Free Republic

Rick Perry is waaaaaaaaay behind in polls everywhere, so he’s literally throwing a Hail Mary pass to Iowa’s conservative evangelical Christian community with a new TV ad that is getting pounded across the political spectrum — and even from within Perry’s campaign — for its anti-gay message. “I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a Christian,” Perry says in the ad currently in heavy rotation in Iowa. “But you don’t need to be in the pew every Sunday to know that there’s something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military, but our kids can’t openly...

Here’s a story that’ll tickle your McRibs. On December 1 a law seemingly banning McDonald’s Happy Meals went into effect in San Francisco. The “Healthy Meal Incentives Ordinance” prohibits restaurants from giving away toys with meals that do not meet with the city’s approval — namely, meals with too many calories, too much salt or fat, or insufficient fruits and vegetables. Just a few days before the ordinance took effect, SF Weekly reports, McDonald’s announced it had found a simple way around the statute: Charge customers extra for the toys. Now in order to obtain a Happy Meal toy, parents...

Radical homosexual group ‘encouraged’ by archbishop’s inaction at Most Holy RedeemerThe Rainbow Sash Movement, a homosexual-rights group known for disrupting Masses across the world on Pentecost Sundays, says San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer’s failure to police activities at the notoriously ‘gay-friendly’ Most Holy Redeemer parish “should be applauded.” In a Nov. 22 news release -- the same day California Catholic Daily published a story about the scheduled appearance of retired Episcopal Bishop Otis Charles at Most Holy Redeemer -- Rainbow Sash said it “wishes to congratulate the people and pastor” of the parish for inviting Bishop Charles, noting he had...

Three members of an amateur San Francisco team who said they were branded "not gay enough" and stripped of their second-place finish at the Gay Softball World Series have settled their lawsuit against a national gay sports organization. Steven Apilado, LaRon Charles and Jon Russ, who were members of D2, a team that was part of the San Francisco Gay Softball League, will receive an undisclosed sum from the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance and will get their second-place 2008 championship trophy back,

A notoriously 'gay-friendly' parish in San Francisco has invited an openly homosexual Episcopalian cleric to lead an Advent Vespers service. Most Holy Redeemer parish asked Bishop Otis Charles, a retired Episcopalian prelate, to lead the November 30 service. After serving as the Bishop of Utah from 1971 to 1993, he publicly announced that he is homosexual. Divorced from the mother of his 5 children, he solemnized a same-sex union in 2004.

San Francisco's new ordinance leveled at pro-life pregnancy centers will face federal court scrutiny. The core of the lawsuit is First Amendment viewpoint discrimination. First Resort is a chain of pro-life centers filing the case. The group's CEO Shari Plunkett claims the Pregnancy Information Disclosure and Protection Ordination was "crafted to target one or two specific organizations and carefully shelter from its scope all groups whose viewpoints the city agrees with." Paul Suis, a longtime board member for First Resort, explains to OneNewsNow that two layers of the ordinance ensure it could only be applied to pro-life pregnancy centers and...

Ferry Building merchants and managers are fed up with the mayhem that has come with the nearby Occupy SF encampment. A spike in shoplifting, break-ins and reports of abandoned human waste — and a reported drop in foot traffic — has management fuming about the Justin Herman Plaza encampment. There even are reports of occupiers using the building’s restrooms as washrooms — with folks taking sponge baths from toilets. And last Monday, eight men were allegedly escorted out of the building after they attempted to use the bathrooms wearing nothing but their boxer shorts. Property manager Jane Connors has written...

There's one for Michael Savage to comment on. Seriously, that city is disgusting. Potholes, junkies, bums, naked gay men walking around everywhere, etc.Yuck.

Are You For or Against a Tip Increase At San Francisco Restaurants? Yes, They deserve more money! No, Keep the standard the same! I don't tip at all...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TivVcfSBVSM

(CNN) - Early on in life, Mitch Mayne knew exactly who he was. He would race home...to watch reruns of “Star Trek” and swoon over his crush, Captain Kirk. At 8, after his parents converted, he was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints... It is where he feels spiritually at home, irrespective of the fact that, for the past 10 years, he’s been openly gay. “I’m a man that lives in two worlds that a lot of people don’t think intersect,” Mayne said... Actively Mormon and openly gay: It's the sort of combo that might leave...

Hanging out on a street corner has taken on new meaning in San Francisco. Several dozen men and at least one woman took part in a naked protest Saturday in San Francisco's Castro District that has become known for its nude visitors. Some participants carried signs that read, "Nudity is Not a Crime" and "Get Your Hate Off My Body," . . .

Consider yourself warned: those naked guys in the Castro are going to turn out in force on Saturday for a noon-time “nude-in” at what they call The Buff Stop. (For non-nudists, that’s the plaza at the corner of Castro and 17th Street.) Though the naked guys aren’t fans of Supervisor Scott Wiener’s recently proposed legislation mandating that they put a towel down on a public chair or bench before sitting on it, the nude-in is actually unrelated. It was planned weeks ago as a sort of pre-party for Sunday’s Folsom Street Fair. Because, you know, that day-long celebration of all...

The citizens of San Francisco will be voting on a proposition that seeks to ban circumcision in that city. Though I am strongly opposed to the proposition, if it passes, some good may come of it. Let me explain. I am a passionate advocate of Jewish ritual known as the brit (often pronounced bris) -- the ritual circumcision of 8-day-old Jewish boys. I am even an advocate of circumcision generally. I was recently in Africa -- in Zimbabwe and Zambia -- where I delivered mosquito nets and seeds to the poorest of Africa's poor. I saw giant billboards there, as...

<p>Legendary singer Tony Bennett has waded into a new controversy by saying America "caused" the attacks on the Twin Towers.</p> <p>The 85-year-old Grammy-winning crooner, famed for the 1960s hit single "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" appeared on the "Howard Stern Show" on Sirius XM Radio yesterday to discuss his latest album "Duets II."</p>

A few more points on today's column on the Supe Scott Wiener's proposed ordinance to regulate naked people dining and sitting in public places -- by requiring them to put something between their seats on those on which they sit. San Franciscans pride themselves in not particularly caring what happens between consenting adults. The problem: The City's nudists bare all without the consent of other adults -- many of whom are parents who want to enjoy the city with their children. I do not understand why restaurant owners do not refuse to serve naked patrons. It goes to show how...

There currently is a debate raging over public nudity in San Francisco. It’s not what you think. It’s already entirely legal to parade about in the buff on the city’s streets, and no one is discussing the resurrection of indecent-exposure laws. Rather, the question is whether sanitary behavior — namely, posterior protection for public seating — should be required of nudists by law. Reports the Los Angeles Times: Retired math teacher David Goldman and his husband, Michael Koehn, were sharing a pleasant alfresco moment at a public plaza in the heart of the Castro district this week, passing a slender...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Something could soon be coming between San Francisco's proud nudists and their unusual freedom to bare it all. Walking around naked is legal in the city under most circumstances, but a city supervisor concerned about public health and sanitation introduced legislation Tuesday that would require the clothing averse to put a cloth or other barrier under their bottoms if they take a seat in public. > Wiener represents the city's Castro District, where a group of men locals refer to as "the naked guys" is known to strut its stuff, and some residents have grown weary...

San Francisco -- Supervisor Scott Wiener's proposed legislation about the nude guys in the Castro is already a success. That is, assuming his intention was to make kooky San Francisco a national joke while doing nothing about the core problem. Wiener has come up with a plan to compel the nudies to put something under their bottoms when they sit in public chairs and cover up in restaurants. "What I am proposing is noncontroversial," he said. "Rather than try to hit one out of the park and take on the broader issue of public nudity, I am proposing a modest...

The naked truth, it seems, is that San Francisco is once again going to emerge as a city ripe for ridicule -- or a beacon of free expression -- depending on your point of view. The latest issue? Public nudity. Supervisor Scott Wiener will introduce legislation today intended to get to the bottom of the gross-out factor when it comes to public nudity. His proposal would require people who bare all for all to see to at the very least place a towel or like item underneath them when they sit down. The proposed restrictions also would require nudists to...