Free Republic

Danforth: Ban on Gay Marriage a Silly Idea WASHINGTON — Former Sen. John Danforth says a conservative push to ban gay marriage through a constitutional amendment is silly, calling it the latest example of how the political influence of evangelical Christians is hurting the GOP. Danforth, a Missouri Republican and an Episcopal priest, made the comments in a speech Saturday night to the Log Cabin Republicans, which support gay rights. He said history has shown that attempts to regulate human behavior with constitutional amendments are misguided. "Once before, the Constitution was amended to try to deal with matters of human...

GENEVA (Reuters) - A global body representing gays and lesbians said on Monday it would seek to bring pressure on the United Nations for full recognition of their human rights at a conference in Geneva next week. The Brussels-based International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) said the conference, held every two years in different locations, would be addressed by delegates from all continents, including countries where homosexuality is banned. "How long can lesbian and gay rights be ignored at the U.N.? That is one of the key questions we will be addressing," said a spokesman for ILGA, Stephen Barris. "We...

Fort Lauderdale · They came decked out in rainbow-colored beads, butterfly wings and cowboy hats. From square-dancing groups and political advocacy organizations, to local vendors and drag queens with fabulousness sprinkled all over, hundreds of revelers filled Holiday Park in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday to celebrate the 29th annual Pridefest. LocalLinks The event celebrates the diversity of South Florida's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. Partiers mingled and laughed their way around three large tents, which featured dozens of informational booths by groups like American Veterans for Equal Rights, Equality Florida and the Dolphin Democrats. "I think it's awesome," said...

Advocates of same-sex marriage in the Golden State are hoping to go directly to voters to make changes in the state constitution, deleting all references to gender in marriage law and nixing provisions of Prop 22, which declared marriage in California was strictly between one man and one woman. The Organization for Fairness and Equality has turned paperwork into Attorney General Bill Lockyer to initiate the signature-gathering process for the proposal. The group is confident state voters will think differently about same-sex marriage than does Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who vetoed a bill last year that would have legalized the practice....

Considering the current hoo-hah over the movie "Brokeback Mountain" and whether it will win any Academy Awards brings into focus what the appeal of this movie might be for straights – heterosexual persons, that is. While I am aware that there is a larger context for this movie in the social arena – a serious dramatic treatment of homosexual love – and that gay advocacy groups consider this another victory in their agenda to break barriers and normalize homosexuality, my personal reaction is to question why I would want to see a movie on this theme. Because of the strength...

A State Journal editorial February 9, 2006 The cause of equal rights is at the heart of the debate over gay marriage and a powerful reason for legalizing it. Under Wisconsin law, a married couple has nearly 200 legal benefits and protections; under federal law, an additional 1,138, according to a recent report by Action Wisconsin and the Human Rights Campaign. For instance, married people can: * Receive the medical records of a spouse. * Seek worker's compensation claims if a spouse dies. * Avoid a state fee after transferring real estate between spouses. * Claim separate personal tax exemptions....

The justice minister of the European Union, Franco Frattini, announced this week at the EU parliament in Strasburg that member states which do not eliminate all forms of discrimination against homosexuals, including the refusal to approve “marriage” and unions between same-sex couples, would be subject to sanctions and eventual expulsion from the EU. According to a report by the Archdioceses of Madrid’s news service Analisis Digital, the commissioner’s statements came as the governments of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Poland ruled against legalizing homosexual “marriage.” “Homophobia is a violation of human rights and we are watching member states on this issue...

BALTIMORE -- A Circuit Court judge yesterday ruled that Maryland's 33-year-old ban on same-sex "marriage" is unconstitutional. - snip - "After much study and serious reflection, this court holds that Maryland's statutory prohibition against same-sex marriage cannot withstand this constitutional challenge," Judge Murdock said in her 22-page ruling. The law defining marriage as a union of a man and a woman violates the state constitution's Equal Rights Amendment, which guarantees "equality of rights under the law shall not be abridged or denied because of sex," the judge said.

SonyBMG and the founder of Logo, MTV's gay television network, have teamed to launch a new record label focused on gay and lesbian artists. The label, called "Music with a Twist," will be launched as a partnership between SonyBMG's Sony Music Label Group U.S. and Wilderness Media & Entertainment, the firm headed by Logo founder Matt Farber. Don Ienner, Sony Music Label Group CEO, said, "Twist will provide a nurturing and creative environment for a key group of artists — the perfect vehicle to reach out to the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and trans-gendered communities."

CRANSTON -- The School Department is not happy that some middle school students were asked to write their views on same-sex marriage and that their work was published in a local newspaper as letters to the editor. M. Richard Scherza, assistant superintendent of schools, said yesterday that the topic -- on which Park View Middle School eighth graders expressed their views in this week's edition of the Cranston Herald -- was not appropriate for that age group and he will take up the matter with administrators and teachers. "I don't know exactly how this came about, but it is a...

Tracking a genetic link to sexuality BY FAYE FLAM Knight Ridder Newspapers Geneticist Dean Hamer says he never chose to be attracted to men. As we talked inside the renovated Washington, D.C., townhouse he shares with his partner and two dogs, the scientist popularly associated with so-called "gay genes" told me he knew he was gay since he was about 5. That's what partly motivated Hamer, 54, to switch from basic molecular genetics to studying sexual orientation in 1992. When he told his colleagues at the National Cancer Institute what he was doing, they were puzzled. "It was pretty far...

  Liberals, Conservatives, Moderates, it's a special time, can we find a little peace? I have been wanting to do this for quite some time. Somewhere deep inside I believe that there can be a bit of common ground between the Left side of the political spectrum, and the Right. Why would we want this, assuming of course that there is someone other than me that would like to see that happen. I believe that there are many things about our wonderful nation that we share that could serve as a starting point to start a healing between us. I...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- A gay rights organization filed a lawsuit on behalf of six gay and lesbian couples in Polk County District Court on Tuesday, asking for the right to marry for same-sex couples. Lambda Legal, the organization that spearheaded the same-sex marriage drive across the country, said it wants full recognition of the civil rights of gay couples. "There are thousands of couples in Iowa who are eager for the protections and security that come with marriage," Camilla Taylor, a staff attorney with Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, said during a telephone interview with The Associated...

EDITORIALS Gay marriage critics can't toast victory yet Sunday, December 11, 2005 More than 170,000 people have signed an initiative petition to ban gay marriage in Massachusetts. Supporters needed only 65,825 certified signatures to qualify for the ballot. We still believe that Massachusetts will one day be recognized and admired as the first state in the nation to allow gay couples to marry. Advertisement Thousands of gay couples have tied the knot in Massachusetts since the state's highest court legalized gay marriage in 2003. And thousands more will marry before November 2008, the earliest that the anti-gay marriage question can...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A gay cowboy movie won rave reviews on Friday as mainstream Hollywood embraced the tale of Marlboro men in love, but for most gay Americans the acceptance symbolized by marriage remains a distant dream. Based on an Annie Proulx's short story, "Brokeback Mountain" is about two cowboys who meet and fall in love while wrangling sheep in Wyoming in 1963. Their love lasts through two decades as they each get married to women and live "normal" lives. "Moving and majestic," said The New York Times; "An American masterpiece" said the New York Observer; "Unmissable and unforgettable"...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, Dec. 5, 2005 CONTACT: Gary Glenn 989-835-7978 Professor David Halperin 734-647-5884 Family group renews criticism of tax- funded college class "How to be Gay" U-M catalogue calls class "an experiment in the very process of initiation it hopes to understand." ------- ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- A statewide family values group Monday renewed its criticism of a controversial University of Michigan class -- offered this fall for the first time since 2003 -- again calling on state lawmakers to pressure university officials to drop the course altogether. The American Family Association of Michigan, in a letter to...

"We can't be breeding right now," says Les Knight. "It's obvious that the intentional creation of another [human being] by anyone anywhere can't be justified today." Knight is the founder of the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement, an informal network of people dedicated to phasing out the human race in the interest of the health of the Earth. Knight, whose convictions led him to get a vasectomy in the 1970s, when he was 25, believes that the human race is inherently dangerous to the planet and inevitably creates an unsustainable situation. "As long as there's one breeding couple," he says cheerfully,...

By 1 hour, 10 minutes ago OAKLAND, California (Reuters) - As U.S. gays and lesbians prepare to battle a raft of state constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage that will likely be on the ballot next fall, activists are recasting the issue as one that needs to be fought on moral rather than political grounds. That is the message Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the oldest and leading U.S. grass-roots gay and lesbian coalition, has taken to more than 2,500 gay rights organizers at its annual conference held in Oakland this week. "What I...

AUSTIN, Texas -- Opponents of a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages in Texas have a message for you: The proposition could mean trouble for marriage between a man and woman. With telephone calls, e-mails and Internet postings, gay rights activists and others opposed to Proposition 2 are spreading that idea as part of their longshot battle to derail the measure in Tuesday's election. The tactic has supporters of the same-sex marriage ban crying foul. It has opponents boasting that they may have a chance at defeating the measure _ in Texas, of all places, the conservative home state...

The lesbian lover of a child's biological mother has equal legal rights with traditional parents, the Washington state Supreme Court ruled today. The case involved a woman who raised a child from birth to age 6 while in a "relationship" with the girl's biological mother, the Associated Press reported. The ruling means the non-biological "mother" can seek parental rights as a "de facto parent." "Today we hold that our common law recognizes the status of de facto parents and places them in parity with biological and adoptive parents in our state," the court, led by Justice Bobbe J. Bridge, wrote...