Free Republic

The United Methodist Church General Conference has advanced a measure meant to allow different regions of the global denomination to determine their own standards on LGBT issues.At the Thursday plenary session of the General Conference, delegates voted 586-164 in favor of a petition for an amendment to the UMC’s constitution allowing for regionalization. The petition will now be sent to the annual conferences for possible ratification.The amendment will need to gain at least two-thirds support from the annual conference clergy and lay voters to be added to the UMC constitution, reports UM News.>At present, the UMC Book of Discipline, the...

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...

The Greek parliament on Thursday passed a law legalizing same-sex marriage, in a landmark victory for human rights in Greece and making it the first majority Orthodox Christian country to establish marriage equality for all. The decision, supported by 176 out of 300 lawmakers in parliament and with 78 against, follows months of polarized political and public discourse, and has been welcomed as a long-awaited vindication by the country’s LGBTQ+ couples.

Republican Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte told The National Desk (TND) Monday state officials acted within their legal limitations by removing a child from parents who objected to their transitioning gender identity. Montana Child and Family Services (CFS) officials took custody of the 14-year-old from parents Krista and Todd Kolstad this month, according to Reduxx. The teenager is reportedly a biological female and recently began to express suicidal thoughts. While being treated at a hospital in August, doctors began using the child's preferred name and pronouns, which do not correspond with the child's biological sex, according to Reduxx. The parents reportedly...

A conservative group known for exposing Joe Biden’s dog as a serial biter of Secret Service staffers is suing San Francisco over its guaranteed income program for transgender residents. The nonprofit Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court this week “on behalf of San Francisco taxpayers” Michael Phillips, Paul Wildes and Reed Sandberg. It names Mayor London Breed, Treasurer José Cisneros, City Administrator Carmen Chu and the executive director of the city’s Office of Transgender Initiatives as defendants in the lawsuit, which argues that the city’s GIFT program violates the California Constitution’s equal protection clause. GIFT, San...

An iconic San Francisco toy store famed for inspiring the Toy Story movies has been forced to close after 86 years due to the city's rampant crime and homelessness epidemic. Jeffrey's Toys shared the news this week that it would be permanently closing its doors, citing a crimewave that had left it 'struggling for a number of years'. The store's attorney named the 'perils and violence of the downtown environment' as the main factor driving the decision, alongside 'inflation, the decrease in consumer spending and the demise of retail across the world'. 'The leadership of the City of San Francisco...

Bud Light is staging a comeback with the launch of a flashy new Super Bowl LVIII ad after the beleaguered brand suffered huge sales losses in the wake of its disastrous marking campaign with Dylan Mulvaney. The beer brand, who is the official beer sponsor of the NFL, released a teaser of the commercial on Thursday which it said will expand its 'Easy to Drink, Easy to Enjoy' platform. 'The brand is back with a humorous spot introducing a new character to the Bud Light universe and some familiar faces from the platforms the brand has been passionate about for...

France saw its youngest-ever prime minister and first openly gay one named Tuesday as President Emmanuel Macron seeks a fresh start for the rest of his term amid growing political pressure from the far right. Gabriel Attal, 34, rose to prominence as the government spokesperson then education minister and had polled as the most popular minister in the outgoing government. His predecessor Elisabeth Borne resigned Monday following political turmoil over an immigration law that strengthens the government's ability to deport foreigners. Macron will work with Attal to name a new government in the coming days, though some key ministers are...

RUSSIA’S ‘Naked Partygate’ scandal deepened today when it was revealed Vladimir Putin personally ordered a crackdown on “debauched” revellers. He took time out from masterminding the war in Ukraine and his failing economy to crack the whip against Moscow stars whose risqué antics offended his frontline troops, reported Baza news outlet. Putin has cracked down on a scandalous party attended by Moscow elite – which included Russian singer Philipp Kirkorov (R) pictured with Nastya Ivleeva. Vladimir Putin’s goddaughter Ksenia Sobchak was forced to make a video apologyX-rated pictures and videos of a lurid two-day seasonal party held in club Mutabor...

In the summer of 1993, minister for justice Maire Geoghegan-Quinn had no option but to change the law on homosexuality. In the 1988 Norris case, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that existing laws which criminalized sex between adult males in private contravened the European Convention on Human Rights. The Council of Europe was looking for the law to be changed, and a refusal to do so could potentially lead to Ireland’s expulsion from that body. […] So, the law had to be changed. But how it would be changed, and what the age of consent for homosexual activity...

Yesterday, we reported that Joel Rainey, a prominent and outspoken Southern Baptist pastor argued on social media that Obergefell, the Supreme Court decision that falsely found that same-sex “marriage” was protected by the Constitution, should not be overturned and that Christians shouldn’t support it. Arguing that homosexuals in these civil unions are in “marriage relationships,” he stated that his opposition to overturning “gay marriage” (something that doesn’t exist), was basically rooted in the desire to not have to deal with the aftermath of unholy unions being “suddenly invalidated.” Of course, his position is completely unbiblical and disqualifying as a pastor...

Content Notice: This article contains graphic descriptions of child sexual abuse materials and child sexual abuse as outlined in an FBI legal complaint. Reader discretion is appreciated. A “non-binary queer” artist and former VICE contributor has been sentenced to 90 months in federal prison for the possession of child pornography after arranging to sexually abuse a 9-year-old boy. Efrem Zelony-Mindell, 35, was initially arrested in Manhattan, New York, on December 16, 2022.

Scientists have found evidence of a cosmic airburst event around 1650 BCE that devastated the ancient city of Tall el-Hammam in the southern Jordan Valley, causing extreme temperatures and depositing high concentrations of salt. This event, potentially inspiring the biblical tales of Sodom and Jericho’s destruction, might have also led to a mass abandonment of cities in the region during the “Late Bronze Age Gap.”In the Middle Bronze Age (about 3,600 years ago or roughly 1650 BCE), the city of Tall el-Hammam was ascendant. Located on high ground in the southern Jordan Valley, northeast of the Dead Sea, the settlement...

During conversations with The Guardian, several former workers pointed to “incompetence” in the upper echelons of the company and lamented its decision to pull away from pushing a progressive agenda through its marketing. When Anheuser-Busch InBev, the multinational beer company, promoted Alissa Heinerscheid to vice-president of marketing for Bud Light in July 2022, she became the first female VP in the beer’s 40-year history. “It’s just old white men,” says one former employee of the company leadership. “That’s why we were excited to at least have Alissa in that role.” One former employee told the news outlet that when the...

A Democrat candidate for state Senate in Virginia appears to have been raising money for a “good cause” by performing graphic sex acts online, where she told viewers she liked “being choked” and said they could watch her urinate for the right price, according to material reviewed by The Daily Wire. Susanna Gibson, who is running for a seat in the narrowly divided Virginia statehouse, was as recently as last year posting as “HotWifeExperience” on the website Chaturbate, where men could pay tokens to get her to perform specific sex acts. In one video recorded shortly after she launched her...

“As a psychology student in the early 80s I attended a lecture by John Money. He openly bragged about his “success” at gender reassignment and talked extensively about these twins. After the lecture we went to dinner at a local restaurant where I sat directly across from John Money and we had a conversation during which he constantly alluded to sexual acts, genitalia, odd attractions, and fetishes. It made me very uncomfortable as a young student which he seemed to enjoy. I remember it to this day. I am 62 years old. In my opinion this man was truly evil.”...

Just as it was in the days of Lot; they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom; fire and Sulphur rained from heaven and destroyed them all. So, it is on the day when the Son of Man is revealed – Please watch until the end as the speaker, Voddie Baucham talks about how Christians should not love the world or anything in the world as we go through these days when times are getting darker and darker. Commanded by Jesus Christ found in the scriptures; “Do...

It’s become popular to claim that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was something other than homosexuality. What does the Bible say? Greg Koukl of Stand to Reason responds.

NEW YORK — An advocacy group for young religious LGBTQ Jews has launched a project to provide mental health guidance tailored to the community on social media, in the first initiative of its kind, as surveys show that such youth in the US are at a higher risk for emotional issues and harassment. The “TikTok therapy” video series will offer advice on topics such as how to discuss dating someone from the same gender with Orthodox parents, or navigating LGBTQ issues that come up in conversation at Shabbat dinners, said Jewish Queer Youth (JQY), a New York-based group that focuses...

Barclays Bank – one of the top 20 in the world – has paid more than $25,000 in compensation to Dr. Mike Davidson, an executive of a Christian trust, after arbitrarily closing the charity’s bank accounts due to pressure from LGBTQ+ activists. Activists claimed the Core Issues Trust and the International Federation for Therapeutic and Counseling Choice were pushing “conversion therapy” onto people who voluntarily seek to change their sexual preferences or gender identities. Barclays – a leading sponsor of London’s gay pride parade – succumbed to the pressure and sent a letter to Davidson, notifying him of the bank’s...