Two Republican presidential candidates have said that Kentucky clerk Kim Davis should provide marriage licenses to same-sex couples or resign. Both Carly Fiorina and Sen. Lindsey Graham have indicated that government officials have a duty to recognize same-sex "marriage." "The rule of law is the rule of law," said Graham.
Kentucky's GOP nominee for governor said Tuesday that he fully supports a Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis' right to refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. During a conference call, Matt Bevin said that he thinks that the rights of county clerks, including Davis, are being violated. "I absolutely support her willingness to stand on her First Amendment rights," he said of Davis. "Without any question, I support her."
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has said that all businesses – including those owned and operated by Christians – must serve homosexual “weddings” if asked. When asked during a televised interview if businesses had the religious freedom to decide whether or not to participate in "gay weddings,” Christie replied, “Religious institutions should be able to decide how they conduct their religious activity. The rest of the folks in the United States need to follow the law.”
A big crowd turned out Sunday to celebrate traditional marriage in Longview, Texas. Organized by a coalition of East Texas churches and citizens, the event was held on the Gregg County courthouse lawn. "We just wanted to have something that people could come out and have some fun, some fellowship, and celebrate what God said. One man one woman is the biblical definition of marriage, and no Supreme Court anywhere can change that definition," said Calvary Baptist church pastor Richard Jones.
The University of Tennessee is encouraging students to use gender-neutral pronouns to help students feel more welcome as classes begin this month. The pronouns include ze, hir, hirs, and xe, xem, and xyr. “With the new semester beginning and an influx of new students on campus, it is important to participate in making our campus welcoming and inclusive for all,” wrote Donna Braquet in a posting on the university’s website. “One way to do that is to use a student’s chosen name and their correct pronouns.”
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A polygamous family says the landmark Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage shows that laws prohibiting consensual adult relationships are outdated even if the unions are unpopular.
MOREHEAD, Ky.—A Kentucky clerk’s office on Thursday again refused to issue a marriage license to a gay couple, only a day after a federal appeals court upheld a ruling directing the clerk to follow a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage.
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) got into a confrontation with open lesbian actress Ellen Page at the Iowa State Fair on Friday over the issues of Christian faith and those who engage in sodomy.
On Wednesday, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals refused to stay a lower court’s decision ordering Kim Davis, a Kentucky county clerk, to resume granting marriage licenses. Davis—a taxpayer-funded public servant—refused to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution protects gay people’s right to wed in Obergefell v. Hodges. She then declared that she would refuse to grant marriage licenses to any couple, to avoid giving them to same-sex couples.
Same-sex couples who were living in states that did not recognize their unions and who previously filed claims for Social Security benefits will be able to collect those payments, the government said on Thursday. The Justice Department told lawyers for two plaintiffs seeking benefits that the Social Security Administration would apply the Supreme Court’s June ruling that redefined marriage, Obergefell v. Hodges, retroactively. It would apply to individuals with pending claims who were "married" before the decision and living in states that held to a traditional definition of marriage.
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner on Thursday signed legislation banning therapists from trying to change a young person's sexuality. "These so-called 'therapies' treat homosexuality as a disease," Evanston Democratic Sen. Daniel Biss, one of the bill's sponsors said. "They're out of date and can be deeply destructive to youth. Outlawing these practices is a small step in our pursuit for LGBT rights, but it's an extremely important step in protecting young people in Illinois."
A few days ago, news came out that court officials in Tennessee had replaced the words “Mother” and “Father” on court documents with the gender-neutral terms “Parent 1” and “Parent 2”. Now, the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) announced they were reversing the policy. A court spokesperson said that they had made the change to more gender-neutral language in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision to redefine marriage.
Amid media reports of clerks refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that the U.S. Supreme Court decision “needs to be enforced across our country.” Clinton made the remarks during the question-and-answer portion of a town hall meeting in Las Vegas in response to a question from someone who identified as a local "LGBT" business owner and founding president of the Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce in Nevada.
The Oregon bakers who were ordered by the state to pay $135,000 for refusing to make a cake for a same-sex "wedding" have designed and baked custom cakes to send to a handful of the most powerful "LGBTQ" advocacy groups along the West Coast. The inside of the cakes are colored red, white and blue to stand for freedom, because “everybody should be free to live as we want to live,” Melissa said. Outside, she decorated the cake with fondant and a red heart as a gesture of “being kind and loving.” On top, she wrote, “We really do love you.”
A crowdfunding website has been set up for Christian cake artist Jack Phillips, who last week was told by the Colorado Court of Appeals that he will not be allowed to refuse to make same-sex "wedding" cakes if he wants to keep running his business. Continue to Give has identified a goal of $200,000 in support of Phillips, noting that the money will be used by the Masterpiece Cakeshop owner and his family as they "fight for their freedom of religion and freedom of speech."
CANBERRA, Australia — A maverick lawmaker broke from conservative government ranks on Monday to introduce legislation that would redefine marriage in Australia as a new opinion poll confirmed that most Australians support such a redefinition. A recent poll found that 69 percent of respondents supported "legalizing same-sex marriage" while 25 percent opposed it. Support had grown by 12 percentage points since December 2011.
On June 26, a narrow majority of Supreme Court justices "struck down" the traditional definition of marriage, ruling all 50 states must recognize same-sex unions as "marriages." How did the GOP presidential candidates respond to this decision? What did they promise to do about it? ThePulse2016.com’s Gay Marriage Report Card provides a rating for each of the candidates.
Two television channels have refused to air an advertisement from a group campaigning against same-sex "marriage" in Australia. Marriage Alliance wanted to broadcast the 45-second message, entitled “It’s Not As Simple As You Think” on Channel 7 and Channel 10 but the broadcasters refused. The ad was shown elsewhere, but the Foxtel broadcaster has now reportedly pulled it after being accused of homophobia.
Barronelle Stutzman has stayed relatively quiet in the two years since the ACLU and Washington's Attorney General filed lawsuits against her for her refusal to arrange flowers for a same-sex "wedding." But Tuesday night, the owner of Arlene's Flowers spoke out during the Kennewick City Council meeting. The Kennewick City Council will consider a proposal to ask Washington’s attorney general to drop its legal case against Stuzman.
Craig James, a former professional football player and respected sportscaster, is suing Fox Sports Southwest, alleging that the broadcast network fired him because of his religious beliefs on homosexuality and marriage. A senior vice president at the network suggested that the decision was based on statements James made about homosexuality and same-sex marriage—expressed more than a year prior to being hired at Fox Sports while campaigning to run for Senate.
In Minnesota, teens who identify as "gay, lesbian or bisexual" are far more likely than their "straight" peers to become pregnant or have gotten someone pregnant, according to a recent analysis of data on adolescent sexual health. Among the revelatory findings: "Bisexual" females were five times more likely to have been pregnant than "straight" females. And questioning and "gay" males were four times more likely than "straight" males to report getting someone pregnant.
Seventy-one percent of Americans want the nation to produce "a commonsense solution that both protects religious freedom and gay and lesbian couples from discrimination." But by a margin of 4 to 1, they will pick religious freedom and liberty over "gay rights" in a "cultural war." The degree of their fierce support for religious freedom and liberty jumps when given this choice: "Suppose a Christian wedding photographer has deeply held religious beliefs opposing same sex marriage. If a same sex couple wanted to hire the photographer for their wedding, should the photographer have the right to say no?" A huge 82 percent said yes.
T.D. Jakes has "clarified" that his method of ministering to "LGBT" people who choose to attend The Potter's House church was "evolving" and said he does not endorse "same-sex marriage," after a recent HuffPost Live interview seemed to indicate that he had shifted in his convictions regarding human sexuality and marriage.
Rodney James Quine was convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping, and robbery. He is serving a life sentence for the murder in the California prison system. He sued the federal government to pay for transgender surgery, and the state of California has agreed to use tax dollars to do so. This gives California another first: the first state to pay for a prison inmate’s gender “reassignment” operation, which costs up to $25,000.
Two months ago, an Ohio mom’s tweet went viral when she called out Target for separating “building sets” and “girls’ building sets.” Now, the retailer is "fixing the problem." The toy section will get the biggest makeover. Along with grouping all toys together, the aisles will no longer have colored backdrops to indicate gender, such as pink and yellow for girls or blue and green for boys.