Free Republic

An argument in favor of homosexual marriage that you are likely to hear again and again on radio talk shows, on national television, and on the Internet, reflects a line of reasoning that you must be prepared to counter. It is embodied in these kinds of questions: Why all the fuss about gay marriage anyway? And why should it matter to you if a gay couple marries and moves into your neighborhood? Why shouldn’t our definition of family be broadened and modernized? After all, what harm could possibly be done by yielding to the demands of those who say traditional...

Actor Richard Gere has criticised American President George Bush's policy to combat AIDs during an international conference. He said the £100 billion to £150 billion spent on the Iraq campaign "probably could have eradicated this illness", the star of Pretty Woman and Chicago said. Supporters of Mr Bush's abstinence policy also came in for criticism for trying to tackle the spread of AIDs. Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni told delegates at the AIDs conference in Bangkok...

In "De-Lovely," the new film about songwriter Cole Porter’s life, Porter tells his wife, Linda, about his homosexuality. Linda, who is the inspiration behind his genius, tells him that his music comes from his talent not from his destructive behavior. But she does beg Porter to give up his scandalous behavior so as “not to put us at jeopardy,” a promise Porter isn’t prepared to make. The prospect of a marriage where children, permanence, and fidelity are in doubt is supposed to make us pity Linda Porter, even if she was complicit in her own plight. After all, who would...

WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) faces a difficult vote in the Senate when Republicans bring the Federal Marriage Amendment to the floor in the next two weeks. Sponsors of the bill say the constitutional amendment to preserve traditional marriage as the union of one man and one woman is necessary to counter activist judges who have allowed homosexual unions in Massachusetts. Passage of the FMA is uncertain in the Senate, since it will require 67 votes. Daschle will have to decide whether to allow a floor vote or prevent it with a filibuster. The choice...

July 6, 2004 -- The Bloomberg administration might be having second thoughts about promoting an experimental high school serving gay and lesbian students. The Department of Education's budget halts the planned expansion of the controversial Harvey Milk HS in Greenwich Village, according to funding figures obtained by The Post. Enrollment at Harvey Milk HS was scheduled to jump to 170 students in September, from 100 students this past school year, when it converted from a small program to a sanctioned, stand-alone high school. The city put $3.2 million into renovations so the facility could accommodate the rapid two-year expansion. But...

THE LIGHTS ARE GOING OUT [John Derbyshire] A Pentecostalist pastor in Sweden has been sentenced to one month in jail for criticizing homosexuality in a sermon. Story here. Sweden today, the USA tomorrow. I see from the current HUMAN EVENTS that a "hate crime" amendment was slipped into the Defense Authorization Bill (S. 2400) to add homosexuals to the list of protected classes of citizens under U.S. civil rights law. This follows relentless lobbying from groups with innocuous, deliberately deceptive names like "Human Rights Campaign." Naturally the amendment passed the Senate by a landslide: "Eighteen Republicans and all Democrats present...

Stockholm (ENI). A Swedish court has sentenced a pastor belonging to the Pentecostal movement in Sweden, Ake Green, to a month in prison, under a law against incitement, after he was found guilty of having offended homosexuals in a sermon. Soren Andersson, the president of the Swedish federation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights (RFSL), said on hearing the sentence that religious freedom could never be used as a reason to offend people. "Therefore," he told journalists, "I cannot regard the sentence as an act of interference with freedom of religion." During a sermon in 2003, Green described homosexuality...

Guest CommentaryA Pharmacist's View on Gay MarriageBy J.R. Schoenle, Pharm.D. June 29, 2004(AgapePress) - Having worked with AIDS patients and investigational drug studies for HIV at Johns Hopkins Hospital, I feel a lot of compassion for homosexual persons. But as a professional health care provider, I am compelled to educate people with medical facts regarding same-sex marriage. This is not a "privacy" issue. Gay activists have brought the gay lifestyle into the public square with their demands for "marriage" or "civil union." (The public has not gone into anyone's bedroom; rather, they have brought their bedroom issues out in...

Gays: We'll out 2-faced Bushies WASHINGTON - Opponents of a proposed constitutional amendment outlawing same-sex marriage are threatening to expose gay government officials who support such a ban. "We are looking at members of Congress and we are looking at administration officials," said gay activist John Aravosis. "They think they can attack their community by day and enjoy themselves by night." Aravosis and fellow gay activist Mike Rogers said they have a handful of names of Bush administration officials, gay congressmen and senior congressional aides who have kept their sexual orientation private but support the amendment. Senate debate on the...

New Bible translation promotes fornication Archbishop of Canterbury praises version for 'extraordinary power' A brand-new translation of the Bible – praised by Britain's archbishop of Canterbury, that nation’s senior Christian voice – flatly contradicts traditional core Christian beliefs on sex and morality. Titled "Good as New," the new Bible is translated by former Baptist minister John Henson for the "One" organization, to produce what the group calls a "new, fresh and adventurous" translation of the Christian scriptures. Archbishop Rowan Williams The 104th archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams – leader of the Church of England – describes it is a...

Posted on Fri, Jun. 18, 2004 Internet Ads Go After Cheney's Daughter ELIZABETH WOLFE Associated Press WASHINGTON - A campaign to compel the vice president's lesbian daughter to oppose a proposed ban on gay marriage is launching its first Internet ad on Monday. A series of simply animated cartoon panels features stick figures of Mary Cheney and Vice President Dick Cheney. One image reads, "Dick's daughter sold out to help Dick run again." The story line refers to Mary Cheney's job as director of vice presidential operations for the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign. She held a public role as her father's...

Bishops remind Catholics that abortion, homosexuality and same-sex “marriage” are incompatible with receiving Holy Communion Ever more frequent attempts to drive religion and morality from the public square have left America divided. On one side are secularists who in varying degrees subscribe to a philosophy based on a supposed right to absolute individual liberty, unrestrained by law, religion, or morality. Americans who love liberty but abhor anarchy rally to the other side. They understand that true liberty comes from observing divine and natural law. Dissident Catholics Try to Reconcile the Irreconcilable The philosophical divide between these two camps underlies America’s...

Silencing whom? - Thomas Sowell (archive) June 18, 2004 With all the noise being made -- from traffic noise to Al Gore's ranting -- you might never suspect that there was a National Day of Silence. What you might also not suspect is that this day is observed in schools and colleges across the country, where students agree to remain silent for a day in order to show support for homosexuals. The idea is that people who are sexually different have been silenced by society and that the students who observe the National Day of Silence are showing that they...

The guest is arguing against a crackdown on "sex in public places." He says it targets homosexuals. Also he's making a case, a la Harry Kumar in the BBC mini-series "Jewel in the Crown" that the police officer frisked him inappropriately (in the junk.)

It has been recently claimed that America's denial of marriage rights to homosexuals is morally equivalent to and indistinguishable from America's previous denials of civil rights to blacks. It should come as no surprise that the homosexual lobby has launched a campaign to use black America for its pernicious purpose of promoting same-sex "marriage." Blacks have proven time and again to be a useful tool in promoting the sick desires of black leaders, the Democratic Party and the elite white feminist movement (yes, most feminists are upper-class angry white women) – why shouldn't radical homosexuals continue the trend? If we...

A hundred Hindu fundamentalists have attacked and vandalized cinemas in several Indian towns, tearing down posters of the recently released film Girlfriend. The film deals with lesbianism and related themes. The fundamentalists see this as an affront to Indian culture. The most censorious critics, however, have been India’s gay and lesbian activists. They say the film is a 'homophobic, hetero-patriarchal' portrayal of lesbianism in India. They charge director Karan Razdan of creating a "conscious, articulated homophobia" for mass consumption. Girlfriend is a candyfloss drama about two close women friends who sleep in the same bed and share—explicitly, on screen—a...

Delegate Bob Marshall of Manassas, sponsor of recent Pro-Family legislation in Virginia, is under assault by homosexual activists and pro-gay "marriage" advoactes who have scheduled to picket his personal residence. I don't live in Virginia (in fact I live on the opposite side of the country) but I thought that Virginia Freepers might like to know about this so that you can organize a counter-protest and show support for someone who is defending the traditional family in the great State of Virginia. Here is the info on the scheduled picketing (scroll about halfway down the page till you get to...

TAHLEQUAH, Okla., June 16 (UPI) -- The Cherokee Nation Tribal Council has voted in Oklahoma to ban same-sex marriages after a lesbian couple attempted to file a marriage certificate. Kathy Reynolds and partner Dawn McKinley said they would continue their fight through the courts after being rebuffed by the tribal court Tuesday, the Oklahoman reported. "I'm feeling frustrated, disappointed," said Reynolds. The tribal council voted 15-0 Monday night to enact a ban against same-sex marriages. The women were married May 18 in Tulsa and it was the second time they had been turned away when they tried to file the...

(CNSNews.com) - The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force says it is time to repeal America's "archaic and unjust" sex laws. The Task Force announced it is taking part in a project to analyze sex laws throughout the United States and identify which ones need to go. The point is to "educate Americans about the prevalence and abuse of antiquated and unjust sex laws in the nation, and to give grassroots activists policy and organizing tools to work to change these laws," the Task Force said in a press release. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force said it is...

This is a story of two conferences. As this issue goes to press (May 27), the Catholic Press Association is in the middle of its May 26-May 28 convention in Washington, D.C., an annual exercise-in-irrelevancy, where every diocesan newspaper gets an "excellence award." A month later, in New York, the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association will meet in a great spirit of triumphalism over the success of their campaign for warming Americans up to "gay marriage." Gays can be triumphalist; Catholics cannot. Alas, there will be a certain introspection at the NLGJA confab, as founders, editors and reporters of...