Free Republic

Sen. Mitt Romney (R.-Utah), who was the losing Republican presidential nominee in 2012, voted on Wednesday to move forward to a final vote in the Senate on the “Respect for Marriage Act,” which would recognize same-sex marriages in federal law. “While I believe in traditional marriage, Obergefell is and has been the law of the land upon which LGBTQ individuals have relied,” said Romney. “This legislation provides certainty to many LGBTQ Americans, and it signals that Congress—and I—esteem and love all of our fellow Americans equally.” “This legislation provides important protections for religious liberty—measures which are particularly important to protect...

Eight months into their control of the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) hasn't missed many opportunities to draw a stark contrast between the two parties' policies. From defending infanticide and trying to gut the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to the job-killing New Green Deal, hardly a day passes that the Left's radicalism isn't on display. But yesterday, liberals took their extremism to new heights -- demanding a tax on Bible-believing Americans. Thursday's hearing in the House Ways and Means Committee wasn't the first time liberals have tried to use the IRS to do their dirty work -- but it might...

When the Supreme Court destroyed the institution of marriage in one fell swoop with the Obergefell V. Hodges ruling, liberals, and LGBT advocates mocked us for predicting the slippery slope we now find ourselves on. Our children are growing up in a world where gender is supposedly fluid (unless we’re using it to get what we want) and love is whatever we want it to be. It was only a matter of time before the insanity of the culture would set the stage for pedophilia follow on the coattails of homosexuality and become a normalized sexual orientation. Under the so-called...

Gay rights activist Edith Windsor, whose same-sex marriage fight led to a landmark US ruling, has died aged 88. Her death was confirmed to the New York Times by her wife Judith Kasen-Windsor. Ms Windsor's Supreme Court case struck down the Defense of Marriage Act in 2013, granting same-sex married couples federal recognition for the first time. She had sued the US government after being ordered to pay $363,053 (£224,940) in federal estate tax after her previous wife died. The couple had been partners for 44 years and had married in Canada in 2007. Ms Windsor argued that the provision...

Members of the North Carolina General Assembly introduced a bill on Tuesday, citing the 10th Amendment, which affirms that the U.S. Supreme Court exceeded its authority under the Constitution and in relation to the “decree of Almighty God” by legalizing same-sex marriage, and contends that the Obergefell v. Hodges decision “is null and void” in North Carolina and that the Tar Heel state shall only recognize marriages between one man and one woman. The legislation explains that North Carolina seeks to follow the 2012 law that was established in Section 6 of Article XIV of the North Carolina Constitution, which...

A law professor at Jesuit-run Fordham University in New York is appealing for an end to the institution of marriage in America, which he describes as “religious, gendered, and bourgeois.” Ethan J. Leib published his essay in the Fordham Law Review. The article, titled “Hail Marriage and Farewell,” says Leib was “elated” when the U.S. Supreme Court made same-sex marriage the law of the land on June 26, 2015, a ruling he described as “a victory for rights, for open-mindedness, for love, and for the future.” The decision, in fact, made him feel, at least for a moment, as if...

North Dakota’s Republican-led Senate rejected a measure Tuesday that would have changed state law to reflect the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that same-sex couples have the right to marry. The bill failed 15-31. It would have changed dozens of references, such as “husband and wife,” to gender-neutral terms. North Dakota law lists “one man, one woman” or “husband and wife” for everything from marriages and divorces to fishing licenses. The measure got a hearing last week in the Senate Judiciary Committee, which voted 4-2 to recommend against passage. …

The following is just my own surmising in regards to the importance of the United States election on November 8th and what might happen depending on who wins. I firmly believe that 2015's Obergefell v. Hodges was a major moral turning point in the United States.  Some commentators, such as J.D. Farag, even thought that there could be no turning back or revival at this point.  The country has been on a downward spiral for a half-century, but up until 2015 Christians were still largely protected and individual states could support righteousness in a variety of ways.  The SCOTUS ruling...

Editor's note: Below is an excerpt from an interview with Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) conducted by Professor Robert P. George of Princeton University that aired November 25 on EWTN. The interview series, titled "Candidate Conversations 2016," will pose a number of questions to presidential candidates on topics of particular concern to Catholic voters. The passage below addresses the question of how public officials should best respond to the Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court ruling on so-called same-sex "marriage" decided last summer. Here, Senator Cruz publicly endorses a position advanced by Prof. George and others who argue that unconstitutional decisions of...

Pope Francis warns marriage has been stretched and distorted in the United States, to the point where it is no longer even similar to the Christian sacrament of matrimony. The pontiff noted the “unprecedented changes” taking place in contemporary society, “with their social, cultural – and sadly now juridical – effects on family bonds,” referring to the Supreme Course decision in June to legalize same-sex marriage for the entire nation in Obergefell v. Hodges.

Attorneys who brought the Ohio lawsuit that led to a Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage want a judge to approve their request for more than $1 million in legal fees and expenses from the state. […] The Cincinnati lawyers represented James Obergefell, who sued Ohio’s health director for refusing to list him as the surviving spouse on his husband’s death certificate. …

Since Friday’s Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, America’s liberal press has written countless victory laps declaring their version of reality the new normal–and conservative support of traditional marriage now a relic of history. Tom Garrett at The Axis of Ego writes an astounding summary of what really has changed–and just how radical this “new normal” is:It is impossible not to be impressed by what this activist-driven effort accomplished—I mean in real terms, not the unserious victory slogans of the campaign itself.

The U.S. Supreme Court must think God asleep. In its most odious decision since Roe v. Wade, which over the past four decades has resulted in the slaughter of more than 57 million unborn children, the High Court on Friday declared homosexual marriage a Constitutional right. In a majority opinion at odds with his putative Catholic faith, Justice Anthony Kennedy suggests that those who oppose “marriage equality” just don’t get where lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders are coming from. “It would misunderstand these men and women,” wrote Kennedy, “to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that...

If States license same sex marriages the Fourteenth Amendment may mandate the issuance of categories of marriage licenses akin to types of state diplomas.... Pregnancy is never a consequence of sexual relations in same sex marriage. No spouse in a same sex marriage who elects to have a child by natural means can do so without committing adultery. 100 percent of births to persons in same sex marriages are out-of-wedlock. No spouse in a same sex marriage who elects to have a child by natural or artificial means can do so without proliferating out-of-wedlock-births. These two facts alone establish that...