Free Republic

After first refusing to confirm nor deny it, the Vatican has confirmed that Pope Francis met with the Kentucky clerk Kim Davis at the Vatican Embassy in Washington, where Davis' attorney -- who made the news public after the pope's trip ended -- said Francis told her to "stay strong." And that simple encounter completely undermines all the goodwill the pope created in downplaying "the gay issue" on his U.S. trip. The pope played us for fools, trying to have it both ways. As I noted last week, he's an artful politician, telling different audiences what they want to hear...

Queer Eye for the Media Guy Friday, September 10, 2004 OPINION -- O-k, tell me. Last week, when you were told Alan Keyes “lashed out” against Mary Cheney, “attacking” the vice president’s daughter as a selfish hedonist, did you believe it?Come on, be straight with me. Did you believe that?Now, would you like to hear the actual interview? Here is an mp3 audio file of it. So have a listen. If you failed the bumper sticker test, “Don’t believe the liberal media,” and really thought he attacked poor Mary, come out of the closet.By the way, as unfortunate as it...

Letter to a young church Did a gay L.A. congregation lure Bush into a trap?It is immensely satisfying seeing the Bush administration squeezed in a vise between the mouthfoamers at the widely read, rabidly right-wing website WorldNetDaily and a Christian church that ministers to gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people. The vise is of their own making, of course, with the Bushies cynically pushing their compassionate conservative pap while playing to a party base that is anything but compassionate. It’s hilarious to watch them caught red-handed now and then, scrambling not to offend anyone but losing points on all sides....

In a column last Saturday headlined "Love, Internet Style," the New York Times’ new conservative op-ed columnist David Brooks explained why he believes the internet is bringing back dating and courtship rituals from some bygone era. Since couples can "exchange e-mail for weeks and months" rather than hop in the sack right away, he explains, the internet is providing the "restraint" we so desire. Hawking online dating services such as eHarmony, Brooks declared that, "Online dating puts structure back into courtship." Curious about that structure, I clicked over to eHarmony, only to find that they don’t serve my kind. "eHarmony...