Free Republic

[British model Lily Cole has attracted attention for her waif-like build] **** You can never be too rich or too thin, or so the saying goes. But moves at major catwalk shows to stem the use of underweight models suggest the tide may be turning. The debate kicked off when Madrid fashion week decided, in response to local government pressure, to ban models with a body mass index (BMI) of less than 18. UN health experts recommend a BMI - a calculation based on height and weight - of between 18.5 and about 25. Milan fashion week then opened with...

PROVINCETOWN Town leaders here are holding a public meeting today to air concerns about slurs and bigoted behavior. And this time, they say, it's gay people who are displaying intolerance. Police say they logged numerous complaints of straight people being called "breeders" by gays over the July Fourth holiday weekend. Jamaican workers reported being the target of racial slurs. And a woman was verbally accosted after signing a petition that opposed same-sex marriage, they said. ...though police say they do not consider the incidents hate crimes. ......[T]ensions are rising in part because of strong feelings about same-sex marriage. ...A group...

Fate is indeed fickle. Who would have guessed that in this year's Oscar voting, Brokeback Mountain, a fine, risky movie about a gay love affair, would surge ahead of Capote, a movie about a gay journalist, only to be edged out for the Best Picture Oscar by a fine, risky movie about racism? Is this a sign of our times, or what? If conservatives needed any evidence that liberal impulses have taken over the Motion Picture Academy, this is it. Right? But, alas, in some folks' minds, every silver lining has its cloud. Instead of celebrating, many fans of Brokeback...

The definition of an American icon has changed over the last fifty years. For Valentines Day country singer icon Willie Nelson debuted his groundbreaking “gay cowboy song” on the “anti-family” Howard Sterns satellite radio program. Nelson also sang in the recent gay movie “Brokeback Mountain”. This 71-year-old braided balladeer’s new “gay” music holds the promise of further polluting America’s airwaves. Likewise, Sony’s new recording label called “Music With a Twist” features artists who practice homosexuality. The label is connected to MTV’s gay TV network. At one time country music meant mom, home and apple pie. Men were men and “the...

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - A pastor on Monday called for a national boycott of Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and other companies that support a gay civil rights bill, saying the corporations have underestimated the power of religious consumers. The Rev. Ken Hutcherson, pastor of Antioch Bible Church in the Seattle suburb of Redmond, said he would formally issue the boycott Thursday on the conservative radio show Focus on the Family. "We're tired of sitting around thinking that morals can be ignored in our country," he said. "This is not a threat, this is a promise. Check out the past presidential election. We...

There’s been much talk about reforming the Catholic Church by members of Dignity USA, but unfortunately, reform can never happen as long as a former Nazi, Pope Benedict XVI, heads the same fallible institution. Instead of praying for change and hoping for a dialogue with a tyrant, queers would be better served by resorting to the “in your face” antics of ACT UP. After all, it was under Pope Benedict’s leadership as a bishop that the church’s doctrine which states that homosexuals are either “intrinsically” or “organically disordered” was formulated and put into place. A distinction was made between those...

The Gay Gamete Project was developed as a means to ensure the genetic survival of homosexuality;to assure that the decline in homosexual procreation does not result in our eventual extinction. Homophobic Guidelines: The FDA has been in the process of promulgating national regulations that would prohibit clinics from accepting sperm from homosexual applicants since 1999. The decision will likely be finalized before 2003. Due to these homophobic guidelines as well as those proposed by the ASRM, it is unfortunately necessary for gay men to lie about their sexual preference and sexual history in the application and interview process. Gay men...

TROY - Investigators hired by the Albany Diocesan Review Board to look into allegations of sexual misconduct against Bishop Howard Hubbard refused to interview an elderly person who may have shed light on the death of Rev. John Minkler. The interview was supposed to occur in Minkler's 11th-floor office at the Stratton Veterans Affairs Hospital in Albany, but private investigators representing Mary Jo White walked away from the table after realizing the elderly person wanted attorney John Aretakis in the room. Minkler was found dead in his Watervliet home just days after signing an affidavit stating he did not write...

BY TOM SHAW WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER This Valentine's Day at least six same-sex couples will walk into the Douglas County Clerk's Office seeking marriage licenses. The couples don't expect to get them. Their action will be part of a nationwide effort to push for legalizing same-sex unions. Only Vermont recognizes such unions. The action is being led by the Metropolitan Community Church, which the group says has more than 46,000 members in 22 countries. Same-sex couples will ask for marriage licenses in several states on Valentine's Day. The Douglas County couples will be led by the Rev. Barbara Sagat, pastor...