Free Republic

June is Pride Month, a ripe time to reflect on one of the most startling facts about our sexual culture today: Condom use is all but disappearing among large numbers of gay men. Many rightly attribute the condom’s decline to the rise of PrEP — an acronym for pre-exposure prophylaxis, a two-drug cocktail that inoculates a person from contracting H.I.V. But another crucial component is the fading memory of the AIDS crisis that once defined what it meant to be gay. After tracking the sexual practices of 17,000 gay and bisexual Australian men from 2014 to 2017, a team of...

Last year, the white nationalist Richard Spencer was kicked out of his Virginia gym after another member confronted him and called him a Nazi. This incident did not generate a national round of hand-wringing about the death of tolerance, perhaps because most people tacitly agree that it’s O.K. to shun professional racists. It’s a little more complicated when the professional racist is the president of the United States. The norms of our political life require a degree of bipartisan forbearance. But treating members of Donald Trump’s administration as ordinary public officials rather than pariahs does more to normalize bigotry than...

MANHATTAN, New York (WABC) -- Ahead of the 49th Pride March in New York City, I sat down with Desmond of DesmondisAmazing. Desmond is a 10-year-old award-winning LGBTQ activist, drag artist, model, fashion icon, and vouger in New York City.

The bigotry of the Colorado Civil Rights Commission earned it a spanking from the United States Supreme Court ... A born-again Christian named Jack Phillips ran a bakery. Aware of Phillips' heartfelt religious beliefs, a gay couple demanded that he violate those beliefs by designing and creating an artistic cake to celebrate their marriage. This was even before Colorado had legalized gay marriage. Phillips politely told the couple that they were welcome in his bakery and that he would be happy to sell them anything off-the-shelf. But he could not violate his faith. He even offered to find them an...

The rollout of a drug that prevents H.I.V. infection was followed by a reduction in condom use among gay and bisexual men in Australia, according to a study published in the journal Lancet H.I.V. But so effective was the drug that H.I.V. infection rates in the study region declined anyway, the researchers concluded. During the rapid distribution of a drug that prevents infection — a strategy called pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP — among gay and bisexual men in Australia, researchers found that unprotected sex increased even among those not on PrEP, suggesting that perceptions of risk had declined in communities...

They’re bogus 911 calls with real consequences— and public figures or celebrities are often the victims. This week, 18-year-old activist David Hogg in Parkland and fellow #NeverAgain student leader Cameron Kasky in West Delray were targeted by swatting calls, according to authorities in Broward and Palm Beach counties. Named after the response by police SWAT squads who respond to the calls, false 911 callers often describe emergencies involving barricaded gunmen or hostages in an attempt to draw heavily-armed officers. These fake 911 callers often spoof a victim’s phone, making it appear as though the victim is placing the emergency call.

A progressive summer storm has blown across the Illinois prairie and settled over the St. Louis suburb of O'Fallon, Illinois, full of sound and fury and, well, not exactly signifying nothing, but rather seeking the pound of flesh that the progressive jihadists need to satisfy their bloodlust. The current recipient of the One Minute Hate is a mild school board member who committed the mortal sin of challenging liberal stupidity and thus must be destroyed. The man in question – one Steve Springer of the O'Fallon School District 90 – challenged several left-wing orthodoxies and is now facing the leftists'...

It doesn't seem that long ago when I sat down with CBS's "Face the Nation" and told a very surprised Bob Schieffer about the battle for religious freedom that was raging. Like many people, he seemed astonished to hear that any American - let alone the wedding industry - would be punished for their mainstream views on marriage. "I must say this is under my radar. I haven't…I haven't heard this." Today, almost three full years into Obergefell, nearly everyone has heard their stories. And this morning [June 4th], in the same court that created the mess of same-sex marriage,...

Antarctica will host its first ever LGBTQ pride month event this month. The ungoverned continent, which was dubbed the first gay-friendly continent by humanitarian organization Planting Peace, will hold the event on June 9, according to Mic News. Employees based at the McMurdo Station, Antarctica's largest research station, will hold the celebration at the station's bar. The event will feature games and movies, Shawn Waldron, an organizer who works with the station's support crew, told Earther. The 10 LGBTQ employees of McMurdo Station set the stage for the upcoming LGBTQ pride event by braving the cold to hold up a...

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The news of Ben and Rene Ruiz's deaths come as a shock for the many people who described the couple as happy, loving and groundbreaking in the gay community. Houston police say the men, who were in the midst of a divorce, died in a murder-suicide inside a million-dollar home near the Galleria. Their bodies were discovered Thursday inside a bathroom at their home on Markham Street near Weslayan. "It's not truly set in yet," said Ben's longtime friend, Edward Sanchez. "I think deep down inside I'm waiting to hear from him." Sanchez said the couple...

Bay State schools will be able to try a new curriculum with LGBTQ-themed history, English and health this fall that proponents say is an effort to help all students see themselves reflected in classrooms. The curriculum, developed by a team of teachers with Massachusetts Safe Schools Program for LGBTQ Students and the Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ Youth, will be released this summer. It will feature lessons on the 1969 Stonewall Riots and writings by gay and lesbian authors such as Langston Hughes and Willa Cather. It will also feature lessons like how Nick Carraway’s love for Jay Gatsby may have...

A lawyer nationally known for being a champion of gay rights died after setting himself on fire in Prospect Park in Brooklyn early Saturday morning and leaving a note exhorting people to lead less selfish lives as a way to protect the planet, the police said. The remains of the lawyer, David S. Buckel, 60, were found near Prospect Park West in a field near baseball diamonds and the main loop used by joggers and bikers. Mr. Buckel left a note in a shopping cart not far from his body and also emailed it to several news media outlets, including...

Bryon Hefner, the estranged husband of former Senate President Stanley Rosenberg, has been indicted on charges of sexual assault, criminal lewdness and distributing nude photos without consent, Attorney General Maura Healey and Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley announced today. Hefner is due in Suffolk Superior Court April 24 on the 10 felony counts.

The theology program at the Jesuit-run College of the Holy Cross has taken on a new tone ever since the school appointed a gender-obsessed Chair of New Testament Studies who claims Jesus was a “drag king,” a new article contends. Writing for The Fenwick Review, Elinor Reilly of the Holy Cross class of 2018 argues in a March 26 article that Professor Tat-Siong Benny Liew’s “unconventional readings of Scripture” have brought “a new theological perspective to Holy Cross.”

The theology program at the Jesuit-run College of the Holy Cross has taken on a new tone ever since the school appointed a gender-obsessed Chair of New Testament Studies who claims Jesus was a “drag king,” a new article contends. Writing for The Fenwick Review, Elinor Reilly of the Holy Cross class of 2018 argues in a March 26 article that Professor Tat-Siong Benny Liew’s “unconventional readings of Scripture” have brought “a new theological perspective to Holy Cross.”

A prominent right-wing rabbi was invited to speak at an event organized by a faction within Education Minister Naftali Bennett's Jewish Home party, and promptly outraged most secular Israelis. Rabbi Yehoshua Shapira (pictured) is head of the Ramat Gan Yeshiva, and has often spoken out against homosexuality, insisting that such tendencies can be overcome with proper therapy. At Tuesday's event, Shapira let loose: "We are not homophobes, and we are not phobic. We do not live out of fear, and we are not scared. We are courageous people, we are the Land of Israel's heroes, and we are not scared...

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Jenye “Viki” Knox served Union High School since 2000 as a teacher and faculty adviser for the students’ Bible study group. She began teaching handicapped students 28 years ago. An ordained minister, Knox communicated her opinion openly on social media. In 2013, Knox sued the district for violating her right to free speech and her right to the free expression of her religion. She wanted her job back with back pay and the admission that she was within her rights under the Constitution to express her views on Facebook. The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey admitted that though...

Imagine a group of activists so powerful that they could beam their propaganda directly into your brain. Now also imagine that they’re so sophisticated, they actually get you to pay them to do it. Unfortunately, you don’t have to imagine it. It’s real. It’s Hollywood. As big as the internet has become, Hollywood—and here, I’m talking specifically about television—is still king. Not only does it reach hundreds of millions of people with its messaging, it embeds that messaging in seemingly innocuous stories—stories that distract us from the hardships of daily life; stories that make us feel good, compassionate, and decent....

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...