Free Republic

DALLAS – A Texas appeals court said Tuesday that gay couples legally married in other states cannot get a divorce in Texas, where same-sex marriage is banned. The 5th Texas Court of Appeals ruled that a Dallas district court judge didn't have the authority to hear a divorce case involving two Dallas men who married in Massachusetts in 2006. The state had appealed after Judge Tena Callahan said she did have jurisdiction and dismissed its attempt to intervene. Callahan also ruled that the state couldn't limit marriage to a man and a woman, and the appeals court overturned that ruling...

A growing number of Republicans are breaking with the party's traditional stance to publicly state their support for same-sex marriage, a shift strategists say stems as much from demographics as from the renewed focus on economics and the "tea party" movement. A solid majority of adults younger than 30 - about six in 10 - support the right of gay and lesbian couples to legally wed, according to a Washington Post poll in February. But even many older Americans and self-identified social conservatives have changed their view on an issue that just six years ago galvanized voters in support of...

In GOP base, a 'rebellion brewing' By: Ben Smith and Jonathan Martin April 26, 2009 07:03 AM EST A quick tour through the week’s headlines suggests the Republican Party is beginning to come to terms with the last election and that consensus is emerging among GOP elites that the party needs to move away from discordant social issues. There was Sen. John McCain's daughter and his campaign manager who last week demanded that their fellow Republicans embrace same-sex marriage. Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman – the most devoted modernizer among the party's 2012 hopefuls – won approving words from New York...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Chet Culver on Tuesday ended days of silence on the Iowa Supreme Court's decision allowing same-sex marriage, saying he disagrees with the ruling but is "reluctant to support" amending the state constitution to reverse it. Culver said in a lengthy statement that he hadn't changed his mind that marriage is between a man and a woman: "This is a tenet of my personal faith." However, Culver said the issue before the court in its unanimous ruling Friday involved only civil marriage, and that churches and other religious institutions do not have to perform them....

Rick Warren had a surprisingly candid response to Ann Curry's question as to whether he would change his views on homosexuality if it were established that people are born gay. The pastor of the Saddleback Church, explaining why such a finding wouldn't cause him to change his position, observed that he is inclined to want to have sex with every beautiful woman he sees, but that that doesn't make it right. Curry interviewed Warren for a Dateline segment that will be aired tonight on NBC. As noteworthy as Warren's admission was the righteous liberal anger, captured in the screengrab, Curry...

Saw this on Drudge today. Not sure what else to say. Put on your dancing shoes, it's time to sing.

Gay couple living American dream They fear Prop. 8 threatens their civil rights By Brian Charles The Galluccio family doesn’t look much different than most American families — except two dads head the household. “We sit down for dinner. We even say grace,” said Jon Galluccio, 45. Jon and Michael Galluccio are a gay couple and the parents of three adopted children. A recent Yes on Prop. 8 rally left the Galluccio’s steaming. “Why is my life, liberty and my pursuit of happiness a threat to anyone?” said Michael Galluccio, 46. The No on 8 sign stands in their front...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Comedian Ellen DeGeneres has bought $100,000 of television airtime to urge Californians to vote to save the right to gay marriage in a November ballot, campaign organizers said on Friday

Please, please watch and then spread this video to EVERYONE you know, particularly in California regarding Proposition 8 and the marriage amendment. THE BEST GIFT TO A CHILD - VOTE YES ON PROPOSITION 8

MODESTO, Calif., Oct 13, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- In a violent display of intolerance, an opponent of Proposition 8 attacked and seriously injured a man who was volunteering on Sunday for the initiative to define marriage as between and a man and a woman.

California voters are set to decide on a ballot initiative banning same-sex marriage, and a recent poll shows support for the initiative is gaining ground. Proposition 8 would overrule the California Supreme Court’s May 15 decision that allowed same-sex marriage, and it would amend the state constitution to reserve marriage licenses only for a man and a woman. The state Supreme Court’s ruling made California the second state behind Massachusetts to legalize homosexual marriage. On Friday, Connecticut became the third state to allow same-sex marriage thanks to a ruling by the state Supreme Court. A poll conducted by SurveyUSA on...

CBNNews.com October 13, 2008 CBNNews.com - A group of first graders in San Francisco took a school-sponsored field trip to a homosexual wedding. The San Francisco Chronicle reports the five-and six-year-olds were pulled out of school to "toss rose petals" on their newly married teacher. The school's interim director called it "a teachable moment." But one pro-family group called it "overt indoctrination." "This is overt indoctrination of children who are too young to understand it," said Chip White, Press Secretary for Yes on Proposition 8. The parents of two students opted out of letting them go to the gay wedding....

A photo exhibit featuring partners in same-sex relationships will be on display beginning Sunday at First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1609 University Ave. An open house will be held Sunday from 1-3 p.m., and the exhibit will be on display at the church for one week. The exhibit, titled "Shall Not Be Recognized," was created by Jeff Pearcy and Will Fellows in response to the passage of the 2006 marriage amendment in Wisconsin that does not legally recognize same-sex relationships. The display includes 30 photographs of couples who have been together for seven to 50 years. "In recent years,...

A federal court decision approving mandatory public school instruction for children as young as kindergarten in how to be homosexual is being allowed to stand, drawing a description of "despicable" from the parent who unsuccessfully challenged his school district's "gay" advocacy agenda. The U.S. Supreme Court without comment has refused to intervene in a case prompted by the actions of officials at Estabrook Elementary school in Lexington, Mass., who not only were teaching homosexuality to young children, but specifically refused to allow Christian parents to opt their children out of the indoctrination. The case on which WND has reported previously...

A Michigan pro-family group has joined a nationwide boycott of a major greeting card company as a result of its promotion of the homosexual lifestyle. The American Family Association of Michigan has joined forces with several other pro-family groups around the country to boycott Hallmark over the company's new line of "same-sex couple" cards. AFA-Michigan's President Gay Glenn said, “Hallmark’s corporate position helps culturally legitimize and promote so-called homosexual ‘marriage,’ using its customers’ money to do so.” He added, “Each of us should ensure as a matter of conscience that Hallmark isn’t able to use any of our families’ money.”...

 Contact: Agency Contact, 877-405-4005, Campaign for Children and Families   SACRAMENTO, California, October 6 /Christian Newswire/ -- Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed three bills squashing moral values and religious freedom. By elevating the homosexual-bisexual-transsexual agenda above the rights of everyone else, Schwarzenegger has confirmed his legacy is being the most anti-family Republican governor in California history.   "There is no gay gene, but religious freedom is a God-given right enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. So it's wrong and unfair to create new laws which make homosexual-bisexual-transsexual 'rights' superior to everyone else's rights," said Randy Thomasson, president of Campaign for Children...

Supporters of Proposition 8, which would ban same-sex marriage in California, are running their first television ad.The commercial features San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom making a celebratory speech. The state Supreme Court had just invalidated a law overwhelmingly passed by voters in 2000 that declared "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." Following is a text of the ad and an analysis by Aurelio Rojas of The Bee's Capitol Bureau: The ad Newsom: This door's wide open now. It's going to happen whether you like it or not.Narrator: Four judges ignored 4 million...

Lunch hour on Figueroa Street, downtown Los Angeles: Stepping onto the sidewalk, he said: "Let me see that sign." The sign held by TFP volunteer Mr. Thomas Schneider read "God's marriage = 1 man, 1 woman = children." ...Just then another businessman turned to Mr. Schneider and chimed in: "You're 120% percent correct!.." ...[A] pro-homosexual woman attempted to stop our campaign. "You should really stop what you're doing and leave. If violence breaks out," she told me, "you will be responsible for it. You are inciting people to acts of hate and violence." Her face muscles and hands quivered and...

Today, the National Stonewall Democrats issued the following statement in response by accusations from Governor Sarah Palin that sexual orientation is a choice: "John McCain chose a poor running mate, but he did not choose his sexual orientation. This is another example of why we need a pro-equality President like Barack Obama in the White House. For Governor Palin to suggest that individuals randomly choose their sexual orientation based on nothing but a whim is wrong and it repeats the talking points of the anti-gay special interests which continue to control the McCain/Palin campaign and the Republican Party."...

Opponents of same-sex marriage didn't have to look far to find footage of a boisterous San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom declaring - in his best Howard Dean voice - that gay marriage is here to stay, "like it or not." They took it right off the city's official Web site. "It stood out like a diamond on a donkey's behind," said Frank Schubert, co-chairman of the campaign to pass Proposition 8, the constitutional amendment on the Nov. 4 ballot to ban same-sex marriages. The Newsom moment was like a gift from fundamentalist heaven."He just looked so smug and cocky," Schubert...