Free Republic

The push to end so-called “conversion therapy” against homosexuality is expected to gear up Tuesday with the introduction of a House bill to ban the therapy nationally. The bill comes a few weeks before a consumer fraud lawsuit described as a “David and Goliath” battle over the therapy begins in New Jersey, and in the wake of a request for a federal probe into whether the therapy’s marketing and practices are “deceptive” and “dangerous.” Opponents of sexual orientation change efforts, such as Reps. Ted W. Lieu and Jackie Speier, both California Democrats, say being homosexual is not a disorder or...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Thomas Schmierer thought he was just a normal marriage and family therapist “flying under the radar” in Riverside, Calif. But Schmierer’s work with clients who seek him out for therapy for their unwanted same-sex attraction landed him in the crosshairs of homosexual-rights groups. The Human Rights Campaign, which lobbies for same-sex “marriage” and homosexual causes, wrote a letter to Psychology Today in February demanding that the magazine remove Schmierer from its professional referral service. The magazine complied, and it no longer accepts advertising from Schmierer, who says the listing is essential for his private practice, Vatican Values...

“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind [Homosexuals], Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” 1 Corinthians 6:9,10 (KJV) Laodicean church pastor Rick Warren appeared in Congress with pop icon and outspoken homosexual Elton John on Wednesday to ask for more money for AIDS research. They were clearly having such a good time that they started holding hands as you see in the photo. Did Rick ever...

 In the summer of 1994, President Bill Clinton had the unfortunate experience of trying to manipulate Pope John-Paul, who had worked as a dynamiter in a Nazi stone quarry. Pope tells President, "you can't kill babies". President smiles blandly—for a minute, presidential aide comes up behind him to distract him with some "important presidential business", President gets a grimace of anger after one minute, his ears start turning red.  President Hillary, you'd better hope that Bishop Emmanuel Badejo doesn't become Pope after Francis.   He deals with Boko Haram—you know, the people you won't help him with unless Nigeria accepts abortion and...

These must be very troubling and frustrating times for you, homophobes. A majority of Americans now support marriage equality, and face it, if it’s not fully recognized where you live yet, it will be and soon. A majority of us also support gay political candidates, and we seem to be able to watch gay people on television and movies and listen to them as we drive around in post breakup sadness without the fabric of society crumbling — probably because if you look across the population, it’s composed entirely of people who either are LGBT or who know someone who...

An English professor at California State University-Northridge, who was raised by two lesbian mothers, claims that the federal government could be liable for paying "reparations" to thousands of children raised by same-sex parents due to the emotional damage suffered from being deprived of opposite-sex parents. Professor Robert Oscar Lopez, who is openly bisexual and also married, wrote in an op-ed for the American Thinker that somewhere between 100,000 and 500,000 children could be placed in homes with same-sex parents in the next 15 years as a result of state and federal governments' growing acceptance of same-sex marriage and same-sex parenting....

By the Grace of G-d 25th of Shevat, 5746 Brooklyn, N.Y. Greeting and Blessing: This is to acknowledge receipt of your letter of Jan. 26th, in which you write about a serious problem. As requested, I will remember you in prayer for the fulfillment of your heart's desires for good. While all blessings come from HaShem [G‑d], a Jew is expected to do what is necessary in the natural order. In the matter of the said problem, you surely know that there are doctors and psychiatrists who treat it, and have been successful in many cases. I know of a...

The persistent problem of the so called Amendment to “Local Law 2” has been plaguing some people for several years. Although this problem has much wider national and international ramifications, the New York version of this problem has taken on a strange political hue. During the Purim Farbrengen (gathering) of 5746, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Shlita, addressed this issue. He touched upon the fundamental problem, its social, emotional and health risks, its psychological manifestations and its actual threat to society and individuals.1 At the same time, the Rebbe suggested clear-cut remedies and proposed a humane therapeutical approach, which takes account of...

In the oral arguments presented yesterday in the Supreme Court on the question of whether the U.S. Constitution guarantees two people of the same sex the right to marry one another, Justice Samuel Alito asked whether—if two of the same sex have a right to marry—why not four people of opposite sexes. “Would there be any ground for denying them a license?” Alito asked. “Let's say they're all consenting adults, highly educated. They're all lawyers,” he said. Alito posed the question to Mary L. Bonauto, a lawyer who was presenting the court with arguments on behalf of clients seeking to...

When Judaism demanded that all sexual activity be channeled into marriage, it changed the world. The Torah's prohibition of non-marital sex quite simply made the creation of Western civilization possible. Societies that did not place boundaries around sexuality were stymied in their development. The subsequent dominance of the Western world can largely be attributed to the sexual revolution initiated by Judaism and later carried forward by Christianity. This revolution consisted of forcing the sexual genie into the marital bottle. It ensured that sex no longer dominated society, heightened male-female love and sexuality (and thereby almost alone created the possibility of...

I want nothing in this world more than to be a father. Yet I can’t bring myself to celebrate same-sex marriage. Gay marriage has gone from unthinkable to reality in the blink of an eye. A recent Washington Post/ABC News poll shows that support for gay marriage is now at 61 percent—the highest it’s ever been. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case that many court-watchers believe will deliver the final blow to those seeking to prevent the redefinition of marriage. By all measures, this fight is over. Gay marriage won. As a 30-year-old gay man,...

Americans who choose to live their lives according to conservative Christian values continue to pay a political and social price for it even as gay marriage enjoys unprecedented acceptance.An Oregon bakery that in January of 2013 refused to bake a cake for a lesbian couple’s wedding is only the latest casualty in the culture war over same-sex marriage — a war that Christians are clearly losing.Rachel and Laurel Bowman-Cryer sued Aaron and Melissa Klein of Sweet Cakes by Melissa. This forced the shop to close its doors in September of 2013 after months of hate mail and plummeting revenues.Much like...

Same-sex Marriage leads to the repression of religion, loss of freedom of speech, a weakening of the marital-family leading to increased 'redistribution of wealth'. Haven't we seen this before in another form - an atheistic, socialist State?

A God versus political correctness hoo-ha erupted when the Western Conservative Summit, which has been called the CPAC of the West, refused to allow the Log Cabin Republicans, a same-sex marriage advocacy group, a display table at their upcoming June 26-28 Summit in Denver. Various left-wing media lobbed the usual firebombs, claiming bigotry, hatred, homophobia, unfairness, some demanding boycotts of the Summit and pressuring scheduled speakers like Gov. Scott Walker and Dr. Ben Carson to bow out. Both sides agree the conference, which attracts 4,000 participants, has the legal right not to sell the same-sex marriage group a display table;...

The United States Supreme Court may soon liberate the biblically conservative church from old "prejudices" that should have long ago been "jettisoned," forcing it into "rightly bowing to the enlightenments of modernity," in the words of a recent writer in The New York Times. Homosexuality must be removed from the "sin list" and, according to an MSNBC commentator, traditional marriage proponents must be forced "to do things they don't want to do." Sadly, this crusade will be like the Marxist "liberation" movements that promised to "free" people, but really were about control and suppression. The culmination may come as the...

BATON ROUGE, La. — THE debate over religious liberty in America presents conservatives and business leaders with a crucial choice. In Indiana and Arkansas, large corporations recently joined left-wing activists to bully elected officials into backing away from strong protections for religious liberty. It was disappointing to see conservative leaders so hastily retreat on legislation that would simply allow for an individual or business to claim a right to free exercise of religion in a court of law. Our country was founded on the principle of religious liberty, enshrined in the Bill of Rights. Why shouldn’t an individual or business...

Gay community, I am your daughter. My mom raised me with her same-sex partner back in the ’80s and ’90s. She and my dad were married for a little while. She knew she was gay before they got married, but things were different back then. That’s how I got here. It was complicated as you can imagine. She left him when I was two or three because she wanted a chance to be happy with someone she really loved: a woman. My dad wasn’t a great guy, and after she left him he didn’t bother coming around anymore. Do you...

I am a queer woman planning to get married next year in a state where my marriage will not be legally recognized. It will probably not surprise you to learn that, sometimes, being gay is not easy. Coming out to your family is nervewracking, people yell slurs and threats when you hold hands on the street, and most lesbian movies are just terrible. With all those drawbacks, those of us who spend our lives with a partner of the same sex must really have no choice in the matter -- or so goes the prevailing wisdom of the gay rights...

As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear oral arguments next Tuesday on whether states will continue to be free to define marriage for their own citizens, a number of amicus briefs have been filed arguing that the U.S. Constitution does not guarantee a fundamental right to same-sex marriage. Heritage Foundation Senior Fellow Ryan Anderson and prominent attorney and constitutional law expert Gene Schaerr recently co-authored their own amicus brief that asserts that the U.S. Constitution does not require states to redefine marriage to allow for two individuals of the same gender to get married. Speaking at a Heritage Foundation...

The career assassination of Cornel West: A messy intellectual divorce reveals layers of broken heart — and to what end? Independent of one’s stance on the rift between Michael Eric Dyson and Cornel West — a rift years in the making and now clearly delineated in the form of Dyson’s essay on West in the New Republic, “The Ghost of Cornel West” — this has all the hallmarks of a messy divorce between two public, black intellectuals who were, perhaps, better served keeping things offline. Maybe try to squash their beef in the privacy of an on-campus office or in...