, Sen. Mike Enzi. Except for one issue: Gay marriage. Unlike Enzi, the 46-year-old daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney supports the right for states to legalize gay marriage. At least that's what she said in 2009, in an interview with MSNBC, of all places. At that was a time when the notion of same-sex marriage had considerably less support.

Supporters and experts say a gay couple's success is getting their out-of-state marriage recognized in Ohio despite a state ban could lead to a rush of similar cases aiming to take advantage of an apparent legal loophole. John Arthur of Cincinnati is dying of Lou Gehrig's disease. A federal judge on Monday granted him the right to be listed as married on his death certificate and to have his partner of more than 20 years listed as his surviving spouse.

LONDON — Gay marriage becomes legal in Britain as Queen Elizabeth II gives royal approval.

Link to Washington Post Article. There goes the British Empire. The Monarchy has fallen.

Express your Christian Belief – Get Fined $30,000Ming Linsley, left, and Kate Baker smile after winning $30,000 from a Vermont Bed and Breakfast. The owners of the Bed-and-Breakfast made the mistake of expressing their religious beliefs to the couple. It cost them dearly. In Vermont – Gay rights trump Religious rights Yesterday, I spoke with Jim Campbell from the ADF about this recent case of Christian persecution. A Bed and Breakfast expressed their religious beliefs to a same-sex couple and ended up paying $30,000 in fines.(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Townhall reported on the settlement last year. A Vermont bed and breakfast has settled a...