Free Republic

TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar has said he is concerned Irish whiskey could be targeted as part of the escalating trade war between the US and the EU. Speaking on the first day of his week-long visit to the US, Mr Varadkar said when he hears the EU threaten to put import tariffs on US bourbon, it concerns him that Irish whiskey could also be hit with tariffs. “When I hear bourbon whiskey I think the next response could be tariffs against Irish whiskey,” he said. Speaking at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, Mr Varadkar warned that a cross-Atlantic...

Gayle Myrick, a 68-year-old grandmother of three, loved her job as a magistrate in North Carolina. For almost five years, she set bonds, issued warrants, and granted protective orders to domestic violence victims, all while offering a message of hope to individuals in a tough spot.“You can start over every day,” Gayle would tell the Americans who came before her. “You don’t have to be in this situation forever. There’s plenty of people that want to help you.”She especially loved presiding over marriage ceremonies.“Presiding over two people committing their lives to each other filled me with so much joy...

Once again, the left is expressing outrage over "politically-incorrect" Catholic teaching and practice. From the Miami Herald: First-grade teacher Jocelyn Morffi lost her job at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic School on Thursday, the day after she returned from her [same-sex] wedding [sic] in the Florida Keys[.] ... After judges in Florida lifted the state's ban on same-sex marriage [sic] in 2015, Archbishop Thomas Wenski sent a memo to employees reminding them of the Archdiocese of Miami's policy.  All employees, including school teachers, are considered church representatives and are expected to abide by Catholic teachings, the memo said.  Any conduct 'inconsistent' with...

Gayle Myrick, an evangelical Christian and former magistrate who was forced out after she refused to perform civil marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples due to her religious beliefs, has been awarded $300,000 by the state of North Carolina in a settlement agreement. (Photo: Reuters/Davis Turner)Jesus Hernandez (L) and Oscar Hull (C) are married outside of Mecklenburg County Register of Deeds office in Charlotte, North Carolina, October 13, 2014. Monday was the first day that Mecklenburg County issued marriage licenses to gay couples.The settlement amount includes $122,660 in back pay, according to her lawyers at Becket, a Washington-based nonprofit.The settlement comes a...

Some parents are speaking out after a popular first grade teacher was fired after she posted pictures of her same-sex wedding on social media. Jocelyn Morffi taught first grade at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic School in Miami for seven years. Last weekend, she married her girlfriend and posted pictures of the ceremony to Facebook. On Thursday, Morffi was fired. In a letter to parents, Principal Carlota Morales called it a “difficult and necessary” decision. Nearly a dozen parents who had children in Morffi’s class came to the school to protest her firing. The parents called her a “great teacher”...

BAKERSFIELD, California – It would be a violation of free speech for a Christian baker to be forced to make a same-sex "wedding" cake, a California judge ruled on Monday. Cathy Miller owns Tastries Bakery, where 40 percent of her business is wedding cakes, many of which she personally designs. Last August two lesbians asked her to design a special cake to celebrate their “marriage,” and Miller politely redirected them to an accommodating competitor. Nevertheless, as is the well-established LGBT pattern, the lesbians sued Miller anyway. They filed a complaint with the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing, accusing...

On Wednesday the British overseas territory became the first country in the world to pass, and then revoke, the law, replacing gay marriage with domestic partnerships. The decision also means cruise ships registered in Bermuda are likely to be banned from hosting same-sex weddings. Theresa May said the UK's dealings with Bermuda should be based on "respect". But critics say the law reversal will make the UK an international "laughing stock". The Atlantic island, which is home to 60,000 people, legalised marriage between homosexual couples in May 2017, following a Supreme Court ruling. But the new Domestic Partnership Act, approved...

Cardinal Reinhard Marx, chairman of the German Episcopal Conference and close advisor of Pope Francis, has told the German media that “one must encourage priests” to give encouragement to homosexual unions, which could include public blessings that would take a “liturgical” form. Marx was asked in a radio interview yesterday why the Catholic Church “does not always move forward when it comes to demands from some Catholics regarding, for example, the ordination of female deacons, the blessing of homosexual couples, or the abolition of compulsory celibacy [for priests].” Marx responded that “closer pastoral care” must be given to homosexuals, adding...

A member of Germany’s far-right and anti-Muslim Alternative for Germany party (AfD) who recently converted to Islam has said he did so in protest at what he sees as the “moral decline” of the Protestant church. Arthur Wagner, 48, until recently a leading party member in the state of Brandenburg, told the Bild newspaper on Wednesday that his decision was in part sparked by the church’s acceptance of same-sex marriage and the presence of priests at gay pride marches. “One of the reasons (for the conversion) is tied to changes that have taken place in the church, which no longer...

FORMER President Mary McAleese said she was concerned the Pope’s visit would see the LGBT community marginalised after images of same-sex couples were removed from a booklet sent to parishes. The Pope is expected to visit Ireland during the World Meeting of Families (WMF) event in Dublin in August. But it has emerged that the WMF office in Dublin removed an image of a same-sex couple from a booklet on the family – the new edition of ‘Amoris: Let’s talk Family! Let’s be Family!’ Originally, the pamphlet, which was issued by Catholic publisher Veritas, contained a photo of a same-sex...

(Photo: Courtesy of PCUSA)The national office for the mainline denomination Presbyterian Church (USA), located in Louisville, Kentucky.Presbyterian Church (USA) will soon have a new Book of Common Worship, which will include a new marriage service text that will feature "inclusive language."Scheduled to be released in May, the latest edition of the BCW is the first revision of the voluntary worship resource since 1993.Among the changes made, the new edition will feature what the PCUSA publication Presbyterians Today described as "inclusive language" for its marriage rite."A revised marriage service features inclusive language and a flexible format, making the service useful...

Full title ~ Christian Couple Refuses To Bake A Cake For Homosexual Wedding, Now The Government Of Oregon Is Forcing Them To Pay $135,000 To The Homosexuals. The Oregon Court of Appeals unanimously upheld a ruling — and a $135,000 fine — that two Gresham bakery owners discriminated against a gay couple by refusing to make them a wedding cake, violating Oregon law. The courts did reverse a portion of the Bureau of Labor and Industries decision that said Melissa and Aaron Klein violated Oregon law by communicating their intent to discriminate against same-sex couples in the future. The appeals...

A man whose speech defending same-sex marriage went viral in 2011 has announced his bid for an Iowa State Senate seat. Zach Wahls, who was 19 when he made the viral video, gave a powerful speech to the Iowa House of Representatives’s Judiciary Committee about growing up with two moms. The video was YouTube’s most-watched political video that year. Wahls, now 26, is running as a Democrat to fill the Iowa State Senate seat for the 37th District, which will be vacated by Democrat Bob Dvorsky, who is not seeking reelection. Wahls announced his campaign on Twitter on Dec. 21,...

Almost half of us are okay with the idea of two people getting married to avoid inheritance tax. In a study carried out by Amarách Research for RTÉ’s Claire Byrne Live, 48% of people said they would support two people getting married where the sole purpose is to avoid inheritance tax. […] The poll comes after two friends went on RTÉ’s Liveline on Friday afternoon and said they were marrying for tax reasons. The show heard from 85-year-old Matt, who told Joe Duffy that Michael O’Sullivan was his best friend and that he planned to leave him his house when...

A flagship liberal Orthodox synagogue in New York will stop congratulating same-sex couples on their weddings following a complaint by the Orthodox Union. The Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in the Bronx will no longer announce the weddings of its LGBT members in its newsletters in accordance with a policy dictated by the OU, the largest association of Orthodox synagogues in the United States. The policy was set out this month in response to complaints from other member synagogues, which take a harder line on opposing same-sex marriage. Orthodox Jewish law, or halacha, prohibits same-sex marriage, and Orthodox rabbis are not...

Doug Jones, the Democrat who pulled off a stunning upset victory in Alabama's nail-biter Senate contest on Tuesday, is considered a champion for civil rights in a state that played a seminal role in the 1960s movement for racial equality. Jones' supporters erupted in cheers and jubilation as it became clear their portly, balding candidate had become the first Alabama Democrat to win a US Senate seat in 25 years. It came at the bitter end of a vitriolic campaign centered on Jones's Republican rival, Roy Moore, a Christian conservative accused of preying on teenage girls years before. Moore was...

SYDNEY, Australia, December 11, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) — Christians in Australia who uphold the sanctity of one-man, one-woman marriage are feeling threatened after the country legalized same-sex “marriage” last week. After a volunteer mail-in survey, lawmakers in both houses of Parliament passed a law legalizing homosexual “marriage” last week. But as Pastor Mark Powell put it in The Spectator Australia, “Let it be known that on the December 7, 2017 – the day in Australian Parliamentary history when "love won" – the hate campaign truly began.” Angry, intolerantPowell was referring to a “deluge” of hate mail and social media posts from...

The Mississippi Supreme Court heard arguments last week about whether a boy born to a lesbian couple should be legally considered the biological son of his mother's female partner. Because of the nature of the child’s conception and the relationship of the adults in his life, the story is complicated. The two women who were “married” chose to have a child that would be conceived in one of them via anonymous sperm donation. The boy is now six years old. His mother’s “ex-spouse,” who helped raise the child from birth, sought to be recognized as a biological parent when the...

Australia's first legal same-sex marriages will go ahead in January after a marathon session of parliament passed laws. Same-sex couples will be able from this Saturday lodge a notice of intended marriage to start the minimum notice period required before their marriages can be solemnised from January 9. Only four MPs in the House of Representatives voted against a private bill on Thursday, just more than a week after it was agreed to by the Senate. It went through unchanged, after 56 hours of parliamentary debate despite a push from conservative politicians for additional exemptions, including for religious organisations, civil...

Austria's top court has ruled that same-sex couples can get married from the start of 2019, declaring a previous law discriminatory. The Constitutional Court overturned a law that restricted same-sex unions to civil partnerships, according to court documents seen by CNN. The decision brings Austria into line with many other European nations including Germany, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, France and the UK.