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All in the family    JOHN LEO Why a strong, intact home life is the biggest single factor in raising good, successful kids. It took the media a while to acknowledge that most of Katrina's victims were black. Apparently, it will take longer to mention that most of the victims were women and children. I noticed three commentators who brought up the delicate subject of the mostly missing males — George Will, Gary Bauer, and Thomas Bray, a columnist for the Detroit News. Will noted that 76 percent of births to Louisiana's African-Americans are to unmarried women, and probably more...

NEWARK, N.J. -- From the moment they held hands, pledged their love and signed documents in New York registering themselves as domestic partners, Kimberly Robinson and Jeanne LoCicero considered themselves a family. And when they decided to have a baby through artificial insemination, the Essex County couple wanted the courts to consider them one as well. On Wednesday, they got their wish. In a first-of-its kind ruling in New Jersey, a judge granted LoCicero full co-parenting rights to the baby Robinson bore, without having to go through lengthy adoption proceedings. Thus, they will both be listed as parents on the...

"The Masculine Question" Brought to Life Interview with Bioethicist and Educator Antonello Vanni ROME, NOV. 12, 2004 (Zenit.org).- In his latest book, Antonello Vanni, educator and bioethicist of the Catholic University of Milan, analyzes the causes that have estranged fathers from life and the serious effects this estrangement has had on the family and society. His book, "The Father and Nascent Life. A Proposal to the Christian Conscience in Favor of Life and the Family," was published this year by Francesco Nastro. In this interview with ZENIT, the bioethicist highlights the responsibility of the media -- often vehicle of messages...

This is part of a series of stories examining the cultural, social and political currents swirling around marriage. In ancient Greece and Rome, marriage was primarily a way for the upper class to pass down family property. In early American Colonial times, a man and woman were considered married if they simply said they were. And it wasn't until about a century ago that the practice of marrying for romantic love became widespread. In the national debate over gay marriage, supporters say marriage is about love and commitment between two people, and that to deny gay men and lesbians the...

Young Man, Let me share my thoughts on the kind of woman you need…Divorced Eye for the Young Guy October 18, 2003 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- by Drew Taggart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here’s a joke… DON’T stop me if you’ve heard it before… When I was young, I wanted a woman to love, marry and together, build a life. I met someone and she was creative, artistic and an accomplished classical musician; Truly a free spirit. So free spirited she found another man, actually several…So many young men talk about today’s women, their experiences, all of the miserable, failed dates and relationships they’ve had. If...

President Bush has proclaimed Oct. 12-18 as Marriage Protection Week, calling the institution's preservation "essential to the continued strength of our society." The president issued the proclamation Oct. 3, one day after a coalition of 25 evangelical Christian and conservative organizations announced a campaign to preserve marriage as the union of a man and a woman. The effort, campaign leaders said, will begin with Marriage Protection Week and will work toward passage of a constitutional amendment to preserve the biblical and traditional definition of the institution. The Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and other organizations formed the coalition...

On the bulletin board at my frantic Gymboree in Los Angeles there are flyers, business cards, and tear-off slips for services targeted at every brand of overbooked, underappreciated post-feminist new mother. There are lactation support groups, baby yoga classes, eco-friendly housecleaners, Reiki-trained doulas, and a service that takes the notion of mother's helper to a whole new level: "Nanny and Me: For your caregiver and child—courses in Spanish that lovingly teach your Latina nanny the customs and daily practices of Jewish culture." This would be ripe fodder for Arlie Russell Hochschild, a sociologist and the author of The Second Shift...

Home is no place for schoolWed Sep 3, 6:49 AM ET By Dennis L. Evans  The popularity of home schooling, while not significant in terms of the number of children involved, is attracting growing attention from the media, which create the impression that a "movement" is underway. Movement or not, there are compelling reasons to oppose home teaching both for the sake of the children involved and for society. Home schooling is an extension of the misguided notion that "anyone can teach." That notion is simply wrong. Recently, some of our best and brightest college graduates, responding to the altruistic...

<p>Burning Man, the wild counterculture festival held annually in one of the nation's most remote areas, is coming to cities across America.</p> <p>It's time to try to influence the very culture against which this year's record 30,500 Burning Man participants rebelled, the phenomenon's founder and resident visionary said in an interview.</p>

ORONTO, Aug. 30 — When David Andrew, a 41-year-old federal government employee, heard that the highest Ontario court had extended marriage rights to same-sex couples two months ago, he broke into a sweat. "I was dreading the conversation," he said, fearing that his partner would feel jilted when he told him that he did not believe in the institution. "Personally, I saw marriage as a dumbing down of gay relationships. My dread is that soon you will have a complacent bloc of gay and lesbian soccer moms." When he moved in with David Warren, a 41-year-old software company project officer,...

<p>EUGENE, Ore. -- A lesbian couple alleges that O'Hara Catholic School refused admission to their 4-year-old daughter because of their sexual orientation.</p> <p>The couple has complained to the Eugene Human Rights Commission and the Oregon Child Care Division.</p> <p>One of the women, Lee Inkmann, said O'Hara Principal Dianne Bert told her in mid-August that having a family with two mothers at the school would confuse other children, and that gay unions are in conflict with Vatican teachings.</p>

My op eds on Buggering American Civilization and Ten Reasons to Defend Marriage earned the best hate mail. The people who disagree with my Conservatism speak from the overflow of their hearts. They can’t refrain from calling me names. None of them challenged the ideas. Their hate mail even proves my points. Thank you. If the fundamental issues weren’t so important, it would be laughable that we even have to address this question of same-sex marriage. As George Orwell said, “We have now sunk to a depth at which the restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent...

Mould Defends Gay Marriage President's comments draw ire from former Husker frontman President George W. Bush's recent press conference, during which he spoke against gay marriage, has prompted a host of rebuttals from many opposing voices, gay and straight alike. Singer-songwriter Bob Mould does not mince words when it comes to airing his feelings for Bush's declarations; the former Sugar and Husker Du frontman was incensed by the President's comments. "Who is he to decide what is right for civilization?" Mould asks. "Who is he to tell the world how we should perceive two people wanting equal protection under the...

American companies continue to lead the world in politically correct foolishness. Perhaps General Motors should be the poster child for this stupidity disease. The company's "diversity" initiative includes spending company money to support "affinity groups" that celebrate the "collective mixture of similarities and differences" that make up GM's workforce. However, the company has refused to recognize groups of employees that share a common religious background, while openly supporting at least one affinity group of gay and lesbian employees. The "logic" behind this discrimination is bewildering. One employee won't stand for it any longer and has filed a discrimination complaint against...

Selling Homosexuality to America By Craig von Buseck CBN.com Producer In this exclusive interview, Paul Rondeau talks about his in-depth study, Selling Homosexuality to America, which was recently published in the Regent Law Review. CBN.com – In his recent study, Selling Homosexuality to America, marketing expert Paul Rondeau explains, "Among America's culture wars, one of today's most intense controversies rages around the issue alternatively identified, depending on one's point of view, as "normalizing homosexuality" or "accepting gayness." The debate is truly a social-ethical-moral conceptual war that transcends both the scientific and legal, though science and law most often are the...

Is It A Fundamental Constitutional Right To Have Sex With Children, Too? By Lowell Phillips Tuesday July 8, 2003 Toogood Reports "This is a glorious and beautiful time to be queer." Don't start hammering out the hate mail just yet. Those aren't my words, but those of a bona fide "gay rights" activist. Amid the orgy of celebration (pun intended) following the Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling in Lawrence v. Texas, striking down sodomy laws, Molly McKay, spokeswoman for Marriage Equality California proclaimed, "This month has been filled with hope... This is a glorious and beautiful time to be queer." Few...

Spurred on by the Supreme Court's landmark ruling decriminalizing gay sexual conduct, both sides in the debate over gay rights are vowing an intense state-by-state fight over deeply polarizing questions, foremost among them whether gays should be allowed to marry. Even with most legislatures out of session until early next year, lively debates are already taking shape across the country, from Hawaii to Connecticut, Oregon to Alabama to Massachusetts. Potentially fierce battles over marriage and other rights loom in dozens of statehouses and state courts, as social conservatives — including the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist of Tennessee — try...

The Massachusetts Supreme Court is expected to rule this summer that homosexual marriage is legal. Because of the "full faith and credit" clause in the U.S. Constitution, that means that every other state may be forced to accept the legalization of homosexual marriage by recognizing the Massachusetts law. Homosexual marriage will soon be a reality if you fail to get involved! Sign the following petition supporting the Federal Marriage Amendment. (H.J. Res. 56) A Petition to Members of Congress Traditional marriage between a man and woman is the God-ordained building block of the family and bedrock of a civil society....

Something gone wrong when liberals can criticize a conservative administration for imposing big government on the family. Something's especially gone wrong when the administration is then defended — by other liberals. Bush administration proposals to promote "healthy marriages" have generally met with derision from the left, but a PBS documentary has already lent a sympathetic ear, and many Democrats are certain to go along. Government as family therapy was an idea that in fact originated with the Clintons, who saw it as an opportunity for politicizing children and extending government into the deepest recesses of private life. "Children have been...

Darcie Kline has never been the kind of woman who imagined herself walking down the aisle in a poufy white wedding dress. In fact, the whole concept of starting out a union with a wedding has always seemed backward to her. The big celebration, if there is one, should come after you've weathered 10 or 20 years of life's triumphs and tragedies together -- not before, she reasons. So even when she and her longtime partner learned she was pregnant with their first child five years ago, they didn't consider tying the knot. "We both came from families of divorce...