Free Republic

I love drag. I have done drag. Many of my favorite celebrities are drag queens. If you asked me a decade ago what I thought of, say, RuPaul sashaying into a library in full sparkling evening gown glory to read a popular children's book to kids, I would have said it was hilarious. RuPaul's Drag Race did for drag queens what Will & Grace did for gays in the 2000s. But something has also changed in how Americans see drag. Drag queens went from a favorite gif to add to a particularly sassy tweet to the manifestation of everything conservative...

A father is suing Colarado’s largest school district after he alleges that a school refused to let his children display “straight flags”. Nathan Feldman alleges that his two children have been denied their First Amendment rights at the K-8 Slavens School in Denver. He says that a “straight flag” would represent his children’s beliefs and should be allowed to be hung and displayed on campus the same way LGBTQ+ flags are. Feldman’s lawyer, Michael Yoder, has blamed equality, diversion and inclusion policies in Denver for the “overt sexualisation of content in elementary schools nationwide”. He said that books focused on...

The White House on Sunday condemned a conservative social media activist for ridiculing an openly-gay Interior Department official on the site X, describing her posts as “cruel and unacceptable.” Chaya Raichik, who created the @libsoftiktok account on X, formerly known as Twitter, sparked a debate online this week after posting and reposting several times about Tyler Cherry, Interior’s principal deputy communications director. The posts appeared to criticize his appearance, referred to him as one of the “total weirdos” the Biden administration has hired, laughed at photos of him in a dress that the New York Times published in a piece...

WEST OLIVE, Mich. — The eight new members of the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners had run for office promising to “thwart tyranny” in their lakeside Michigan community of 300,000 people. In this case the oppressive force they aimed to thwart was the county government they now ran. It was early January, their first day in charge. An American flag held down a spot at the front of the board’s windowless meeting room. Sea-foam green carpet covered the floor. The new commissioners, all Republicans, swore their oaths of office on family Bibles. And then the firings began. Gone was the...

When five Tampa Bay Rays players refused to wear a game uniform with a rainbow logo during Pride month, it seemed like a childish move. Now it’s clear they started a misguided trend that is not-so-quietly building amongst anti-gay athletes in sports around the world. The refusal to wear a rainbow-colored uniform — and potentially miss games for the club that pays you to play — misses the entire point of the very simple act, instead infusing a clear message of inequality and rejection of an entire class of people...... I’ve had some people ask me if I’d wear a...

As a sixth-grade public school teacher in Florida, I’ve come to expect the worst from Gov. Ron DeSantis and his Department of Education. The governor’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill put a target on the back of LGBTQ students and teachers: It outlaws “classroom instruction” on sexual orientation or gender identity (whatever that is) in grades K-3 and severely limits it in grades 4-12. That was bad enough. But this fall, the situation got worse. Previously, if a parent accused us of violating the Don’t Say Gay law, they could sue the school district. Now the Department of Education has declared...

It has been a long and painful month in the Florida legislature for opponents of the state’s Trumpist governor Ron DeSantis and his loyal band of rightwing Republicans. A slew of bills has advanced attacking everything from diversity rights, abortion protections and free speech in schools, in addition to a proposal that would legally shield white people from feeling “discomfort” over the state’s racist past..... The issues that Republicans see as a priority for Florida are red meat to DeSantis’s conservative base. They include the 15-week abortion ban bill, which received a chaotic hearing on Thursday, and moves to give...

Pete Buttigieg told "Axios on HBO" that "we've probably had excellent presidents who were gay — we just didn't know which ones." Why it matters: Buttigieg, who is rising in polls and would be the first openly gay nominee of either party, talks easily about his sexual orientation when asked. This comment is a new window into his thinking. Transcript "Axios on HBO:" "Republicans claimed that John Kerry was a traitor in Vietnam. That Barack Obama was a Muslim. If you were to win the nomination, they'll say you're too young, too liberal, too gay to be commander-in-chief. You are...

Parents of Parkland gun control advocates David Hogg and Cameron Kasky assured the media Tuesday that their sons are not homosexual with one another. Here is a photo that Cameron Kasky posted to Twitter, referring to “Prom 2018,” which created a situation in which the young adults’ parents had to clear up gay rumors. Hogg’s activist mother Rebecca Boldrick said that Hogg is not going to prom with Kasky as his date, and Kasky’s father also weighed in on the issue, according to TMZ. “Cameron and David love each other very much, as do the 20 or so other kids...

Reggie’s the best athlete I know - Obama The rumors of Obama’s gayness abound, but the press is muzzled by the CFR like a trained lapdog. The Globe however ran an article recently about Donald Young, one of Obama’s alleged “gay lovers”, who was found murdered in Chicago. He was a gay choir director at the now infamous Trinity Church and reputedly a friend of Obama’s. Young’s mother thinks he was killed to protect Obama’s secret gay life during the campaign. This was reported by Larry Sinclair during the campaign. The media choose to bury the story. An article ran...

SALEM, Ore. – A photo of Rep. David Wu wearing a tiger costume and other unusual revelations about his mental health are increasing pressure on the seven-term Oregon Democrat to step down.

LONDON (Reuters) - The United States has entered a recession, according to highly-regarded investor Jim Rogers, who told Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper on Wednesday he was switching out of the dollar and into yen, the yuan and the Swiss franc. The veteran investor, who predicted the 1999 commodities rally, also said he was still bullish about surging Chinese stock markets despite worries over a bubble. Fears are growing over the health of the U.S. economy after the fallout from the subprime mortgage market crisis and the global credit crunch it triggered. The U.S. Federal Reserve has already slashed borrowing costs...

<p>VINELAND -- When Kyle Brandon arrived for classes at Cumberland County College one night last spring, he didn't expect to come face to face with dozens of members of the Boy Scouts of America.</p> <p>But that's what happened when Brandon, a 36-year-old openly gay Vineland resident, walked into the college's Frank Guaracini Jr. Fine and Performing Arts Center. The stress of witnessing the start of a Boy Scouts award ceremony for the college's president, Kenneth Ender, was so intense that he broke out in cold sweat, Brandon said.</p>