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Bethany may renew their federal contracts by deciding to abandon Christianity in foster-care placements. But in the bigger picture, more abandoned children will run the streetsOn March 1, Bethany Christian Services sent shock waves through the adoption and foster care community with its landmark decision to place children with same-sex parents. There staring out from the pages of The New York Times stood the imposing figure of Chris Palusky, president of this historic Christian agency rooted in the Dutch Reformed world of Grand Rapids, Michigan.The news of surrender hit hard. Bethany, the ten-ton gorilla of adoption and foster care, and...

Just got my annual 1.7% increase notice and with it the statement ;

Although same-sex marriage became legal on Oct. 9 in Nevada, some Las Vegas wedding chapels are refusing to perform the marriages.. Those places are, the American Civil Liberties Union says, breaking the law. An ACLU official on Thursday criticized what he said are “a small number” of for-profit wedding chapel owners who are refusing to perform such ceremonies because of their religious beliefs.

If you were shocked to learn that Utah is gayer than us,then you will probably feel a little confused, anxious, let down, etc. to learn that the state of Mississippi has more same-sex couple raising kids than any other state in the nation. In other words, they are not fleeing to the states that allow same-sex marriage. Now might be a good time to remind readers that Mississippi was ranked one of the top 10 worst states to raise a kid period. Now for your burning question: WTF? A new study by the Williams Institute, a think tank at UCLA,...

Beaver had June and Ward. Ricky had Ozzie and Harriet. Mom and Dad, same-sex couples or blended families, California law is clear: No more than two legal parents per child. When adults fight over parenthood, a judge must decide which two have that right and responsibility – but that could end soon. State Sen. Mark Leno is pushing legislation to allow a child to have multiple parents. "The bill brings California into the 21st century, recognizing that there are more than Ozzie and Harriet families today," the San Francisco Democrat said. Surrogate births, same-sex parenthood and assisted reproduction are changing...

The Pentagon will permit military chaplains to perform same-sex marriage as long as such ceremonies are not prohibited in the states where they reside, it said Friday. Defense Department guidance issued to military chaplains said they may participate in ceremonies on or off military bases in states that recognize gay unions. Chaplains are not required to officiate at same-sex weddings if doing so is counter to their religious or personal beliefs, the guidance said. And regardless of the Pentagon guidance, military chaplains will still need to take cues from their religious order, said Gary Pollitt, spokesman for the Military Chaplains...

LEDYARD, NY, September 29, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Another town clerk in New York may lose her job for refusing to sign marriage licenses for same sex couples, the New York Times reports. Fifty-seven-year-old Rose Marie Belforti has been the town clerk in the small rural town of Ledyard, New York for ten years. When the state of New York legalized homosexual “marriage” this past summer, Belforti decided that she could not reconcile signing same-sex marriage licenses with her Christian faith. Instead, she decided to delegate the task to a deputy, who would issue such licenses by appointment. Now, a lesbian...

The Census Bureau admitted Tuesday that it had “artificially inflated the number of same-sex couples” in the United States, initially reporting a number that was about 40 percent higher than what it now believes is accurate. The original data published by the 2010 Census set the number of same-sex households in the U.S. in 2010 at 901,997, including 349,377 same-sex married couple households and 552,620 same-sex unmarried partner households. But the Census Bureau said in a Tuesday conference call with reporters that it has revised these numbers downward “because Census Bureau staff discovered an inconsistency in the responses in the...

Gay Rights Bill Passes Oregon House Wednesday, April 18, 2007 SALEM, Ore. — Same-sex couples would receive the same benefits as married couples, and gays and lesbians would be protected against discrimination under bills approved Tuesday by the Oregon House. The Senate is expected to pass the two bills and Gov. Ted Kulongoski plans to sign both. The first bill would enable same-sex couples to enter into contractual relationships that grant them the same benefits offered to married couples under state law. The bill refers to the relationships as "domestic partnerships." Oregon would join Vermont, Connecticut, California and New Jersey...

A bill requiring students to learn about the contributions homosexuals have made to society and that would remove sex-specific terms such as "mom" and "dad" from textbooks has passed another hurdle on the way to becoming the law of the land in California. Having already been approved by the state's Senate Judiciary Committee, SB 1437, which would mandate grades 1-12 buy books "accurately" portraying "the sexual diversity of our society," got the nod yesterday of the Senate Education Committee. The bill also requires students hear history lessons on "the contributions of people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender to...

Breaking... Boston Archdiocese has announced it will not be involved in any more Massachusetts adoptions because the state is mandating gay couples be allowed to adopt. Dem talking head on Fox (Bob Beckle of "Common Ground") berating Church as homophobic and wrong...

Last week in Massachusetts, a concerned father took a cheap shot at martyrdom when he refused to post bail after being arrested for trespassing on school property. Care to guess what made this man plant himself outside his son's kindergarten classroom? He was apparently outraged by a booklet his son brought home that introduced all the different kinds of families. Since gay marriage is thankfully legal in the New England state, the booklet of course included same sex couples and their children. What an outrage. How dare public education attempt to combat prejudice through knowledge. The real outrage in this...

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Martha Freeman got the bad news at lunch from her publisher and literary agent. Although "The Trouble With Babies" had received good reviews, the sales of her children's book about a young San Francisco girl were poor compared with the first title in her series, and the paperback rights would not be sold. But more stunning was the reason: A brief passage buried in the book about two gay fathers and their adopted son apparently had discouraged many librarians from buying the title. Although they had enthusiastically purchased Freeman's previous book, "The Trouble With Cats," the...

No easy time for gay immigrants Sunday, November 30, 2003By Maria Elena Salinas Martha Donayre came to the United States from Brazil in 1995 on a student visa. After graduating from San Jose State University, she got a job at a high-tech company in Silicon Valley that allowed her to stay in the country legally on a company-sponsored visa. Then the dot-com debacle put many companies in the area out of business, and put Martha out of a job, a visa and a legal reason to stay in the United States.Losing her job meant that she had to go...

<p>After years of political fighting, the Legislature gave final approval Wednesday to fiercely debated legislation promising marriage-like rights to gay couples and allowing illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses.</p> <p>Gov. Gray Davis has vowed to sign both bills, AB 205 and SB 60, which targeted two of the state's most contentious social issues and sharply divided lawmakers along party lines, with most Democrats supporting the proposals and most Republicans opposed.</p>

Washington - Rep. Dennis Kucinich, whose political stances are attracting support from an array of liberal and celebrity donors, yesterday came out in support of same-sex marriage. Kucinich's strong backing of gay marriage appears to mark a change in his thinking. As a candidate for Congress in 1996, he said he opposed a change in law to allow same-sex marriages. But yesterday, at a forum for presidential contenders sponsored by a gay-rights group, the Cleveland Democrat said "there should be a federal law that would allow gay couples to be married," rather than leaving the matter to the states. "We...

Same-sex couples throughout Cook County would enjoy the same right to register as domestic partners as residents of Oak Park and San Francisco, under a proposal introduced Tuesday in the Cook County Board. Commissioner Mike Quigley (D-Chicago) has 11 of the county board's 17 members signed on as sponsors or co-sponsors. Sharing the top line with him as sponsors are County Board President John Stroger and County Board Finance Chairman John Daley, the mayor's brother. All of that bodes well for the measure's passage. None of the board's five Republicans is listed as co-sponsor, though Quigley hopes to get one...

(Hartford-AP, Apr. 21, 2003 8:03 PM) _ Same-sex marriage could boost tourism in Connecticut by bringing couples seeking to wed. That's according to a study by the state Office of Legislative Research and reported yesterday by The New York Times. The study found that same-sex civil unions have helped tourism in Vermont and could do the same for Connecticut. Civil unions in Vermont are legal. But an effort to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples and establish a domestic registry system was rejected April Ninth in the Connecticut General Assembly's Judiciary Committee. The state's Office of Fiscal Analysis estimated that...

DANBURY — Nancy Lavoie and her girlfriend Sandy MacIntyre began living together in Danbury in 1993. Like many committed couples, they decided to start a family. After much discussion, they decided that MacIntyre would try to get pregnant through artificial insemination. First came a boy, in 1997, and two years later, they had a daughter. By all accounts the children are healthy, happy and well-adjusted. But although the children thrived, the couple’s relationship came apart. At some point after they broke up in 2001, MacIntyre banned Lavoie from the children’s lives. So Lavoie took her former girlfriend to Superior Court,...

What constitutes a couple? By JEFF WRIGHT The Register-Guard   Recommend this story to others.   How do you measure a couple's commitment to one another, and determine whether it's real enough to receive the government's blessing? Those questions surfaced Tuesday at the first of four forums sponsored by the Eugene Human Rights Commission on whether the city should establish a domestic partner registry for same-sex couples and unmarried heterosexuals. Dozens of cities from New York to West Hollywood have adopted similar registries, including Portland/Multnomah County and Ashland. Couples who sign such registries, while not legally married, become potentially eligible for...