Free Republic

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Having sex with animals could soon be outlawed in Florida. The Senate unanimously passed a bill (SB 448) Tuesday that would make it a third degree felony for anyone to have sex with an animal.

India's real life 'Love Guru', a college professor who caused a scandal when he had an affair with one of his young students, has launched a 'Love Party' to contest the upcoming general election. His manifesto will pledge new 'love parks' where couples can canoodle in peace without fear of arrest or being beaten by police officers or morality campaigners. India's public parks have become moral battlegrounds between amorous couples stealing kisses away from their family chaperones and members of the so-called 'Hindu Taliban', traditionalists who attack dallying couples who show affection in public. Professor Matuk Nath Choudhary, 57, is...

For people whose view of history extends beyond last week, the furor over Notre Dame’s decision to invite President Barack Obama to be its commencement speaker and receive an honorary degree is simply the latest chapter in an old story by the name of “Americanism.” Notre Dame is a paradigmatic institution — flagship of the Americanist impulse in U.S. Catholicism — and with the uproar over our pro-abortion president the university’s special status has come home to roost for folks under the Golden Dome. Pope Leo XIII in 1899 condemned a heresy he called Americanism as a “reprehensible” error. He...

Pope Benedict XVI will tonight attack the rise of aggressive secularism in western societies, warning them that they risked drifting into a 'desert of godlessness'. The Bavarian-born Pontiff will use his Good Friday meditations to compare deliberate attempts to purge religion from public life to the mockery of Jesus Christ by the mob as he was led out to be crucified. He will say said that 'religious sentiments' were increasingly ranked among the 'unwelcome leftovers of antiquity' and held up to scorn and ridicule. 'We are shocked to see to what levels of brutality human beings can sink,' he will...

Minnesota's epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases climbed to a new high in 2008 with a total of 17,650 new cases. That's 3.5 percent more than the 16,428 new cases reported in 2007, according to the Minnesota Health Department's annual report on chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis. The number went up despite a significant drop in gonorrhea. The vast majority of new cases were chlamydia, 14,350 in all, said Peter Carr, director of the department's STD section. The number climbed 7 percent from the previous year, the continuation of a 13-year trend of ever higher rates of infection. Chlamydia cases have more...

Debra Haffner delights in the reactions she gets when strangers ask her what she does for a living. "I'm a minister and a sexologist," she says. They blink their eyes and try to reconcile what seems to them to be two opposing forces. Religion in the U.S., after all, seems to have quite a reputation for trying to stifle the joy of sex. So how could she joyfully live in these two worlds of church and sexuality? "Our sexuality and our spirituality are intimately connected," Haffner told a crowd at the First Unitarian Society in Madison earlier this month. At...

Muslims aren't the only ones trying to restrict free speech in Europe. In Britain, for example, the government is facing pressure from homosexual rights activists to overturn a free speech protection amendment added to a controversial “gay hate” law. The free speech protection clause, which states that criticizing homosexual practice or urging people to refrain from such conduct will not, in itself, be a crime, was added to the new offense of “incitement to homophobic hatred.” But now the government wants to remove that protection. The crime of inciting homophobic hatred includes any words or behavior which is threatening and...

WAYNESBORO, Pa. — Seven people — including one clutching a Bible — passionately objected on Tuesday to a proposal that would form a Gay-Straight Alliance club at Waynesboro Area Senior High School. Just as many people were on the other side of the argument, with several of them highlighting strides in unity demonstrated just eight hours earlier on a national scale. “It just seems really important to acknowledge today of all days that we have our first African-American president and how much we’re growing as a country,” said Stephanie Kober, a resident of Clayton Avenue.

A Northern Kentucky teacher is facing criminal charges after police say she sexually abused a student. Twenty-five-year-old Nicole Howell, of Covington, turned herself in to police Tuesday morning. Howell, a teacher from Dayton High School, is charged with one count of sexual abuse. Police say a student traveled to Covington to meet her. Investigators say the alleged relationship occurred between September 1 and November 1 of last year. Howell is out jail after posting a $5,000 bond. We will update this story as more information becomes available. Kentucky Post

Why chastity pledges by U.S. teenagers don't always ring true Teenagers who vow to remain virgins until they marry are just as likely to have pre-marital sex as other young people, a study has found. But they are less likely to use birth control when they do sleep with a partner. The idea of abstaining from sex until marriage has gained wider popularity in the U.S. in the last decade. The Jonas Brothers, a three-piece boy band, are among those vowing to wait until they are married.

The paradigm has shifted. Dating is dated. Hooking up is here to stay. ... To help me understand this phenomenon, I called Kathleen Bogle, a professor at La Salle University in Philadelphia who has studied hooking up among college students and is the author of the 2008 book, “Hooking Up: Sex, Dating and Relationships on Campus.” It turns out that everything is the opposite of what I remember. Under the old model, you dated a few times and, if you really liked the person, you might consider having sex. Under the new model, you hook up a few times and,...

This week, the creative minds behind “Hairspray,” composer Marc Shaiman and director Adam Shankman, opened their “Prop 8: The Musical” with an all-star studded cast that includes Jack Black, Neil Patrick Harris and John C. Reilly at Sacramento Community College. You can watch it here. The point of the production is to shame the voting public for passing Proposition 8 a month ago, which simply defined marriage in California as between a man and a woman. The musical is clearly intended to spark more “public outrage.” No doubt, more protests, more storming of Mormon temples and Catholic churches and more...

A filmmaker who recently released an independent project about a formula that turns all heterosexuals into "gays" now has announced he's working on "The Princess Diana Bible" in which "God" ordains homosexuality as the better lifestyle. "There are many different versions of the Bible; I don't see why we can't have one," stated Max Mitchell in a statement on a website for his new project. The "gay Bible," produced by the New Mexico-based Revision Studios, states God instructs "it is better to be gay than straight." Mitchell said he developed the idea for the "Bible" from his new movie project,...

Sunday, November 30, 2008 Reaping The Consequences The latest article posted by the AP (Associated Press) stated that about 26 percent of New York City adults have genital herpes, compared to about 19 percent nationwide. My friend, this is only the tip of the decadent iceberg! The New York Health Department stated that genital herpes can double a person's risk for contracting HIV. The rate of contracting herpes is highest among New Yorkers, women, gay men and black people. My beloved, one-in-four New Yorkers has herpes!!! That's 2,000,000 individuals! This statistic should frighten and alarm any sane individual. How can...

This poster from the French government is aimed at reassuring young people who are "discovering" themselves that there is no difference between homosexuality and heterosexuality. It reads: The only difference between homosexuality and heterosexuality is homophobia. When you are an adolescent and wondering about your emotional and sexual orientation, you may unfortunately also discover homophobia and its violence. This period in your life is often difficult to endure and can lead to serious problems, sometimes even suicide. A national re-education campaign signed by: The Ministry of Health, Youth, Sports and Related Associations; and the National Institute of Health.

Natalie Portman turned down the chance to play a nun opposite movie great Meryl Streep in Doubt - because she can't get her head around celibacy. The actress was at one point very interested in the movie adaptation of John Patrick Shanley's hit play - but she turned the part down because she couldn't see herself as a lifelong virgin.

The right-wing just won't let go of their "Barack Obama is not a U.S. citizen" bit of nonsense. Today the Christiantist site World Net Daily is asking their readers to FedEx letters to the Supreme Court demanding they hold a hearing on the subject. They also want letters sent to Republican members of Congress saying, "Please hold congressional hearings to investigate whether Barack Obama meets the basic constitutional requirements for the highest office of the land." They are also demanding that the members of the Electoral College prove Obama's citizenship before their December 15th vote that will officially make him...

Lack of feminist support for governor is not hypocritical For the record, Sarah Palin was far from the feminist ideal. Seriously. I have yet to come across one feminist-identified individual with an iota of support for the woman. However, political commentators displayed their limited understanding of feminism by considering this lack of support hypocritical. In their minds, Palin was strong, confident and defiant of gender norms. She was basically a man (say, George Bush for example) in a woman’s body. Kate Obenshain’s Nov. 21 article for the Washington Times, “Radical feminism’s mighty foe,” falls in line with this critique. According...

The teacher guilty of having sex with a student at Brighton Collegiate High School is in jail for violating terms of her probation — namely having sex with another parolee and testing positive for alcohol consumption. Carrie McCandless began serving a 30-day jail sentence at the Larimer County Detention Center Friday after voluntarily turning herself in to Weld County Probation officials. She did not appear in court to contest the violations, according to Larimer County district attorney officials. McCandless waived the court appearance by signing documents dated March 13. The sexual encounter was discovered on March 6 when a parole...

I'm sorry, but if teachers or coaches seduce high school students, they ought to spend some time in jail. That's not been happening around here lately. - Erin McLean, 29, a student teacher at West High School, had an affair with a male student that led to his death. She left town, got another teaching job in Nashville, tried to seduce another boy, then skipped out when that came to light. Prosecution has not been pursued. - David Higgins, 51, a West High ROTC instructor, videotaped female cadets changing clothes and convinced them to disrobe and perform stunts. He got...