Free Republic

Last month, TLC, the American cable network responsible for reality TV shows such as Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, My 600-lb. Life and 19 Kids and Counting, aired a new hour-long reality special called My Husband’s Not Gay, about a group of married Mormon men who are very gay indeed. The show’s stars, four Utah husbands who claim to love their heterosexual wives deeply, are openly and exclusively attracted to other men. They are also heavily steeped in the ideology of “ex-gay” conversion therapy, a contradiction they reconcile by treating their homosexuality—which they’ve labeled “SSA,” or “same sex attraction”—as an...

Dear friends, You are welcome in congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). We are a church that believes it is wrong to discriminate against anyone based on sexual orientation. All are welcome. We celebrate diversity. While Lutherans in the U.S. are not of one mind about sexual orientation, the ELCA, the largest Lutheran denomination in North America, has taken a stand as an open, affirming church where all are welcome. I recognize that some of you have been wounded by churches. On behalf of the church, I apologize for the hurtful comments, exclusion, and discrimination you have...

A prostitution sting resulted in eight arrests Thursday night in Grand Forks. The Grand Forks Police Department conducted the operation by putting advertisements on Backpage.com, a classified advertising website. The arrests were made at a local hotel, according to Lt. Dwight Love of the Grand Forks Police Department. Love said the ad netted 30 to 40 responses. "Quite honestly, we could probably do it once a week for a while and get that many," he said. "We were pretty shocked by the level of responses we got."

The sexual revolution that began in earnest five decades ago with promises of new and liberating sexual freedoms has instead left behind a shattered moral landscape that has undermined the fabric and foundation of our nation. Casting off what was perceived as the puritanical restraints of previous generations, the '60s and '70s launched a new era of sexual experimentation. The revolution, publicly inaugurated by 1967's "Summer of Love" in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district, promised an enlightened age of sexual morality. The new thinking said cohabitation wasn't really a problem. Divorce wasn't nearly as harmful as once thought. Promiscuity presented no...

“Obamacare’s shoddy implementation doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of its great evil,” reported Breitbart late last year, referring to the healthcare rationing that is insidiously hidden within the pages of the evasive law. Perhaps the most alarming criterion of healthcare rationing found in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the plan’s death panel language.Democrats vehemently denied that death panels would play a role in the ACA, but the law itself states that doctors will be paid to have discussions with patients about living wills, advance directives, and end-of-life options.Killing patients whose perceived utility is declining is not exclusively...

Newsweek has a long article–in which I briefly appear–exploring how and why the euthanasia monster broke its fetters to turn the Netherlands into ground zero for the culture of death (now seriously challenged by the even more death-enthusiastic Belgians).Reporter Winston Ross interviewed experts and the impacted on both sides of the issue, so you should read the whole thing. What I wanted to share here, are the theories about why Netherlanders have permitted euthanasia with virtually no meaningful limits.First, media propaganda. From, “Dying Dutch: Once a supporter of euthanasia, he’s now one of its most vocal critics. Among the reasons...

Imagine that you are playing baseball. Your pitcher pitches a perfect game and your hitters amass 30 runs, but you still lose the game. What should be obvious is that you are playing the game by the wrong rules. This ridiculous situation is analogous to the efforts of various groups to protect traditional marriage in the United States. Some years back, as we all became aware that gay “marriage” would become the front-line battleground in our progressive culture war, numerous efforts were made to protect marriage. Beyond the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) at the federal level, most other efforts...

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Greg McNeilly occupies the chasm dividing gay rights activists and conservative Republicans. The GOP strategist unabashedly claims membership in the two groups that have been on opposite sides of the battle over legalizing gay marriage. McNeilly's marriage to Lansing attorney Doug Meeks is one of 300 that will now be recognized by the state following a federal court injunction, and Gov. Rick Snyder's decision not to appeal the decision. Savoring the legal victory is difficult for McNeilly when thousands of same sex couples can not be married or have their marriages recognized in this state. The...

In December 2014, Planned Parenthood Federation of America released their annual report for the 2013-2014 fiscal year. In the report, they list their twelve top moments of the year, from helping reduce teen pregnancy to “fighting” breast cancer. They even included their work in influencing pop culture by fighting abortion stigma in the movie Obvious Child.Planned Parenthood seems especially proud that they influenced 126,494 youth through a new chat and text program online. According to their report, this program helps teens reach dedicated “specialists” at urgent moments to provide advice.They go on to brag that our generation will be the...

WASHINGTON, D.C., February 11, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) – President Barack Obama is denying an account by a close adviser that he lied about his views on gay “marriage” to get elected president in 2008. In an interview yesterday, Obama said he didn't lie; it's just that he was misunderstood.However, Obama admitted he supported government-enforced recognition of homosexuality, and “it was frustrating to me” that he had to “square that with what were a whole bunch of religious sensitivities out there.”Obama's close campaign operative and senior adviser David Axelrod wrote that Obama always favored redefining marriage but lied about it in order...

Washington D.C., Feb 7, 2015 / 05:09 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The U.S. bishops and several other Catholic and pro-life groups are asking Congress to nullify two new Washington, D.C. laws that they say could choke their ability to operate according to their religious beliefs. The legislation amounts to “unprecedented assaults upon our organizations,” the coalition of groups stated in a letter to all members of Congress. “Both laws violate the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of association protected by the First Amendment and other federal law.” After a bill is signed into law by the D.C. mayor,...

On February 5, 2015 the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) released updates and new additions to the Health and Human Services (HHS) Teen Pregnancy Prevention Evidence Review and evidence-based programs list. The revised list of 37 programs now includes GET REAL a curriculum developed by abortion giant Planned Parenthood. Get Real is a sex education program for middle and high school students and was developed by Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts. The Get Real middle school curriculum is a three-year program comprising a total of 27 lessons—9 lessons delivered in each of the 6th, 7th,...

Last week, a professor at the University of California in Santa Barbara allegedly assaulted a pro-life activist and stole her and her sister's signs containing graphic images of abortion. The picture above shows the professor, Dr. Mireille Miller-Young, accompanied by two other students who helped her carry the signs away. While almost everyone thinks people should have the right to publicly display images of abortion (except for pro-abortion activists like this professor who say it's “visual terrorism”), many people, including pro-life advocates, are divided over whether it is prudent or even morally right to publicly display such images. In this...

DENVER, Colorado, February 6, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) -- In the wake of allegations that a boy presenting himself as female harassed girls in a high school restroom, lawmakers in Colorado tried this week to walk back some of the damage done by the state’s controversial transgender bathroom law, which mandates that self-identified “transgender” individuals be allowed to use the bathroom and changing facilities of their choice, regardless of biological sex. Rep. Kim Ransom, R-Littleton, introduced a bill that would have permitted facility operators to decide for themselves whether to permit cross-gender use of sex-segregated facilities, without putting themselves at risk of...

DENVER, Colorado, February 6, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) -- In the wake of allegations that a boy presenting himself as female harassed girls in a high school restroom, lawmakers in Colorado tried this week to walk back some of the damage done by the state’s controversial transgender bathroom law, which mandates that self-identified “transgender” individuals be allowed to use the bathroom and changing facilities of their choice, regardless of biological sex. Rep. Kim Ransom, R-Littleton, introduced a bill that would have permitted facility operators to decide for themselves whether to permit cross-gender use of sex-segregated facilities, without putting themselves at risk of...

OTTAWA, February 6, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) — In a momentous ruling this morning, Canada’s highest court unanimously ruled to open the door to a doctor helping kill someone nearing the end-of-life stage, a ruling comparable to the sweeping Morgentaler ruling 27 years ago that allowed a doctor to kill someone at the earliest pre-born stage of life. In Carter v. Canada, the Court overturned a previous law prohibiting assisted suicide, in effect reversing the previous 1993 Rodriguez decision in which it said the state’s obligation to “protect the vulnerable” outweighed the rights of the individual to self-determination. The ruling makes Canada join...

When Samuel Forrest of Armenia heard a baby crying from outside his wife's hospital room, he knew his life would change forever. Not only had he become a father, but he would soon receive some unexpected news about his newborn son. "This pediatrician walks out of the room with a little bundle -- that was Leo," Forrest said. "She had his face covered up and hospital authorities wouldn't let me see him or my wife. When the doctor came out, he said 'there’s a real problem with your son.' Forrest followed doctors and nurses into a room where he'd finally...

February 5, 2015 (BreakPoint.org) -- In late January, the Supreme Court of California ruled that, starting January 21, 2016, judges in that state can no longer be affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America.I’m not sure what troubles me most about this story: the ruling itself or the lack of attention being paid to it.California is one of 47 states that bans its judges from belonging to organizations that discriminate against certain groups of people. In more than half of these instances, we are talking about discrimination on the basis of race, religion, national origin, or sex.In the twenty-two states...

A mother of six with an IQ of 70 should be sterilised for her own safety, the Court of Protection has ruled. The Court heard that a further pregnancy would be a "significantly life-threatening event" for both the mother and child. Mr Justice Cobb said the woman had the "same human rights" as everyone else and this was not a case of "eugenics". He has authorised health and council services to intervene and perform the sterilisation. The name of the woman has not been released, to protect the identify of her children.

When Barack Obama nominated John P. Holdren as his Science Adviser last December 20, the president-elect stated "promoting science isn’t just about providing resources" but "ensuring that facts and evidence are never twisted or obscured by politics or ideology." In nominating John Holdren, his words could scarcely have taken a more Orwellian ring. Some critics have noted Holdren's penchant for making apocalyptic predictions that never come to pass, and categorizing all criticism of his alarmist views as not only wrong but dangerous. What none has yet noted is that Holdren is a globalist who has endorsed "surrender of sovereignty" to...