Free Republic

The stars seemed aligned for supporters of gay marriage. They had Maine's governor, legislative leaders and major newspapers on their side, plus a huge edge in campaign funding. So losing a landmark referendum was a devastating blow, for activists in Maine and nationwide. In an election that had been billed for weeks as too close to call, Maine's often unpredictable voters repealed a state law Tuesday that would have allowed same-sex couples to wed. Gay marriage has now lost in all 31 states in which it has been put to a popular vote — a trend that the gay-rights movement...

PORTLAND, Maine — Cecelia Burnett and Ann Swanson had already set their wedding date. When they joined about 1,000 other gay marriage supporters for an election night party in a Holiday Inn ballroom, they hoped to celebrate the vote that would make it possible. Instead, they went home at midnight, dejected and near tears after a failed bid to make Maine the first state to approve same-sex marriage at the ballot box. "I'm ready to start crying," said Burnett, a 58-year-old massage therapist, walking out of the ballroom with Swanson at her side. "I don't understand what the fear is,...

Gays demand tolerance and inclusion. See how long that lasts once should they continue to get people fired because they dare not agree with their brand of "marriage"....

Referendum Measure 71 concerning rights and responsibilities of state-registered domestic partners Approved 165,340 44.89 % Rejected 202,954 55.11 % Total Votes 368,294 100.00%

In a stinging setback for the national gay-rights movement, Maine voters narrowly decided to repeal the state’s new law allowing same-sex marriage. With 87 percent of precincts reporting early this morning, 53 percent of voters had approved the repeal, ending an expensive and emotional fight that was closely watched around the country as a referendum on the national gay-marriage movement. Polls had suggested a much closer race. With the repeal, Maine became the 31st state to reject same-sex marriage at the ballot box. Five other states - Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, New Hampshire and Vermont - have legalized same-sex marriage, but...

<p>SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge today refused to dismiss a legal challenge to Proposition 8, concluding that the ongoing courtroom battle over California's voter-approved ban on gay marriage must be resolved in a full-blown trial.</p> <p>After two hours of legal sparring, Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker largely rejected the arguments of Proposition 8 supporters, who maintained that U.S. Supreme Court precedent and a lack of proof of constitutional violations should sidetrack a lawsuit designed to overturn the ballot measure.</p>

The President stood confident at the podium when he addressed a crowd of nearly ecstatic fans Saturday night. He promised those assembled for the Banquet of the “Human Rights Campaign”, the leading homosexual activist organization in the Nation: “You will see a time in which we as a nation finally recognize relationships between two men or two women as just as real and admirable as relationships between a man and a woman.” Lest anyone be confused concerning the meaning of his words here is another excerpt: “… I support ensuring that committed gay couples have the same rights and responsibilities...

Have you noticed that Governor Palin has not been removed from the hit list of the far left? I mean besides the left over jokes and reruns from the 2008 Presidential campaign…during which she did a damn good job…for someone never on the national scene before…but even now when she has resigned as Governor of Alaska, and is just plain old “Sarah Palin Citizen of the United States of America.” Why is the left so afraid of a staunch Christian Republican who is articulate, a fast learner, who happens to be a women, married with children, and damn good looking...

<p>A judge in Dallas ruled on Thursday that the state court on which she sits has the jurisdiction to hear a divorce suit by a gay couple who were married outside Texas where same-sex marriages are banned.</p> <p>Dallas District Judge Tena Callahan said in the ruling that her court "has jurisdiction to hear a suit for divorce filed by persons legally married in another jurisdiction and who meet the residency and other prerequisites required to file for divorce in Dallas County, Texas."</p>

A law professor nominated by President Obama to become a commissioner for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was a signatory to a radical 2006 manifesto which endorsed polygamous households and argued traditional marriage should not be privileged “above all others.” Georgetown University Law Center professor Chai R. Feldblum, nominated as a commissioner for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), is listed as a signatory to the July 26, 2006 manifesto “Beyond Same-Sex Marriage: A New Strategic Vision for All Our Families & Relationships.” The manifesto’s signatories said they proposed a “new vision” for governmental and private recognition of “diverse kinds”...

I was in Maine on the day that marriage qualified for the ballot this November. I went to Maine as president and founder of the National Organization for Marriage, which helped local groups organize the signature drive in Maine, as we did in California for Proposition 8. Most of the people in Maine were enthusiastic, but one clergyman asked me, "Shouldn't we live with our neighbors in peace?" His question haunts me for its debased presumptions: Is using democracy to fight for shared values somehow an act of war against our neighbors? "Agree with me or you're a hater" is...

Carrie Prejean has filed a lawsuit against Miss California USA officials who stripped her of her title, accusing them of libel and religious discrimination for her views on same-sex marriage. Carrie Prejean was stripped of her Miss California USA title earlier this year. "We will make the case that her title was taken from her solely because of her support of traditional marriage," her attorney, Charles LiMandri, said in a news release. Prejean stepped into controversy at the Miss USA pageant in April when, in response to a question from a judge, she declared her opposition to same-sex marriage. Prejean...

Back in the 1960s, Seymour Martin Lipset and Richard Hofstadter and other liberal sociologists, historians and political scientists, puzzled that anyone could support Barry Goldwater rather than Lyndon Johnson, concluded that Goldwater supporters were deranged. They didn't say so directly, of course. They said that members of the radical right were emotionally disturbed victims of "status anxiety." The evidence? They didn't vote the way that Lipset and other academics thought that they should vote. Therefore they had to be crazy. In the decades since, far better scholars than Hofstadter and Lipset, for whom history and sociology are not exercises in...

Today, a federal judge tossed out yet another challenge to Proposition 8. (Prop 8 is a constitutional amendment that defines marriage as only between a man and a woman in California) This time the challenge was on "federal constitutional grounds..."

Over the past year, Meghan McCain has made rounds proclaiming her support for positions that aren't exactly like other Republicans. She has spent a significant amount of time criticizing the tactics of other Republicans, including Ann Coulter and Karl Rove. Additionally, McCain has been rallying against anti-gay marriage Republicans – including the man that became the symbol of her father's presidential campaign. In an interview with Out Magazine, McCain said, "Joe the Plumber -- you can quote me -- is a dumb*** . He should stick to plumbing," in response to Joe the Plumber's comment that he "wouldn't' t have...

"Does it sound campy to say I love gay men?” asks Meghan McCain, sipping an iced tea at the nouveau-chic Hotel Palomar in Washington, D.C.’s Dupont Circle. Campy or not, the lovesick McCain has been ubiquitous this year, sallying forth on late-night TV -- Larry King Live, The Colbert Report, The Rachel Maddow Show -- to scold the Republican establishment for its social conservatism and stump for gay marriage. “If two people fall in love, they should have the option to get married just like I can,” she told Stephen Colbert, pointing out the inherent hypocrisy of a party that...

SAN DIEGO, California, July 9, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The general counsel for the National Education Association (NEA), America's largest teacher's union, complained last week of the "conservative and right-wing bastards" that are "after" the NEA. At the same meeting, the NEA rejected a proposal that would have ceased their abortion advocacy, and went on record in support of same-sex "marriage." "We are not paranoid, someone really is after us," said General Counsel Bob Chanin in an address to NEA affiliates on the occasion of his retirement. "Why are these conservative and right-wing bastards picking on NEA and its affiliates? I...

Sounds far-fetched and, to some, totally implausible. But the Republicans are losing potential candidates at a pace that is downright alarming if you believe in a healthy two-party system. The demise of John Ensign’s political career a few weeks ago and the surreal downfall of Mark Sanford last week is enough to send chills through the even the most optimistic Republican strategist. We know that of the 2008 crop, only Mitt Romney seems likely to stay on as a contender. The old stalwarts like Newt Gingrich may get a lot of press, but it is unlikely they can mount a...

A recent poll indicates that Americans are not as supportive of homosexual "marriage" as they once were.A CBS-New York Times survey shows that support for redefining marriage to include same-gender couples has declined. Jenny Tyree of Focus on the Family Action tells OneNewsNow that, according to The New York Times, the figure dropped slightly -- but she believes nine percentage points is more than slightly. "I think that this really digs into what Americans really feel about marriage -- that they like that [marriage is] defined between a man and a woman," she contends. "And also it's a bit of a backlash against the five states...

PORT OF SPAIN, June 26, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The government of the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago has made a strong statement in favor of maintaining the role of traditional marriage in the country's cultural and social fabric, and said it will not relax its restrictions on abortion.In the latest draft of the "National Policy on Gender and Development of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago," which was approved by the Cabinet yesterday, the government affirms that it is opposed to same-sex relationships and will not endorse same-sex "marriage," and has rejected a proposal to re-define "gender" to...

(VIDEO AT LINK) As America's second-largest city celebrates gay pride, it's worth revisiting all the promises made to the folks marching today by a certain White House resident. And by "promises" we mean all of President Obama's broken ones. You know all those 1,200 rights and privileges enjoyed by heterosexual married couples? Obama once promised to give gay people those same rights. It's something he promised he would "change" as president. Then he opted not only to do nothing about the Defense of Marriage Act, but to actively endorse it. Once upon a time, Obama said: "You don't poll whether...

SALT LAKE CITY — An activist who worked alongside slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk announced plans Sunday for a march on Washington this fall to demand that Congress establish equality and marriage rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Cleve Jones said the march, planned for Oct. 11, will coincide with National Coming Out Day and launch a new chapter in the gay rights movement. He made the announcement during a rally at the annual Utah Pride Festival. "We seek nothing more and nothing less than equal protection in all matters governed by civil law in all...

Thousands of supporters of California's ban on same-sex marriage rallied in Fresno and San Diego on Sunday in what organizers described as a celebration of traditional wedlock and a thank-you to the California Supreme Court for upholding their voter-approved measure. The demonstrations followed Saturday's gathering of gay rights supporters in Fresno to renew efforts to reverse Proposition 8, which the high court let stand early last week. The dueling weekend rallies underscored the fact that, despite an election and a Supreme Court decision, the issue of same-sex marriage remains divisive in California. In San Diego, about 200 Proposition 8 supporters...

WHITMAN: I think there is, you know, plenty of places that the state has gone wrong. I have a lot of respect for Governor Schwarzenegger. He's done a number of good things -- workman's compensation help, the redirecting initiative that was passed in November. But the fiscal crisis has occurred on his watch and I think, you know, political leaders have to be accountable. So I think he will share some responsibility for this, along with the legislature. . . . . . MCCAIN: You're right, the Hispanic -- Latino vote is very important. We've been losing it. We have...

I don’t agree with Douglas Kmiec often, but this may be the exception … maybe. With all of the various legal and legislative challenges to the definition of marriage in states across the nation, Kmiec tells Catholic News Agency that government should restrict itself to enforcing contract law and leave the question of marriage to the churches. Robert George, a highly respected Constitutional scholar and fellow Catholic, vehemently disagrees (via The Corner): Doug Kmiec, a prominent Catholic who backed Barack Obama’s presidential bid, has endorsed replacing marriage with a neutral “civil license,” a proposal law professor Robert P. George called...

The California Supreme Court rules to UPHOLD Proposition 8 (which put into the California state constitution that marriage is defined as being between a man and woman) The court also ruled on the validation of the pseudo-marriages performed before passage of Prop 8.

The whole world watches California. Once again, the State which has led the way on so many fronts in the massive Cultural Revolution currently underway in the West is the site of the newest volley in the battle to create some new idea of “marriage” out of homosexual relationships. Homosexual activists have skillfully reframed the entire issue by calling this newest front in the Cultural Revolution a struggle for “marriage equality.” The move is simply one more example of their use of verbal engineering, what the late C.S. Lewis properly called “Verbicide”, the murder of a word. They are certainly...

Here’s the thing about homosexual marriage in the United States: It is going to be legal in about half the states. There is no stopping the gay nuptials now, even though most Americans say they are opposed to extending marital law to same-sex couples. Right now, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, Iowa and Maine allow gays to marry. New Hampshire seems likely to join them soon. Once the legislatures of New York and New Jersey get finished taxing the life out of their citizens, they, too, will most likely pass gay marriage. And even though the folks in California voted down gay...

AUGUSTA, Maine, May 25, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A homosexualist group is seeking to strip the Catholic Diocese of Portland of its tax-exempt status, after the diocese announced it would gather support for a voter's referendum on the new same-sex "marriage" law.The California-based Empowering Spirits Foundation filed the challenge Wednesday claiming that the Church's signature-gathering violates IRS rules forbidding partisan political activity by non-profit organizations.  "By their individuals going on television, stating what they were doing, they're engaging in lobbying activities which is prohibited by the IRS for tax exempt purposes," objected Tyler Davis, a spokesperson for the Empowering Sprits...

An Open Letter to New York Republicans: As I read the news about the recent advances of marriage equality across our country, I think it is easy for many to get distracted by the politics and rhetoric on this issue and lose sight of what is really at its heart: the equality of freedom. No matter how politically charged the discussions about marriage equality may get, the question is really a simple one: Do the rights and privileges we offer citizens include everyone in our country, or only some of us? I believe that allowing gays and lesbians the freedom...

It greatly alarms me that Americans' constitutional right of freedom of speech is being squeezed out of our culture. Several years ago, I watched then-"20/20" correspondent Diane Sawyer interview Saddam Hussein, who was dictator of Iraq at the time. She respectfully confronted him for the atrocities and executions he used as punishments for people who merely spoke out against him, his rule or his politics. Surprisingly naive of America's constitutional basis, Saddam asked, "Well, what happens to those who speak against your president?" (He clearly was expecting that such speech was also a crime in the U.S. and punishable by...

www.catholicnewsagency.com Conference planned to help students ‘speak the truth’ on natural marriage San Diego, Calif., May 16, 2009 / 04:40 am (CNA).- A student conference on the importance of marriage and its defense is scheduled to take place this August in San Diego. It aims to bring together students and faculty who support natural marriage to help educate and motivate a new generation.The conference, titled “It takes a family to raise a village,” is co-sponsored by the Ruth Institute and the National Organization for Marriage. It will be held at the University of San Diego from August 6 to...

A few weeks ago I was at the Fox Studios in New York City preparing to make an appearance on the Cavuto show. Mr. Cavuto invited me to talk about my recently published business book, “I’ll Make You An Offer You Can’t Refuse,” and the “Machiavellian” approach to business some people in the Obama administration appear to be taking. I was chatting with one of the show’s producers, explaining how the mob would lend money to a business and then take control of the company (sound familiar?), when a beautiful, blond woman came bursting through the door of the green...

May 15, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Obama White House has removed from its website all references to a pledge made by the president to scrap the Bush administration's Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).Under the heading of "civil rights" the White House website had originally proclaimed that "Obama also believes we need to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act." In addition, the site said that legislation should be enacted that would extend federal legal rights and benefits to same-sex partners "in civil unions or other legally recognized unions." The site specified that this included all of "the 1,100+ federal legal...

Many are questioning why officials at the University of Notre Dame are inviting the most pro-abortion president in our history to receive an honorary doctorate of laws. Doesn’t this make a mockery of Notre Dame’s historic role as the premier Catholic university in America? Doesn’t this create a scandal for the Catholic faithful as well as for the larger community of Americans who are not Catholic? Much of the fierce public debate has centered on why Notre Dame would extend such an honor. The divisions exposed by this invitation are deep and worrisome. What we need to ask is why...

One of the officials of the Miss California pageant who was trying to crucify Carrie Prejean over her stance on gay marriage has quit one day after Donald Trump restored order in the Miss California camp. Shannon Moakley, a former Playboy Playmate, seemed a bit self righteous as reported by Don Surber: She wanted Donald Trump to fire Carrie Prejean as Miss California USA title for posing topless. Now Playboy Playmate Shanna Moakler is out as a pageant official. Moakler’s piety over posing topless was priceless. Jann Wenner’s US magazine now reported that she quit. Moakler: “Since the press conference...

AS many Americans know, last week Gov. John Baldacci of Maine signed a law that made this state the fifth in the nation to legalize gay marriage. It’s worth pointing out, however, that there were some legal same-sex marriages in Maine already, just as there probably are in all 50 states. These are marriages in which at least one member of the couple has changed genders since the wedding. I’m in such a marriage myself and, quite frankly, my spouse and I forget most of the time that there is anything particularly unique about our family, even if we are...

Do you agree with Donald Trump's decision to allow Miss California, Carrie Prejean, to retain her title after she failed to reveal before last month's Miss USA pageant that she had posed in her underwear as a teenager. Yes or No (I think you vote by leaving a comment)

As more states—like Iowa—approve same-sex “marriage,” conservatives are claiming that freedom of religion is in peril. Same-sex “marriage” supporters accuse them of engaging in hysterical gay-bating. Who’s telling the truth? Let me share some stories with you from an excellent news broadcast produced by National Public Radio. Then you decide. Two women decided to hold their civil union ceremony at a New Jersey pavilion owned by the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association. This Methodist group told the women they could not “marry” in any building used for religious purposes. The Rev. Scott Hoffman said a theological principle—that marriage can only...

Catholic officials have launched a fresh initiative to influence secular law according to the religious teachings of the Catholic Church, with marriage equality firmly in their sites. Church officials in Maine, the fifth and most recent state to offer marriage equality to gay and lesbian families, seek to bring those families’ rights to a popular vote, in hopes of seeing marriage equality repealed, as happened in California last year when, after a bruising and extremely expensive campaign to rescind family rights for gays and lesbians, voters narrowly passed Proposition 8. An Associated Press story from May 10 quoted Maine’s Secretary...

I hate to gossip – especially about a gossip columnist – but rumor has it that Perez Hilton just landed a new job. He’ll be leaving the world’s second most embarrassing profession to join the world’s most embarrassing profession. Yep, you guessed it; he’s going to become a college professor. Eastern Michigan University (EMU) has decided to hire Perez Hilton to teach in its counseling program. The decision follows a recent controversy that has landed the school in federal court. School officials dismissed a student, Julea Ward, from the school’s counseling program for not affirming homosexual behavior as morally acceptable....

Sen. John McCain said Sunday that his party needs to be “inclusive” without betraying its “fundamental principles.” . . . . . Asked if being inclusive meant welcoming candidates and voters who support abortion rights or gay marriage, McCain said: “It means that we can have people in our party who do not have the same views on specific issues, as long as we share common principles.”

Carrie Prejean was destroyed for expressing her views on "same-sex marriage." But the Anointed One gets a free pass for expressing the exact same opinion. We all know the story by now. During the Miss U.S.A. Pageant last month, Miss California Carrie Prejean became a household name when she said she believed marriage should be between a man and a woman. To be precise, of all the questions that pageant judge and gossip columnist Perez Hilton could have asked, he chose to ask Ms. Prejean about same-sex marriage. Noting that it had just become legal in Vermont, Hilton asked her,...

First came traditional marriage. Then, gay marriage. Now, there's a movement combining both—simultaneously. Abby Ellin visits the next frontier of nuptials: the "triad." Less than 18 months ago, Sasha Lessin and Janet Kira Lessin gathered before their friends near their home in Maui, and proclaimed their love for one another. Nothing unusual about that—Sasha, 68, and Janet, 55—were legally married in 2000. Rather, this public commitment ceremony was designed to also bind them to Shivaya, their new 60-something "husband." Says Sasha: “I want to walk down the street hand in hand in hand in hand and live together openly and...

The May 6 passage of marriage equality legislation in Maine brings to five the number of states in America that allow gay and lesbian families to wed. The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which adds sexual orientation, sexual identity, and disability, to the list of federally protected demographics (which already provide enhanced penalties for hate crime targeting victims on the basis of race, religion, and nationality among other factors) seems well on its way to becoming law. States are dealing with issues of family equality, and Congress and the Senate are poised to extend protections to a class...

The governor of Maine on Wednesday signed a law making the northeastern US state the fifth to allow gays to marry. Governor John Baldacci, a Democrat, signed the law after the upper chamber in the state legislature voted 21 to 13 in favour. "In the past, I opposed gay marriage while supporting the idea of civil unions," Baldacci said in a statement on his website. "I have come to believe that this is a question of fairness and of equal protection under the law, and that a civil union is not equal to civil marriage." Maine joined its fellow New...

On Thursday’s Countdown show, Michael Musto of the Village Voice appeared to help MSNBC host Keith Olbermann lambast Miss California, Carrie Prejean, because of her expression of opposition to same-sex marriage. After Olbermann set up the segment by revealing that Prejean had received breast implants paid for by the Miss California organization, Musto made a number of crude sexual jokes, and even cracked that she was like a "Klaus Barbie Doll," presumably a reference to Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie, who was a Gestapo officer responsible for thousands of deaths during World War II. Referring to the Miss California organization,...

The city council in the nation's capital voted Tuesday to recognize same-sex marriages from states that approve them, a step that could propel the emotional issue into Congress and draw Democrats into a culture-wars battle with each other. President Barack Obama and Democratic leaders responded to the 12-1 vote by the District of Columbia Council with near silence -- hoping to avoid aggravating Democratic factions already at odds over that issue and more. --snip-- Democratic Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, who is gay, said he expects congressional opponents of gay marriage to rally to repeal the city's decision but doubts...

Carrie Prejean's show of support for traditional marriage in the Miss USA Pageant has provoked a firestorm of controversy. Responding to judge Perez Hilton's politically charged question on whether other states should follow Vermont's lead in legalizing same-sex marriage, Prejean (Miss California) said that she was glad that Americans were able to choose, but that she was raised to believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman. That response cost Miss California the Miss USA crown. Hilton-a gay rights advocate-reacted with rage. In an online video, he called Prejean a "dumb b****" and said he would have...

Gay marriage legalization in several states and the public's growing acceptance of same-sex unions have Democrats sensing political opportunity and some Republicans re-evaluating their party's hard-line opposition to an issue that long has rallied its base. In recent weeks, Vermont and Iowa have legalized same-sex marriage, while New York, Maine and New Hampshire have taken steps in that direction. Polls show younger Americans are far are more tolerant on the issue than are older generations. For now at least, the public is much more focused on the troubled economy and two wars than on social issues. In addition, over the...