Free Republic

7 protesters ousted from Fort Worth City Council meeting By DEANNA BOYD dboyd@star-telegram.com FORT WORTH -- Seven protesters were removed from Tuesday night's City Council meeting after they repeatedly demanded to be moved up on the agenda to speak about last month's police raid at the Rainbow Lounge. "Hear us now! Hear us now!" five men chanted in a hallway outside City Council chambers. The men, believed to be members of Queer LiberAction, a Dallas-based gay rights group, were led out of the building by city marshals. Inside the meeting, the group's founder, Blake Wilkinson, repeatedly interrupted Mayor Mike Moncrief....

A pro-family advocate has posted some very disturbing audio recordings on his website. Brian Camenker of MassResistance.org posted the audio that was recorded several years ago at a Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) seminar, where members graphically instructed students as young as 12 years of age in the how-to of homosexual sex. According to Camenker, Scott Whiteman, who was executive director of MassResistance at the time, attended the seminar with a tape recorder in his pocket. "You know the tape recordings are not [professional]; you know, they look very amateurish. GLSEN could have claimed that they were fake,...

I've spoken to an Amazon.com employee who works closely with the systems involved in the glitch. The employee asked me not to share his name because of company policies on talking with the media. On Sunday afternoon at least 20 Amazon.com employees were paged alerting them that items, possibly many, were incorrectly being flagged as adult. The employees also received links to the Twitter discussion AmazonFail. Thousands of people were angry that gay-themed books had disappeared from Amazon's sales rankings and search algorithms. The number of Tweets on Sunday afternoon that had the term "AmazonFail" surpassed even those with the...

Midtown lounge denies it discriminated against homosexual customers left waiting outside in the rain Owners of a Midtown lounge and the organizers of Houston’s first “guerrilla gay bar” met Monday to try to mend fences after a botched weekend event left both sides feeling mistreated. The “guerrilla gay bar” event was planned as an impromptu mixer of the city’s gay and straight communities at the Union Bar on Bagby. Instead of mingling with the bar’s typically straight customers, however, about 100 gays and lesbians were left standing out in the rain on Friday. Some who waited said it felt like...

WILKES-BARRE – Harlow Cuadra slumped in his chair when he heard the jury foreperson say “guilty,” convicting him for the brutal slaying of Bryan Kocis in January 2007. The verdict, which came after more than three hours of deliberation on Thursday, carries 12 convictions, including first-degree homicide. The jury will return today to determine whether Cuadra, 27, should be sentenced to death or spend the rest of his life in prison. Cuadra showed little emotion other than slumping in the chair. He appeared withdrawn and said nothing when escorted out of the Luzerne County Courthouse about an hour after the...

Tuesday February 24, 2009 Homosexual Republican Group Calls Pro-Family Activists "Domestic Terrorists" By Kathleen GilbertATLANTA, Georgia, February 24, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A homosexualist Republican group is lobbying GOP chairman Michael Steele to turn a deaf ear to pro-family activists, who the group leader labeled in a letter "Anti-American" and "domestic terrorists." James Ensley, President of the Georgia Log Cabin Republicans (LCR), made the comments after the pro-family group, Americans for Truth, petitioned Steele to work to return the GOP to its conservative roots and protect true marriage."I want to urge you not to allow small biggoted [sic], anti-American and anti-Christian fringe...

Liberal American bishops threw the Archbishop of Canterbury a lifeline in his efforts to avert Anglican schism by agreeing to halt appointments of gay bishops and same-sex blessings, at least temporarily. The compromise will, however, fail to appease many conservative leaders as it offers no guarantee that the American Church will maintain the moratoriums for more than a couple of years. It also falls far short of agreeing to provide an independent safe haven for American conservatives who have rejected the authority of their own liberal bishops. advertisement One conservative insider said it represented "two fingers to the Communion." Liberals,...

t has always been a burning question for me: does size matter to lesbians. Unfortunately for the lesbian fire chief of San Diego, Tracy Jarman, we know the answer is yes because when she ordered that four straight firefighters to endure hours of sexual harassment for the enjoyment of the gays lining the gay pride parade route all bets were off. After all, she did not want her fire department to be outshined by the gaily marching San Diego police chief. So now we know the answer, but it is going to be an expensive lesson to learn because while...

They say everything is bigger in Texas. But the Cathedral of Hope in Dallas makes one Texas-sized claim that few would expect in the conservative Bible Belt state - it says it is the world's biggest gay church. "I think this shows that God has a tremendously great sense of humour," says senior pastor and rector Jo Hudson. On a more serious note, she says the church, affiliated with the United Church of Christ, is a spiritual refuge for gay people of faith in a region associated with more conservative brands of Christianity. "Because we are in the Bible Belt...

City Solicitor Romulo L. Diaz Jr. said a recent push to force the Cradle of Liberty Boy Scouts Council to denounce the national organization's antigay policy had nothing to do with his own homosexuality. "My own sexuality, my own sexual orientation, has never been hidden and never played into my decision," Diaz said in an interview yesterday with The Inquirer. "It has, perhaps, made me more sensitive to the issues." Diaz said he sent another letter yesterday morning seeking a meeting with William T. Dwyer III, council chief executive officer and president. Diaz, the city's first openly gay solicitor and...

Public display of affection was inappropriate Thursday, July 13, 2006 My family enjoyed our first visit to your clean and beautiful city on June 24 and 25, as we arrived to deliver our daughter to a summer camp. After a much longer than anticipated drive, we arrived at our destination at 10:30 p.m., unloading our bags at the only possible spot at the hotel: curbside at the Courtyard Marriott on Spring Street. My three children were treated to an eyeful of amorous behavior by the lesbians seated on a public bench, not 10 feet away from us and directly in...

U.S. Immigration Law Inhumane to Same-Sex CouplesHRW via BBSNews - Washington, D.C., May 2, 2006 -- Thousands of U.S. citizens and their foreign same-sex partners face enormous hardships, separation and even exile because discriminatory U.S. immigration policies deprive these couples of the basic right to be together, Human Rights Watch and Immigration Equality said in a report released today. As Congress debates immigration reforms, it must end the discrimination that lesbian and gay Americans and their foreign partners endure under U.S. immigration law. The 2000 U.S. Census estimated that in the United States there were almost 40,000 lesbian and...

In today’s column, I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that the Alliance Defense Fund has now officially heard that Scott Savage has been cleared of sexual harassment charges. The bad news is that his clearance letter is quite strange. In fact, it raises new concerns about free speech at OSU-Mansfield. The letter clearing Mr. Savage is dated April 6th but the envelope in which it was sent is postmarked April 18th. This raises some interesting questions. First of all, why would the university wait for twelve days – well after the case got...

PANORAMA CITY, Calif. -- A man who barricaded himself with two hostages in a Panorama City condominium for about three hours surrendered to police early Friday.

he trumpets were left at home and the parades were canceled.  The press releases and campaign signs were quietly forgotten.  The news was big, but it did not contain what some had hoped for.  On April 14, 2003, the International Human Genome Consortium announced the successful completion of the Human Genome Project—two years ahead of schedule.  The press report read: “The human genome is complete and the Human Genome Project is over” (see “Human Genome Report...,” 2003, emp. added).  Most of the major science journals reported on the progress in the field of genetics, but also speculated on how the...

The chairman of the nation's biggest St. Patrick's Day Parade marched Friday while sidestepping questions about remarks comparing gay Irish-American activists to neo-Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan and prostitutes. "Today is St. Patrick's Day. We celebrate our faith and heritage. Everything else is secondary," said the chairman, John Dunleavy, who wore a sash of the Irish colors. Dunleavy was blasted by the City Council's first openly gay leader for the remarks, which appeared in The Irish Times on Thursday. He told the newspaper, "If an Israeli group wants to march in New York, do you allow Neo-Nazis into their parade?...

When word spread at Harvard Law School last month that one of the most successful recruiters of its graduates, Ropes & Gray, was helping Catholic Charities explore ways to prevent same-sex couples from adopting children, gay and lesbian students wanted to stop the law firm it its tracks. There were ''people who were upset and people who were very upset," said Brad Rosen, a first-year student and board member of Lambda, the school's group for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender students.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The state Supreme Court, in a victory for gay-rights advocates, ruled unanimously today that Berkeley could withdraw a rent subsidy to a Boy Scouts affiliate at the city marina because of the scouts' no-gays-allowed policy. Although the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2000 that the Boy Scouts had a constitutional right to exclude gays, Berkeley is not required to provide funding to an organization that violates the city's antidiscrimination policy, the state justices said. Cities can require recipients of public money to "provide written, unambiguous assurances of compliances with a generally applicable nondiscrimination policy,'' Justice Kathryn Mickle...

After four hours of heated exchanges about God, sex and the law; after the booing, the hissing and the clapping were over, the votes were in Tuesday night: The 2006 Gay Games are approved to hit the shores of Crystal Lake. That is, the rowing competition of the weeklong event will happen this summer in the northwest suburb, thanks to a tie-breaking vote by the city's park district board. Last Thursday, the board was deadlocked in a 2-2 vote over the application by organizers of the games to use the lake, a highly regarded venue for such events. A tie...

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif -- Dozens of Bay Area students Monday morning boarded a bus to the state capitol to push for gay rights. The students, who left from Mountain View, will join hundreds of others in Sacramento to call for equality for lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual rights in California schools. The first bill they support would require schools to enforce anti-discrimination laws. The second would prohibit discrimination in textbooks and school activities. The students will rally at noon at the state capitol and meet with their respective legislators.

Rural development and currency reform are the hot issues at China's annual session of parliament opening this week, but some delegates have quirkier matters on their minds. Li Yinhe, a sociologist and member of the advisory body to parliament, plans to submit a proposal on same-sex marriage, aiming to end discrimination against homosexuality. Li has submitted the proposal twice before, but it failed to gain the minimum support of 30 fellow members in the 2,000 group, the Xinhua news agency reported on Friday. Li admitted that the "cultural environment in the country is not yet prepared for such a proposal"....

When Jacob Reitan heard a young man talk about the pain and fear he felt as a gay student at Wheaton (Ill.) College, a school that opposes any expression of homosexuality, he got an idea. Reitan, 24, of Eden Prairie, was inspired by such stories, as well as by an admiration for the civil rights activists of the 1960s, to organize a "freedom ride" that will travel by bus to 19 U.S. colleges with religion-based policies that exclude gays. The young activists, who are Christians, hope to talk with students and faculty members. This morning, Reitan and four others will...

Question for those who watched this weeks Boston Legal. I have the distinct impression that two of the main characters, close buddies Denny Crane and Alan Shore, will soon have a 'brokeback mountain' episode. The writers have already had them sleeping in the same room on a fishing trip, then sharing a bed to combat Alan's 'night terrors'. Now Alan is moving in with Denny to comfort him through his recent marriage/divorce. The writers repeatedly use the Denny Crane character as a useful conservative idiot. This season, each episode has become more ultra-liberal agenda pushing than the next. It truly...

Bans on same-sex marriages inflict psychological trauma on gays and lesbians, a US study concluded. A study titled "I do, but I can't" examined nationwide research and determined that denying same-sex couples the marriage rights on par with heterosexual couples created "the mental distress of second-class citizenship." Being barred from marrying increased the risk of depression or isolation among gays, according to the findings released by the National Sexuality Resource Center. "Marriage denial creates what experts call minority stress, the psychological effects of constant discrimination that bars individuals from the legitimate means of achieving goals that are valued by the...

A group of gay and lesbian veterans will launch a national campaign tomorrow at Harvard to repeal the military’s policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” The seven-week, nationwide speaking tour, which will begin at 7 p.m. at the John F. Kennedy School of Government’s Starr Auditorium, will feature seven former service members who argue that the law keeps able-bodied Americans from serving in the military at a time when it is desperate to recruit and retain troops because of the war in Iraq. “A lot of people have never known a gay or lesbian person and, as a result, have...

Mickey Kaus at Kausfiles.com says that the gay-cowboy movie Brokeback Mountain has the same marketing strategy as Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. Both, he says, have been hyped as blue-state movies that are reaching and changing minds in the cities of red America. He calls this the "Heartland Breakout Meme”. ("Meme" refers to a cultural copying unit that hops from brain to brain without much thought or any at all). What Kaus means is that the mainstream media keep reinforcing ideas liberals want to believe, whether they are true or not. But the alleged breakout of Fahrenheit appears to be myth,...

After two years of uncomfortable debate about declaring a ``Gay Pride Day'' in Los Altos, the city council changed its rules this week to ban proclamations about sexual orientation altogether. Mayor Ron Packard said the change spares the city council from ``issuing proclamations on issues I consider divisive and not appropriate for our community.'' The debate has grown bitter since high school students first requested the council declare a citywide Gay Pride Day in 2004. Charges of homophobia are flying -- as well as eggs at a council member's home. Yet this is the same city whose Rotary Club spearheaded...

Francis Maude, the chairman of the Conservative Party, has said that the homophobic attitude of the Thatcher government contributed to the death of his brother from Aids. Mr Maude, who served as a minister under Margaret Thatcher and John Major, said he regretted voting for the now-repealed Section 28, which banned councils from promoting homosexuality. "In hindsight a mistake, I voted for it, I was a minister," he said. In an interview with the gay news website PinkNews.co.uk, Mr Maude said: "We've been seen for a long time as a party which hasn't been very open to gay people. That's...

SUMMARY: Northwest Airlines took heat from the ACLU on Thursday for refusing to honor award tickets that a gay couple in Los Angeles tried to use for a trip to Florida. Northwest Airlines took heat from the ACLU on Thursday for refusing to honor award tickets that a gay couple in Los Angeles tried to use for a trip to Florida. In a letter to Northwest, the legal advocacy group said the airline's action violated California's nondiscrimination laws. Rob Anders, a longtime airline industry employee, won the tickets at a holiday party in December. When he tried to redeem the...

West Hollywood -- I am a gift. A prize. After years of difficult repression, men with a secret seek me out as a reward for their good behavior. I make a living having sex with these closeted married men. I'm an "escort," to use the euphemism, which gives me a unique perspective on a potential, and particular, cultural fallout as "Brokeback Mountain" widens out not just to Britain but to every remaining crumb in America's breadbasket. Much has been made about the "turning point" effect Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee's Oscar-jockeying film could force upon Hollywood. The movie is based...

BADEN-WURTENBERG, Germany, January 3, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A German state is targeting potential Muslim immigrants with a test to determine their “loyalty” to German social policy on homosexuality, among other issues. The southern state of Baden-Wurttemberg now requires all Muslims requesting citizenship to undergo an extensive test designed to reveal their views on such issues as gay rights, women’s equality, topless beaches, and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 against the United States. The test is designed to weed out those applicants who express views that go against Germany’s social policies. This is believed to be the first use...

Jim-Bob Zimmerschied is not a happy cowboy. "They've gone and killed John Wayne with this movie," he says angrily, beer in hand. "I've been doing this job all my life and I ain't never met no gay cowboy. It wouldn't be right." The target of Mr Zimmerschied's outburst is Brokeback Mountain, the Hollywood Western-with-a-twist that opens in London this week and is already being tipped for Oscar success. The "gay cowboy flick", as it has been dubbed in America, is directed by Ang Lee and stars Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as two young ranch hands who begin a long-term...

'Sir' Elton's gay partner is no 'Lady'! Washington | December 23, 2005 7:11:25 PM IST Sir Elton John and his longtime partner David Furnish may have finally united in a civil ceremony on Dec 21, but the latter will not be referred to as a Lady, even though his partner is a Knight, according to etiquette authority Debrett's. In Britain, it is customary for wives of knights of the realm to take the title of Lady in place of Mrs, but the rule will not extend to gay civil unions, which became legal in the UK this week. "Even though...

This moving and majestic film would be a landmark if only because it is the first Hollywood movie to unmask the homoerotic strain in American culture that Leslie Fiedler discerned in his notorious 1948 Partisan Review essay, "Come Back to the Raft Ag'in, Huck Honey." Fiedler characterized the bond between Huckleberry Finn and Jim, a runaway slave, as an unconscious romantic attachment shared by two males of different races as they flee the more constraining and civilizing domain of women. He went on to identify that bond as a recurrent theme in American literature. In popular culture, Fiedler's Freudianism certainly...

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court confronts a gay rights issue this week, in a case that asks whether law schools can bar military recruiters because of the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Each fall recruiters of all types jam law schools seeking top students in job fairs, receptions and interview sessions. Justices will decide whether universities that accept government money must accommodate the military even if the schools forbid the participation of recruiters from public agencies and private companies that have discriminatory policies. It is the first time that the court has dealt with a gay-rights related case since...

Elton John and partner David Furnish have blasted Pope Benedict XVI for his stance on homosexuality - ahead of their gay marriage next month. The pair are bracing themselves for a Catholic backlash when they exchange vows in England next month, but also criticise the pontiff for his controversial views on contraception.

UAE mulls punishment against dozens arrested at mass gay wedding ___ DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - More than two dozen gay Arab men ¡ª arrested at what police called a mass homosexual wedding ¡ª could face government-ordered hormone treatments, five years in jail and a lashing, authorities said Saturday. The Interior Ministry said police raided a hotel chalet earlier this month and arrested 22 men from the Emirates as they celebrated the wedding ceremony, one of a string of recent group arrests of homosexuals here. The men are likely to be tried under Muslim law on charges related to adultery...

They are among the most maligned groups in society, but when it comes to discrimination, many say, gays can give as good as they get. A city investigation of S.F. Badlands, one of the largest and most popular bars in the heart of the Castro neighborhood, has added evidence to that argument. In April, the San Francisco Human Rights Commission found that the bar discriminated against African American customers and job applicants. That finding, which is vigorously disputed by the bar's owner, is elevating the murmurs of racism in the gay community to a national discussion. National gay media have...

(South Windsor-WTNH, Apr. 15, 2005 10:55 PM) _ Some students in South Windsor don't agree with gay marriage and they sported t-shirts showing others how they feel. But when they wore those shirts to school, the trouble really started. by News Channel 8's Bob Wilson Because of their religious convictions they believe gay marriage is wrong. So four students at the South Windsor High School wore t-shirts saying "Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve." "We wore them to protest a gay straight alliance rally that they had on Tuesday where they wore signs," said sophomore David Grimaldi. "They had...

“Man and Woman”, “Wife”, “Husband”, “Widow”, “Widower” Banished From all Ontario Law Terms, when referring to spouses, are banned from all government programs, services, documentsToronto, February 25, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – With the obscenely rapid, three-day introduction and passage of its same-sex “marriage” Bill 171, the Ontario government has advanced a revolutionary change in the way all laws and government programs and institutions refer to marriage and married persons. Everything referring to spouses must now be gender neutral. No longer can a married couple be referred to as “husband and wife” or “man and woman”. The terms “Widow” and “widower” are...

NEW YORK - Using a young readers' novel called "The Misfits" as its centerpiece, middle schools nationwide will participate in a "No Name-Calling Week" initiative starting Monday. The program, now in its second year, has the backing of groups from the Girl Scouts to Amnesty International but has also drawn complaints that it overemphasizes harassment of gay youths. The initiative was developed by the New York-based Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, which seeks to ensure that schools safely accommodate students of all sexual orientations. GLSEN worked with James Howe, the openly gay author of "The Misfits" and many other...

Susan Brinkman, an investigative journalist, is currently writing a six-part series on homosexuality called "Homosexuality: The Untold Story - A Dangerous New Diversity," for the Catholic Standard & Times, the Archdiocese newspaper of Philadelphia. In part 3 of her series on the health consequences of homosexual behavior, Brinkmann writes: "The American public has been left largely in the dark about the extent of the medical problems associated with homosexual activity because of the influence of pro-homosexual political agendas. Brinkmann also notes that a high number of homosexuals appear to have been molested as children as compared to the general population....

NEW YORK -- Gay pride parade-goers danced down Fifth Avenue and waved rainbow flags Sunday in celebration of a movement that has made huge strides this year with the legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts. "Even 10 years ago I would have said that's the wrong issue," said Ed Glorius, arms entwined around his partner, Dwight Pollard, whom he married in an unofficial ceremony at a Manhattan restaurant last week. "And now I feel very differently." While Massachusetts became the only U.S. state to legally recognize gay marriages following a ruling by its Supreme Judicial Court last November, gay pride...

UCSB Offers New Queer Studies Minor By Jason La - Staff Writer Wednesday May 19, 2004 A new minor in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and queer studies was recently added to the academic pool at UCSB. The university officially sanctioned the LGBTQ minor last week, and students can sign up for it immediately. Overseen by the Women's Studies program, the minor's required classes range from women's studies courses to English classes. Erin Pullin, UCSB alumna and assistant to the director of the Resource Center for Gender and Sexual Diversity, was a student organizer who worked to get a LGBTQ...