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CNSNews.com) – Taxpayers will pay almost $900 million over the next 10 years to extend federal employee benefits to homosexual couples, according to an analysis of “domestic partners” legislation by the Congressional Budget Office. However, supporters of the bill say the costs will be offset in other areas. President Barack Obama has voiced support for the measure. The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee approved the measure last Wednesday, while the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee approved a measure last month.

At a time when our country is sick, it shouldn't surprise that one our sickest places is our nation's capital. The poverty rate of Washington, DC, almost 20 percent, is one of the highest in the nation. Its child poverty rate is the nation's highest.. DC's public school system, with a graduation rate of less than 50 percent, is one of the worst in the country. According to DC's HIV/AIDS office, three percent of the local population has HIV or AIDS. The Administrator of this office notes that this HIV/AIDS incidence is "...higher than West Africa...on par with Uganda and...

Washington – The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, today responded to the “Manhattan Declaration” produced and released by 145 evangelical, Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christian leaders indicating that they will not cooperate with laws that conflict with their beliefs, including those recognizing same-sex couples. The document also references the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) as a threat to religious liberty. Yet ENDA – which prohibits workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity – broadly exempts religious organizations. The declaration also argues that religious groups that receive public funds...

As historical analysis goes, I’m not sure it’s quite up there with Carr or Elton. According to Pauline Howe, the “perverted sexual practises” of “sodomites” were responsible for “the downfall of every empire”. I always thought the British Empire fell because of the exhaustion caused by the First World War, or specifically the fall of Singapore in World War 2, or perhaps the rise of Third World nationalism and American pressure. Maybe I was wrong and it was all down to Greek “practises”. Still, whether or not one agrees with Mrs Howe’s radical revisionist history, or her objecting to the...

SNIPPET: "The president has nominated Chai Feldblum, a lesbian activist, to be commissioner for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Her appointment is awaiting Senate confirmation." SNIPPET: "Feldblum, a law professor at Georgetown University, has signed an online petition titled, "Beyond Same-Sex Marriage: A New Strategic Vision for All Our Families and Relationships."" SNIPPET: ""Chai Feldblum is on record saying that the battle between our religious freedoms and homosexual so-called rights is a zero sum game," says Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth about Homosexuality." SNIPPET: ""She says she can't think of a case where the religious rights -- in...

The Cave Of Lot's Seduction And The Monestary It InspiredBy konstantine D. Politis Special to The Daily Star Monday, October 25, 2004The cave of Lot's seduction and the monastery it inspired Jordanian site of Deir Ain Abata testifies to a thriving Byzantine and Umayyad-era Christian community Amman: The ruins were first discovered during an archaeological survey at the south-east end of the Dead Sea in 1986, near a spring named Ain Abata. After further investigations it was evident that the site - near today's Ghor al-Safi, the biblical city of Zoara - was none other that the Sanctuary of Agios...

There is an old joke around these parts. Question: Other than Jerusalem, what do ultra-religious Jews, Muslims and Christians love? Answer: They love to hate homosexuals. But travel the 60km (40 miles) from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, and you enter a world apart. Major streets are decked with the multi-coloured Gay Pride banner. In this centenary year of the city, this is now Gay Pride month. On Friday, in Meir Dizengoff park, tens of thousands of people are expected to attend the annual Gay Pride parade which will end, this year, with a twist. Four couples will take part in...

President Obama has named to his faith-based advisory council a self-professed Christian who holds that the New Testament's teaching that homosexual behavior is unnatural and wrong--which is found in St. Paul's letter to the Romans--“is not true." The appointee, Harry Knox, has also said that Obama's decision to invite the Rev. Rick Warren to say a prayer at the Inauguration "tainted" the ceremony and that Pope Benedict XVI is a "discredited leader." Harry Knox, a professed gay Christian who is director of the religion and faith program at the Human Rights Campaign, a homosexual rights group, was named to President...

Washington (CNN) - Steve Schmidt, a key architect of John McCain's presidential campaign, is making his first public return to Washington a bold one. Schmidt will use a speech Friday to Log Cabin Republicans, a gay rights group, to urge conservative Republicans to drop their opposition to same-sex marriage, CNN has learned. "There is a sound conservative argument to be made for same-sex marriage," Schmidt will say, according to speech excerpts obtained by CNN. "I believe conservatives, more than liberals, insist that rights come with responsibilities. No other exercise of one's liberty comes with greater responsibilities than marriage."

Gov. David Paterson introduced a bill Thursday to legalize same-sex marriage in New York, comparing the effort to the fight for the abolition of slavery. Paterson, whose job approval rating has plunged below 30 percent, is making a political gamble that he can ride the momentum of other states that have recently allowed the practice, and it's unclear how the legislation will play in New York. The proposal is the same bill the Democratic-controlled state Assembly passed in 2007 before it died in the Senate, where the Republican majority kept it from going to a vote. Democrats now control the...

The announcement that the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA, has chosen a lesbian, pro-abortion president to lead the seminary has sent shock waves around the Anglican Communion. The appointment of Katherine Hancock Ragsdale highlights a week that also saw TEC bishop-elect Kevin Thew Forrester replace a reading from the New Testament with a reading from the Quran at St. Paul's Marquette, Michigan. One wonders what Episcopal boundaries and barriers have yet to be crossed that the dying embers of historic Christianity could possibly fan into life. That the Diocese of Massachusetts has a functioning transgendered priest complete with a...

By JOHN P. CONNOLLY, The Bulletin Monday, April 13, 2009 The University of Notre Dame, which has been criticized in recent weeks for inviting President Barack Obama to this year’s commencement, announced a series of events during Easter week to promote inclusivity of homosexuality. StaND Against Hate Week, announced on Holy Thursday, includes a showing of the film “Prayers for Bobby,” which reportedly blames a mother’s Christian beliefs for her gay son’s suicide. The event will take place from tomorrow through Friday, which is during the Christian celebration of Easter week. The week is co-sponsored by Notre Dame’s Gender Relations...

You may have seen the yard signs around town asking the question, "would Jesus discriminate?" You may also know that they are part of a $55,000 public relations campaign by the homosexual Metropolitan Community Church of Indianapolis to persuade people that opposition against homosexuality is unChrist-like. You should also know that this is a shameful campaign promoting an immoral lifestyle and that the subtle proposition that Jesus would not discriminate in regard to homosexuals is as flimsy as a house made with fractured toothpicks. First, we should not take it as a given that discrimination is always wrong. Discrimination is...

A majority of Roman Catholic adoption agencies have cut their ties with the Church rather than defy gay equality laws. Five agencies have declared themselves independent - and some have changed their names - to comply with laws that say they must allow homosexual couples to adopt children.The retreat ends decades in which the adoption charities have worked in the name of the Catholic Church with support from dioceses, clergy and congregations.The decision to end the formal connection with the Church follows a deadline set by the Government for charities to comply with the 2007 Sexual Orientation Regulations. These...

San Franciscans famously fought back against Bill O'Reilly - the conservative Fox news anchor who really, really hates our city - when he said back in 2005 that the U.S. military shouldn't defend San Francisco in case of a terrorist attack. "You want to blow up the Coit Tower? Go ahead," he said. Everybody from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Supervisor Chris Daly railed at O'Reilly, calling his comments outrageous. Not content to leave well enough alone, O'Reilly has now sent an underling to the city to make a documentary to show where, supposedly, the politics of President-elect Barack Obama...

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." Att: Edmund Burke I wanted to respond to a post of iamthewalrus but it was inexplicably pulled.

The California Supreme Court today trashed society's traditional institution of marriage, opening it up for same-sex duos because retaining the historic definition "cannot properly be viewed as a compelling state interest." In a 4-3 decision replete with concurring and dissenting opinions filed by individual members of the court, the majority opinion determined state laws specifying marriage as being between a man and a woman were unconstitutional.... "It is certainly disappointing that the court, in declaring a right to same-sex marriage in the California Constitution, has shown an outrageous lack of respect for a majority of California voters and ignored a...

A clay tablet that has baffled scientists for 150 years has been identified as a witness's account of the asteroid suspected of being behind the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Researchers who cracked the cuneiform symbols on the Planisphere tablet believe that recorded an asteroid thought to have been more than half a mile across. The tablet, found by Henry Layard in the remains of the library in the royal place at Nineveh in the mid-19th century, is thought to be a 700 B.C. copy of notes made by a Sumerian astronomer watching the night sky. He referred to the...

New York City is frequently referred to by its slogan, "the Big Apple." But if some in city government have their way, New York may soon be known as the town to "get some." "Get Some" is the 2008 slogan for New York City's taxpayer-funded condom distribution program. Robert Peters, with Morality in Media, objects to the program both for its promotion of promiscuous sex and its false promise of safety. "I think it will be perceived by many people -- young people, in particular -- not just to get condoms but to get promiscuous sex," he remarks. "It's like...

SAN FRANCISCO, September 25, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Folsom Street Fair, a gay parade which has for years included full nudity and sex acts on public streets is set to take place again this year on September 30 with city approval, partial public funding and sponsorship by Miller Brewing Company. This year several Christian and pro-family groups have called for public scrutiny into the event as the ad for the event is a mockery of Christ's Last Supper. The ad portrays Christ and His disciples as half-naked homosexual sadomasochists with the bread and wine representing Christ's broken body and blood...

The chairman of Boston University's religion department offers this proposal: Public high schools should require one course in the Bible for all their students and another in world religions He cites surveys showing that most Americans can't even name one of the four biblical gospels and that many high school students think that Sodom and Gomorrah were a married couple.

The man deemed by San Francisco officials to be a potential threat to Mayor Gavin Newsom has suffered several mental breakdowns, was arrested last year on suspicion of threatening his elderly parents and shined a laser light in a prosecutor's eye during a court appearance, public records show. Han Sup Shin, 42, of Union City entered Newsom's Russian Hill apartment building early Feb. 15 and has been showing increasingly bizarre behavior at the mayor's public events, according to declarations filed in court as part of a request for a temporary restraining order by City Attorney Dennis Herrera. "We've had several...

Separating anatomy from what it means to be a man or a woman, New York City is moving forward with a plan to let people alter the sex on their birth certificate even if they have not had sex-change surgery. Under the rule being considered by the city’s Board of Health, which is likely to be adopted soon, people born in the city would be able to change the documented sex on their birth certificates by providing affidavits from a doctor and a mental health professional laying out why their patients should be considered members of the opposite sex, and...

It is not for Republicans. It is not for bow hunters. Also, no cat hoarders. Sign up now! Match.com does not allow cleavage. This much I learned from a female friend who used the enormous online dating service during a brief glitch in her dating career, and for whom I helped prepare the most modest of pix (waist up, cowboy hat, big smile, snug halter top, faintest sliver of shadow between breasts), only to have the photo immediately nixed by the site's apparently pallid and secretly Mormon editors who actively disallow even the slightest hint of flesh or pillow talk...

A Catholic priest preached yesterday at the main worship service associated with Boston's gay pride week, setting up a potential conflict with a church hierarchy that has been increasingly vocal in its criticism of the growing acceptance of gay relationships in Western societies.The Rev. Walter H. Cuenin, a longtime advocate of outreach to gays and lesbians in the Catholic Church, did not criticize or dispute Catholic teaching during his remarks, and he quoted several times from a 1997 document issued by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, which declared that ``the teachings of the Church make it clear that the...

He is having a number of people, including New Mexico Tech scientists, examine the potsherd to determine what the glaze is. Material engineers at the site said it looks like Trinitite, the substance materials such as sand turn into when subjected to a nuclear blast. However, Collins said he isn't suggesting a nuclear blast hit the site. He doesn't know the cause, but suspects a comet strike or electrical event.

Californians view gays and lesbians and their rights with greater acceptance than ever before, but a narrow majority continues to disapprove of same-sex marriage, according to a statewide Field Poll released this week. "What's driving that attitude change is that more and more Californians say they personally know someone who is gay or lesbian," said Field pollster Mark DiCamillo. "Personal knowledge and familiarity seem to provide greater accommodation in the public at large." Along with those acquainted with a gay person, the poll indicated that other groups most likely to have positive views of homosexuality included Democrats, liberals, San Francisco...

Developers announced plans Friday to open a multimillion dollar sexual "theme park" near London's Piccadilly Circus, home to the much-photographed statue of the Greek god of love. Backers say the London Academy of Sex and Relationships, due to open next spring, will not be a sleazy sex museum, but an educational multimedia attraction that will teach visitors to become better lovers and provide valuable information about disease and sexual problems. Located within the Trocadero entertainment center — just around the corner from Soho, London's red-light district — the $8.3 million project will feature unspecified "high tech and interactive exhibits." Alex...

NEW ORLEANS - In the absence of information and outside assistance, groups of rich and poor banded together in the French Quarter, forming “tribes” and dividing up the labor. As some went down to the river to do the wash, others remained behind to protect property. In a bar, a bartender put near-perfect stitches into the torn ear of a robbery victim. While mold and contagion grew in the muck that engulfed most of the city, something else sprouted in this most decadent of American neighborhoods — humanity.

Parliament legalized gay marriage Thursday, defying conservatives and clergy who opposed making traditionally Roman Catholic Spain the third nation to allow same-sex unions. Gay activists cheered the vote and blew kisses to lawmakers. The measure passed the 350-seat Congress of Deputies by a vote of 187-147 with four abstentions. The bill also lets gay couples adopt children and inherit each others' property. The bill is now law. The Senate, where conservatives hold the largest number of seats, rejected the bill last week. But it is an advisory body and final say on legislation rests with the Congress of Deputies. After...

Marriage now just a sexual relationship Father Raymond J. de Souza National Post Wednesday, June 29, 2005 All in all, it is an impressive bit of work for a mere 38 years. The same-sex marriage bill that passed the House of Commons yesterday was the final chapter in a story that began in 1967, when then-justice minister Pierre Trudeau introduced his Omnibus Bill. Famous for its decriminalizing of homosexual acts (" ... the state has no place in the bedrooms of the nation"), it was the liberalization of divorce laws that led more directly to where we are today....

For better or worse House of Commons approves same-sex marriage 158-133 Tim Naumetz; with files from Allan Woods CanWest News Service; with files from National Post Wednesday, June 29, 2005 OTTAWA - The historic same-sex marriage bill passed through the House of Commons yesterday, ending a four-month parliamentary debate that cost Paul Martin one of his closest friends in Cabinet and split MPs in a bitter clash between deeply held religious views and support for minorities under the Charter of Rights. The legislation will make Canada only the third nation in the world -- along with Belgium and the...

ATLANTA -- With a possible historic vote looming on a measure supporting same-sex marriage, the head of the United Church of Christ on Tuesday publicly endorsed the resolution for the first time. The Rev. John H. Thomas said Tuesday that the church's General Synod "should affirm the rights of gay, lesbian and transgender persons" to have marriages "equal in name, privileges and responsibilities to married heterosexual couples." "I believe our local churches, as they are able, should move toward the development of marriage equality policies," Thomas added during a speech at Emory University. That remark drew a lengthy standing ovation...

TORONTO (AP) - Canada is set to become the third country to legalize gay marriage, with Parliament likely to pass landmark legislation Tuesday despite strong opposition from Conservatives and religious leaders. Although gay marriage already is legal in seven provinces, the bill would grant all same-sex couples in Canada the same legal rights as those in traditional heterosexual unions. The Netherlands and Belgium already allow gay marriage. The legislation, drafted by Prime Minister Paul Martin's minority government, needs at least 155 members of the House of Commons to gain a majority of the 308-seat House. While some of his Liberal...

Same-sex marriage bill passes in Commons CTV.ca News Staff Canada will become the third country in the world to officially sanction same-sex marriage. In a 158 to 133 vote, the House of Commons adopted Bill C-38 -- the controversial legislation legalizing same-sex marriage from coast to coast -- on its third and final reading Tuesday night. The Liberals had the support of almost all New Democrat and Bloc Quebecois MPs for the vote. The bill will become official once it receives approval in the Senate. An earlier Conservative motion to send the bill back to committee was voted down 158...

Will America go the way of Sodom? By Darren Morrison There was a society that cast GOD aside and slipped into gross darkness. They despised the Light and thus attached every kind of evil spirit. Law and order collapsed and every man became a law unto himself. A society that abandons moral values will go headlong into hell. There was no honor, no decency and no integrity left among them; they had no reverence for life either. As justice and kindness faded away, they became filled with lust and licentiousness. They sneered at virtue. They scoffed at the fear of...

ISRAELI religious leaders rarely agree on anything, but one thing has proved strong enough to bring them together: fear of the effects of a ten-day international gay pride festival in Jerusalem this summer.Senior Christian, Jewish and Muslim figures, representing communities riven by conflict, have put aside their differences to give warning that the WorldPride event, planned for August, will desecrate the sanctity of the Holy City. One alarmed Muslim cleric suggested that if the event, last staged in Rome five years ago, is allowed to go ahead, it could invite divine retribution such as that visited on Sodom. “God destroyed...

UPCOMING EPISODE: "There's something about Marrying" To boost tourism, the town of Springfield decides to legalize same-sex marriage and one of Springfield’s own comes out of the closet... Sunday February 20 8/7c.

"I am well aware that this subject is charged and controversial -- and it has become so even in Christian circles. I have not sought support for my thoughts from the Word of God. Rather, the Word of God has given me the thoughts I will present here today. I will bring up the subject of homosexuality, but also the relationship to Christian homosexuals."

A North Carolina National Guard member thought to be the first U.S. soldier convicted of murdering an Iraqi said he "snapped" and shot the 17-year-old boy after they had consensual sex, according to court-martial records released this week. Pvt. Federico Daniel Merida, 21, of Biscoe, a tiny town south of Asheboro, pleaded guilty during a court-martial in Iraq to shooting the Iraqi national guard private, whose name the Army withheld. Merida was sentenced Sept. 25 to 25 years in prison and reduced in rank. He will be dishonorably discharged. Army officials at Forward Operating Base Danger, where the court-martial was...

ITHACA NY--How far gay rights should extend has been a hot button issue in the year 2004, but the debate over legal and social rights goes back much futher. Since it started, a generation of gay people have quietly gorwn up, gotten jobs, found a partner and even started a family. This last, which at first appeared ridiculous or impossible, is a reality for more and more gay couples through adoption or surrogacy.The trend spans the country and is perhaps unexpected from a demographic long associated with the swinging single life or at least childlessness. But as the openly gay...

Civil liberties and homosexual rights advocates have renewed their push for community programs to bolster support in schools for homosexual youths, just weeks after voters repudiated same-sex unions in 11 state referendums.     But in northeastern Kentucky, parents and students have defied the Ashland-Boyd County school district's "mandatory anti-harassment workshops," part of an agreement with the American Civil Liberties Union to allow the Gay-Straight Alliances student group to meet in school buildings. Hundreds of students opted out of the tolerance training video, and another 324 students did not show up for school the day it was shown. The ACLU has...

Date Added:Nov 24 2004Inscribed Bricks Unearthed South of Iran Iran-11/23/2004 In the latest round of archeological excavations at the historical site of Enshan, Fars province, Iranian and American archeologists have unearthed several inscribed bricks and a seal dating back to the mid-Elamite era (1100 BC).Enshan is regarded as one of the capitals of the Elamites and is rich in cultural heritage artifacts ranging from the Elamite to the Achamenid era (3500 BC to 500 AD). Dr. Kamyar Abdi, an instructor of Dartmouth College in the United States told Cultural Heritage News (CHN) agency that in the course of excavations in...

Principals freaked out by students' dance, dress By Dahleen Glanton Tribune national correspondent Gaoda McFadden still wonders what all the fuss is about. The way the 16-year-old sees it, the principal verreacted by ending his school's homecoming party early because kids were dancing, well, the way kids dance. Like many of his friends at Stephenson High School, McFadden sees nothing wrong with bumping and grinding on the dance floor or being sandwiched between two girls with their hips gyrating against him. After all, he said, you can turn on MTV or Black Entertainment Television and see it all day. "It...

http://www.365gay.com/newscon04/11/112204senWeds.htm (Boston, Massachusetts) Massachusetts state Sen. Jarrett Barrios has married his longtime partner, Doug Hattaway, a former spokesperson for Vice President Al Gore. The two were wed in a weekend ceremony at First Parish Church in Cambridge. Same-sex marriage became legal in Massachusetts last May. (story) Barrios and Hattaway have been together for 10 years and have two children.

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,...

The presidential race is full of religious ironies, pitting a Protestant who quotes the Pope against a Catholic who rejects the Pope. The Protestant -- campaigning on opposition to abortion and homosexual marriage -- will likely get the Catholic vote. The Catholic -- campaigning on embryo-destruction, partial-birth abortion, and the alternative lifestyles of pagan antiquity -- will get the mainline Protestant vote. In one more irony and historical marker of clerical decadence, the Catholic candidate will receive a higher percentage of support from the Catholic episcopate than the Catholic laity -- the very episcopate Kerry has made a point of...

Church faces split as report fails to heal gays rowBy Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent(Filed: 19/10/2004)The future of the worldwide Anglican Church remained precarious last night after a report intended to heal divisions over homosexuality failed to reassure conservatives.The Windsor report challenged liberals to end their defiance of the majority view but imposed no serious sanctions on those involved in consecrating the Church's first bishop to admit being a practising homosexual.   Archbishop Robin Eames, Primate of Ireland The 120-page report, commissioned a year ago by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, provoked mixed reaction, with protesters, including the...

Despite shattering box-office records and dominating headlines for months, "The Passion of the Christ" and "Fahrenheit 9/11" face real obstacles in the race for an Oscar nomination for best picture. As Senior Writer Sean Smith reports in the current issue of Newsweek, many of the high-placed studio executives, producers, Oscar strategists, publicists and Academy members interviewed think that "Fahrenheit's" chances depend on the results of the presidential election, and all say that a "Passion" best-picture nod is almost unthinkable. "A lot of older Academy voters, who are largely Jewish, refuse to even see this movie," says one Oscar-campaign vet. "There's...

TEHRAN (AFP) -- One of Iran's main historical sites, the ancient Elamite capital of Susa, has been used for the secret nightly dumping of rubbish by the local municipality, a culture official in the area told AFP Tuesday. "We have filed several complaints against the municipality, but it firmly denies its workers have ever done such a thing -- even though they have been frequently spotted by our guards," said the head of the Cultural Heritage Organization in Shush, the modern name for Susa. But the official, Mahdi Qanbari, also complained that the municipality was also planning to build a...