Free Republic

Together with my good friend and occasional courtroom adversary David Boies, I am attempting to persuade a federal court to invalidate California's Proposition 8—the voter-approved measure that overturned California's constitutional right to marry a person of the same sex.... Many of my fellow conservatives have an almost knee-jerk hostility toward gay marriage. This does not make sense, because same-sex unions promote the values conservatives prize. Marriage is one of the basic building blocks of our neighborhoods and our nation. At its best, it is a stable bond between two individuals who work to create a loving household and a social...

Full title: Knights of Columbus issue a pitch-perfect response to the anti-Catholic bigotry to Senators Hirono and Harris Readers of American Thinker ( here, here, and here) are familiar with the appalling religious test for office that seems to be lurking in the questions submitted in writing to a nominee for a federal judgeship by Senators Hirono and Harris. In sum: In a series of questions sent to Buescher, Hirono asked whether his membership in the Knights of Columbus would prevent him from hearing cases "fairly and impartially" and, if confirmed, whether he would end his membership in the organization....

The ugly specter of religious bigotry reared its disgusting head during Senate confirmation of the nomination of Brian Buescher for a federal judgeship. The Constitution’s Article VI, Clause 3 clearly specifies that “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States,” but that must be news to Senators Mazie Hirono and Kamala Harris. Ed Condon of the Catholic News Agency reports:  A judicial nominee faced questions from Senators this month about whether membership in the Knights of Columbus might impede his ability to judge federal cases fairly. The...

San Francisco police officers are being asked to combat racism in the ranks and take a pledge to turn in colleagues displaying intolerant behavior, such as slurs and jokes targeting people of color, gays and women. The pledge is part of a broader public relations campaign by the embattled police department to repair frayed relations with minority neighborhoods and community activists. The campaign comes amid growing tensions between police and black communities that are shaking up departments across the country and have led to the dismissal of top brass in some cities, including Chicago. Politically progressive San Francisco is not...

WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites) said Wednesday he was "troubled" by gay weddings in San Francisco and by legal decisions in Massachusetts that could clear the way for same-sex marriage. But he declined to say whether he is any closer to backing a constitutional ban on such vows. "I have watched carefully what's happening in San Francisco, where licenses were being issued, even though the law states otherwise," Bush said. "I have consistently stated that I'll support law to protect marriage between a man and a woman. Obviously these events are influencing my decision." "I am watching...

In four Gospels - including the Sermon on the Mount - Jesus neglected to mention the subject of homosexuality. But that hasn’t stopped a handful of self-appointed leaders of the so-called Religious Right from deciding that it is an issue worth the presidency of the United States. In what the Washington Times described as a "stormy session" last week, the Rev. Lou Sheldon, Paul Weyrich, Gary Bauer and eight other "social conservatives" read the riot act to RNC chairman Marc Racicot for meeting with the "Human Rights Campaign," a group promoting legal protections for homosexuals. This indiscretion, they said, "could...

Former President Bill Clinton, who in 1996 signed into law an act defining marriage as between a man and woman, said on Thursday the measure was unconstitutional and should be overturned by the Supreme Court. … Noting that the Supreme Court will hear arguments on March 27 challenging the constitutionality of DOMA, Clinton wrote the justices “must decide whether it is consistent with the principles of a nation that honors freedom, equality and justice above all, and is therefore constitutional. As the president who signed the act into law, I have come to believe that DOMA is contrary to those...

A loss for true conservatism (David Shuster)• November 7, 2004 | 2:26 p.m. ETOn Tuesday, eleven different states outlawed gay marriage. The basic argument I heard was not about marriage (more on that below) but about being gay. And a majority of voters seem to believe that homosexuality is an "immoral lifestyle choice." Hmmmm. The problem is that anybody who has a relative or friend who is gay also knows it is not a "choice." It is something wired into the genes of approximately 3 or 4 percent of the human population in every single culture on the planet. Secondly,...

Sen. Kennedy Says Opponents of “Gay Marriage” Are Bigots Sen. Edward Kennedy has told A.P. that opponents of “gay marriage” are bigots. The news service reported last week: “Meanwhile, Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy criticized supporters of a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, saying that would be a civil rights setback. “Kennedy said bigotry should not be written into the federal constitution, and constitutional amendments should be about expanding rights and liberties.” Unitarians Confirm Our Forecast that Group Sex Will be Next The Unitarian Church is now welcoming those who believe in group relationships including the practice of “romantic love.”...

Gotnews.com has independently identified the engineer at the center of the Amtrak crash that has killed at least seven. Brandon Bostian is the 32-year-old gay man who lawyered up after a deadly derailment in Philadelphia. The train was reportedly going twice the speed limit. ABC 6 previously reported that “Brandon Boshan,” not Brandon Bostian, was to blame for the deadly crash. (They have since taken down the link.) Bostian is a gay activist who previously worked at Target as a cashier before joining Amtrak, according to his LinkedIn.

Signers include former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Sens. Susan Collins and Mark Kirk and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie BakerMore than 300 veteran Republican lawmakers, operatives and consultants have filed a friend of the court brief at the Supreme Court in support of same-sex marriage late Thursday. The amicus brief, organized by former Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, was filed for the four same-sex marriage cases the Court will hear on April 28 that could legalize the unions nationwide. In 2013, Mehlman marshaled a similar effort for the case that overturned California’s Proposition 8, which had banned same-sex marriage...

Agency gave gay-rights group names and addresses of political opponents.In all of this past week’s flurry IRS news: Lois Lerner and other IRS’ officials hard drives crashing, emails showing Lerner targeted Sen. Chuck Grassley, and the IRS Commissioner telling Congress they’ve done nothing wrong — some news got lost in the shuffle. The IRS did do something very wrong, admitted it and paid a significant fine to resolve it. Two years after activists for same-sex marriage obtained the confidential tax return and donor list of a national group opposed to redefining marriage, the Internal Revenue Service has admitted wrongdoing and...

Reboot in San Francisco this summer with young Republicans.Startup employees Aaron Ginn, 26 -- a former Mitt Romney campaign worker -- and Garrett Johnson, 29, are looking to do what Democrats have done for almost a decade: connect conservative and libertarian "technologists" with old-school political campaigns with like minds. There just isn't enough opportunity in Silicon Valley. For a dyed-in-the-wool, true-red conservative. So, a pair of Silicon Valley denizens with right-wing politics are planning their answer to Netroots Nation, according to the Huffington Post. Startup employees Aaron Ginn, 26 -- a former Mitt Romney campaign worker -- and Garrett Johnson,...

When it comes to inclusion and equal treatment of LBGT employees, Toyota is at the top of the list. And it helps that the majority of Toyota employees live in a tolerant state like California. But could that change when the company's U.S. headquarters move to Texas in a few years? Toyota is moving 5,300 employees from California (and some in New York and Kentucky) to Plano, Texas, a move Texas welcomed with open arms and an open pocketbook. It'll serve as a devastating blow to Torrance, Calif., who was apparently blindsided by the news. By all accounts, Plano seems...

Just because California Democrats hold every statewide office and a supermajority in the Legislature doesn't mean they're not worried about 2014. Some Democratic insiders fret that, essentially, life may be too good for the party right now. Their lurking fear: Without a high-profile presidential election or a big-name Republican challenger lined up yet against Gov. Jerry Brown, Democratic voters won't be interested enough to cast ballots in November. If that happens, the GOP could pick off a few seats in the Legislature, wrecking the Democrats' two-thirds majority and damaging Brown's ability to move his agenda. Adding to Democratic insiders' anxiety...

The conservative lawyer who defended California’s ban on gay marriage at the Supreme Court is at work on another project: planning his daughter’s upcoming same-sex wedding ceremony. Charles J. Cooper, a former top official in the Reagan Justice Department and onetime “Republican lawyer of the year,” learned of his daughter’s sexual orientation during the legal battle over California’s Proposition 8, according to journalist Jo Becker’s soon-to-be-released book chronicling the movement to legalize same-sex marriage. Ashley Lininger became engaged to a woman identified in the book only as Casey just after the Supreme Court accepted the Proposition 8 case in December...

Republican strategist Karl Rove told George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s This Week that he thinks Republican presidential candidates in 2016 could be supporters of marriage equality. Rove my the comments during a discussion on the Supreme Court’s hearing on a challenge to California’s Proposition 8 schedule for later this week. “Karl Rove, can you imagine the next presidential campaign a Republican candidate saying flat out ‘I am for gay marriage,’” asked Stephanopoulos. “I could,” said Rove, before turning the discussion back to the Supreme Court’s hearing on the issue. Rove said that he thinks some Supreme Court Justices have expressed sentiments...

GOP strategist Karl Rove says he can imagine a Republican candidate in the next presidential campaign supporting gay marriage. The statement from the former adviser to President George W. Bush appears to acknowledge that opposition to gay marriage has waned in some conservative circles. …

On Fox News Sunday this morning, evangelical leader Gary Bauer and Republican strategist Nicole Wallace went head-to-head over the upcoming Supreme Court hearings on overturning Proposition 8, California’s controversial law banning same-sex marriages within the state. “You don’t advance limited government by being an anti-democratic movement that is attempting to take this issue away from the American people,” Bauer said of Wallace and other conservatives who submitted an amicus brief to the court. “What the brief is asking for and what the groups waiting outside the Supreme Court are asking for, is for unelected judges to deny the people of...

While the horror show involving Brendan Eich, Proposition 8, and Mozilla was reaching its ignominious crescendo, I was in Milan, Italy, speaking before an energized crowd of activists in the Lombardy region’s county hall. Unaware of the witch hunt carried out by McCarthy’s rainbow-brandishing gay great-grandsons in Silicon Valley, a middle-aged man came forward and cried out in Italian, “Is it just me, or is the gay lobby imposing a dictatorship on us with their so-called scientific experts?” The science to which he referred wasn’t JavaScript, but rather psychology and pediatrics.  He was referring to homosexual activists’ constant invocation of...