Free Republic

In a move believed to be the first by a college campus in the nation, San Jose State University President Don Kassing has suspended all campus blood drives because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration bars any man who has had sex with another man from donating blood. "The FDA's lifetime blood donor deferral affecting gay men violates our non-discrimination policy," said Kassing in an e-mail sent to faculty, staff and students. The suspension, which is effective immediately, applies to blood drives arranged by employees representing the university as well as blood drives organized by student groups. The FDA's ban...

While former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney claims he did everything possible to throttle homosexual marriage in his state – his campaign now saying he took "every conceivable step within the law to defend traditional marriage" – several constitutional experts say that just isn't so. "What Romney did [was] he exercised illegal legislative authority," Herb Titus said of the governor's actions after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court released its opinion in the Goodridge case in 2003. "He was bound by what? There was no order. There wasn't even any order to the Department of Public Health to do anything." Titus,...

Marine General Peter Pace – decorated war hero and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff – continues to find himself fending off a vicious and unfamiliar rapid fire assault from his extreme left-flank. In recent days, the good general has been widely and unjustly vilified by America’s self-appointed thought police as they step up their unified and widespread campaign of homofascist speech enforcement. During a recent interview with the Chicago Tribune, Pace violated one of the cardinal rules of political correctness by noting that, “homosexual acts between two individuals are immoral.” While defending the military’s “don’t ask don’t tell”...

WASHINGTON, March 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A group of seven high- ranking military veterans today responded to recent remarks by General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who earlier this week called lesbian, gay and bisexual service members "immoral" and re-iterated his support for the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ban on lesbian, gay and bisexual service members. The officers, who are all lesbian or gay, called on Congress to repeal the law, and demanded that General Pace apologize for his remarks. COL Stewart Bornhoft, USA (Ret.); CAPT Joan E. Darrah, USN (Ret.); CAPT Robert D. Dockendorff, USNR...

My friends, my sister, and I were hanging out at a gay bar in West Hollywood last night (yes, really) because you can buy $1 draft beers during happy hour, and my little sister can flirt with men who won't actually try to take her home. She just moved out to Hollywood to live with me and, being only 29, she still likes to party. I'm the over-protective type, so I go with her and glower at anyone who gets too close.Because it was a gay bar, all the men I met there were... oh, what's the word... gay, yes,...

In the early years of AIDS, when many people thought a deadly disease dubbed "the gay cancer" might be transmitted via drinking glasses or doorknobs, Congress added HIV to the list of infections that could prevent a foreign visitor from entering the country. Nearly two decades later, as the international Gay Games begin in Chicago this weekend, the law still bars any HIV-positive foreigner from visiting the U.S., whether it is to play basketball, attend a business meeting or stand up in a family wedding. Though immigration officials have granted a waiver to allow athletes to attend the games--just as...

The following GLBT related legislation is currently in process in the California Legislature.  While some of these bills sound generic in nature, all are being supported by major GLBT activist organizations in California as advancing homosexual rights.  AB 606 - Safe Place to Learn Act Assemblymember Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys)Would require school districts to establish and publicize an antidiscrimination and antiharassment policy that prohibits discrimination and harassment as specified under current law, including, but not limited to, actual or perceived gender identity and sexual orientation and provides penalties for school districts found to be in violation of that law, including...

Britain's Conservatives winning greater share of gay vote: poll LONDON (AFP) - The election of David Cameron as leader of Britain's main opposition Conservative Party has delivered it a significant boost among the gay community, according to a survey. The poll for website PinkNews.co.uk suggested that 29.7 percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) voters in England said they would back the Tories under Cameron in the forthcoming local elections on May 4. That figure compares with just 19.2 percent who voted for the party under its previous leader, Michael Howard, at the 2005 general election. Prime Minister Tony...

WASHINGTON: Seven soldiers from the US Army’s elite 82nd Airborne Division have been charged with engaging in sex for money on an Internet website, the army said Friday. Three of the soldiers were charged with pandering, sodomy and “wrongfully engaging in sexual acts with another person while being filmed, with the purpose of broadcasting over the Internet for money”, the army said in a statement. The army gave no further details but the division had previously been reported to be investigating soldiers for engaging in sex on a gay website. The three face possible court-martial while four other soldiers received...

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - The U.S. army has charged seven paratroopers from its elite 82nd Airborne Division with engaging in sex acts in video shown on a homosexual pornographic website, authorities said Friday. Three of the soldiers face courts-martial on charges of sodomy, pandering and engaging in sex acts for money, said a statement released Friday by the military. Four other soldiers, whose names were not released, received non-judicial punishments. The army has recommended all be discharged. The charges do not mention the name of the site but the division has said previously it was investigating allegations soldiers appeared on...

Mickey Kaus at Kausfiles.com says that the gay-cowboy movie Brokeback Mountain has the same marketing strategy as Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. Both, he says, have been hyped as blue-state movies that are reaching and changing minds in the cities of red America. He calls this the "Heartland Breakout Meme”. ("Meme" refers to a cultural copying unit that hops from brain to brain without much thought or any at all). What Kaus means is that the mainstream media keep reinforcing ideas liberals want to believe, whether they are true or not. But the alleged breakout of Fahrenheit appears to be myth,...

SUMMARY: Northwest Airlines took heat from the ACLU on Thursday for refusing to honor award tickets that a gay couple in Los Angeles tried to use for a trip to Florida. Northwest Airlines took heat from the ACLU on Thursday for refusing to honor award tickets that a gay couple in Los Angeles tried to use for a trip to Florida. In a letter to Northwest, the legal advocacy group said the airline's action violated California's nondiscrimination laws. Rob Anders, a longtime airline industry employee, won the tickets at a holiday party in December. When he tried to redeem the...

RALEIGH, N.C. — Army officials are investigating allegations that members of the celebrated 82nd Airborne Division appear on a gay pornography Web site, a spokeswoman said Friday. Authorities at Fort Bragg have begun an inquiry into whether the paratroopers' actions violated the military conduct code. Division spokeswoman Maj. Amy Hannah declined to say how many paratroopers are involved or identify their unit within the division. A defense official speaking on condition of anonymity said up to seven soldiers are involved. Hannah said soldiers questioned will be allowed to seek legal assistance, but she declined to say if any one had...

West Hollywood -- I am a gift. A prize. After years of difficult repression, men with a secret seek me out as a reward for their good behavior. I make a living having sex with these closeted married men. I'm an "escort," to use the euphemism, which gives me a unique perspective on a potential, and particular, cultural fallout as "Brokeback Mountain" widens out not just to Britain but to every remaining crumb in America's breadbasket. Much has been made about the "turning point" effect Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee's Oscar-jockeying film could force upon Hollywood. The movie is based...

HOT Oscar tip Heath Ledger yesterday compared US bans on his gay cowboy film to racism. Critics' Choice Awards Picture Gallery Ledger said he was not surprised a Utah cinema had banned Brokeback Mountain, which depicts a lifelong love affair between two Montana cowboys. "I heard a while ago that West Virginia was going to ban it. But that's a state that was lynching people only 25 years ago, so that's to be expected," Ledger said. "Personally, I don't think the movie is (controversial) but I think maybe the Mormons in Utah do. I think it's hilarious and very immature...

Many Straight Guys Say 'No Thanks' to 'Brokeback Mountain' BY DRU SEFTON It's true, the movie "Brokeback Mountain" does provoke what one researcher calls "a very strong ick factor" in some straight men. What is it in this story of two cowboy pals in 1960s Wyoming who find themselves in lifelong love -- yet go on to marry women -- that elicits this response from heterosexual males? The answers are as complex as the plot. A psychologist who coined the word "homophobic" said the revulsion is precisely that. A scientist who discovered genetic links to sexuality said he simply does...

Jim-Bob Zimmerschied is not a happy cowboy. "They've gone and killed John Wayne with this movie," he says angrily, beer in hand. "I've been doing this job all my life and I ain't never met no gay cowboy. It wouldn't be right." The target of Mr Zimmerschied's outburst is Brokeback Mountain, the Hollywood Western-with-a-twist that opens in London this week and is already being tipped for Oscar success. The "gay cowboy flick", as it has been dubbed in America, is directed by Ang Lee and stars Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as two young ranch hands who begin a long-term...

'Sir' Elton's gay partner is no 'Lady'! Washington | December 23, 2005 7:11:25 PM IST Sir Elton John and his longtime partner David Furnish may have finally united in a civil ceremony on Dec 21, but the latter will not be referred to as a Lady, even though his partner is a Knight, according to etiquette authority Debrett's. In Britain, it is customary for wives of knights of the realm to take the title of Lady in place of Mrs, but the rule will not extend to gay civil unions, which became legal in the UK this week. "Even though...

NEW YORK - Though decried by many gay-rights leaders, “outing” — the practice of exposing secretly gay public figures — is expanding into new terrain as Internet bloggers target congressional staffers, political strategists, even black clergy whose sermons and speeches contain anti-gay rhetoric. Few issues are as divisive within the gay community. Numerous gay organizations, such as the Human Rights Campaign and the Log Cabin Republicans, staunchly oppose outing, yet many other activists support it when the targets are public figures — or their aides — who work against gay rights or condemn homosexuality. “It’s not the gay thing that’s...

"Brokeback Mountain," the story of two homosexual cowboys starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, topped 19 competitors, including George Clooney's "Good Night, and Good Luck" to win the Venice Film Festival's top award yesterday. The film has been called "groundbreaking" by homosexual activists for the amount of "gay" sex that is shown on screen. Mel Gibson fans will remember Heath Ledger as the eldest son in "The Patriot" determined to fight for independence against the British, the innocent but brave fair-haired boy-man who struggles for justice even among his fellow southern colonialists. Gyllenhaal is best known for his role as...