Introduction:
For those of you who recently attended public schools, here's what this issue is all about:  The uproar over same-sex marriage, criticism of homosexual behavior being treated as hate speech, and transgender people (real or imaginary) using the restroom of their choice, is not primarily about the rights and privileges of homosexuals.  It is about the incremental and systematic destruction of all traditions and moral guidelines.  This in turn will lead to the abolition of our freedom of religion.  If you stand in the way, you will be destroyed.  Politicians won't help you.  The Left won't, because this is their idea, and the Right won't because they're afraid of what the Left might say about them.

The most recent controversy in this category is the dispute about whether or not to allow anyone at all to enter the public restroom of his or her choice.  Normal people are usually too polite to object when a misguided freak makes a statement by going to a restroom where he or she is not expected to go.  But the tiny minority of activists who specialize in this cause are not subtle, and they're not concerned with politeness, because (as mentioned above) simple courtesy and common sense are two of the things they are attempting to break down.  Personally, I don't think there are but a few individuals nationwide who have had themselves surgically altered to function as the opposite sex.  There are thousands more who, for whatever demonic reason, pretend to be that which they are not.  The bathroom flap is about whether or not a man can "identify" as a woman, even temporarily, and then go where he wants, and stay there all day if he likes.

Since this page was initiated in September, 2015, the issues at hand have expanded.  Now we see not only men in women's restrooms, but merchants being compelled to participate in homosexual weddings, teachers being forced to use bizarre pronouns when addressing mentally-ill students, homosexuals and transvestites demanding to be treated like normal people, and innumerable contortions of the English language to accomodate perverse thinking.  And all this weirdness increasingly carries the endorsement of the federal government.

Related topic:  Target boycott

We Won't Live By Your Wokeness.  A young woman who came to the pregnancy center where I work shared this story with me.  She had a pediatrician appointment for her baby girl last week.  She brought her infant, dressed all in pink, into the doctor's office.  After stating the baby's female name, the doctor asked, "So, have you decided what gender you're assigning to this child?"  She was stunned.  She said she just stood there until the word "female" came out of her mouth.  This wasn't the first time I've heard this line of questioning in a pediatrician's office.  A friend told me her daughter was asked the same thing on her first visit to the doctor's office with their infant son.  The question, "gender assigned at birth" is now on many medical forms.  A man I know was at a new doctors' office and the paperwork included an entire page on "gender identity."

Germany will now fine you $10,000 for "misgendering" and allow parents to pick their children's sex at birth.  They're really writing it into law that you can choose your baby's sex at birth.  And of course this has nothing to do with normal sane people who assign their children the correct sex at birth.  It's the crazies who want to immediately throw their boy in a dress, or their girl in a "chick magnet" shirt as some sort of sick and twisted science experiment.  This law is literally written to protect insane people who are hell bent on creating sociopath children.

Planet Fitness Founder Admits the Truth:  Company Has Pretty Much Been Destroyed.  You let perverts go into any locker room they want, and it will destroy your company.  The Alaska Planet Fitness isn't the only one that's been having problems with mentally ill individuals going into the locker room of their choice, regardless of their biological gender.  North Carolina and other states are seeing the same shit.  Now, the founder of Planet Fitness is admitting defeat. [...] You pander to the communist "woke" left, and this is what happens.  They will happen to any company that bends their knee to the communist Democrat agenda.

Colorado's Civil Rights Commission gets schooled on the First Amendment in the wedding website case.  Remember the wedding website case that came out of Colorado and went all the way to the Supreme Court?  It's finally over, and it ended beautifully. [...] The Colorado Civil Rights Commission decided that Smith's exercise of her First Amendment right to decline to perform services in violation of her religious beliefs, and that her words so stating, were, ironically, in violation of the First Amendment.  The Commission said (1) Smith was required to design websites celebrating marriages other than between a man and a woman, and (2) she was prohibited from stating that she wouldn't.  Smith sued the Commission in Federal Court.  It was a smart move to go to Federal Court because state court would have ensnarled her for years in the swamp of the Democrat-controlled Colorado state judiciary — the one where the state supreme court tossed Donald Trump from the 2024 ballot only to be unanimously overturned by the Supreme Court last winter.  The district court dismissed her case on procedural grounds.  She appealed to the federal appellate court.  They overturned the dismissal on procedural grounds, but, worse, dismissed her case on substantive grounds.

Christian woman says Starbucks fired her for refusing to use transgender people's pronouns: 'It is against my faith to lie'.  A Christian woman has come forward to say Starbucks fired her for refusing to use transgender people's pronouns.  The woman in question — Taylor Marie Trice of North Carolina — spoke to Sarah Fields of the Publica about her ordeal, which occurred in 2022.  Earlier this week, Trice uploaded a video to TikTok discussing what happened: "June came around, and as we all know, June is the month of 'tasting the rainbow.'  And I had been working at Starbucks for about two years at that point.  So I was used to Starbucks putting up their [Pride] decorations and stuff during the month of June.  And throughout that time, no one had ever made a complaint about me being homophobic, transphobic, whatever."  Trice added in the clip that she's "not judging" her fellow employees but that her stance was, "I'm just not about to go along with everything you want to do if it doesn't go along with God's word."

Joe Biden's winners.  The radical wing of the LGBT and pro-abortion communities has seen its deviant ideas forced upon the American public.  It is not enough that some (the vast majority of) Americans don't support abortion — up to birth — or children being coerced into gender transition surgeries, or sexual deviancy being presented to children through books advanced in our, ahem, education institutions.  These groups are marching forward with their agendas.  You and I don't have an opposing view.  We're hateful bigots, who must be silenced, fired, or jailed.

The FBI's Otherwise Illegal Activity.  How deeply is law enforcement interfering in the daily lives of American citizens?  For example, it was recently reported that the FBI labeled Americans who "support the biological basis for sex and gender distinction as potential domestic terrorists."  Then what?  What does the FBI, and those who cooperate with the FBI, do to such Americans?  Does the FBI label FBI employees who support biology as potential terrorists?  Or, is the FBI saying that no FBI employees support the biological basis for sex and gender distinction?  The FBI and local police keep their specific actions, methods, and technologies mostly secret; thus, one cannot say with certainty what occurs after the FBI labels a person as a potential domestic terrorist.  Americans might study the history of the FBI and local police cooperating with the FBI for hints about what might occur after being labeled as a potential domestic terrorist.

Planet Fitness stands by decision to allow men in women's locker rooms and warns.  Planet Fitness has refused to walk back its decision to ban a member who exposed a 'trans woman' shaving in the female locker room.  The statement, which was shared by the Libs of TikTok Twitter account, said although some members may feel uncomfortable sharing facilities, 'This discomfort is not a reason to deny access to the transgender member.'  The comments come after Patricia Silva detailed at incident at her Alaska gym where she saw a transgender woman shaving in her locker room.

I won't sacrifice my safety just so a trans woman feels validated.  A few years ago I used to go to a small women-only gym.  It had a pool, a sauna and a steam room in which all kinds of women used to huddle and chat.  Sometimes we would sit in silence, but very often the Jewish Haredi women would like to socialise, asking everyone lots of questions.  There were Muslim women too.  This was a place they were allowed to come because it was women only.  I live in a part of London where mosques are literally next door to synagogues.  It is not all perfect and now, of course, social cohesion is currently being tested but there — in the steam, a bunch of us half-naked women, some of whom for reasons of faith meant they could not have gone to the local swimming pool, would have a natter.  I often think of that time when wondering how so-called 'progressives', who are intent on ending single-sex spaces, can square that with their valorisation of multiculturalism.  If you take away single-sex spaces, you stop some women from some communities being able to participate.  It's that simple.  All of this is ignored in the arguments about whether trans women — men who identify as women whether they have medically or surgically transitioned or not — can enter women's spaces.  This argument grows ever more ludicrous.  There is no women's space or activity, from bathrooms to prisons to rape refuges to sports, that some male-bodied people are not lobbying to enter.

Teacher Reportedly Forced To Resign For Not Letting Boy Use Girls' Bathroom.  A New York teacher was reportedly forced into early retirement after not allowing a boy to use the girls' bathroom.  The beloved educator, known as Mr. C, had been a gym teacher and tennis coach for 37 years.  But he resigned from the Elmira Heights Central School District last week after receiving backlash for not allowing a trans-identifying male kindergartner to use the girls' restroom, according to WENY News.  When asked if the school board could confirm or deny the incident, Superintendent Michael F. Gill said, "We do not make comments about any students or staff circumstances."  However, at a school board meeting Wednesday, Feb. 28, Mr. C was the main topic of conversation.  During the meeting, more than a dozen people signed up to speak during the comment portion — some defending Mr. C and others condemning him.

MS Society defends staff who sacked 90-year-old volunteer because she 'asked what pronouns meant' despite furious backlash.  The National MS Society has defended firing a 90-year-old volunteer for breaching its diversity and inclusion policy after she asked what pronouns were.  Fran Itkoff had served the non-profit for multiple sclerosis patients for 60 years, with her late husband running the Long Beach Lakewood chapter prior to his death.  She was left stunned when her bosses forced her to step down on January 19 following an exchange with a colleague who asked her to use her pronouns in an email signatures.

The Editor says...
Here's how to fix this problem:  Never give the National MS Society another dime.  Name one charity that was established for the purpose of eradicating a specific disease, that successfully eliminated that disease and then disbanded.

Privacy Is a Fundamental Value.  The administrative class delights in imposing its views on the rest of us, especially when it involves our private lives.  Small businesses are made to prepare wedding cakes for gays; young children are forced to study sexual practices from which they ought to be shielded; workers are made to attend classes on DIE in which, if they are white, they are accused of racism and exploitation, even as they are the ones being exploited by racism.  We live in a world turned upside-down, and it can only end in chaos.  For the woke class that now governs our country, it's not enough that gays and transgenders, now treated as minorities and thus victims, are granted complete equality and full human rights.  What they seem to want, and what the administrative class imposes on the rest of us, is superiority and oppression of others who are straight.  Everything gays and transgenders demand is granted by administrators, judges, corporate leaders, and politicians who are afraid to refuse them because of the stigma of seeming to be "anti"-minority.  Even when it imposes harm on the rest of society, the wishes of gays and transgenders come first.

North Carolina Republicans Attack Republican Lt. Governor For Defending Women's Bathrooms.  For vowing to defend women in North Carolina from men who infiltrate female-designated spaces, something a majority of voters support, North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson was criticized by two Republican gubernatorial candidates in his state.  Robinson is also campaigning for governor.  Robinson told attendees at a campaign event in the beginning of February that he is committed to keeping men out of women's sports and bathrooms.  "We've already passed a law," Robinson said, alluding to the Republican General Assembly's overrides of several vetoes in 2023, "and if we need to pass another one, we will.  We're going to defend women's sports in this state, period."  The 55-year-old Republican said his commitment to "defend women in this state" extends to protecting their bathrooms from anyone of the opposite sex who tries to use them.  "That means if you're a man on Friday night and all of the sudden on Saturday, you feel like a woman and you want to go in the women's bathroom in the mall, you will be arrested — or whatever we got to do to you," Robinson said.  His pledge was met with a round of cheers.

Former Kentucky Clerk Ordered to Pay $260,000 in Legal Fees after Refusing to Issue Marriage License to Same-Sex Couples.  A former county clerk in Kentucky, Kim Davis, must pay a total of $260,104 in legal fees and expenses to a same-sex couple whom Davis denied a marriage license because of her religious beliefs.  The new sum is in addition to the $100,000 in damages a jury ruled Davis must pay to the couple who sued, David Ermold and David Moore.  The Davis case gained international notoriety in 2015 when she was jailed for refusing to issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple.  Davis maintained that she had been faced with a "seemingly impossible choice" between following her conscience and losing her freedom.  A Democrat and a Christian who was elected to the post of Rowan county clerk in 2014, Davis surged into the spotlight when she refused to issue licenses after the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage.  After defying a federal court order and losing a string of appeals, she was jailed for five days in 2015.

East Lansing to pay 6-figure settlement in Country Mill farmers market lawsuit.  The city will pay about $42,000 in damages and another $783,800 to cover the legal costs of a vendor who sued the city for excluding him from the city's farmers market because of his religious beliefs.  The terms of the settlement in favor of Country Mill Farms and its owner, Stephen Tennes, were disclosed in a final judgement entered Friday in U.S. District Court.  The order, signed by Judge Paul Maloney, includes a permanent injunction preventing the city from finding Tennes in violation of its vendor guidelines for declining to host same-sex weddings.

VA Supreme Court Revives Lawsuit by Teacher Fired for Not Using Trans Student's Pronouns.  Virginia's Supreme Court has revived a lawsuit filed by a high school teacher who was fired for refusing to use a transgender student's preferred pronouns.  The court's action happened on Thursday [12/14/2023], according to the Washington Post. [...] In a social media post on Thursday evening, the Babylon Bee's Seth Dillon shared his thoughts on the issue, writing, "Cases like these prove that they aren't just 'preferred' pronouns.  They're mandatory."

The Obnoxiously Gay Come for Abilene Christian University.  [T]his is precisely the same play we've seen run again and again by the obnoxiously gay.  This is the same pressure campaign they bring against the Christian bakers, florists, wedding planners, and others who refuse to service gay weddings and trans "gender reveals" out of allegiance to their faith.  Finding a florist willing to decorate a gay wedding is painfully easy to do, and yet the obnoxiously gay will seek out those conscientious objectors in the culture war and demand they be conscripted for frontline action.  With a penalty of millions of dollars in legal defense fees for those who stand against the obnoxiously gay.  We can all agree this is obnoxiously gay, can we not?

Globalists Fear the Unconquerable.  State-controlled news media blare continuous warnings that citizens should fear racism, "white supremacy," misogyny, imperialism, colonialism, paternalism, Christianity, Israel, hydrocarbon energy, heterosexuality, capitalism, exercise, Karens, Chads, Western civilization, personal liberty, country music, Southern states, suburban moms, political speech, scientific debate, masculinity, democratic elections that don't elect Democrats, Donald Trump, limited government, nuclear families, gun-toting Americans, psychologically healthy adults, Christmas decorations, assimilation, accurate history, cultural appropriation, national borders, due process for conservatives, misinformation, malinformation, disinformation, and stable marriages.  On the flip-side, the atheistic priests of the "woke" church insist that opposition to either gay pseudo-marriage or the new fad of "transgenderism" represents some kind of irrational "phobia" that must be overcome immediately.  In other words, the new world order demands that Westerners fear almost everything except bearded men crushing women half their size in competitive sports.  Talk about lunacy!

We must be free to call this man a man.  Even if someone looks like a man, talks like a man and actually is a man, you can now get yourself in trouble if you refer to him as a man.  That's the take-home message of last week's social-media bust-up over Melissa Poulton, previously known as Matthew Viner.  Poulton is a transwoman who has been selected as the Green Party's candidate for Bromsgrove in the next UK General Election.  He describes himself as a 'proud lesbian'.  Last week, Rachel Maclean, the MP for Redditch and deputy chair of the Conservative Party, shared a post on X that referred to Poulton as a 'man who wears a wig'.  'While the Greens don't know what a woman is, my Worcestershire neighbours, the people of Bromsgrove, certainly do', Maclean added.  Poulton was then invited on to BBC News Midlands to respond to Maclean's comments.  He called them 'transphobic', 'dog-whistling' and 'gaslighting'.  During the interview, Poulton insisted on describing himself as a 'queer woman... with transgender experience'.

California Will Soon Fine Stores That Don't Have A 'Gender Neutral' Kids Toy Section.  A new California law slated to go into effect on January 1, 2024, will mandate stores that sell children's items to have a gender neutral section, according to a state government website.  The law applies to stores that sell "childcare items" or toys and employs a minimum of 500 employees across store locations, and it requires that they offer a section where "a reasonable selection of the items and toys for children that it sells shall be displayed, regardless of whether they have been traditionally marketed for either girls or for boys," according to its text.  Stores that do not comply with the law could face a civil penalty and charged $250 after the first offense or $500 for later offenses.

Ontario Museum Scrubs Female Powerlifter From Exhibit Following Her Calls For Fairness In Women's Sports.  A museum in London, Ontario, has removed a female powerlifter from an exhibit on resilience in apparent retaliation for her vocal opposition to males participating in women's sports.  April Hutchinson said the move quickly followed her suspension from the Canadian Powerlifting Union.  Launched in October at the Museum London, the exhibition, titled "Resilient London:  Meet Your Neighbours," was intended to be an inspiration for the community and featured a diverse panel of locals alongside obstacles they had overcome.  Hutchinson was featured not just as a local athlete, but also as a survivor of addiction.

My Journey from Frustration to Outrage to Seething Anger.  I have seething anger about the takeover of K-12 education by leftist teacher unions and school boards that indoctrinate children during their formative years in racism, victimhood, and LGBTQ++ matters, denounce mainstream culture and religion, and tear down the family structure, all while blocking parents from knowing.  I have moved from frustration to outrage about so-called "trans" movement's overtaking society (although fewer than 3 in 1,000 even meet the traditional psychiatric definition for gender dysphoria) under the LGBTQ++ rainbow banner, requiring us to pretend along with the lie under penalty of social ostracism.  I am outraged at forcing women to open their private spaces to men and the unequal physical competition in women's sports that occurs, all while everyone is expected to act as if it is normal.  This is kangaroo court territory, where we are forced to repeat, under penalty of punishment, an obvious lie that there are more than two genders and that a man who announces he is a woman is, in fact, a woman.

Maternity hospital downgraded over use of term 'mother'.  A maternity hospital received a low grade on a diversity assessment because staff only use the term "mother" when discussing maternity leave, The Telegraph can disclose.  The Cambridge University Hospital Trust, which manages a maternity hospital called the Rosie, lost points because staff use the term "mother" when referring to the policies it had in place regarding paid leave, instead of broadening it to include gender-neutral alternatives.  The report was carried out by the NHS' "Rainbow Badge" scheme, which assesses hospitals based on how they treat LGBT patients.  The trust also lost points for not providing staff with guidance on what trans and non-binary employees should wear, pointing out how the trust's "trans inclusion policy" did not provide "guidance on the dress code for trans employees, including non-binary employees."

The Supreme Court won't allow Florida to enforce its new law targeting drag shows during appeal.  The Supreme Court said Thursday it will not allow Florida to enforce its new law targeting drag shows, while a court case proceeds.  The justices refused to narrow a lower-court order that has prohibited the law from being enforced statewide.  Florida had asked the court to allow its anti-drag show law to be enforced everywhere except at the Hamburger Mary's restaurant in Orlando, which challenged the law's constitutionality.  Three justices, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas, said they would have granted the state's request.  Last month, a panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court's order stopping the law from being enforced.  The district court found that the law likely restricted free speech and couldn't be enforced anywhere in the state.

New 'Orwellian' HHS pronoun mandate forces employees to 'deny reality,' violate law:  legal expert.  The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has rolled out a new gender pronoun policy that one Heritage Foundation expert and former HHS official says violates employee rights and will result in firings for "misgendering."  "HHS and the federal government is requiring its employees to speak falsehoods," Roger Severino, the Heritage Foundation's vice president for domestic policy and the former head of civil rights at HHS during the Trump administration, told Fox News Digital.  Severino first broke the story on X, formerly Twitter, last week.  He wrote that HHS "imposed a transgender pronoun mandate on its employees who will now be forced to deny biological realities with their own words or face firing" and he included a screenshot of an email sent to employees at the department.

It is a miracle:  Hawaiian court has determined that boys and girls are different.  ...and it has absolutely nothing to do with idiotically forcing girls to compete with boys in sports and forcing them to be exposed to penises in the locker room. [...] So females were forced to train for water polo in the dangerous ocean instead of a pool.  Somehow, it appears they recognized girls aren't as strong as boys.  And they also forced girls to go to a Burger King to change clothes or go to the bathroom, or go under the bleachers to change while boys had their own locker room.  Why didn't they just share the space since we are told that essentially there is no difference?  After all, your sex, according to Democrats, is determined by how you feel and not by your body parts.  Now, when will all states in the country stop forcing women and girls to compete with biological males?  Democrats claim they are the party for women but every day they show it is not true by forcing them to compete and share spaces with men who only pretend they are women.  Democrats claim they believe women should be able to do whatever they want with their bodies but they forced them to take a vaccine or get fired, too.  Now maybe the nonsense of all these positions will be clearer in public minds with this court ruling.

Trump-Appointed Federal Judge Rules Colorado Can't Exclude Preschool From Funding Program Over Religious Stances.  A federal judge ruled Saturday [10/21/2023] that Colorado can't exclude a Christian school from the state's universal preschool program based on its religious beliefs.  Darren Patterson Christian Academy filed a lawsuit in June after state officials said participation in the universal preschool program required hiring employees who are not Christians and changing a school policy requiring the use of bathrooms and pronouns that correspond with biological sex.  U.S. District Judge Daniel Domenico issued a preliminary injunction Saturday blocking the state from excluding the school from the program, which provides four-year-olds and some other children in the state with a minimum of 15 free hours of free preschool a week, based on "protected beliefs."  "Indeed, exclusion of a preschool is inherently anti-universal, and denying participation based on one's protected beliefs or speech is not equitable," Domenico, a Trump appointee, wrote.

HHS employees who resist Biden's transgender pronoun mandate will be fired.  After alerting the public last week to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) newly issued transgender pronoun mandate, Roger Severino, the former director of the HHS Office for Civil Rights during the Trump administration, has published the document online after HHS failed to make it public, refusing even to disclose the policy to Congress.  The "Gender Identity Non-Discrimination and Inclusion Policy for Employees and Applicants" requires HHS' 80,000 employees to affirm transgender and non-binary coworkers' self-proclaimed "identity," no matter what his or her conscience might dictate.

School Directs Trans-Averse Teens to Private Restroom, Charges Them With 'Harassment' When They Line Up.  These days, harassment isn't hard to commit.  One quick ticket to Tormenter Town may await in a lavatory line.  Such is illustrated by a story out of Illinois.  The Waterloo Community Unit School District Five (WCUSD5) doesn't deal in sexual absolutes; penises and vaginas may belong to women and men, respectively.  Therefore, on May 15th, the system invited enrollees to the restroom of their choice.  Per the "Use of Restroom Facilities and Other Gender Identities" policy, students can use the opposite-sex facility if they meet a crop of criteria: [...] Why is a school district involving itself in such issues?  The answer, it would seem, is that education has evolved.  Government schools aim toward social goals in lieu of merely academic ones.  But make no mistake — WCUSD5 has made space for those so old-fashioned as to prefer sex-specific latrines.  Or, at least, it had.

Loudoun County sexual assault victim files $30 million lawsuit against school board.  The Loudoun County student who was sexually assaulted in a high school restroom filed a $30 million federal lawsuit against the school district.  The girl, who is a minor and used a pseudonym in the filing, was 15 years old when a male student in a skirt sexually abused her in a bathroom at Stone Bridge High School on May 28, 2021.  Loudoun County Public Schools is accused of failing to take the warnings about the male student seriously and covering up the assault.  The lawsuit is filed as a breach of Title IX.  "It's been a very long two and a half years for my family to get here.  We have put together a very strong Title IX lawsuit that we hope sets precedence across the nation to protect children and hold school districts accountable," Scott Smith, the girl's father who is also a plaintiff in the case, told WJLA.

Anglican Deacon Calvin Robinson Wins Legal Settlement After Getting Fired For Opposing Drag Queen Story Hour Session.  Calvin Robinson, an Anglican deacon and British political commentator, won a legal settlement against the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) after they removed him from their education sub-committee over his opposition to a drag queen story hour session, according to the Daily Mail.  Robinson filed a lawsuit that alleged harassment and discrimination by RAD over his Christian beliefs, the Daily Mail reported.  "I am pleased that the bullies did not win and that they have learnt you cannot push people out for holding traditional views — Christian views," Robinson told the outlet Sunday.

Pennsylvania high school students organize walkout to protest trans bathroom rule.  Hundreds of students from Pennsylvania's Perkiomen Valley School District walked out of class Friday after the local school board failed to enact a policy requiring transgender students to use the restroom corresponding with their biological sex.  "Kids were upset.  Girls... we wanted to protect them.  They were upset.  They didn't want men in their bathroom," John Ott, who organized the walkout, told FOX News on Monday.  His mother Stephanie accused the district of only protecting transgender students and not looking at the "whole picture."

What the Left Did to Our Country.  Suddenly, there are three genders, not two.  Women's sports have been wrecked by biological men competing as women, destroying a half-century of female athletic achievement.  Young girls in locker rooms, co-eds in sororities, and women in prison must dress and shower with biological men transitioning to women by assertion.

Retired social worker, 73, is quizzed in her own home by hate-crime police for taking a photo of a STICKER.  Police officers quizzed a pensioner in her home on suspicion of a hate crime after she stopped in the street to take a photo of a sticker which said: 'Keep males out of women-only spaces.'  The sticker had been placed on to a LGBT+ pride poster which had the slogan Stand By Your Trans.  Officers told the 73-year-old retired social worker that she had been identified from CCTV footage.  The woman told The Mail on Sunday she was 'in a state of shock' when officers arrived at her door.  The incident [...] comes after fury over police forces failing to send officers to investigate burglaries and other serious crimes.

Judge Refuses to Define 'Woman,' Dismisses Lawsuit by Sorority Sisters Who Sought to Block Man from Joining.  A judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by six University of Wyoming Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority sisters seeking to block a trans-identifying male from joining.  The sorority sisters will now be forced to accommodate Artemis Langford (whose given name is Dallin), a 6'2", 260-pound man who believes he is a woman.  Wyoming U.S. District Court Judge Alan Johnson, after hearing allegations of sexual deviancy on Langford's part, ultimately dismissed the case on Friday and stated that redefining "woman" to include males was "Kappa Kappa Gamma's bedrock right as a private, voluntary organization — and one this Court may not invade." Johnson notably used Langford's preferred she/her pronouns in his decision and repeatedly referred to Langford as a "transgender woman."

[The] Colorado Supreme Court [has been] Asked To Find for Christian Baker After SCOTUS Ruling.  The Alliance Defending Freedom has asked the Colorado Supreme Court to find in favor of a Christian baker who refused to make "a custom-designed cake, pink on the inside and blue on the outside, to reflect and celebrate a gender transition."  The dispute before the Colorado Supreme Court is whether the state can, under the guise of combatting discrimination, compel the baker to create custom artistic messages with which he disagrees.  Legal Insurrection has extensively covered this dispute, which recently saw the baker lose an appeal over his refusal to bake the gender transition celebration cake.  The bakery, Masterpiece Cakeshop, has been embroiled in a decade-long dispute with Colorado officials who accuse baker Jack Phillips of violating the state's anti-discrimination law by refusing to make custom cakes celebrating LGBT activity.

Why Jordan Peterson matters.  Unwavering free speech heroes are hard to come by when the Left is silencing their messages on social media, in entertainment, in the news, on campuses and even on the streets.  But Dr. Jordan Peterson is willing to go to jail before he will allow his speech to be interfered with, especially as it pertains to pronoun use and trans "misgendering."  He will not refer to a man in drag as "she" and he refuses to use the "proper" pronouns for a woman who claims to be a man. [...] Peterson lost his tenured job at the University of Toronto because he dared to swim across the deadly current of political correctness regarding pronouns.  It is to his credit that he is now reaching millions more people online with his cultural, political, theological, and environmental opinions than he could ever have hoped to reach in the classroom.

Courage Is A Christian's Only Path Forward From The Legal Hell The 'Winsome' Gospel Wrought.  303 Creative has finally been decided, and Christians — and all Americans — won.  In a 6-3 landmark decision on Friday, the Supreme Court ruled that graphic designer Lorie Smith can't be compelled to affirm values that conflict with her deeply held religious beliefs about marriage by designing wedding websites for same-sex couples.  As we celebrate this victory — and we all should because, as the majority rightly stated, "The First Amendment's protections belong to all, not just to speakers whose motives the government finds worthy" — it's worth reflecting on how we got here.  Smith isn't the only one to have fought this battle, and she won't be the last.  Life-destroying left-wing lawfare came for cake artist Jack Phillips and florist Barronelle Stutzman all the same.

Four Ways the Deep State Betrays Americans.  A federal judge ruled that a student's First and Fourteenth Amendment rights were not violated when school administrators ordered him to remove a shirt with printed text saying, "There are only two genders."  The Obama judge concluded that "the shirt invades the rights of others."  The freethinking boy was later ordered to remove another t-shirt that read, "There are censored genders." [...] While the (in)justice system punished the young rebel for possessing a working brain, the seventh-grader pointed out that his school allows posters covered in rainbow flags and encouraging students to "rise up to protect" the trans agenda — messages that target his personal beliefs.  Sorry, son, free speech protections in America exist only for special people.

Catholic employee fired after putting 'assigned by God' as his 'pronouns' in company profile.  A Catholic software engineer was fired by his former employer for putting "Assigned by God" as his "preferred pronouns," an act which was precedented by pressure from the company to display "gender identity" in the name of "inclusion."  Chad Scharf, who used to work as the Vice President for Software Engineering at the password management company Bitwarden, lost his job for refusing to violate his religious beliefs by endorsing gender ideology, according to a lawsuit filed at the end of May.

Supreme Court rejects appeal from religious college disputing transgender dorm rooms.  The Supreme Court rejected an appeal on Tuesday from a Christian college in Missouri that sued the Biden administration over a requirement to open dorm rooms and shared shower spaces to members of the opposite sex.  The College of the Ozarks asked the justices to block the Department of Housing and Urban Development directive that added "gender identity" to the definition of "sex" in the 1968 Fair Housing Act.

Female-Only Spa With Compulsory Nudity Must Admit 'Transgender Women' With Penises: Judge.  A spa that for years has only served women must admit men with penises if they claim to be women, a judge has ruled.  The constitutional rights of the owners, employees, and patrons of the Olympus Spa in Washington state were not infringed when officials in the state ordered the facility to provide services to "transgender women" with male genitalia, Washington District Court Judge Barbara Jacobs Rothstein said in a June 5 ruling.  The spa was described by its owners, who are Christian, as being designed based on the belief that "a male and a female should not ordinarily be in each other's presence while in the nude unless married to each other," according to a complaint filed by the owners.  Many services provided by the spa require patrons to be fully naked, and the employees who work on-site are all female.

Reporter Confronts KJP On Men In Women's Locker Rooms Possibly Driving Up Suicide Rates.  A White House reporter confronted White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about suicide rates increasing among young girls as school administrators allow males in women's locker rooms.  Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley suggested school administrators allowing males into women's locker rooms drives up suicide rates during a Sunday CNN town hall with Jake Tapper.  Haley said, "My daughter ran track in high school.  I don't even know how I would have that conversation with her.  How are we supposed to get our girls used to the fact that biological boys are in their locker rooms?  And then we wonder why a third of our teenage girls seriously contemplated suicide last year.  We should be growing strong girls, confident girls."

[An] Oklahoma Mother Files [a] Lawsuit Against [a] School District After [her] Daughter [was] "Severely Beaten" by [a] Transgender Student.  A mother in Oklahoma has filed a lawsuit against Edmond Public Schools after her teenage daughter was allegedly severely beaten by a transgender student in the girls' bathroom.  The incident, which took place at Edmond Memorial High School on October 26, 2022, allegedly involved a 15-year-old girl, referred to as "E.G.," being severely beaten by a 17-year-old transgender student.  The lawsuit, filed last Thursday by Theresa Gooden, claims that the accused attacker, assigned male at birth, used the girls' restroom in violation of a state law signed in May 2022.  The law stipulates that public school students must use restrooms corresponding to the sex stated on their birth certificates.

Kansas Legislature Passes Sex-Segregated Bathroom Bill, Overriding Democratic Governor's Veto.  Republicans in the Kansas Legislature obtained the necessary two-thirds supermajority needed to overturn Democratic Governor Laura Kelly's veto of a bill that requires Kansans to use public restrooms that correspond to their sex.  The law will reinforce that "distinctions between the sexes" in such spaces advances "the important governmental objectives of protecting the health, safety and privacy," the bill reads.  "We want to have safety," Republican state representative Brenda Landwehr, told the Associated Press.  Last Thursday, Governor Kelly vetoed a raft of bills passed by the Republican-controlled legislature concerning the transgender community, including legislation requiring that people use locker rooms and public facilities that correspond to their sex.

Judge Forces Sorority Girls To Disclose Identities To Stop Disturbing 'Trans' Male From Moving Into Their House.  A U.S. district court judge ordered University of Wyoming sorority sister plaintiffs to reveal their names in a lawsuit against Kappa Kappa Gamma's University of Wyoming chapter for allowing a transgender-identifying man to be inducted.  According to local news, "The six sorority sisters sued the Kappa Kappa Gamma's parent organization, its president and the school's first transgender sorority member late last month in a closely watched case.  They alleged that the sorority did not follow its bylaws and rules, failed to uphold its mission, breached its housing contract with members, and misled them by admitting a transgender student."  The plaintiffs filed the suit anonymously as "Jane Does" and assigned the pseudonym "Terry Smith" to the trans-identifying sorority member.

Street preacher threatened with jail time after citing Bible verses against local Oklahoma LGBTQ organization.  An outspoken street preacher is appealing to the Oklahoma Supreme Court after he was slapped with a five-year restraining order that threatened him with jail time if he speaks out in opposition against a local LGBTQ advocacy group.  Rich Penkoski, a pastor who heads up the online organization Warriors for Christ and has protested drag shows for children nationwide, told Fox News Digital that he believes the restraining order is unconstitutional and could herald a legal precedent that could chill the speech of Christians and others.  "I've been preaching against this kind of stuff for years when it first started in libraries," he said of drag queen story time for children.  "We've been telling people it's going to get worse if we don't do anything, and that's where we are."  Penkoski said he was invited by a church in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, to preach outside a local Pride event last fall after other local churches failed to speak out against it.

Canadian Bill Seeks to Criminalize Protests of LGBTQ+ Activities, Impose $25K Fine.  A bill introduced in the Ontario, Canada, legislature this week would ban protests and criticism of LGBT activities within a designated 100-meter "safety zone."  Bill 94, titled the "Keeping 2SLGBTQI+ Communities Safe Act," indicates it would establish "community safety zones" designated by the Attorney General prohibiting "persons from performing an act of intimidation" within 100 meters of said zone.  According to the bill, such "acts of intimidation" include "causing a disturbance," "distributing hate propaganda," "uttering threats or making offensive remarks, either verbally or in writing with respect to matters of social orientation or gender roles," and "engaging in a protest or demonstration for the purpose of furthering the objectives of homophobia and transphobia."

Chaplain awarded £10k after NHS Trust said diversity 'takes precedence' over religious belief.  A Catholic chaplain who lost his job has been awarded £10,000 after the NHS Trust he worked for claimed that equality and diversity "take precedence over religious belief".  Rev. Dr Patrick Pullicino, 73, launched legal action against an NHS trust after claiming that he was ousted for answering a hospital patient's questions about the Church's teaching on marriage.  Rev Pullicino was pursuing a claim against the Trust for harassment, religious discrimination and victimisation.  A trial was set to take place in July at Croydon Employment Tribunal.  However, the London NHS Trust, which denies that it has discriminated against him, settled the case by awarding him £10,000 in compensation "for perceived injury to feelings".  The figure falls within the middle band of guidelines for "serious" cases of discrimination.

Goalie declines to wear jersey celebrating LGBTQ community on Pride Night, takes heat.  The San Jose Sharks recently hosted a Pride Night celebration, as nearly all professional sports teams have done.  Moreover, they tweeted pride-themed information throughout the game.  Yet this was not enough to please the ungrateful mob that constitutes the hard-core activists in the LGBTQ community.  You see, one player, Sharks goalie James Reimer, declined to don a rainbow-colored jersey, citing his "religious beliefs." [...] Why should a professional athlete be mandated to wear a jersey celebrating any group other than the team for which he or she plays?  Yet, Reimer — and a handful of other NHL players who have chosen not to wear pride-themed jerseys this season — have been the victims of vitriolic attacks from many of those who otherwise routinely plead for "acceptance," "tolerance," and "inclusion."  Transgender activists, in particular, can be brutal to those who have the audacity to believe in the existence or primacy of just two sexes or genders.

Hotel sexual assaults skyrocket as predators given access to women's rooms in horrifying trend:  law firm.  Horrifying cases of women being raped in their rooms at top hotel chains are taking place because staff are allegedly handing over keys to sexual predators unchecked, The [New York] Post can reveal.  Two separate cases in Texas claim men broke into women's rooms after lying to staff to obtain keycards.  In an even more shocking incident, one man was allegedly able to convince police and hotel staff to deliver his victim to his own room at a Hilton-owned property.  One alleged unwanted entry was only foiled when a quick thinking woman slammed a door on an intruder's hand — severing his finger clean off in the process.

Jiggery-Pokery Wokery.  The woke love to destroy whatever they touch — culture, infrastructure, social cohesion, rational thought.  To be woke is to embrace chaos and injury as a philosophy.  From an anthropological perspective, wokeism is fascinating because its practitioners believe they are creative freethinkers while they act as lobotomized sheep.  Whatever the woke wizards posing as priests tell their needy followers, the woke herds accept as truth. [...] If deception, violence, and obedience are all part of the woke creed, then contradiction is its life-force. [...] We must believe all women unless those women are speaking out against men pretending to be women — in which case, we must first believe all men pretending to be women, no matter how much they do not appear to be women at all.  Biological sex is nothing more than a social construct, yet a man who wears a dress and wig and demands society treat him as he desires is somehow a demonstration of objective reality.  Women's and men's sports divisions and the separation of their locker rooms recognize the reality that women and men are physically different, yet physically different men who mentally pretend to be women are miraculously physically indistinguishable from women and should be allowed to compete against them.  Furthermore, any woman who objects to the imposition of men competing in her sport or undressing in her locker room is bigoted for acknowledging a fact out loud that can no longer be acknowledged as politically correct.  Science demands that reality be based on emotion.

Christian cop, 19, says he was pressured into resigning from Georgia PD after writing on Facebook that 'there's no such thing as homosexual marriage'.  A now former police officer in Georgia believes he was pressured into quitting his job because of warnings from his superiors over his views on gay marriage.  Jacob Kersey, 19, resigned from the department in Port Wentworth, just a few miles outside Savannah, after refusing to remove a post on Facebook regarding gay marriage and his Christian faith.  Kersey - who joined the department at a young age in part because he was inspired by how they would 'bring peace' to his 'broken home' growing up - wrote in the post: 'God designed marriage.  Marriage refers to Christ and the church.  That's why there's no such thing as homosexual marriage.'

Georgia Police Officer Put on Leave Over Social Media Post Defending Natural Marriage.  [Scroll down] [A] lot of women today are backing constraints and controls on conservative men like Kersey.  They wave around rainbow-colored signs and chant about tolerance and diversity.  I want to say something to these women.  Do you understand that marriage-minded men are not liberal men?  Liberal men support abortion, which means they think that killing babies is a good way to keep the good times rolling for the selfish adults.  This attitude is not marriage-ready.  Liberal men want to redefine marriage and support surrogacy, which means they don't understand that children need their mom AND their Dad.  You can't marry someone who thinks that children are just accessories for adult happiness.  So, if young women want to persecute and intimidate men with character, they should not be surprised when they find themselves single and alone in their old age.  Liberal men are filth.  And you can't marry them.

Flashers, Peeping Toms, and the Men Invading Women's Locker Rooms.  In 2020, 54-year-old Michigander Steven Pastoor was finally nabbed.  He had been dubbed the "Cascade Flasher," confessing to having exposed his genitals to unsuspecting victims for decades.  He eventually targeted one woman in particular, who set up a camera to catch him in the act.  The police made a hasty arrest.  "We take this crime very seriously," the police said.  Indeed, the law certainly allowed a serious penalty for the extent of his crimes, which could range from one day in prison to life in prison, the Detroit News reported.  But in the end, a seemingly repentant Pastoor pleaded guilty to just three counts of aggravated indecent exposure, which is a "two-year high court misdemeanor."  He claimed to have been sexually abused as a teenager by an older family friend (suffering that went curiously undisclosed until he faced the prospect of a long prison stint), and that this was the root of his sexual deviancy.

Appeals Court Upholds Florida High School "Separating School Bathrooms Based on Biological Sex".  The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, sitting en banc (all judges on the court) has upheld Florida's St. John'a County school policy of separating bathrooms based on biological sex, rejecting a challenge by a "transgender male" who was denied the opportunity to use the boy's bathroom.  The district provided sex-based (boys and girls) bathrooms as well as single-user gender neutral bathrooms.  While the headlines about the decision refer to a "transgender bathroom policy," in fact it's much simpler than that, what the court referred to as the "nearly universal practice of separating school bathrooms based on biological sex."

This Is What's Following Your Daughters Into The Women's Bathroom.  Thanks to the satanic trans laws whacko liberal states like Washinton and California, freaks like this guy who claim to be a woman can use the lady's room and there is nothing anyone can do about it.  You'll even be deemed a hater and transphobe if you try to protect your wife or daughter from this creep.  [Video clip]

Biden's New Authoritarians Prioritize Gender Transition over Religious Liberty.  Refusing to respect the Constitution; the Church Amendment, which protects the conscience rights of doctors; or a 2016 court case brought by a religious hospital and more than 20,000 health care professionals, the Biden administration maintains it has sufficient authority to punish groups that don't perform gender "transition" surgery and abortions.  Following a pathway blazed by President Obama's Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in 2016, rejecting conscience objections, the Biden administration breathed new life into the left's open season on religious hospitals and physicians.  Open season was initially closed because the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty stepped in to swiftly secure a preliminary injunction against the original rule in 2016.  After all, the original HHS rule violated the Administrative Procedures Act and likely violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.  Confirming this analysis, on January 21, 2021, a district court ruled in favor of Catholic groups contesting the HHS rule.  Hence, the transgender rule was blocked from taking effect.  This decision was upheld on appeal to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals on December 10, 2022.  Additional litigation is possible because HHS refuses to take no for an answer.

Gay-friendly restaurant refuses to serve Christians — What happened to "bake the cake, bigot"?  In the recent oral arguments of 303 Creative v. Elenis, our newest Supreme Court justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson, concocted a hypothetical situation as she grilled lawyers representing a Christian website owner that doesn't build websites for same-sex marriages.  In Jackson's make-believe scenario, an old Christian lady named Helen started a business called "Grandma Helen's Protestant Provisions" and, as the name implies, catered only to Protestant Christians.  Jackson pressed attorney Kristen Waggoner whether Helen could deny non-Protestants her food.  Waggoner did an honorable job explaining to the esteemed justice that she was comparing apples and oranges.  In Jackson's scenario, Helen isn't engaging in speech, and compelling her to serve everyone isn't government-compelled speech.  In the case of the website company, it is clearly an example of compelled speech if the government forces a Christian to create something that celebrates a sinful act.

Federal Court Blocks Biden Rule That Forces Christian Doctors To Perform Sex Change Surgeries.  A federal appeals court has permanently blocked a rule coming from the Biden administration's Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) which demanded that religious doctors perform sex change surgeries in violation of their beliefs.  The eighth circuit's decision comes months after the fifth circuit issued an opinion in August 2022 in Texas that struck down a reading of the Affordable Care Act which would require every doctor to provide sex change surgeries regardless of religious conviction.  Friday's decision affirmed this August opinion.

Tom Cotton Confronts Kroger CEO Over Employees Fired For Refusing To Wear LGBT Pride Symbols.  Republican Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton confronted Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen on Nov. 29 after he suggested Republicans help save businesses while Democrats impose heavy regulations.  Cotton spoke during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the proposed merger between the Kroger and Albertsons grocery chains, and said companies shouldn't inject themselves into cultural issues only to ask conservatives for help later on.  "I've cautioned [Big Tech companies] for years, that if they silence conservatives and center-right voters ... if they discriminate against them in their company, they probably shouldn't come and ask Republican senators to carry the water for them whenever our Democratic friends want to regulate them or block their mergers," Cotton said during the hearing.

Justice Gorsuch Accuses Colorado of Forcing Christian Baker to Undergo 'Reeducation Program'.  Justice Gorsuch slammed the State of Colorado on Monday for forcing a Christian baker to undergo a "reeducation program" after he refused to create a custom cake celebrating a same-sex marriage on the grounds that it violated his religious convictions.  The comment came during opening arguments before the Supreme Court on a case involving a Christian web designer who said she would refuse to produce a personalized website advertising a same-sex wedding if a client came to her seeking such a site.  In 2018, the Court handed a narrow victory to cake artist Jack Phillips in Masterpiece Cakeshop, ruling that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission acted with unusual religious animus in 2012 when it ordered Phillips and his staff to receive anti-discrimination training.  However, the decision did not make a major judgment on the compelled speech issue at the heart of the case, which the Court is finally expected to address in the 303 Creative case currently before it.

Supreme Court weighs web designer's refusal to work on same-sex weddings.  Conservative Supreme Court justices on Monday appeared sympathetic toward an evangelical Christian web designer's bid to avoid working on same-sex weddings as they weighed the latest clash between religious conservatives and LGBTQ rights.  But after two-and-a-half hours of arguments that included a broad array of tough hypothetical questions directed at both sides, involving far-fetched scenarios like a "Black Santa" at a shopping mall refusing to serve children dressed in Ku Klux Klan outfits, it is unclear how exactly the court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, will rule.  Lorie Smith, who opposes same-sex marriage on religious grounds and runs a business in Colorado designing websites, is seeking an exemption from a state law that outlaws discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in public accommodations.

Catholic Bishops Gave Biden A Pass In 2020 And Now Christians Are Paying For It.  The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) meets this week to elect a new president.  Relations with Washington top the agenda.  Stalking those relations is the reality that the USCCB compromised itself two years ago to facilitate the presidential candidacy of Joe Biden.  Now it is caught in the repercussions of its own priorities in 2020.  Biden's appointees in the Department of Health and Human Services would eliminate freedom of conscience in the name of health care.  They propose to revise Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act to add mandates about abortion, "gender identity," and sexual orientation to existing protections against "discrimination on the basis of sex."  Revision will subvert the right of hospitals and medical practitioners to claim exemption from participating in procedures that violate their religious convictions.

NBC News: Strict Voter ID Laws Disproportionately Impact Trans Voters.  Wednesday, NBC reporters Joe Fryer, Savannah Sellers and Jo Yurcaba discussed the impact of voter ID laws on transgender people on NBC News' free streaming service show "Morning News Now."  Fryer said, "As Gen Z gears up to hit the polls, transgender voters are concerned they might be blocked from casting their ballots."  Sellers said, "That is because a growing number of states are enforcing stricter voter identification laws that disproportionally impact the community."

The Editor says...
If you habitually pretend to be something you're not, you should not be surprised if your identification is challenged.  If you live your life as a transvestite, you shouldn't be surprised if you encounter self-imposed obstacles that normal people don't encounter.

Student suspended, coach father fired after complaining 'a man shouldn't be in the women's locker room'.  A 14-year-old high school student has been suspended from her Vermont school and her father, the coach of the girls soccer team, was fired without pay after the duo complained about biological males being allowed into the girls' locker room — and now, the father-daughter duo is suing the school district, alleging they are being punished for expressing their discomfort.  [Video clip]  Blake Allen made headlines recently after officials at Randolph Union High School (RUHS) banned the entire girls volleyball team from using its own locker room because they dared to voice their discomfort with a transgender student — a biological male — who was allegedly making inappropriate comments as the young women were changing.

Christian baker WINS in California over gay wedding cake lawsuit.  In a surprising ruling, a Christian baker has won in the state of California after being sued by the state for discrimination against a gay couple.  Cathy Miller, owner of Tastries Bakery in Bakersfield, refused to make a cake for a gay couple's wedding and a judge in California's Superior has ruled that the Constitution protects Miller's freedom of religion.

Court Rules on Rights of Christian Baker in Same-Sex Wedding Case.  A Christian baker has won a legal victory in her battle for religious freedom in California.  This week, attorneys from the Thomas More Society secured a First Amendment win in their defense of Cathy Miller, owner of Tastries Bakery in Bakersfield, CA.  Miller was exonerated on charges that followed her religious objection to creating a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, Eileen and Mireya Rodriguez-Del Rio, due to her Christian beliefs.  Judge J. Eric Bradshaw of the Superior Court of California ruled, "The evidence affirmatively showed that Miller's only intent, her only motivation, was fidelity to her sincere Christian beliefs."

Florida schools ordered to provide bathrooms separated by biological sex.  The Florida Board of Education unanimously passed new rules requiring all public and charter schools to provide bathrooms and locker rooms separated by biological sex after a divided public hearing Wednesday.  The move comes months after the passing of a Gov. Ron DeSantis backed bill spearheading legislation that banned discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity for kids in kindergarten through the third grade in the state.  The new bathroom regulations also mandate schools notify parents if they offer bathrooms and locker rooms that are not sorted by biological sex and outline their supervision procedures for them.  Backers contended Wednesday that the measures ensure parental transparency while allowing schools to provide a variety of bathroom options for kids.

Vermont School District Retaliates Against Father Who Spoke out Against Allowing Biological Male to Use Girl's Locker Room.  Remember earlier this month when the news broke about a Vermont high school allowing a biologically male student to use the girl's locker room?  Well, there has been a new and disturbing development in this saga.  A father who works at the school was suspended for speaking out against the policy after his daughter was made uncomfortable by the male student.  The situation began when the Daily Signal reported that two girls who are members of the Randolph High School's volleyball team asked the boy, who identifies as a girl, to leave the locker room after he made an inappropriate comment.  The school responded by essentially banning girls from the girl's locker room to cater to the male student's delusion about his gender identity as it launched an investigation into the matter.  But they were not investigating the conflict.  Instead, they are "launching a harassment investigation" into the girls who complained rather than the 14-year-old boy who chose to use their locker room.

Virginia Lawmaker Introduces Bill That Would Allow The State To Remove Children From Parents If They Don't Affirm Their Pretend Gender.  As the battle over parental rights and protections for LGBT students heats up in Virginia, one state delegate said she will introduce a bill in the legislature's next session that would make it a crime for a parent or guardian not to affirm their child's sexual orientation or gender identity.  The move is in response to Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin's updated "model policies" on transgender students, which require students to use bathrooms and join sports teams based on their sex at birth, as opposed to their gender identity.  Democratic Virginia Delegate Elizabeth Guzman told WJLA on Thursday she will introduce a bill that will expand the state's definition of child abuse and neglect to include parents and guardian [sic] who do not affirm their LGBT children.

The Editor says...
Little kids have stupid ideas and they are almost always wrong when their ideas are non-conformist in any way.  "Affirming" their stupidity is just plain nuts.

Students Want Professor Removed for Saying There Are Only Two Sexes.  The University of Southern Maine's Christy Hammer, who could fairly be described as a "woke" professor herself, is the target of an effort by students to remove her from teaching a class because she answered a student's question honestly.  Hammer, an associate professor of Teacher Education at the public (taxpayer-supported) university, was teaching a graduate course last month, entitled "Creating a Positive Learning Environment," when a student asked her how many sexes there were.  Hammer responded, "Two."  That upset the student who asked the question, Elizabeth Leibiger, who identifies herself as "nonbinary," or neither male nor female.  Leibiger told the media, "I felt under personal attack."  "I let her know," Leibiger said, "I didn't think she was qualified to teach a class about positive learning environments.  It's the ultimate irony."  Actually, the "ultimate irony" is that Dr. Hammer's response is somehow considered "controversial."  Throughout human history, it has been widely understood that human beings are either male or female.

Federal Judge Declares Mandated Workplace Pronouns, Unisex Bathrooms Unlawful.  A federal judge in Texas has issued a ruling that prevents federal mandates from imposing pronouns and unisex bathrooms on employers. [...] "Title VII as interpreted in Bostock does not require such accommodations," wrote Judge Kacsmaryk in his Oct. 1 decision.  "The same is true of the March 2nd guidance.  It exceeds Section 1557's requirement and is not justified by Bostock and contrary to Defendant's claims, the guidance binds agency staff failing to genuinely leave the agencies and their decision makers free to exercise discretion."  Bostock v Clayton County is a 2020 Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruling that protects gay or transgender employees from workplace discrimination under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which was initially enacted to end racial discrimination and segregation against blacks in public accommodations, public education, and federally assisted programs.

The Never-Ending Persecution Of Jack Phillips.  By the time I visited Masterpiece Cakeshop in 2016, Jack Phillips, the man who had famously refused to bake a specialty cake celebrating the wedding of a gay couple, had been the victim of a four-year campaign of harassment by the authoritarians at the Colorado Civil Rights Commission intent on punishing him for a thought crime.  Now Phillips is back in the news, as his lawyers attempt to get new charges against him dismissed on appeal from a Colorado judge's decision last year.  For the past decade, the media and lawyers and judges and leftists have misrepresented Phillips' position.  No, the baker never turned a gay couple away from his shop.  Or a transgender person.  Or anyone else.  No, he never refused to sell anyone a wedding cake (ceremonial, in the case that made him famous, as the request predated both Obergefell and Colorado's recognition of gay marriage).  Philips refuses to create any specialty item from scratch that features any message that conflicts with his long-held religious beliefs.  He will refuse to create such cakes for any customer, gay or straight or black or white.

Persecuting Christians who refuse to do work for same-sex weddings is nothing less than bigotry.  Emilee Carpenter is a gifted photographer whose lavish images celebrate all kinds of people — Christian, Jewish, black, white, straight, gay and everything in between.  She aims her lens at clients without fear or prejudice — with one notable exception.  She refuses to take pictures of same-sex weddings.  That's non-negotiable.  And it could cost her — big time. [...] Carpenter has declined requests by same-sex couples to document their weddings.  So she researched potential penalties — hefty fines, revocation of her business license, even up to a year behind bars — and freaked out.  In April 2021, she sued New York, claiming its human-rights law forcing her to shoot same-sex marriages ran afoul of her First Amendment rights to free speech, free association and free religious expression, and violated the establishment clause and her right to due process.

Vermont girls' high school volleyball team are barred from their OWN locker room after complaining about transgender student.  Members of a Vermont girls high school volleyball team have been banned from using their own locker room and now have to change in a single bathroom stall after they complained about a transgender teammate.  Some teammates allege that the transgender player at Randolph Union High School made an 'inappropriate remark' to some of them while they were changing in the locker room.  They now want the school to relocate the transgender player, who hasn't been named.

Is Montana's Defiance of 'Illegal' Court Order a Model That Other Conservative States Should Follow?  As radical federal judges across America continue to undo conservative programs and initiatives, including much of the work of the Trump administration, the state of Montana has defied a court order on transgender birth certificates.  Could this be a model for other conservative states?  Maybe so.  The left is fond of its "Resist" slogan.  It's past time for conservatives to resist, as well — in earnest.  Just hours after a Montana judge blocked health officials from enforcing a state rule that would prevent transgender people from changing the gender on their birth certificate, as reported by AP, the Republican-run state on Thursday said it would defy the order.

Judge Removes Democratic Prosecutor from Case of Loudoun Father Whose Daughter Was Raped in School.  A Circuit Court judge removed a Loudoun County prosecutor from a case citing "concerns" about "impartiality" after an appeal from father Scott Smith, whose daughter was raped at Stone Bridge High School in Virginia by a teen who went on to grope a student at a different school.  Last year, Smith went to a school board meeting to get answers about his daughter's assault in the girls' bathroom at the hands of a male student, and was "arrested and convicted in District Court of two misdemeanors — disorderly conduct and obstruction of justice," according to WTOP news.  He has since appealed the charges, and Circuit Court Judge James Plowman has dismissed the count of obstruction of justice after determining that a lower court judge filled out the requisite charging paperwork incorrectly[.]

Christian bakers fined for gay 'wedding' cake refusal take case back to US Supreme Court.  The Christian bakers who were slammed with fines and ultimately lost their business after they refused to bake a cake for a gay "wedding" are once more bringing their case before the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing the state violated their due process and First Amendment rights.  The Supreme Court had previously reviewed the case in 2019 before remanding it to a lower court.  Attorneys with the public interest law firm First Liberty Institute announced Wednesday that they submitted a petition for a writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court.  In the petition, the attorneys asked the Court to review Melissa and Aaron Klein's case stemming from a 2013 discrimination lawsuit.

Dismantling the Transgender Establishment.  The kids may be back in school, but this year parents are more fearful thanks in part to the courageous parents in Loudoun County Virginia who nearly two years ago brought to national attention the transgender policy, pro-LGBT Sex Ed, and divisive CRT indoctrination in public schools.  Although their exercise of free speech earned them threats from Biden's increasingly militarized DoJ, more parents nationwide learned that their kids, from K-12 and college, are likely to be indoctrinated with radical leftist woke ideology, including the absurd idea that sexual identity is a personal choice.  In Virginia, the top issue remains transgender bathroom policy.  A clear majority of parents showing up at school board meetings the last two years don't want biological males who identify as female in girl's private areas and vice-versa.  All legislators should take heed of the lesson learned by Clinton crony Terry McAuliffe (D Va.) who lost a seemingly shoo-in governor's race to novice politician Glenn Youngkin (R) after telling concerned parents they have no say in their kid's education!

Christian baker in Oregon returns to Supreme Court over refusal to bake same-sex wedding cake.  A Christian baker is back at the Supreme Court, asking the justices once again to take up her challenge to Oregon's public accommodations law after the state put her out of business for refusing to create a custom wedding cake for a same-sex couple.  Melissa Klein and her husband Aaron owned "Sweet Cakes by Melissa."  They served all customers without discrimination until 2013 when they were approached by repeat customers for a custom cake — but this time it was to celebrate the same-sex marriage of a lesbian couple.  They refused to participate, citing the Bible's teaching against homosexuality and their faith.  As a result, the couple filed a complaint with the state, which fined them $135,000.

Can the United States Stop the March to Self-Destruction?  Then, the radical left, again using the Civil Rights Movement as the backdrop, decided to create the latest incarnation of a so-called civil rights crusade: the mainstreaming of a phenomenon hitherto regarded as a mental disorder, gender dysphoria.  And sticking with the overwhelmingly effective blueprint, another intimidation epithet to go along with racism and homophobia was devised: transphobia.  There was no initial redeeming aspect of the transgender movement, as it was concocted to draw in another gullible generation seeking relevance and meaning in their vapid lives.  Beyond producing another group of credulous halfwits, it further advances the destruction of the family and the Judeo-Christian underpinning of the nation while dismantling what was once a cohesive American society.  Its adherents promulgate the mutilation of willfully confused children on the altar of Marxism.  If the United States is to stop the march to self-destruction, then the vast majority of Americans who do not identify with the left need to wake up and understand that the American left is not an unstoppable monolithic leviathan crushing everyone in its path.

Biden's DOJ embraces bias and anti-religious bigotry.  Do you believe a baker has the right not to bake cakes for same-sex weddings?  Do you believe church daycare programs have just as much of a right as other such programs to apply for state grants?  Do you think pregnancy centers should not be forced by the government to tell pregnant women where to get an abortion?  If you support the First Amendment rights of any of these entities, then President Joe Biden's Department of Justice believes you're a bigot unworthy of associating with — or at least that is the message the department sends by protecting a senior DOJ official who attacked the nation's leading legal advocate of religious liberty.  The DOJ Civil Division's assistant director of commercial litigation is Eric Bruskin.  Last week, Bruskin labeled a reputable organization, the Alliance Defending Freedom, a "hate group" and told a former colleague online, "Are these beliefs you hold?  If so then it's time we end our professional association."

Title IX Comes for Christian Schools.  Sometimes, scrolling through the news, you come across a story so ludicrous, so extreme, it seems like someone must have made it up to prove a point.  Take, for example, the recent situation at Grant Park Christian Academy in Tampa, where the federal government was threatening to take away school lunches for underprivileged children unless the school allowed, among other things, male students to share lockers, showers, and bathrooms with female students.  For Grant Park and other Christian schools and universities that have chosen to uphold their deeply held beliefs, reality is proving crazier than fiction.  The Biden administration has proposed changes to the language of Title IX, a civil rights law designed to prevent sex-based discrimination.  The administration is trying to change the meaning of the word "sex" to include "gender identity and sexual orientation."  This seemingly small change would set off a cascade of problems, as it would compel all Americans — regardless of their deeply held beliefs about the nature of sex and gender — to assent to the current radical view that maleness and femaleness are just a matter of individual expression.

Federal Court Blocks Biden Admin from Forcing Doctors to Perform Gender Transitions.  A federal appeals court blocked a Biden administration plan Friday that would coerce doctors to perform gender-transition medical procedures and abortions that violate their conscience or medical judgment.  The plaintiffs, a religious hospital and group of over 20,000 health-care professionals, launched the lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services in August 2016 after the federal government mandated that most health-care providers perform and provide insurance coverage for such procedures.

'I was sacked for suggesting that drag acts were a gross caricature of femininity'.  A lecturer at a prominent music academy says she has been forced out of her job after she suggested drag acts could be viewed as sexist.  Cathy Boardman, a lecturer in cultural studies, had asked her class to reflect on 'womanface' — a critical term for female impersonation — and whether or not it was demeaning.  But bosses at the BIMM Institute, which has outposts around the country and links with Sussex University, told her this was a 'deeply sensitive' subject and that transgender students had been left upset.

Christian college loses plea to keep men out of women's dorms.  The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled against the College of the Ozarks's (CofO) lawsuit against the Biden administration's directive that universities permit student housing based on gender identity.  The court ruled against the Christian college in Point Lookout, Missouri, on July 27.  CofO filed the suit in 2021.  CofO challenged the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) after a memo was issued in Feb. 2021 that prohibited discrimination of "gender identity or sexual orientation" under the Fair Housing Act.  Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which represented the college, alleged that the order violated religious liberty by forcing religious schools to open "their dormitories, including dorm rooms and shared shower spaces, to members of the opposite sex."  The appellate court, however, upheld a lower ruling to toss the case on the basis that the college lacked sufficient standing to sue.

Trans Child, Parents Sue Over Tennessee School Bathroom Law.  A transgender child, along with their parents, sued the Tennessee Department of Education this week over a law that prohibits transgender students and staff from using school bathrooms aligning with their gender identity rather than their biological sex.  The lawsuit was filed in a federal court in Nashville by a student identified as "D.H," according to the Associated Press.  The complaint states that D.H. was "assigned" male at birth but identifies as a female.  D.H. began "living as a girl" at age 6 and is now 8 years old.

The Editor says...
One's gender is not assigned at birth.  It is assigned at the moment of conception, when your first unique DNA has either XX or XY chromosomes.  There are only two kinds.  You're one or the other, male or female, like it or not.

80-Year-Old Woman Banned From Community Pool After Complaining Man Watching Little Girls Undress In Shower Room:  Report.  An 80-year-old woman was banned from using a community pool run by the YMCA in Washington state after she expressed her anger because she said that a man dressed in a woman's swimsuit was watching little girls undress and also saw her naked in the women's showers, according to local media reports.  Julie Jaman, 80, had been swimming at the Mountain View pool, a Port Townsend facility, for 35 years, but on July 26, the Y's aquatics manager, Rowen DeLuna, allegedly informed her that some children needed the lane she was swimming in.  Jaman said she headed to the women's showers, where she soaped up before hearing a man's voice, then turned to see a biological male named Clementine Adams, allegedly an employee at the pool, "looking at the little girls as they were taking off their suits," the Port Townsend Free Press reported.

Parent discovers unpublished 4-H policy bunking by gender identity at overnight camps.  A parent that was considering sending their child to an overnight 4-H camp run by the N.C. State 4-H Cooperative Extension discovered that campers can be assigned to sleeping accommodations by their preferred gender identity.  The policy was not given to parents prior to enrolling their children at 4-H camps.  Parent Van Brinson tells North State Journal he had signed his 11-year-old daughter up for a weeklong "Fur, Fish and Game" 4-H overnight camp this summer.  The camp was held in the Richmond County town of Ellerbe.  "I find this exceptionally deceptive," Brinson said.  "If this is going to be their policy, then parents need to be informed.  I am not anti-trans, or anything else.  I am, however, staunchly pro-information."  Brinson said he only found out about it after a phone call to make sure he had all of his paperwork in order at which time he inquired about cabin assignments and was told they were set up by age and gender.

Loudoun County School District Fails to Halt AG's Probe into Bathroom Sex Assault.  An attorney representing Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) appeared before the court Monday in an effort to shut down Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares' grand jury investigation into the Virginia school district.  Within hours after appearing in court, the motion for an injunction failed and the investigation will continue, 7News reporter Nick Minock tweeted Monday afternoon.  The hearing was closed to the public and the transcript was sealed.

Republicans Introduce a Bill That Defines What a Woman Is.  Arizona Rep. Debbie Lesko is doing something for women, and not the kind no one can define.  The Republican has sponsored a "Women's Bill of Rights" to provide ladies legal protection against gender ideology.  "[T]here are important reasons," H.Res.1136 asserts, "to distinguish between the sexes with respect to athletes, prisons, domestic violence shelters, restrooms, and other areas, particularly where biology, safety, and privacy are implicated."  The initiative goes so far as to claim it knows what a woman is.

If Schools Don't Let Boys Into Girls' Bathrooms, Biden Will Take Their Lunch Money.  The Biden administration will require schools that receive federal funding for lunches to enforce its ban on discrimination on the basis of gender identity and let biological males into girls' bathrooms.  All state and local agencies that receive Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) funding, including schools, will have to update their non-discrimination policies to include protections for gender identity and must investigate any allegations of discrimination on the basis of gender identity, according to a May 5 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announcement.  Obama-era guidance interpreting Title IX to prohibit gender-identity discrimination stated that transgender students must be allowed to use the restroom, locker room and shower facility that matches their gender identity.

Massachusetts Department of Education says kids can use whatever bathrooms they want.  Libs of TikTok is still at it, exposing the insanity of the left and specifically their gender ideology and how it affects children.  A recent post by the account contains screenshots from the Massachusetts Department of Education's official website outlining their policy on transgender students and their access to bathrooms in schools.  The official ruling?  Any kid can use any bathroom they want as long as they claim it validates their gender identity.

Protecting Kids from Bathroom Bullies.  Perhaps because I was bullied as a child, I made sure to enroll my kids in a "Bully Proof" Jiu Jitsu class.  The first rule of dealing with bullies is to "avoid the fight at all costs."  That's the second rule too.  But, at some point, you have to defend yourself to avoid becoming a victim.  One of the hardest parts of standing up to a bully is that they're often loud and aggressive, narcissistic and angry.  Some bullies are even skilled at making it appear they're the victim.  To defend against a bully, you must set good boundaries.  That kind of boundary setting is exactly what the Alabama Legislature did in passing HB 322, a bill that requires boys to use the boys' bathroom and girls to use the girls' bathroom.  The bill was signed into law by Alabama Governor Kay Ivey on April 8, 2022.

'Groomer-gate' — How Democrats Transitioned into the Party of Trans-Extremists.  On April 8, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed two bills into law that caught the attention of the Biden White House.  The first bill she signed requires students to use bathrooms appropriate for their biological sex, and the second bill makes it a felony for doctors to perform "gender reassignment" therapy or surgery on minors. [...] The vast majority of Alabamans obviously agree.  That's why the bills passed the legislature by overwhelming margins: more than 2:1 in the state house and more than 4:1 in the state senate.

Transgender Confusions.  [Scroll down]  A handful of federal circuit and district courts have ruled that schools must defer to the gender identity of their students or risk being found guilty of sex discrimination.  Most of these cases have dealt with access to restrooms, and courts have consistently held that schools may not require transgender boys — most plaintiffs have been natal females who identify as male — to use the girls' restrooms or some alternative unisex facilities.  Additional lawsuits have raised questions about who may participate in girls' sports, whether schools may facilitate gender transitions for students without notice or consent from their parents, and clashes between religious liberty and transgender "inclusive" policies.  If the litigation campaign over restrooms is any indication, we should expect most or all of these cases to be resolved in favor of transgender students.

Feminist Tells Transgender Activist Who Identifies As 'Mother' Not To Use Women's Spaces In Heated Confrontation.  A British feminist told a transgender activist, who is a biological male but identifies as female, not to use women's spaces, video from the NCAA swimming finals shows.  "At the NCAA swim finals Kellie Jay Keen takes on transgender activist who lived nearly 50 years as a man, fathered three children, and now says 'I'm a mother,'" Madeleine Kearns of National Review reported.  Keen is the founder of Standing for Women.  "This campaign is to focus specifically on the word woman and other female language that clearly defines women and our rights," the group's website reads.  "The purpose of this campaign is to raise funds for promoting the fight back to this global assault of women."

Judge rules that Kentucky clerk who refused to issue marriage license to same sex-couples in 2015 violated their constitutional rights.  A federal judge has ruled that a former Kentucky clerk violated the constitutional rights of two same-sex couples who were among those to whom she wouldn't issue marriage licenses — a refusal that sparked international attention and briefly landed her in jail in 2015.  US District Judge David Bunning in Ashland issued the ruling Friday in two longstanding lawsuits involving Kim Davis, the former clerk of Rowan County, and two same-sex couples who sued her.  With the decision, a jury trial will still need to take place to decide on any damages the couples could be owed.  Bunning reasoned that Davis 'cannot use her own constitutional rights as a shield to violate the constitutional rights of others while performing her duties as an elected official.'

LAUSD Gender Bias Contractor Embellishes Training With Materials That Encourage Hostile Work Environments for Teachers.  RedState recently ran across this training course that teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District are being put through that seems to encourage teachers to challenge other teachers in their work environments to push what seems to be a more militant form of agenda than the actual LAUSD policy has codified.  This particular course is called "Identity Working Terms", a contracted course purchased by LAUSD from the California Conference for Equality and Justice, a 501(c3) non-profit activist organization.  The course claims authority to train teachers to comply with a formal policy by the LAUSD known as Bulletin 6224 "Gender Identity and Students — Ensuring Equity and Nondiscrimination". [...] But if you look at the CCEJ course material itself, what stands out is not the official policies of the bulletin but added material that focuses on teachers confronting each other.

Supreme Court to decide whether the state can override your freedom to choose what you say.  In New Mexico, Jonathan and Elaine Huguenin had to close their photography studio.  In Washington, florist Barronelle Stutzman was forced to retire.  In New York, photographer and blogger Emilee Carpenter is risking jail time.  And in Colorado, cake artist Jack Phillips is back in court, enduring his 10th year of litigation.  What connects these individuals?  Each is trying to earn a living and stay true to their values.  Because of their faith, each treats their clients with the utmost respect and dignity and serves clients of all different backgrounds regardless of who they are.  For them, there is no distinction between professing their faith on Sunday and earning a living on Monday.  And for that, they each have a target on their back.  The government is trying to force them to affirm messages contrary to their faith and to back state-approved views about marriage.

Supreme Court to weigh whether webpage designer can deny services to same-sex couples.  The Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday [2/22/2022] to hear a case over whether a wedding website designer can decline to provide services to same-sex couples under Colorado's anti-discrimination law.  Lori Smith, a Christian graphic artist and webpage designer, is seeking to expand her services to create webpages for weddings but argues her religious convictions prevent her from making websites for same-sex couples.  Her standpoint conflicts with Colorado's civil rights laws requiring businesses to be accessible to all clients regardless of sexual orientation.

Oregon Court of Appeals Overturns $135K Fine For Bakery That Refused to Make Same-Sex Wedding Cake.  The Oregon Court of Appeals has overturned a $135,000 fine imposed on a bakery that refused to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple in 2013.  The court upheld the 2017 ruling against Aaron and Melissa Klein, who owned a bakery called Sweetcakes by Melissa, but scrapped the fine. [...] The Klein's had argued that they refused to bake cakes for same-sex weddings due to their religious beliefs.  They ended up closing their business in 2016 amid the legal battle.

N.Y. wedding photographer to appeal court ruling compelling gay-wedding photoshoots.  Wedding photographer Emilee Carpenter is appealing a New York federal judge's ruling that her attorneys say compels the evangelical Christian to create photo displays for same-sex weddings.  "This is a free speech issue.  And I believe that all artists should be free to choose the messages they promote," Ms. Carpenter, 27, told The Washington Times.  Attorneys for the public interest law firm Alliance Defending Freedom told the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York on Wednesday that they will appeal a December ruling issued by Judge Frank P. Geraci Jr., an Obama appointee.

Chicago Public Schools eliminating sex-specific restrooms to 'increase gender equity'.  Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is requiring all schools in the district to adopt new signage in an effort to make restrooms gender-neutral.  The initiative, which CPS is referring to as a "big step forward for gender equity," requires the schools to display language outside of restrooms informing students, whether they are male or female, that they may use the restroom that aligns with their gender identity.  "We're requiring all schools to adopt new signage to make our restrooms more inclusive," CPS wrote in a tweet announcing the change.  "This is a big step forward for gender equity for our students and staff."

Loudoun sheriff slams school superintendent, says he knew of alleged sexual assault the day it occurred.  The sheriff of Loudoun County blasted the county superintendent for allowing a student accused of a highly publicized sexual assault at a local high school to transfer schools despite knowing about the assault the day it occurred.  Loudoun Sheriff Mike Chapman accused superintendent Scott Ziegler in a letter last month of knowing about the "alleged sexual offense the day it occurred" but nevertheless allowing the student accused of the assault to transfer to another school "despite knowing the serious nature of the offense."

Mother of Loudoun County Bathroom Rapist Blames Victim.  The mother of the skirt-wearing boy, who was convicted of raping a ninth-grade girl in a Loudoun County school restroom, said Monday that the victim was to blame for being assaulted because she did not make stronger attempts to defend herself.  The boy's mother said in an interview that her son, who last week was found guilty on two counts of rape, was not transgender despite reports alleging that he was.  She said he just likes to wear skirts sometimes.  But she also defended her son's actions pertaining to the sexual assault, falsely alleging that, at the time of the May 28 assault, he "wanted to have sex in the bathroom, with somebody that was willing."  The mother then proceeded to blame the victim for not doing more to fight off her rapist.

Virginia Must Clean House at Its Dept. of Education.  There's been much talk about the lunacy of school policies supporting so-called "transgender" or "gender fluid" students.  What happened in the girls' restroom at a Loudoun County, Virginia high school — a girl raped by a "transgender" male student and the later public abuse of the girl's father — rightly became a flashpoint in the recent election.  Will anything really be done under the new Republican administration to curb the dangerous policies that enabled this tragedy?  What can the newly elected governor and Legislature do to end this insanity?  It will be difficult.  The radicals are well entrenched in the state bureaucracy and schools.

The Editor says...
It's safe to say that each of the 50 states has its own Department of Education.  There is no need for a federal Department of Education, with an annual budget of $57 billion (last time I checked).

Supreme Court won't hear Catholic hospital challenge to transgender surgery.  The Supreme Court announced Monday [11/1/2021] it would not hear a challenge over a Catholic hospital declining to provide transgender surgery, leaving in place the lower court's ruling in favor of the transgender man.  A transgender man, Evan Minton, sued Dignity Health after the hospital declined to perform his hysterectomy.  He received the surgery three days later at a non-religious hospital but filed a lawsuit in California claiming he was discriminated against.

Scandal-hit Loudoun County rocked by another sexual assault case.  The embattled school district in Virginia's Loudoun County has another problem on its hands to add to the notorious 'boy in a skirt' rape case.  Cops in the county are now investigating 'multiple' incidents of a middle school boy groping other boys, the county's sheriff's office confirmed exclusively to DailyMail.com.  The alleged assaults all happened at Harmony Middle School in Hamilton, Virginia, sheriff's spokesman Kraig Troxell revealed.

Loudoun County Sheriff Investigating Multiple Incidents of 'Inappropriate Touching' in Middle School.  An investigation is underway in Loudoun County by the sheriff's office after multiple reported incidents of a male student touching other students inappropriately at a district middle school.  The Loudoun County Sheriff's Office (LCSO) reported Thursday its school resource office learned from school personnel that on Wednesday a male student had been inappropriately touched over his clothing by another male student in a hallway of Harmony Middle School.

Loudoun County Parent On Explosive School Board Meeting: 'This Is An Ideology War'.  Parents are banding together in Loudoun County, Virginia, demanding resignations from Superintendent Scott Ziegler and the entire school board over accusations it covered up a sexual assault report, which took place in May.  Loudoun County parents Dimis Christophy and Cheryl Onderchain joined "Fox & Friends First" on Wednesday to discuss the outrage after an explosive school board meeting Tuesday night, and a walkout dozens of students participated in earlier in the day over recent sexual assault reports.

Loudoun County Father Who Was Slandered, Beaten, and Arrested Speaks Out.  The horror that has occurred in Loudoun County, VA has gone mainstream over the last several months, and the area is now ground zero in the nation's fight against far-left, degenerate school boards.  Multiple scandals have transpired, with the biggest being the attempted cover-up of multiple sexual assaults, one of which appears to have happened as a result of the school board's "transgender bathroom" policy.

Another man in dress and wig arrested filming young girls in bathrooms.  Are we seeing more of this type of horrific behavior these days, or was it always out there but the press didn't pay as much attention to it?  The subject is once again the periodic arrests of perverse pedophiles who violate the privacy of women and young girls in public spaces and even in their homes.  The alleged cretin in today's story allegedly managed to pull off both types of activity over a lengthy period of time before finally being apprehended.  Jacob M. Guerrero of Woonsocket, Rhode Island was arrested on Tuesday for activities he allegedly undertook in the women's restrooms at a mall in Wrentham, Massachusetts.  Guerrero was seen (and photographed) by the mother of a young girl who became suspicious when she saw him dressed in a dress and a wig and hanging around outside the ladies' room at the mall, following a group of girls inside.

That which was so easily predictable has come to pass.
The Loudoun bathroom teen rape situation just keeps getting worse.  I've been following Ed Morrissey's coverage of the ongoing horror show in the Loudoun County, Virginia school district where multiple rapes of children inside school buildings were covered up by the school board.  That lasted until the father of one of the victims who had been raped in a school bathroom by a boy wearing a skirt went public.  There's been a different sort of coverup taking place since then in the form of a near-total mainstream media blackout of the story, with a few incomplete exceptions.  Despite the fact that the school board clearly appears to have violated state laws regarding sexual assaults, it still seemed as if nobody in the school system was going to be held accountable.  That situation may have started to change on Friday.  There have been multiple calls from the parents of students in the district for school superintendent Scott Ziegler and the entire school board to resign.  And as of yesterday, someone has indeed resigned.  But it was only one member of the school board and not even the president.

Loudoun County prosecutor who sought to jail father of girl allegedly raped at school tied to Soros, McAuliffe.  The Loudoun County prosecutor who sought jail time against a father who was arrested at a school board meeting after his daughter was allegedly sexually assaulted in a school bathroom has ties to progressive megadonor George Soros and Democratic Virginia gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe.  Loudoun County Commonwealth's Attorney Buta Biberaj was described in the explosive report by The Daily Wire as the "progressive" elected county prosecutor who ran on a platform of ending "mass incarceration," but yet she sought jail time for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, both misdemeanor charges, against Scott Smith.

Father is suing woke Loudoun County after his 15-year-old daughter was 'raped' in 'gender-fluid' girls' bathroom.  The furious parents of a 15-year-old high schooler are suing Loudon County in Virginia after their daughter was allegedly raped by a 'skirt-wearing male student' in a 'gender fluid' school bathroom.  Jess and Scott Smith allege that the district attempted to cover up the alleged assault.  They claim that Superintendent Scott Ziegler alleged there was no record of the May 28 incident at Stonebridge High School in Leesburg, Virginia, despite Loudoun County Sheriff's office conducting a two-month long investigation into the allegations.  On June 22, Scott Smith was filmed exploding with anger about the assault at a school board meeting, and was later convicted over the disturbance.  He only revealed the alleged sex attack that had sparked his fury earlier this week.

Loudoun County schools are worse even than you imagined.  We've written before about the madness in the Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS), most recently when it comes to parents protesting LGBTQ pornography in the school system's libraries.  There've also been newsworthy moments when parents spoke out about Critical Race Theory in the school district.  One of the most explosive moments occurred when the school board, tired of having angry parents (i.e., voters) yell at them, called the cops, with several arrests, including that of one man getting physically dragged out.  It now turns out that the man was protesting the fact that the school's policies led to a boy in a skirt sexually assaulting his daughter in a girl's bathroom. [...] On June 22, Scott Smith, a White plumber was filmed as the police arrested him and dragged him out of an LCPS board meeting.  It was his arrest, writes Rosiak, that the National School Boards Association cited when it sought the federal help that AG Merrick Garland so willingly gave, referred to as a possible form of "domestic terrorism."

Republican Senators Slam Biden Court Pick for 'Hostility' to Religious Liberty.  Several Republican senators sharply criticized federal court nominee Beth Robinson this week for her alleged hostility toward religious liberty.  On August 5, President Joe Biden announced his appointment of Robinson as a judge on the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals and the White House underscored that she would be the first openly lesbian woman to serve on any federal circuit court.  During Robinson's confirmation hearings this week, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee questioned Robinson's use of bigoted language toward pro-life Catholics sued by a client of hers in the 1990s.  Robinson had represented a woman in a suit against a Vermont print shop for not printing a pro-abortion group's business cards because of the owners' Catholic faith.

Federal judge sides with gay teacher suing Catholic school over firing.  A federal judge has ruled in favor of a gay substitute teacher this month in a lawsuit over his being fired from a Catholic school because of his marriage to another man.  U.S. District Judge Max O. Cogburn Jr., an Obama appointee, sided with Lonnie Billard, who sued Charlotte Catholic High School in North Carolina after he was removed from substitute teaching because he chose to marry a man.  According to the federal lawsuit, Mr. Billard argued that the school discriminated against him in violation of the Civil Rights Act and removed him from its substitute teaching list after he announced on social media that he would be marrying his partner.

Judge Blocks Obamacare Requirement for Doctors to Perform Transgender Surgeries.  A federal judge in Texas has permanently blocked the federal government from penalizing healthcare providers and insurance companies who refuse to perform gender reassignment surgeries.  The judge, Reed O'Connor of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, ruled in favor of the Obama-era initiative in 2019, but cited the "substantial burden" on the providers' freedom of religion in his ruling on Monday, Aug. 9.  "Plaintiffs identified the substantial burden on their religious exercise as resulting from HHS's attempt to 'force them to choose between federal funding and their livelihood as healthcare providers and their exercise of religion,'" O'Connor wrote in his opinion.

Religious Victory:  Judge Blocks Mandate Requiring Doctors to Perform Gender Reassignment Surgery.  A federal court in Texas blocked a transgender mandate from President Joe Biden that would require doctors to go against their religious beliefs and perform gender transition surgeries.  Judge Reed O'Connor granted a permanent injunction and said that the doctors are "to be exempt from the government's requirement to perform abortions and gender-transition procedures."  In a win for religious liberty, Monday's [8/9/2021] ruling prohibits Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra from requiring the Christian plaintiffs to "perform or provide insurance coverage for gender-transition procedures or abortions, including by denying Federal financial assistance because of their failure to perform or provide insurance coverage for such procedures or by otherwise pursuing, charging, or assessing any penalties, fines, assessments, investigations, or other enforcement actions."

Christian member of Finnish Parliament faces prison for questioning support of gay pride parade.  A member of Finland's Parliament is facing two years in prison for tweeting a message questioning the alignment of her church with a gay pride parade and for other statements expressing what she said is the Bible's view on homosexuality.  Dr. Päivi Räsänen, a physician and the country's former interior minister, faces a potential November trial for "incitement against [an] ethnic group," as Finnish Prosecutor General Raija Toiviainen stated in an April announcement.  Ms. Toiviainen said Dr. Räsänen "violate[d] homosexuals' equality and human dignity" by posting verses online from the New Testament book of Romans; publishing a 2004 pamphlet calling homosexuality "a scientifically proven psychosexual developmental disorder"; and speaking about homosexuality on a Finnish radio program.

Family Farmers Refused To Hold Same-Sex Weddings, Were Banned From A Local Farmer's Market.  Now They Await A Judge's Ruling.  A family farm is waiting to receive a ruling in their lawsuit against the city of East Lansing, Michigan after they were banned from a city-run market for refusing to allow same-sex weddings on their property.  Fox News reported that Country Mill Farms — operated by Stephen and Bridget Tennes — began their legal battle in 2016, when the couple said on Facebook that they opposed same-sex weddings for religious reasons.  They temporarily stopped hosting weddings on their property after a backlash to the post.  In December 2016, the family announced on Facebook that it would start holding weddings again — but not for same-sex couples.  "The Country Mill engages in expressing its purpose and beliefs through the operation of its business and it intentionally communicates messages that promote its owners' beliefs and declines to communicate messages that violate those beliefs," the farm said at the time.  "For this reason, Country Mill reserves the right to deny a request for services that would require it to communicate, engage in, or host expression that violates the owners' sincerely held religious beliefs and conscience."

Tenth Circuit Rules Web Designer Must Create Site For Same-Sex Marriage.  There is a new ruling out of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit that could be headed for a major showdown in the Supreme Court.  The decision in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis could force a hitherto evasive Court to rule directly on the conflict between anti-discrimination laws and the religious clauses.  I have previously written that I view these controversies as best addressed as free speech rather than free exercise cases.  The Tenth Circuit decision reaffirms a growing conflict among the circuits and offers an especially strong case for the Court to consider such a major reframing of such conflicts.

County Refuses to Comply With DOE's Transgender Locker Room Rules.  [Scroll down]  Brass tacks, concerning access:  ["]All students are entitled to have access to restrooms, locker rooms, and changing facilities that are sanitary, safe, and adequate, so that they can comfortably and fully engage in their school programs and activities.  Schools frequently maintain separate restrooms, locker rooms or other facilities for males and females.  Students should be allowed to use the facility that corresponds to their consistently asserted gender identity.["]  And under "Student Identification":  ["]School divisions should accept a student's assertion of their gender identity without requiring any particular substantiating evidence, including diagnosis, treatment, or legal documents.["]

Judge says churches haven't shown Virginia will punish them for violating new LGBTQ law.  Christian ministries failed to convince a Virginia judge last week that they are suffering ongoing harm from a new state law banning employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.  "Is there an actual controversy here?" Loudoun County Circuit Judge James Plowman asked the lawyer for Calvary Road Baptist Church, Community Fellowship Church, Community Christian Academy and pro-life ministry Care Net at the Friday hearing.  They had made "speculative claims" about how the Virginia Values Act (SB 868), which took effect about a year ago, would be enforced, the judge said.  "There are not reasonably foreseeable actions to be taken against these [religious] institutions" from the language of the law itself.  The ministries had engaged in "undisputed" self-censorship and chilled speech, past and ongoing, in response to the crippling financial penalties available under the law, argued Denise Harle, senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom.

Virginia School Board Held Hearings On New Policies That Would Allow Boys Who Identify As Girls To Use Girls' Changing Rooms And Bathroom, This Was The People's Response.  A passionate crowd was in Russell County Thursday evening, where a public hearing was held over a new policy in Virginia that addresses transgender students.  A packed school board meeting was held where people on both sides of the issue were able to share their thoughts on the policy.  The vast majority of people in attendance were against the Virginia Department of Education's model policy for treatment of transgender students.  Under the new policy, transgender students are allowed to use a name or gender that reflects their gender identity.  They are also allowed access to restrooms and locker rooms that correspond to their gender identity.  [Video clip]

Right, wrong and a flower shop.  Is there anyone who can say what is always right and always wrong and present an unchanging standard by which all behavior can be judged?  I raise the question in light of last week's non-ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined for a second time to hear an appeal from a flower shop owner in Washington State.  Barronelle Stutzman, the owner, refused to provide flowers for a same-sex couple because her religious beliefs instruct her that marriage was created by God for opposite sexes.  The U.S. Supreme Court had sent her case back to the state supreme court for further consideration.  That court upheld its original ruling, forcing Ms. Stutzman to provide the flowers, or face penalties under the state's anti-discrimination laws.  Three conservative members of the U.S. Supreme Court wanted to hear the case.  It takes four.  What confuses many people is that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Colorado baker who refused on the same religious grounds as Ms. Stutzman to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.  Why is religious belief a sufficient reason to uphold the Colorado baker's right not to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding and a violation of another state's law in the flower shop case?  News reports say Ms. Stutzman has provided flowers in the past to gay individuals, but not for their weddings.  How far are the courts willing to go with this?

I Could Lose Everything After 'Devastating' End to 8-Year Court Battle Over Same-Sex Wedding, Florist Says.  When the Supreme Court announced July 2 that it had declined to take up florist Barronelle Stutzman's case, it left her on the losing side of an eight-year court battle.  In 2013, one of Stutzman's longtime customers asked her to design floral arrangements for his same-sex wedding.  She told him that because of her religious beliefs, she could not design an arrangement for the wedding, but she referred him to several other florists.  A few weeks later, she learned she was being sued.  The Washington state "attorney general, without any complaint from Rob [Ingersoll] and Curt [Freed], sued me personally and corporately, and the ACLU got ahold of Rob and Curt and also sued me personally and corporately," Stutzman told The Daily Signal.  Now, the Washington state Supreme Court ruling against the Christian florist stands because the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up Stutzman's appeal.  The Supreme Court's move could cost Stutzman everything.

Are We Seeing a Cultural Realignment?  Equity for people with gender confusion sounds compassionate in theory.  In reality, it facilitates naked men bathing with our six-year-old daughters — which inspires a different emotion than compassion.  "Perfectly normal women with penises" competing in women's sports is all over the news too.  The left has been telling us that we need to accept each person's perception of reality — even if that person is somewhat gender-confused.  But "perfectly normal women with penises" competing in women's sports has illustrated the absurd destination this path leads to.  Why don't we go ahead and let heavyweight boxers identify as lightweights and let them beat [up] somebody half their size?  After a year of this nonsense, we're beginning to see that there may be many perceptions of reality, but there is only one actual reality.  Are feminists starting to see that their movement sold them into servitude to liberalism and they've become the handmaidens of leftism?

Let's stop pretending men are women just because they say they are.  Last week, a viral video showed a woman confronting the staff at Wi Spa in Los Angeles because there was a naked man in the women-only steam room, which had girls as well as women present.  On Saturday, Antifa showed up and tried to beat the snot out of anyone who dared to say that a man is not a woman.  On Sunday, though, another woman published a video regarding a similar, deeply disturbing experience she had at the same spa over a year ago.  Here's the almost ten-minute video in which the woman tells about her and her six-year-old daughter's experience when they went for a mom-daughter date at Wi Spa, a family-run Korean spa that caters to families.  And because it is a traditional Korean spa, people strip down to the buff when they enter the sex-segregated spa area.  A lot of the people in the women's area are Korean grandmothers there with their daughters and granddaughters.

Supreme Court rejects florist's case against participating in same-sex wedding.  The U.S. Supreme Court announced Friday [7/2/2021] it would not take up a case over LGBT rights and religious liberty when it comes to same-sex weddings in a dispute brought by a florist.  The high court declined to hear Barronelle Stutzman's case after she lost at the Washington Supreme Court when the state attorney general sued her for not providing flowers from her flower shop, Arlene's Flowers, for a same-sex wedding.  The American Civil Liberties Union also filed a lawsuit against the florist on behalf of the couple.  Washington's highest court concluded she could be forced to participate in the event despite her First Amendment claim that it ran afoul of her beliefs.

By Dodging School Bathrooms Case, Supreme Court Cements Earlier Win for Transgender Rights.  In a heartbreaking move for conservative court watchers, on Monday [6/28/2021] the Supreme Court denied a petition to review the case of Gavin Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board — an appeal from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals over a biological girl's access to the boy's bathroom in one Virginia school district.  In so doing, it hands a victory to the former student, Gavin Grimm; establishes a bad precedent on the ability of students in federally funded schools to use the bathroom of their choosing; and misses a chance to clarify Title IX.  The denial was a bit of déjà vu for the Supreme Court.  Grimm's campaign for bathroom access began in 2015.  After a win at the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, the justices in 2017 remanded the same student's case to the 4th Circuit to interpret Title IX in light of the Trump administration's withdrawal of a federal guidance that had previously permitted mixed-sex bathroom use in schools receiving federal funds.

ACLU challenges Tennessee law over transgender bathroom warning signs.  Tennessee is facing a lawsuit from local business owners challenging a law requiring public places to post warning signs outside of restrooms about both sexes using the facilities, claiming the requirement stigmatizes transgender people.  Business owners, including restaurants, coffee shops and an entertainment venue, filed a federal lawsuit on Friday arguing the recently enacted state law violates the First Amendment.  "Forcing plaintiffs to display a government-mandated warning notice with which they disagree ... violates the plaintiff's First Amendment right against compelled speech," reads the 19-page complaint.

Supreme Court Lets Trans Students Using Opposite Sex Bathrooms Ruling Stand.  On Monday, the Supreme Court turned down an opportunity to reverse a ruling that permitted students identifying as the opposite sex to use the opposite sex's bathrooms.  The Court declined to hear the case of Gavin Grimm, a Virginia female student who identifies as a boy who had sued the Gloucester County school board for stating that restrooms were "limited to the corresponding biological genders."  "The case initially reached the Supreme Court in 2017, but the argument was canceled after President Trump reversed an Obama administration rule that had directed schools to allow students to use restrooms that correspond with their gender identity," The Washington Post noted.

Jack Phillips to appeal Colorado judge's decision over gender transition cake.  The conservative group representing Colorado baker Jack Phillips vowed to appeal after a judge sided with the plaintiff, a transgender woman, on Tuesday [6/15/2021] following Phillips' refusal to make a cake celebrating a gender transition.  "In this case, an activist attorney demanded Jack create custom cakes in order to 'test' Jack and 'correct the errors' of his thinking, and the activist even threatened to sue Jack again if the case is dismissed for any reason," Alliance Defending Freedom General Counsel Kristen Waggoner said in a statement.  "Radical activists and government officials are targeting artists like Jack because they won't promote messages on marriage and sexuality that violate their core convictions."

Colorado court:  Masterpiece Cakeshop has to bake the cake after all.  No it doesn't, but once again Jack Phillips will have to resort to federal court to make this point.  For some reason, Colorado courts can't read Supreme Court precedent, and ruled that a trolling effort to force Masterpiece Cakeshop to bake a cake celebrating a gender transition actually should be upheld.  The judge fined Phillips $500 for violating the state's anti-discrimination law: [...] This case popped up a few months ago, a bad-faith effort by attorney Autumn Scardina, who first attempted it on the same day that the Supreme Court took the previous Masterpiece Cakeshop appeal in 2017.  Scardina admitted that this was essentially trolling.

VA School District to Appeal Ruling Reinstating Gym Coach Who Refused to Use Trans Pronouns.  The Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) plans to appeal a judge's reinstatement of a high school gym coach who refused to address trans students by their preferred pronouns.  The Virginia school district put gym teacher Byron "Tanner" Cross on leave after he cited his Christian faith in opposition to the proposed Policy 8040, which would require educators to address trans students by the pronouns they prefer.

14 Year-Old Girl Blasts School Board's Trans Bathroom Policy: 'Everyone Know What a Boy Is — Even You'.  "Boys are reading erotica in the classroom next to girls and you want to give them access to girls' locker rooms and you want to force girls to call those boys 'she,'" 14 year-old Jolene Grover told the Loudon County, Va.  School Board (LCSB) Tuesday [6/8/2021].  Grover was commenting on the board's new proposed policy allowing biological boys to use girls' facilities.  A draft of Policy 8350 decrees that "students should be allowed to use the facility that corresponds to their gender identity."

Eighth-grade girl blasts school board for policy that would allow 'boys into girls' locker rooms'.  A 14-year-old in Virginia is speaking out about what she says is a sexist move by Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) to allow "boys into girls' locker rooms."  The policy followed a previous one, 1040, that committed the county to providing an equitable, safe and inclusive working environment regardless of "sexual orientation, gender identity" and other individual characteristics.  The more recent proposed policy — 8350 — states in a draft that "students should be allowed to use the facility that corresponds to their gender identity."  At Tuesday's [6/8/2021] school board meeting, Jolene Grover, who was wearing a shirt that read "Woman is female" argued:  "Two years ago, I was told policy 1040 was just an umbrella philosophy and you weren't going to allow boys into the girls' locker rooms.  But here you are doing just that."

Federal Judge Sides With Biden, Rules Christian College Must Allow Biological Men To Share Showers With Women.  A federal judge ruled Wednesday [5/19/2021] that students of the opposite biological sex must be allowed to share shower spaces and dorms at a Christian college in Missouri.  Judge Roseann Ketchmark of the District Court of Western Missouri ruled against the College of the Ozarks, a Christian college which had sued President Joe Biden's administration over its transgender discrimination policies, lawyers representing the school said Wednesday evening.  The college had challenged Biden over his Jan. 20 executive order, which prevented schools from denying children access to bathrooms of their choosing.  "Women shouldn't be forced to share private spaces, including showers and dorm rooms with males, and religious schools shouldn't be punished simply because of their beliefs about biological sex," Julie Marie Blake, senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), told reporters following the ruling Wednesday evening.

The Only Man to End Up Before the US Supreme Court for Not Baking a Cake Tells His Story.  As the "woke" crowd has insisted everyone accept the new politically correct morality, it has sometimes run roughshod over Christians insisting they have to stick with biblical morality.  Colorado baker Jack Phillips was doing that when he told two gay men he couldn't bake a cake to celebrate their same-sex marriage because his conscience wouldn't allow it.  The fight over that cake went all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, where Phillips won, but his legal battles are still not over.  Now he has a new book out — The Cost of My Faith:  How a Decision in My Cake Shop Took Me to the Supreme Court.  It calls on people of faith to stand up for their beliefs, even when the government says that's a crime.  Phillips explained to CBN News in a little more depth why he couldn't design and bake a cake for two men celebrating their marriage.

Professor punished for stating there are only two sexes.  The American Psychological Association (APA) recently removed John Staddon, an emeritus professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University, from the Society for Behavioral Neuroscience and Comparative Psychology (SBNCP) Division 6 listserv, an email discussion group.  What prompted his ouster?  Staddon was notified of his removal from the list in an email from the presidential trio of the APA division.  He believes he was expunged for stating his belief that there are only two sexes, in particular this post:  "Hmm... Binary view of sex false?  What is the evidence?  Is there a Z chromosome?"

The Democratic Party finds a new but shaky faith in corporate free speech.  Of course, Democrats insist they are not attacking free speech, just combating "disinformation."  After all, they say, private companies have every right to control speech — unless you are, say, a bakery opposed to preparing a cake for a same-sex wedding, or a company contributing to political causes.  The current mantra defending Facebook's corporate speech rights seems strikingly out of sync with years of Democrats and political activists demanding the curtailment of such rights.  When Masterpiece Cakeshop in Colorado refused on religious grounds to make a cake for a same-sex wedding, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) denounced the bakery's claim of free speech:  "It was never about a cake — it's about making sure no one has a license to discriminate against LGBTQ+ Americans." [...] Notably, Warren felt that one company (Masterpiece Cakeshop) can be forced to speak while another corporation (Facebook) should be able to stop others from speaking.  When Facebook barred Trump, Warren declared:  "I'm glad that Donald Trump is not going to be on Facebook.  Suits me."  House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) also celebrated and added:  "Facebook must ban him.  Which is to say, forever."

Children's Harry Potter book festival event is cancelled over JK Rowling transphobia row.  J. K. Rowling has again fallen victim to 'cancel culture' after a literary festival in New Zealand scrapped plans for a Harry Potter-themed event over her comments on gender issues.  Peter Biggs, chairman of the Wairarapa book festival, reportedly decided to drop the annual children's quiz that is usually held on the boy wizard following consultations with the LGBTQ community.  It is not the first time that Ms Rowling has been 'cancelled' as a result of expressing her views on whether men who identify as women are the same as biological females.  The 55-year-old author has faced ongoing accusations of transphobia after publishing a blog post in which she argued that biological sex is real.

NJ school vice principal tosses beer at diners for filming wife's transphobic rant.  A New Jersey middle school vice principal was caught on camera tossing his beer at a group of restaurant-goers who had filmed his wife ranting about a transgender woman using the women's bathroom.  The hate-filled clip shows Michael Smurro, vice principal of Neptune Middle School, arguing with patrons on Saturday at Ethel's Lantern Light Restaurant and Tavern in Smithville, where his wife, Lisa, took issue with a person she said was a transgender female in the women's restroom.  "She's a man, she was in the woman's bathroom," Lisa Smurro is captured in the footage telling an employee.  "She's a man."  A woman sitting outside then asks Smurro to take her "hate" elsewhere, claiming she was being inappropriate in front of other customers, including children.  "She's a man," Lisa Smurro continues while holding a beer in her right hand.  "How are you OK with this?  What is wrong with everybody?"

The Editor says...
Phobia is not the right word.  Phobia is fear.  This lady is obviously not afraid — at least she's not afraid to state the obvious — which, in this case, includes the immutable fact that one's sex is determined by genetics at the moment of conception, and a man doesn't become a woman just by wearing women's clothes.

London Has Fallen:  Pastor Is Arrested By Police For Quoting Bible Verses Stating Marriage Is Only Between A Man And Woman.  A Christian pastor who was arrested after he preached from the Bible said yesterday he had been treated 'shamefully'.  John Sherwood, 71, was led away in handcuffs and questioned at a police station overnight.  After being accused of making homophobic comments outside Uxbridge Station in west London Thursday evening (April 7), deputies pulled him off his mini-stepladder where he used it to preach on the street corner while handcuffed behind his back — leaving bruises all over this body.  [Video clip]

Colorado baker who won Supreme Court battle calls gender transition cake case 'a trap'.  The Colorado baker who won a case before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 after refusing to make a custom wedding cake for a same-sex couple spent the week in court again — this time for denying a request to create a cake to celebrate a gender transition — telling Fox News that the request was "a trap" and in violation of his religious beliefs.  In an exclusive interview with Fox News, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, Jack Phillips described his experience at trial this week, after spending nearly a decade fending off lawsuits over requests for cakes that went against his conscience.

It's time for Red States to start nullifying federal law.  Here are some of the issues that could be affected by the concept of nullification:  [#1] Nullify all 1st Amendment Restrictions.  States should refuse to enforce all federal edicts and Supreme Court rulings that impinge upon the 1st Amendment protections of our religious freedom, such as efforts by radical gays to force churches, faith based adopting agencies, religious schools, colleges, and businesses to carry out a radical gay and transexual agenda.

My Democrat Friends are Getting Very Embarrassed.  Since lunch-bucket Joe's inauguration, the government has moved beyond its charter to ensure the rights, security, and safety of the citizens.  Now it's engaged in social engineering.  Transsexuals will now be welcomed into the military.  Given that these folks require ongoing hormone therapy, a few minor changes to the DoD logistics infrastructure will be needed.  It's a small price to pay to check our "wokeness" box.  Should any of our transsexual soldiers be captured, I'm sure our enemies will continue their therapy.  They need their "wokeness" boxes checked too.  President Asterisk has also signed an executive order ensuring that transgender people may use whatever facilities they prefer.  We'll need to be on the alert for gender-fluid pedophiles seeking to spend quality time in bathrooms with young girls.  But, that's a very small societal cost to show the necessary respect to a perfectly normal woman-with-a-penis, who wishes to shower with women-with-vaginas at the gym.

Psaki When Asked About Biden's EO Forcing Girls to Compete Against Biological Males:  Transgenders are More Important Than Your Daughters.  What about the rights of young girls?  When asked about the White House's message to young girls being forced to compete against biological males, Psaki said Biden's belief is trans rights are human rights.  In other words, Joe Biden believes biological males who identify as transgender, are more important than your daughters.  Psaki then deferred the reporter to the schools that are forced to allow biological males to compete with biological females — because of Joe Biden's executive order.

Girls will be Boys, and Boys will be Girls.  [Biden's] January 20 executive order, "Preventing and combating discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation" means that women's sports are now open to males who "identify" as females, [...] Not only sports, but also restrooms, locker rooms, and any school sports.  If members of the boys' high school soccer team decide to identify as girls, they can join the girls' soccer team and shower with them too.  What could go wrong?  Joe Biden instinctively knows there are biologic differences between boys and girls.  There are multiple photos and videos of Biden inappropriately touching and sniffing girls and women, but not boys or men.  He is disregarding his own executive order by discriminating based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

So much for Joe Biden, moderate.  [For example,] allowing men in women's sports.  My guess is that Biden's day-one executive order that vastly expands the Supreme Court's 2020 Bostock v. Clayton County decision will come back to haunt both him and Democratic political candidates.  The order's language with respect to public schools says, "All persons should receive equal treatment under the law, no matter their gender identity or sexual orientation."  Schools will likely interpret that as saying boys who simply identify as girls must be allowed to compete in girls' sports.  Ironically, the Supreme Court's 6-3 Bostock decision specifically excluded the Biden approach.  Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the majority, "we do not purport to address bathrooms, locker rooms, or anything else of the kind." — which is exactly what Biden's order does.  Given the undeniable additional strength, speed, size and stamina of most male athletes when compared to their female counterparts, it means that male athletes who identify as females will dominate their respective sport.  There are perks to being the top athletes in a class, including college scholarships and high-paying professional opportunities.

Virginia Values Act Makes Everyone Who Disagrees a Bigot.  A federal court in Virginia last week held a hearing on a wedding photographer's lawsuit challenging a state law that he says requires him to participate in same-sex weddings against his personal Christian beliefs.  Lawyers representing photographer Bob Updegrove asked the court Friday to stop enforcing the law while his lawsuit against Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring proceeds.  In a public statement, Jonathan Scruggs, one of Updegrove's lawyers with Alliance Defending Freedom who argued on his behalf, said:  ["]Photographers, like all other Americans, should be free to peacefully live, work, and create art that's consistent with their deeply held beliefs — without the fear of government punishment.  Because of the state's interpretation of its law, photographers like Bob face an impossible choice:  Violate the law and risk bankruptcy, promote views against their faith, or close down.  Virginia has a long and important history of protecting constitutional freedoms, and this kind of government hostility toward people of faith has no place in a free society.["]

Sen. Graham:  Biden Doesn't Have the Power to Force Public Schools to Let Transgenders Use Girls' Locker Rooms.  When asked about Joe Biden's intent to order public schools to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms, locker rooms, and sports teams of their choice, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said that he does not think Biden "has the power" to force such a unilateral change and that he would "like to hear from the schools."  Graham also said he did not know if it was a good idea or not to allow transgender "women" (biological males) to play on real women's sports teams and use their locker rooms.

Schumer: 'I Agree' with Biden Planning to Give Trans Students Access to Sports, Bathrooms, Locker Rooms Based on Identity.  During a press conference on Tuesday [12/1/2020], Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said he agrees with Joe Biden's plan to grant transgender children access to sports, bathrooms, and locker rooms according to their gender identity.

Wikipedia bans editors from expressing support for traditional marriage.  Wikipedia has decided to restrict its editors from expressing opposition to same-sex marriage on its platform — a decision that comes months after co-founder Larry Sanger said the site's neutrality policy was "dead."  Volunteers who write and edit Wikipedia's articles can no longer include on their profile page any "userbox" — a badge expressing their beliefs — that is against gay marriage.  For example, one such userbox states, "This user believes marriage is between one man and one woman." The decision was made after a recent discussion where "predominantly left-wing editors" argued such a stance was "discriminatory" and against site policy, according to Breitbart.

California will begin housing male inmates in women's prisons to 'respect' gender identities.  Biological males who find themselves on the wrong side of the California justice system will now be given the choice to serve their sentence in either a men's or a women's prison.  Under a new law, a prisoner's claimed gender identity will determine what type of facility they end up at.  Prison officials will be forced to address inmates by their chosen pronoun and "honorific" title.  Worse yet, authorities will seemingly be stripped of any real power to stop these transfers.

Biden's Authoritarian America.  [Presidential candidate Joe] Biden has promised to sign the Equality Act into law if it is passed by the Senate.  This legislation limits religious freedoms by elevating LGBT rights, which, for Progressives, take precedence over other rights.  The Equality Act amends the 1964 Civil Rights Act to "prohibit discrimination on the basis of the sex, sexual orientation, gender identity."  Section 1107 specifically denies exemptions for religious freedom granted under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993.  The Equality Act would force churches to open their sex-specific facilities, such as bathrooms, to members of the opposite sex.  It would threaten creative professionals, like Christian bakers, wedding photographers, and florists, who would be forced, against their deeply held religious beliefs, to use their artistic skills in support of same-sex couples attempting to marry.  In short, the Equality Act would force religious individuals and organizations to speak messages and act in ways that violate their beliefs, under the threat of punishment.

Kroger sued for allegedly firing workers who refused to wear rainbow symbol.  Kroger, one of the country's largest supermarket chains, is being sued in federal court after two former employees claimed they were wrongfully terminated for refusing to wear an apron with a rainbow symbol.  The ex-employees, who identify as Christian, cited religious objections in their refusal to wear what they believed was an "endorsement of the LGBTQ community," according to the lawsuit.  The complaint was filed Monday by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of Brenda Lawson, 72, and Trudy Rickerd, 57, who both worked at a Kroger store in Conway, Arkansas, for several years before being fired last spring The two women were allegedly disciplined and eventually terminated after they refused to wear new aprons issued last April that featured an embroidered rainbow heart on the top left portion of the bib.

In Foreboding Ruling, Appeals Court Says Transgender Students May Use Restroom of Choice.  A federal court decided last week that schools can't ban students from using the restroom that matches their desired gender identity, in what Buzzfeed News called "a significant legal win for transgender rights."  The 2-1 decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit comes five years after Gavin Grimm sued the Gloucester County School Board for refusing to allow Grimm, then a high school student, to use the boys' bathroom despite being a biological female.

Cancel culture warriors still trying to cancel Masterpiece Cakeshop.  It's now been eight years since liberal activists began their campaign to attempt to drive Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips out of business for the sin of refusing to decorate cakes with messages that conflicted with his religious values.  Thus far, his antagonists have managed to tie him up in court endlessly, but after the Supreme Court sided with him it sounded as if the brouhaha might be over.  No such luck, sadly.  One of the usual suspects immediately tried to order a cake from Jack to celebrate his "transition" from male to female.  Phillips declined and was promptly sued again.  This week, a court in Colorado refused to throw the suit out and ruled that the plaintiff could move forward.

The sad, intolerant legal campaign against Christian baker Jack Phillips continues.  [I]t was only a few years ago that the Supreme Court case pitting Christian baker Jack Phillips against the Colorado Civil Rights Commission captured the national imagination and sparked a debate over religious liberty and gay rights.  Phillips won that case due to the overt "religious animus" in the Colorado government's actions against him.  Yet, due to the narrow scope of its ruling, Phillips was in court once again last week.  On Thursday [4/9/2020], Phillips and his attorneys at the Alliance Defending Freedom asked a state court to dismiss a case brought against them not by the state of Colorado, which after years has seemingly given up on persecuting the Christian baker, but by an angry transgender lawyer and activist now pursuing him for declining to make a cake explicitly celebrating gender transition.  This whole affair is deeply disturbing.  More importantly, it shows once again that many in the activist Left, particularly, self-described gay and transgender advocates, no longer seek the noble goals of equality or dignity but rather punishment and humiliation for religious holdouts who do not fully embrace their dogma.

Virginia Governor Signs Law Ordering 'All Places' Open to Public to Let Transgenders Use Ladies' Rooms.  Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia, a Democrat, signed a law on Good Friday [4/10/2020] prohibiting "all places or businesses offering or holding out to the general public goods, services, privileges, facilities, advantages, or accommodations" from denying access to those things to people 18 years and older based on what the law calls "gender identity."  The law goes on to define "gender identity" as follows:  "The term 'gender identity,' when used in reference to discrimination in the Code and acts of the General Assembly, means the gender-related identity, appearance, or other gender-related characteristics of an individual with or without regard to the individual's designated sex at birth."  In effect, the new law that Northam signed prohibits businesses and other private organizations from denying the use of their ladies' rooms — or locker rooms, or dressing rooms — to adult biological males.

DOJ Backs Photographer Over Free Speech Claim.  The Justice Department (DOJ) has filed a brief in a federal court defending a photographer who is challenging a law that would force her to work at same-sex weddings in violation of her religion.  The department filed a statement of interest at a district court in Kentucky on Feb. 27, saying that the photographer, Chelsey Nelson, is likely to succeed in her lawsuit against Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government and its officials over a law that requires her to photograph same-sex weddings against her conscience.  The department said the law violates the free speech clause of the First Amendment, as the clause prohibits the government from compelling people to engage in speech that supports or promotes another person’s expressive event, such as a wedding ceremony.

Canada: A Totalitarian State-in-Progress.  [Scroll down]  Bill C-16 prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity and gender expression, which sounds unexceptionable except for the obvious fact that "discrimination" is in the eye of the offended beholder and the government enforcer.  The bill effectively mandates that citizens must address others by their preferred pronouns and transgender fantasies — or else!  It's "zir," "ze," "zem" or "zeir" or you're done for.  It's Emily, not Brian, or your job's in peril.  The Ontario Human Rights Code stipulates that "refusing to refer to a trans person by their chosen name and a personal pronoun that matches their gender identity... will likely be discrimination" in social areas like employment, housing, education and so on.  As Queen's University law professor Bruce Pardy writes, "human rights have become a weapon to normalize social justice values and delegitimize competing beliefs."

UK: Mother Spared Jail for Misgendering Trans Woman, Ordered To Pay £1,000 Fine.  A mother was spared jail for maliciously misgendering a trans woman, after being accused of knowing full well that the online "assault" could trigger anxiety.  The mother was also accused of referring to the trans woman as a "pig in a wig" along with other insults in a lengthy exchange involving more than one sock account. [...] She was found guilty of using a "public communications network to cause annoyance, inconvenience, and anxiety to her target," according to Metro.

Public homophobic comments could land you in prison in Switzerland under amended law.  An amendment to an anti-discrimination law in Switzerland means public comments deemed to be homophobic could land violators in prison for up to three years, according to the New York Times.  A majority of voters supported a referendum to add sexual orientation to the list of protected categories under the law, which already protected race, ethnicity, and religion.  Opponents of the change fear that it infringes on the right to free expression.

Medical Journal:  CPS Should Take Kids From Parents if They Oppose Transgender 'Treatment'.  At the tail end of last year, the Journal of Medical Ethics published a paper advocating for government intrusion into the family if parents disagree with their kids about dangerous experimental transgender drugs.  Among other things, the paper suggested that Child Protective Services should remove children from their parents if the children identify with the gender opposite their biological sex and the parents do not wish for them to take dangerous experimental "treatments."  According to the abstract, the paper focuses on "how to proceed if a minor and their parents have disagreements concerning their gender-affirming medical care."  After studying "ethical, paediatric, adolescent and transgender health research," the authors "discuss three potential avenues for providing gender-affirming care over parental disagreement:  legal carve-outs to parental consent, the mature minor doctrine and state intervention for neglect."

Mike Bloomberg:  Those Uneducated Midwest Rubes Are Just Too Stupid for Trans Bathrooms.  Back in 2016, former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg made elitist and demeaning comments about Midwestern rubes who are too uneducated to support transgender bathroom access.  The remarks, which resurfaced on Friday, illustrate the patronizing attitude many pro-transgender activists have toward those who dare to disagree with the view that gender identity overrides biological sex.  Ironically, transgender activists were triggered by how the former mayor insulted the Midwesterners who disagree with them.  Speaking to an audience at Oxford University and addressing the Brexit vote, Bloomberg said, "We, the intelligentsia, the people who could make it into this room, we believe a lot of things in terms of equality and protecting individual rights that make no sense to the vast bulk of people."

Pete Buttigieg Is No Friend Of Religious Liberty.  After taking a surprising lead in the faith-focused Iowa caucuses, presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg is now being discussed as a Democratic Party presidential frontrunner.  But despite being a self-proclaimed Christian, Buttigieg's rhetoric and policies undermine rather than support religious liberty.  Buttigieg has unabashedly embraced House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) Equality Act legislation that would strike a massive blow to our nation's religious institutions.  Specifically, the Equality Act would create a federally protected status for gender identity, defined as the "gender-related identity, appearance, mannerisms or other gender-related characteristics of an individual, regardless of the individual's designated sex at birth."  Any faith-based establishment — including churches, schools, and hospitals — with theological beliefs in conflict with this definition would likely face expensive legal battles, lawsuits, and public scrutiny.

How Did Gay 'Wedding' Flowers Lead to a Supreme Court Battle Over Creativity?  We think we know the story:  florist Barronelle Stutzman declined a request to design the floral artwork for a gay so-called wedding.  Her position, grounded on the First Amendment, landed her in hot water with the Washington State Supreme Court.  She appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which remanded the case back to Washington.  The state Supreme Court sustained the ruling that Stutzman broke the law.  The unfortunate game of hot potato between the courts has left Stutzman no option but to re-appeal to the highest court in the land, as she contends that no creative professional should be required or coerced to create art that violates his core convictions.  The broader principle at stake is whether the courts can coerce creative expression under the guise of protecting LGBT civil rights.

Gender-neutral toilets banned at all Australian schools after parents backlash.  Plans for secondary school students to share gender neutral toilets at Brisbane's newest secondary school have been scrapped following severe public backlash.  The Australian Department of Education confirmed last month that all toilets the £42 million secondary school would be unisex, with the exception of two male and female toilets in change room facilities.

7 Years Later, Christian Bakers Still Fighting to Reverse $135K Fine Over Same-Sex Wedding Cake.  In January 2013, Christian bakers Aaron and Melissa Klein refused to bake a custom wedding cake to celebrate a lesbian ceremony.  Two years later, the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) slapped a $135,000 fine on the Kleins, citing one of the women who requested the cake saying she had felt "mentally raped" by the refusal.  The fine wiped out the Kleins' life savings and forced their bakery, Sweet Cakes by Melissa, out of business.  They appealed, but the OCA ruled against them in 2017.  The Oregon Supreme Court refused to hear the case, but the U.S. Supreme Court reopened it last year.

Not Pushing Back Fuels LGBT Tyranny.  It blows my mind that people worldwide are having their lives destroyed and are even thrown in jail for asserting that marriage is between one man and one woman or for stating the scientific fact that a man cannot change into a woman.  British tax expert Maya Forstarter was fired for tweeting, "Men cannot change into women."  A campaign has been launched to destroy the life of famed author J.K. Rowling for simply agreeing with Forstarter.  In Iowa, 30-year-old Adolfo Martinez was sentenced to over 16 years in prison for tearing down a LGBT flag from a church and burning it.  Fake news media would celebrate Martinez as a hero had he burned a U.S. Flag.  In their disdain for Christianity, LGBT minions at Netflix have a comedy depicting Jesus as a homosexual.  2.3 million signed a petition protesting the comedy.  I guarantee Netflix would never dare portray Mohammad as a homosexual.

Good Public-school Teachers Under Siege.  [Scroll down]  One of the children prefers the plural pronoun "they," while the other, who claims not to be a boy or a girl, prefers "zee."  Seriously.  After that, the two children discuss the alleged need to "educate" their own teachers, especially substitutes, on the supposed importance of using the newly invented pronouns that students choose for themselves.  If that all sounds crazy, that's because it is.  Teachers are already finding themselves in hot water for refusing to play along with the madness.  Indeed, teachers such as Peter Vlaming at West Point High School in Virginia have already been fired from their jobs for refusing to refer to girls using male pronouns, and vice-versa.  In California, teachers say they are required to submit to the gender madness or be fired, too.

U.K. Case Shows 'Equality Act' Would Help U.S. Trans Bullies Get More People Fired.  Is it transphobic to say biological sex is binary and immutable?  Can you support transgender people while criticizing modern transgender activism?  Would you imagine losing your job or being suspended from social media for merely stating factual human biology?  The answers might shock you and affirm growing fears on both the left and the right regarding the freedom to discuss gender, sex, and sexuality honestly in the public square.  Alarming developments in the U.K. and Canada show where the United States is headed if it passes the Equality Act and continues bowing to the increasingly powerful transgender bullies.

Brooklyn parents upset by second-graders' naked locker room encounters.  Parents at the Sunset Park School are aghast the tots are taking lessons at a Manhattan fitness center where the children gather in a locker room with the club's sometimes-naked members, school insiders told The [New York] Post.  "Kids were seeing naked adults in the locker room.  They don't close the access to the public.  Any member could come in.  Adults could come in, change in the locker room while these kids are in the locker room at the same time," one source said.  "Teachers are in the locker room as well.  They see the kids naked.  The kids see each other naked."  But principal EuJin Tang — who once made headlines for canceling Christmas at the school — told parents they could not opt out, the insider said.

Texas Judge 'Publicly Warned' by Ethics Commission for Performing Only Opposite-Sex Marriage Ceremonies.  Waco, Texas Justice of the Peace Dianne Hensley was given a "public warning" recently by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct for her practice of performing only opposite-sex weddings but not same-sex ceremonies.  In the words of the Commission's order, Judge Hensley's religiously motivated policy was ethically wrong for "casting doubt on her capacity to act impartially" as a judge.  That's a serious ethics finding and could lead to even further actions from the Commission if Hensley continues the practice.

Utah Teacher Fired After Telling Boy Who Gave Thanks For His Adoptive Dads That 'Homosexuality is Wrong'.  A Utah substitute teacher was fired this month after allegedly criticizing a fifth grade boy who told the class he was thankful for his two adoptive dads.  The incident occurred last Friday at the Deerfield Elementary School in Cedar Hills after the sub asked students about the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.  When the 11-year-old child remarked about his two fathers, she allegedly described two men living together as a sin.

Girl Fights Back Tears While Trans Student Gloats as School Board Allows Him Into Her Locker Room.  The left sure is about sticking up for women and defending their rights, that is, until a man wants to claim he's a woman and demand entry into women's private spaces.  According to LifeSite, a school board in Palatine, Illinois voted 5 to 2 to allow students who identify as female to use the girl's locker room following a four-year-long debate and two federal lawsuits: [...] Video of the moment the board voted in favor of allowing transgender students to trespass into the private spaces of the opposite gender was taken, and two students were interviewed.  One was a transgender student, and the other was a girl.

T-Mobile Forces its Employees to Use 'Transgender Language'.  he cell phone brand T-Mobile is implementing workplace policies that force its employees, as well as customers, to use language addressing so-called "transgender" individuals, according to Breitbart.  In a press statement issued on November 6th, the company declared that it would be "launching new optional name badges for all retail employees that can include employees' personal pronouns."  The statement also said that "employees are encouraged to add pronouns to email addresses and kick off meetings by sharing pronouns."

Kentucky Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Christian T-Shirt Shop, Rejects LGBT Claim.  On Nov. 1, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled in favor of Christian print-shop owner Blaine Adamson, who was sued for refusing to print "gay-pride" T-shirts for the Lexington Pride Festival.  According to the opinion of the court, written by Justice Laurance B. VanMeter, "[T]his matter must be dismissed because the Gay and Lesbian Services Organization (GLSO,) the original party to bring this action before the Lexington Fayette Urban County Human Rights Commission, lacked statutory standing to assert a claim against Hands On Originals under the Lexington Fayette Urban County Government."

7-year-old at center of transgender custody battle opts to attend school as a boy.  James Younger, the 7-year-old at the center of the transgender custody battle, has decided to attend school as a boy.  Younger's father, Jeffrey Younger, was blocked by a Texas judge after refusing to cooperate with the child's mother, Anne Georgulas, as she allowed the child to transition from male to female.  Georgulas claimed James Younger identified as a woman and wanted to be called Luna, something Jeffery Younger refused to do.

Kentucky Supreme Court Tosses Suit against Designer that Refused to Print Gay Pride T-Shirts.  Kentucky's Supreme Court on Thursday threw out a lawsuit against a print shop owner who refused to make an LGBT Pride T-shirt because doing so would violate his conscience.  The high court ruled that the plaintiff, Lexington's Gay and Lesbian Services Organization, lacked standing in the case since the city's gay rights law is meant to protect individuals rather than activist groups.  "While this result is no doubt disappointing to many interested in this case and its potential outcome, the fact that the wrong party filed the complaint makes the discrimination analysis almost impossible to conduct, including issues related to freedom of expression and religion," the court's decision read.

Moral Relativism Taking Over Everything:  Sports, Politics, Libraries.  Since so many of us pay little to no attention to the NBA, you may have forgotten their "principled" stand on the North Carolina "bathroom bill."  In late February of 2016, ignoring science and sound morality, liberals on the Charlotte City Council passed an ordinance that would allow men into women's restrooms, locker rooms, and so on.  As is typical with the Left, the ordinance applied not only to city-owned property, but to private businesses as well.  In other words, Charlotte liberals "legislated morality," and they did so to the point of forcing all of the city's citizens to adhere to perverse liberal dogma.  To correct this gross injustice, the North Carolina Legislature passed a commonsense law (H.B. 2) that reversed the foolish Charlotte city ordinance.  In opposition to H.B. 2, later in 2016, ignoring the long understood truths on sex and sexuality, and goose-stepping along with the rest of the liberal elite, the NBA decided to pull its all-star game from the city of Charlotte.

Minnesota persecutes Christian couple.  [Scroll down]  They want to expand into making wedding videos and movies.  In keeping with their mission statement, they want to glorify God by focusing only on God pleasing marriages.  Since God defines homosexual acts as sinful in the Bible, these relationships cannot be God pleasing.  The Larsens should have the freedom to choose their clients in a way that fulfills their business plan.  (Note:  The Larsens are making no attempts to get homosexual relationships banned, or force their religious views on others.)  Minnesota disagrees and is using the power of the state to persecute the Larsens and other Christians.

U.K. Court Decision Affirms Transgenderism Is A Religion Of Complete Self-Worship.  Britain has a new state religion.  In theory, Christianity, in the form of the Church of England, is the established faith of old Blighty.  In practice, a new creed has taken its place, and it is eager to punish nonbelievers.  Consider the case of David Mackereth, an English doctor whose Christian faith has been officially declared impermissible.  Mackereth was fired for refusing to "'refer to a man six foot tall with a beard' as 'she.'"  A judge upheld his firing, declaring that "belief in Genesis 1:27, lack of belief in transgenderism, and conscientious objection to transgenderism in our judgment are incompatible with human dignity and conflict with the fundamental rights of others, specifically here, transgender individuals."  This ruling is part of a new religious establishment, complete with penal laws.

UK Court Rules Biblical Belief in Two Sexes 'Incompatible with Human Dignity'.  A British employment tribunal has ruled that a Christian doctor's biblical understanding of sexuality and lack of belief in transgenderism is "incompatible with human dignity."  After being fired from his job in 2018 for refusing to use pronouns that do not correspond to a person's biological sex, disability assessor Dr David Mackereth filed a complaint against the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) for harassment and discrimination under the Equality Act.

Fired Doctor Who Said He Wouldn't Call a '6ft-tall Bearded Man' A 'She' Loses Tribunal.  Christian doctor, David Mackareth, who made headlines for his refusal to use transgender pronouns, as they went against his faith, lost his tribunal arguing the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) breached his right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.  The panel had ruled that Dr Mackareth's religiously-inspired views on what constituted male and female were "incompatible with human dignity."  Dr Mackereth had told the hearing that he refused to address a "6ft-tall bearded man" by their preferred pronouns.

LGBT Activists Drag Ben Carson For His Concern About Trans Men In Women's Shelters.  The latest dust-up involving transgenderism has ensnared Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson in its tentacles, which now seem to reach into every aspect of American life.  In comments last week, Carson had the audacity to suggest that some women in shelters, many of whom have faced abuse from men, are not comfortable with "big, hairy men" being in the facilities.  In a department-wide email on Friday [9/20/2019] Carson sought to tamp down the controversy, pointing out that it was women's groups who were raising these concerns with him[.]

Has the Absurdity of Transgenderism Started to Awaken the West?  On an ordinary day I would have regarded what Indiana State Attorney General Curtis Hill did as an aberration, a stroke of common sense in a society waging war against it.  Hill refused to enact a policy change made by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles that would have created a new "Gender X" option for state drivers' licenses.  It seems to be Hill's view that not requiring the official government license to hold official, factual information rather than the desires or wishes of the carrier is a bad idea.  He has a point, of course.  As others have pointed out, should the carrier be allowed to decide what eye color, hair color, weight and height they wish they had and list that?  If so, what's the point of the document in the first place?  But that's not the way we think anymore in the West.  That's why I would have been tempted to regard Hill's refusal to bow the knee to the mob of inmates that now runs our cultural asylum as an isolated act of courage.  But signs continue to emerge that perhaps the transgender madness has pushed a bit too far and society is starting to push back.

Store owners cannot be jailed for refusing to make wedding invitations for same-sex couples:  Arizona Supreme Court.  The city of Phoenix cannot compel an art studio owned by two Christians to design wedding invitations for same-sex couples, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled Monday [9/16/2019] in a 4-3 decision.  Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski, who run Brush & Nib Studio, potentially faced $2,500 in fines and six months in jail for violating Phoenix's 2013 ordinance that prohibited discrimination based on "sexual orientation, gender identity or expression."  "Duka and Koski's beliefs about same-sex marriage may seem old-fashioned, or even offensive to some," wrote Justice Andrew Gould in the opinion of the court.  "But the guarantees of free speech and freedom of religion are not only for those who are deemed sufficiently enlightened, advanced, or progressive."

Also posted under Liberals think you're stupid.

Why a Supreme Court case about dress codes matters for our kids.  Does a girl's privacy matter?  I know of one dad who thinks so.  When his daughter's school district notified parents that bathrooms would be opened to students of the opposite sex, based on their gender identity, this dad immediately got on the phone and he stayed on the line for 30 minutes until the superintendent eventually took his call.  A military veteran, this dad said he didn't fight for our country overseas to come home and worry about his daughter's safety while at school in America.  If the superintendent wouldn't reverse the decision, he warned he would bring 100 dads and stand in front of every bathroom in the district.  The superintendent eventually relented and changed course.

Kim Davis wins in appeals court.  Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who was jailed for not issuing marriage licenses after the Supreme Court created same-sex marriage, has won an appeals court decision.  She was sued by a same-sex couple that targeted her office after she stopped issuing licenses in 2015.  Judge David Bunning ordered her to jail after she requested a religious accommodation from the state, which she eventually obtained from the state legislature.

Kentucky Supreme Court to decide:  Can gays force Christian print shops to promote their politics?  Today [8/23/2019], the Kentucky Supreme Court will hear the latest First Amendment case pitting gay activism against the rights of Christian business owners.  Oral arguments will be presented in Lexington-Fayette Urban County Human Rights Commission v. Hands On Originals, a case revolving around Blaine Adamson's Kentucky-based print shop, Hands On Originals, and his refusal to print shirts promoting a pro-gay rights message with which he disagreed.

Trump administration incurs LGBTQ wrath in bid to expand religious protections for contractors.  The Trump administration moved Wednesday [8/14/2019] to expand faith protections for federal contractors, the latest front in the ongoing battle between LGBTQ groups fighting discrimination and employers seeking to operate in accordance with their religious principles.  The proposed rule by the Labor Department Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs would make clear that "religious organizations may make employment decisions consistent with their sincerely held religious tenets and beliefs without fear of sanction by the federal government."

Virginia Federal Judge Rules For Transgender Students In Bathroom Case — Says Ban Was Discriminatory.  On Friday [8/9/2019], a federal judge in Virginia rejected a school's policy regarding transgender students and bathroom use.  The ruling was seen as a victory for transgender students seeking access to the bathrooms of their choosing.  According to Fox News, U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen's opinion was:  "There is no question that the board's policy discriminates against transgender students on the basis of their gender nonconformity."

This Lawsuit Over 'Sex' and 'Gender Identity' Will Have Sweeping Implications.  Immediately, Tom and Nancy knew that the contents of the letter had the potential to devastate R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes, which Tom's grandfather had established in 1910 to serve grieving families throughout Detroit.  As it stands now, Tom's five-generation family business is in the hands of the Supreme Court, with oral arguments scheduled for Oct. 8.  No doubt, his case will have sweeping implications across American life.  So, what was in the letter?  Anthony Stephens, a biological male employee who had agreed to and followed the funeral home's sex-specific dress code for more than six years, intended to show up to work — as well as to the homes of grieving families — dressed as a woman.

Illinois officially passes bill requiring all single bathrooms be designated gender neutral.  Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) signed legislation requiring every single-occupancy bathroom in public buildings in the state to be labeled gender neutral.  Under Senate Bill 556, also dubbed the "The Equitable Restrooms Act," all single-occupancy restrooms "in a place of public accommodation or public building shall be identified as all-gender and designated for use by no more than one person at a time or for family or assisted use," the law states.

Christian Cake Baker Jack Phillips Under Attack Again by LGBT Activist.  Jack Phillips, the Masterpiece Cake Shop owner, is being attacked by LGBT activists in the courts for the 3rd time because of his Christian faith.  Jack's business was first sued when two gay men wanted Jack to bake a cake to affirm a "same sex wedding" in violation of Jack's sincerely held religious belief that marriage is the union of a man and a woman.  The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Jack Phillips in the Masterpiece case, and rebuked the state of Colorado for its "hostility" to his faith.  After Jack won at the Supreme Court, a different activist visited Jack Phillips cake shop to ask for a cake celebrating a "gender transition."  LGBT activist Autumn Scardina brought suit against Jack Phillips claiming that Jack's refusal to make a cake celebrating a "gender transition" was discriminatory.

20th-Century Progressive Politics Continues to Unfold.  [T]he politicization of American life is no laughing matter.  Failing to adhere strictly to the Nazi party line in the Third Reich or the Communist party line in the USSR could cost you your life.  In America today, failing to adhere strictly to the dictates of political correctness can cost you your livelihood, as we have seen in far too many instances already.  Basic, common sense terms such as "he" and "she" have become politically radioactive, and in coercively many-gendered New York City, you can be fined for using the wrong pronoun.

University investigates feminist grad student for saying men can't become women.  University of California-Santa Barbara doctoral students, alumni and "allies" are demanding the administration take action against Laura Tanner, an outspoken critic of transgender ideology and doctoral candidate in its Department of Feminist Studies.  Tanner's Twitter feed is dominated by discussion of transgender ideology's threat to women, including young lesbians.  She believes that transgender women — biological males — are wrongly appropriating a female identity.

Woman Forced To Close Business After Refusing To Wax Male Genitals Of Transgender Person.  A Brazilian immigrant living in Canada was forced to close up her small business after refusing to wax the male genitals of transgender LGBT activist Jessica Yaniv, formerly known as Jonathan Yaniv.

Politician Pushing 'Gender Neutral' Toilets Charged with Child Sex Crimes.  A politician who pushed for the introduction of "gender neutral" toilets shortly after his election has been charged with nine counts of sexual touching of a child.  David Smith successfully petitioned the Mayor of Middlesborough to trial gender neutral toilets at Middlesbrough Council shortly after his election to the local authority in Teeside, Yorkshire, as a politician representing the Conservative Party, according to the BBC.

Christian Doctor Refuses To Call 6-Foot-Tall Bearded Man "Madam."  Instantly Loses His Job.  Dr. David Mackareth, a Christian doctor residing in the U.K. has lost his job after he stood on his principles and refused to call a 6-foot-tall bearded man "madam," stating he couldn't do so in good conscience due to his beliefs.  This is the kind of insanity the world is embracing right now.  Sooner or later the bubble is going to burst and we'll all wake up from this nightmare and sanity will be restored.

Doctor loses government job after refusing to 'call any 6-foot-tall bearded man "madam"'.  The 56-year-old physician, who was working as a disability benefits assessor for the Department of Work and Pensions, reports that a superior asked him, "If you have a man 6 foot tall with a beard who says he wants to be addressed as 'she' and 'Mrs.,' would you do that?"  According to the outlet, Mackereth — a 30-year veteran of the health care industry — said that he would not use transgender pronouns and insisted that the concept of transgenderism is a "delusional belief" that he "disbelieve[s] and detest[s]."  Mackereth — who now works as an emergency doctor in Shropshire — said that he was previously warned that he was discriminating against people by invalidating their preferred gender pronouns and that he could eventually lose his job as a result if he did not call transgender people by their preferred names.

U.S. Women's Soccer Team Cut Star Player For Christian Views.  Christian views may have kept star player Jaelene Hinkle off the US women's soccer team.  Back in 2015, Hinkle had objected publicly to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that legalized same-sex marriage.

U.S. Women's Soccer Team Accused Of Snubbing Star Player For Christian Views.  The absence of one of the best women's soccer players in the nation from the national squad that just won the World Cup has prompted questions as to whether she didn't make the team because of her openly professed Christian faith.

Doctor 'Dismissed' After Saying He Wouldn't Call 'Any 6ft Bearded Man Madam'.  A Christian doctor has said that he was allegedly dismissed from his job at a government office because he refused to call "any six-foot-tall bearded man 'madam'," an employment tribunal has heard.  Dr David Mackereth, 56, told a hearing in Birmingham on Wednesday that he had been dismissed from his role as a health and disability assessor at Birmingham Fiveways assessment centre, part of the Department for Work and Pensions, after refusing in theory to use a transgender person's preferred personal pronoun, the BBC reports.

Our Free Speech Crisis.  Christian Americans have been hounded for their refusal to cater same-sex weddings.  For those who support such attacks, we might ask them whether they would seek prosecution of the owner of a Jewish delicatessen who refused to provide services for a neo-Nazi affair.  Should a black catering company be forced to cater a Ku Klux Klan affair?  Should the NAACP be forced to open its membership to racist skinheads?  Should the Congressional Black Caucus be forced to open its membership to white members of Congress?

Who Are the Rich, White Men Institutionalizing Transgender Ideology?  As an environmental activist who was deplatformed from a speaking venue by transactivists, in 2013 I developed curiosity about the power of this group to force this development.  A year later, when Time magazine announced a transgender tipping point on its cover, I had already begun to examine the money behind the transgender project.  I have watched as all-women's safe spaces, universities, and sports opened their doors to any man who chose to identify as a woman.  Whereas men who identify as transwomen are at the forefront of this project, women who identify as transmen seem silent and invisible.  I was astonished that such a huge cultural change as the opening of sex-protected spaces was happening at such a meteoric pace and without consideration for women and girls' safety, deliberation, or public debate.

Spokane Pastor Arrested After Reminding Police of Free Speech Rights at Drag Queen Library Event.  A Spokane, Washington pastor was arrested for obstruction and taken to jail for a few hours on Saturday after refusing to move across the street from the Spokane Public Library while trying to protest a "Drag Queen Story Hour" event held at the library.  Pastor Afhsin Yaghtin of New Covenant Baptist Church was arrested after speaking with police officers, telling them the library is public property and that he should be able to protest next to the building rather than across the street, according to ChristianNews.net.

Pastor Jailed During 'Drag Queen Story Hour,' SWAT Team Snipers Positioned Atop Library Roof.  A Baptist pastor was arrested and jailed on Saturday [6/15/2019] after refusing to move across the street from the Spokane, Washington Public Library while exercising his free speech against a "Drag Queen Story Hour."  The event had a significant militaristic police presence, including camouflaged snipers positioned atop the roof to oversee the large crowd that stood both for and against the men dressed like women reading stories to children.  Afhsin Yaghtin of New Covenant Baptist Church was arrested for obstructing an officer as he contended with police that the South Hill Library is public property and that he should be able to speak adjacent to the facility instead of being required to stand across the street.

For Bakers, a Measured Response at SCOTUS.  Aaron and Melissa Klein have spent the last six years praying for a positive ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court.  Yesterday, they got the next best thing — an order that throws out the devastating ruling against them.  Thanks to SCOTUS, the parents of five, who've wrenched plenty of hearts with their emotional story, will have another chance at vindication — in front of the same court that tried to bankrupt the bakers in the first place.  "Try again," the justices seemed to say in their short order to the Oregon Court of Appeals.  It's the second time in a year that SCOTUS has sent a wedding vendor case back to the states for another round of hearings.  And the Kleins are hoping their verdict turns out better than Barronelle Stutzman's.

Democrats:  The 'Post-Truth' Party.  [Scroll down]  Likewise, biology-denying Joe Biden, more than once, has recently called "transgender equality" the "civil rights issue of our time."  Recall that because of his efforts and the efforts of other post-truthers in the Obama administration, among other perverse, "creepy," and ignorant things, boys started using girls' restrooms and locker rooms, and military women were declared "at least as strong as men" and officially marked for combat.  Soon afterward, boys started — and continue — to take trophies from girls, and military physical standards were lowered.

Brown and Out in Beverly Hills.  Leftists advance incrementally.  Their template is as simple as it is predictable:  Ask for a little, and swear that the demands will end there.  Most regular folks will give in because decent people generally seek compromise.  But to leftists, compromise is merely a temporary step, a strategy. [...] "Gender discrimination laws will not lead to the government forcing women to let men use their bathrooms."  No less than Ruth Bader Ginsburg promised this in the 1970s ("Separate places to disrobe, sleep, perform personal bodily functions are permitted, in some situations required, by regard for individual privacy").

Masterpiece Cakeshop is Sued for the Third Time.  Something here for everyone to hate.  If you're on Jack Phillips's side you're outraged that the campaign of harassing him with lawsuits is now in its seventh year, undeterred by a Supreme Court decision that sided with him over Colorado's antidiscrimination tribunal on grounds that the panel showed anti-religious bias in evaluating the claim against him.  If you're in the gay-rights camp, you should be pissed that SCOTUS may get a second crack at Phillips's case with new facts that make him appear even more sympathetic than he did before.  The Court's conservatives will not only have to decide next time whether free speech and free exercise require exemptions to public accommodations laws in the case of gay weddings, they'll need to do so knowing that ruling against Phillips would effectively reward the decision to hound him with new bouts of litigation for the better part of a decade.  The process has been the punishment; SCOTUS would be asked to validate that by requiring Phillips, after everything that's happened, to bake the cake after all.

Masterpiece Cake Shop sued for discrimination a THIRD time:  What are the limits of lawfare?  As noted by The Daily Wire, Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cake Shop in Denver, is being sued for refusing to make a cake for a customer for an unspecified event.  In the past, Phillips was unsuccessfully sued for refusing to make a special cake for a gay wedding, saying such unions are against his Christian beliefs.  The Supreme Court did not agree or disagree; rather than ruling for Phillips under the First Amendment's freedom of religion clause, the high court merely took issue with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, the entity that brought the suit, for its 'harassing' and 'discriminatory' actions.  That suit was brought by the Colorado 'Human Rights' Commission, staffed by Leftist zealots who don't believe Christians in the state deserve any protections at all.

Muslims vs.  LGBT: The 'Coalition of the Minorities' Collapses.  In the current drive to normalize transgenderism and same-sex parenting to the youngest of children, those who dissent are aggressively smeared by the politically correct establishment as bigots, homophobes, and transphobes.  This is resulting in unintended consequences for the liberal metropolitan elite.  The 'coalition of the minorities,' beloved of 'progressive' politicians and media pundits, is collapsing.

Third Discrimination Suit Filed Against Masterpiece Cakeshop.  Attorneys for a Denver woman greased the pan for yet another legal battle against a Lakewood bakery already burned around the edges from a series of heated civil rights fights.  Jack Phillips, owner of the Masterpiece Cakeshop, refused in 2012 to bake a wedding cake for Charlie Craig and David Mullins, a same-sex couple from Denver, on the basis of his religious beliefs.

Transgenderism vs.  Free Speech in BC.  The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal (BCHRT) recently decided a case involving a flyer distributed by a street preacher, William Whatcott, challenging the candidacy for provincial office of a man who identified publicly as a woman.  Whatcott apparently handed out 1500 flyers on street corners, stuffed them in mailboxes, taped them to doors and even put a copy on the internet, things that many political campaigners do today.  Whatcott's target was Morgane Oger, a trans-woman running for the leftist New Democratic Party (NDP) in the 2017 British Columbia election.  His flyer ("Transgenderism vs.  Truth in Vancouver-False Creek") exposed Oger's claim to be "a woman born into a male body" as fraudulent.  "The truth" he said, "is there are only two genders, male and female and they are God-given and unchangeable.  Morgan's DNA will always be male, he will never have a uterus and no amount of cosmetic surgery, fake hormones, or media propaganda is going to be able to change these facts."  He concluded by calling on people not to vote for the Oger or the NDP.  Oger lost the election.  Oger then filed a complaint with the BCHRT, alleging the flyer violated section 7 of the Provincial Human Rights Code which, among other things, prohibited publication of any statement that "indicates discrimination or an intention to discriminate."

U.S. Supreme Court rejects appeal over transgender bathrooms in Boyertown School District.  The U.S. Supreme Court announced Tuesday that it will not take up a challenge to the Boyertown School District's policy of allowing transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their gender identity.  The justices rejected an appeal from students who argued that allowing transgender students to use the same facilities violated their right to privacy.  The court's order leaves in a place a May 2018 federal appeals court ruling that held that the school district could continue to allow transgender students the choice of what facilities to use.

The Equality Act would turn America upside down.  Democrats in the House are celebrating Friday's [5/17/2019] passage of the Equality Act, a misnamed legal jackhammer that would add "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" to federal civil rights law.  It goes far beyond allowing men into women's sports and locker rooms, as bad as that is.  It provides the state with the power to persecute anyone who won't celebrate any aspect of the LGBTQ agenda.  Far from merely expanding civil rights categories, it turns any recognition of the differences between the sexes or any preference for traditional sexual morality into actionable "hate," creating fertile grounds for lawsuits.

Orwellian: Father Could Now Be JAILED If He Calls His Daughter A Girl.  One father has been told that his precious daughter is no longer to be called his little girl, by court order. [...] Not only is he forbidden to discuss his daughter, her condition, treatments, gender etc, etc, by the courts, but neither is he permitted to discuss the ruling against him with anyone other than his lawyer.

8 Times Barack Obama Abused His Power To Appease His Base.  [#4] Illegally reinterpreting Title IX:  As I've mentioned before, when Obama unilaterally redefined Title IX to include "gender identity" he grossly abused his power in order to appease a tiny fraction of the population (.58 percent) at the expense of the rights and privacy of women and girls nationwide, and threatening educational institutions at all levels with the loss of Title IX funding if they didn't comply and allow boys to share bathrooms, locker rooms, and dorm rooms with girls, as well as allow boys to play on girls sports teams.  This was an egregious abuse of power, according to Mario Loyola, a senior fellow at the Wisconsin Institute for Law.  "In order to 'change the law,' the Obama administration simply pretends that a 1972 act of Congress means whatever the latest progressive fashion trend requires it to mean — even though not a single member of Congress in 1972 would have supported the new 'interpretation,' much less voted for a law expressly stating what the Obama administration now claims the law says."

Man Is Gagged By Court, Condemned For 'Family Violence' For Refusing To Call His Daughter A Boy.  At the end of February, the Supreme Court of British Columbia ruled that a 14-year-old girl — "Maxine" — didn't require her parents' consent in order to receive her desired hormone treatment.  Maxine wants to become a guy.  Her father, "Clark," claimed that, for months, she'd exhibited signs of depression and emotional disturbance.  Furthermore, she'd been wilding out in a sex way, for a time becoming a lesbian.  Since his and his wife's divorce, Clark insisted, Maxine's mental health had plummeted.  He believed it was the cause of her desire for a change of identity.  But the teen's school — as well as a hospital — supported her decision to go from girl to boy.  When Clark tried to intervene, they refused to let him.

The So-Called Equality Act:  Making Some Americans More Equal than Others.  Allan Josephson, M.D., is one of the nation's top child and adolescent psychiatrists.  So why was he just fired by the University of Louisville?  It started when Dr. Josephson spoke at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., where he expressed his concern as a medical professional over what is becoming common treatment for children with gender dysphoria — puberty blockers, hormones, multiple surgeries.  He disputed the notion that gender identity "should trump chromosomes, hormones, internal reproductive organs, external genitalia, and secondary sex characteristics," calling it "counter to medical science."  In today's political climate, however, it is considered unacceptable to offer anything other than complete affirmation of a child's claimed transgender identity.  To ideologues, it does not matter that for nearly fifteen years Dr. Josephson headed up the University of Louisville's Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology Division, leading it to national prominence.  It does not matter that he provided such outstanding leadership that he was awarded perfect marks in his 2014, 2015, and 2016 annual reviews.  All that matters is that he committed a sin against the dictates of political correctness.

Philly Catholic Social Services Censored For Refusing to Work With Same-Sex Couples Based On Religious Principle.  A federal court ruled Monday [4/22/2019] against reinstating a Philadelphia Catholic Social Services' foster care contract unless the Catholic agency agrees to work with same-sex couples.  A 2018 investigation into Catholic and Christian organizations revealed that Catholic Social Services also chose not to work with same-sex couples for faith-based reasons, after Bethany Christian Services refused to work with a same-sex couple on the basis of their religious beliefs, according to the Inquirer.  Though Bethany Christian Services capitulated to pressure from the city to change their policy, Catholic Social Services refused — causing the city of Philadelphia to end the Catholic company's foster care contract.

Mayor Pete Will Make You Bake the Cake.  Democratic presidential contender Pete Buttigieg's public calls for pluralism do not apply to religious small business owners.  South Bend Mayor Buttigieg has made his Episcopalian faith and tolerance a centerpiece of his campaign, but the policies he champions would force religious small business owners to participate in ceremonies they find objectionable under penalty of law.  Buttigieg, who is married to a man, will keynote the Human Rights Campaign's annual dinner.  The nation's largest LGBT lobbying group credited his support for the Equality Act for the invitation.  "Buttigieg is an outspoken advocate of the Equality Act — critically important, bipartisan legislation that would finally provide clear protections against discrimination for LGBTQ people across the country," HRC said in a Tuesday [4/16/2019] release.

Catholic farm family fights Michigan city to stay OUT of gay-wedding business.  A city in Michigan is punishing a Catholic farm family because they refuse to allow gay weddings.  The short of it is that this Catholic family was denied entry into the farmers market in East Lansing back in 2016 after the city found out that the Tenneses don't allow gay marriages on their farm.  They had previously been a part of the farmers market for the past 7 years.  Now they are fighting it out in court and hope that the recent victory by Colorado baker Jack Phillips will help them.

Catholic farm family fights to stay out of gay-wedding business with help from Colorado baker.  All Steve and Bridget Tennes want is to sell their apples, peaches and blueberries at a Michigan farmers market without being required to get into the same-sex wedding business, and they are hoping for an assist from Colorado baker Jack Phillips.  The Tenneses, who make their home on the Country Mill Farm with their six children, contend that their Catholic faith has been maligned by East Lansing officials who have sought to bar them from the city's farmers market over their refusal to host same-sex ceremonies on their property.

Lesbians Demanding Wedding Cake [are] 'Trespassing,' Lawyers Say.  Lawyers representing a Christian cake artist in California contend in response to a lawsuit by the state that a same-sex couple demanding that she prepare a cake for their wedding against her will were trespassing.  The state now has sued Cathy Miller twice over the claim.  A judge ruled in the first case that Miller's refusal to make the cake was protected by the First Amendment.  The brief by the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund makes the same argument but also asserts the same-sex couple "fraudulently" presented themselves as customers to provoke a lawsuit and, therefore, were "unlawful trespassers."

Transgender Rights:  Judge Warns Girls Have No Right to 'Visual Bodily Privacy'.  A federal judge is allowing a lawsuit against transgender facilities in a school district to proceed, but warned the student-plaintiffs that, if the government allows boys who claim to be female to use the girls' bathrooms and locker rooms, then the girls have no right to "visual bodily privacy."  Judge Jorge Alonso of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division is allowing a lawsuit to proceed against the school district that adopted the Obama-era transgender policy permitting boys claiming to be female to use the girls' bathrooms, showers, and locker rooms.

Critics See 'Equality Act' as [an] 'Endless Lawsuit Machine'.  New civil rights legislation introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives that would extend protection to LGBTQ individuals would also undermine First Amendment free speech rights while opening the door to religious-based discrimination, according to conservative critics.  The proposed "Equality Act," known as H.R. 5, was introduced March 13 by Rep. David N. Cicilline (D-R.I.).  The measure would add "gender identity" and "sexual orientation" to the classes protected against discrimination by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, outlawing discrimination against all protected classes in employment, housing, public accommodations, education, jury service, banking and credit, and retail stores.

School district that forced girls to shower with boys can't get out of Title IX lawsuit.  A federal court permitted a lawsuit to proceed against an Illinois school district that allows high school boys to use girls' locker rooms, restrooms and showers in order to accommodate transgender students.  But girls who don't want to be seen naked by boys got bad news:  The judge ruled that they have no right to "visual bodily privacy" if the government says so.

California bans state-funded travel to South Carolina, bringing total to 10 states.  The day may be coming when California public employees are permitted to travel on business only to blue states.  California Attorney General Xavier Becerra on Tuesday added South Carolina to the growing list of states banned from state-sponsored travel, citing the Palmetto State's 2018 budget bill allowing faith-based adoption and foster-care services to operate according to their religious beliefs.  "The State of South Carolina recently enacted a measure that sanctions discrimination against families in the placement of children in need of homes," said Mr. Becerra in a statement.  "The State of California stands strongly against any form of discrimination."

Our Queer Decline.  In California, healthcare workers risk a fine or jail time, or both, for failing to use a transgender patient's "preferred name or pronouns." The politics of transgenderism are protected, then, while the politics of heteronormativity are not.  Remember, the First Amendment applies to all equally, but some are more equal than others.  A high school teacher in Virginia was fired for refusing to use a transgender student's preferred pronouns.  This was the first case of the kind in the state, but it will not be the last.  Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski, two female bakers in Arizona, face potential jail time for refusing to ply their trade for same-sex weddings on the grounds that it violates their Christian faith.  A lesbian couple in Oregon a sued Aaron and Melissa Klein for the same reason.

7 Reasons Why the Equality Act Is Anything But.  [#7] It would enable sexual assault.  A complaint under investigation by federal education officials alleges that a boy who identifies as "gender fluid" at Oakhurst Elementary School in Decatur, Georgia, sexually assaulted Pascha Thomas' 5-year-old daughter in a girls' restroom.  The boy had access to the girls' restroom because of Decatur City Schools' transgender restroom policy.  School authorities refused to change the policy even after Thomas reported the assault.  Eventually, she decided to remove her daughter from school for the girl's emotional well-being and physical safety.  A federal sexual orientation and gender identity law would give male sexual predators who self-identify as females access to private facilities, increasing the likelihood of these tragic incidents.  It could also make victims less likely to report sexual misconduct and police less likely to get involved, for fear of being accused of discrimination.  The proposed Equality Act could impose a nationwide bathroom policy that would leave women and children in particular vulnerable to predators.

David Horowitz Exposes the Left's Dark Agenda.  The Supreme Court has been the giant secular lever employed by leftists to fundamentally transform "Christian America" into a state hostile even to a school-girl who joined hands with classmates to give thanks for her food.  These politically-motivated "lawyers," as Horowitz contemptuously labels the high court, began their anti-Christian, anti-Constitutional mission with the expulsion of prayer from public schools in 1962 (Engel v. Vitale).  That assault on the free exercise of religion now extends beyond commencement ceremonies and football fields to a bakery that was embroiled in legal battles for years for refusing to provide a celebratory cake for a gay ceremony billed as a wedding — a "crime" made possible by Court rulings against the Defense of Marriage Act and in favor of redefining marriage.

Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips, state of Colorado announce truce.  The state of Colorado and Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips have mutually agreed to end ongoing state and federal court litigation, the Colorado Attorney General's Office said Tuesday [3/5/2019].  The Colorado Civil Rights Commission will dismiss administrative action against Phillips, and Phillips will withdraw his federal court case against the case.  "After careful consideration of the facts, both sides agreed it was not in anyone's best interest to move forward with these cases, Attorney General Phil Weiser said.

Court Rules Father Cannot Halt Daughter's Transgender Hormones, or Even Call Her a Girl.  Last Wednesday [2/27/2019], the Supreme Court of British Columbia (B.C.) ruled that a 14-year-old girl may undergo transgender hormone "treatments" to support her transgender identity as a boy — without her father's consent.  The court went so far as to threaten to penalize the father's speech.  If he calls his daughter a girl, that would constitute "family violence," which would be punishable by law.  The B.C. Supreme Court ruled that the girl (referred to as A.B.) "is exclusively entitled to consent to medical treatment for gender dysphoria and to take any necessary legal proceedings in relation to such medical treatment," and that "attempting to persuade A.B. to abandon treatment for gender dysphoria; addressing A.B. by his birth name; referring to A.B. as a girl or with female pronouns whether to him directly or to third parties; shall be considered to be family violence under s. 38 of the Family Law Act."

Colorado Drops Second Case Against Christian Baker.  Colorado baker Jack Phillips is 2-0 now after state officials dropped their second attempt to coerce him into baking products that violate his beliefs. [...] On the same day Phillips won in a 7-2 decision in the U.S. Supreme Court, June 26, a lawyer asked Masterpiece Cakeshop to bake a gender transition cake that was pink on the inside and blue on the outside.  The Supreme Court had overturned the Colorado Civil Rights Commission's decision against Phillips, which involved Phillips' decision to not bake a cake for a same-sex ceremony.  The Colorado Civil Rights Commission, which had previously targeted Phillips for fines regarding the same-sex wedding cake, again found probable cause that state law required him to bake and design the gender-transition cake.

Male Christian Wrestler Forfeits State Championship Spot Rather Than Wrestle Girls.  An 18-year-old high school wrestler in Colorado has given up a potential spot in the Colorado high school state championships because he chooses not to wrestle two young ladies saying it violates how he was raised to treat women.  Brendan Johnston of The Classical Academy in Colorado says those values — despite some light complaints from at least one of the young ladies he would have faced — are informed by his Christianity and, after a discussion with his coach and some deep thought on the subject, he's decided to stand behind his principles despite knowing it would mean a shortened competition.

'Natural marriage' bill could put state in jeopardy of losing $9.4 billion in federal funds.  A controversial bill aimed at ignoring the U.S. Supreme Court's 2015 ruling legalizing same-sex marriage could once again place Tennessee in jeopardy of losing $9.4 billion in federal funds, according to a financial analysis of the legislation.  The bill, dubbed the "Tennessee Natural Marriage Defense Act," would prohibit government officials from recognizing any court ruling, including the landmark Supreme Court decision, that affirms same-sex unions.

U. Minnesota Backs Off Plan to Punish People for Not Using Preferred Pronouns.  It's amazing that they thought this would fly in the first place.  That's how far we've drifted.

Feminists Screaming about 'Transgenderism,' Their Own Demon Child.  Say, "Be careful what you wish for" or call it the law of unintended consequences.  For decades, feminists screamed, "I am woman, hear me roar" — now it's "Hear me squeal — a man just walked through our door!"  The issue?  Men claiming womanhood (MCW, AKA "transgenders") are invading women's spaces — such as bathrooms, locker rooms, and prisons — and are entering female competitions, taking away gold and glory.  Examples are MCW who in recent years won "women's" titles in weightlifting, cycling, sprinting, golf long driving, and even a beauty pageant.  This is no pretty picture to feminists.  Wizened old Germaine Greer took heat in 2016 for saying men getting a medical procedure "doesn't make them a woman."  Ex-tennis star Martina Navratilova is currently being ostracized for writing that having MCW in women's sports is "insane" and is "cheating."  Feminist writer Meghan Murphy just sued Twitter for banning her for tweeting "men aren't women" (my, my — employing white male linear logic!).  And feminist Julia Beck was kicked off a Baltimore LGBT committee for using masculine pronouns when referencing, the nerve of her, a man.

Trump-Hating Lesbian Tennis Champ Destroyed for Saying Men and Women Are Different.  Navratilova defected from communist Czechoslovakia in 1975 and became a U.S. citizen in 1981. That same year, when there was still a price to be paid for doing so, she came out as a lesbian and has since engaged in a long career of LGBT activism.  She lent her name and support to ballot initiatives, spoke at LGBT marches, and in 2000 was the recipient of the National Equality Award from the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest LGBT lobbying group.  She is active on Twitter and firmly in the Orange Man Bad camp.  No one could ever accuse Martina of not being down for the cause.  All this was not enough to protect Navratilova from ostracization and accusations of bigotry last week when she questioned the wisdom of allowing men pretending to be women to compete in women's sports.

Martina Navratiola Removed From Board of LGBTQ Organization.  Tennis legend Martina Navratilova was officially removed Wednesday from the advisory board of a prominent LBGTQ organization after making comments about transgender athletes.  Navratilova released an op-ed in The Sunday Times on Feb. 17 discussing her opinion on why transgender athletes should not be able to compete against female athletes.  She wrote that having men compete as women is unfair because of the physical advantage.

LGBT Activists Teaching Judges To Yank Kids From Parents Who Won't Transgender Them.  On Thursday [2/7/2019], the Health and Human Services committee of the South Dakota House killed a bill that would have protected the right of parents to refuse to consent to medical or psychological treatment for a child suffering from gender dysphoria if the treatment "would induce, confirm, or promote the child's belief that the child's sex or gender identity is different from the child's sex presented at birth."  Proposed House Bill 1205 also provided that "no public authority or official of this state may take any adverse action against a parent for exercising this right."  That such a simple affirmation of parental rights could not clear a committee in this solidly red state should terrify parents, as it lays bare transgender activists' plan:  use the government to force parents to affirm a false sex for their child, agree to hormone blockers, and accept a transition to their son or daughter's preferred gender.  If parents refuse?  Removal of the child from the family, due to alleged medical neglect.

A Court Case in Iowa Shows the Reality of Religious Discrimination in America.  If you get the lion's share of your news from America's prestige media outlets, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the principal religious-freedom issue in America is whether a few Christian business owners can discriminate against their gay customers.  Whether the controversy is a media-created fiction (think of Indiana's Memories Pizza — a store that never denied anyone service) or an actual court case, like Masterpiece Cakeshop, the narrative is the same.  The battle over "religious liberty" — yes, the scare quotes are often all too real — is the battle over the right of business owners to recreate their own, small-scale version of Jim Crow.

Texas transgender bills to 'ban Christianity' in Texas?  While LGBTQ activists across the Lone Star State are confident that the upcoming state bills will enhance the so-called "gay rights" of Texans, many conservative pastors in the state are fearful that the proposed laws, that would add gender identity and sexual orientation to Texas discrimination laws, will diminish their right to express their faith.

Wedding invitation designers say they'll go to jail over LGBT case.  The owners of a wedding invitation design business said Wednesday they're prepared to go to jail if the Arizona Supreme Court rules against them in a case to determine if a city ordinance meant to protect LGBT couples from discrimination violates their free speech and religious rights.  In a radio exclusive with the "Todd Starnes Show," Brush & Nib co-owners Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski and their attorney, Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Jonathan Scruggs, spoke about the opening arguments of their lawsuit against Phoenix.

DC restaurant fined $7k for questioning transgender activist who used women's restroom.  Washington, D.C., restaurant Cuba Libre has been hit with a $7,000 fine after questioning a transgender activist who used its women's restroom and a manager tried to insist the patron show identification proving to be female.  On June 22, Charlotte Clymer went to the restaurant to attend a bachelorette party for a friend.  Clymer identifies as a woman and made the transition from being a man in November 2017.

California church draws backlash for calling Caitlyn Jenner a man.  A Northern California church sparked outrage over a sign that read:  "Bruce Jenner is still a man.  Homosexuality is still sin.  The culture may change.  The Bible does not."  Caitlyn Jenner is formerly known as Bruce and revealed in 2015 that she is transgender and has become a woman.  The church, Trinity Bible Presbyterian Church, is located in Lake Shastina, Calif., which is about an hours' drive from the Oregon border.

Court allows Christian baker to sue Colorado for anti-religious hostility.  The owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop can proceed with his lawsuit against the state of Colorado after a judge refused to dismiss the case.  Jack Phillips has accused the Colorado Civil Rights Commission of anti-religious bias because it punished him for refusing to bake a cake celebrating gender transition.  Phillips, represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, filed suit when the state chose to prosecute him even after he won his case at the U.S. Supreme Court in June.

Federal Judge Orders Male Inmate Transferred To Women's Prison Because He Identifies As Female.  A man presenting as a woman is being sent to a previously all-female prison.  Deon Strawberry Hampton is serving a 10-year-sentence for burglary.  A federal judge has approved the Illinois inmate's transfer to a women's penitentiary.  27-year-old Strawberry claims he's endured years of sexual assault, taunting, and beatings at the male Big House.  He was moved this past week from his old prison bars in Dixon to all-new prison bars at the women's Logan Correctional Center.

Biologically Male Transgender Inmate Moved To Women's Facility After Yearlong Legal Battle.  On Thursday, attorneys for 27-year-old Deon "Strawberry" Hampton announced that their client, a biological male who identifies as a female and is serving a ten-year prison sentence for residential burglary, would be transferred from a men's correctional facility to a women's correctional facility.  Hampton filed a lawsuit against the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) in late-November 2017, demanding to be moved to a women's prison following 16 months of hormone therapy.  The lawsuit alleged that Hampton was the target of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of correctional officers at multiple facilities — first at Pinckneyville Correctional Center, then at Menard Correctional Center.

Franklin Graham Claims He Was Banned From Facebook.  Reverend Franklin Graham says that he was banned from Facebook pursuant to a more than two-year-old post in support of North Carolina's House Bill 2, which mandated that citizens use the bathroom that corresponds with their biological sex.  The bill was signed into law in 2016 and was considered by many to be bigoted — and it provoked a wave of corporate boycotts targeting the state.  It's not clear which specific post got Graham banned, but the evangelist has been outspoken in support of that bill and of other similar pieces of legislation.

Colorado can't stop trying to shut Jack Phillips down for gay marriage views.  Over the past few years, Colorado has been on a crusade to destroy Jack Phillips' business over a thought crime.  The state's Civil Rights Commission had bored into Phillips' soul and established that his refusal to create a specialty cake for a same-sex couple was driven by his personal animosity toward gay customers rather than by his Christian faith.  Unelected officials began fining Phillips in an effort to put him out of business for being a Christian.  I wrote about the case numerous times, and every time, I was assured that his actions had nothing to do with "religious liberty" — a term almost always placed within quotation marks to intimate that it's a bogus concern.  I was assured that it's constitutionally acceptable for a gay couple to force a man to create art that undermines his faith.  I was assured the case against him would be a slam-dunk for Colorado.

Judge 'inclined' to let latest cake case against Christian baker proceed.  He won his six-year legal battle over his refusal to create a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, but Christian baker Jack Phillips is now facing what could be a lengthy courtroom sequel on the issue of a transgender birthday cake.  Any hope of a speedy resolution was dashed Tuesday when a federal judge indicated he plans to reject the effort to dismiss the Colorado Civil Rights Commission's latest complaint against Masterpiece Cakeshop involving a birthday cake for a gender transition.

That Giant Liberty-Sucking Sound From the Tolerant Left.  Do you remember Jack Phillips, the poor Christian owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Colorado, the baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple because it would have violated his religious convictions?  He didn't deny them service, mind you, but would not bow to their demand that he prepare a cake to celebrate their wedding.  The complaining couple weren't being harmed.  They could have gone anywhere else to purchase a custom-made wedding cake.  But they refused to allow this baker to exercise his religious liberty.  This surely was a deliberate targeting of a Christian baker to force him to conform to their values and thought edicts.  Though the Supreme Court held that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission had violated Phillips' First Amendment liberties, he is being harassed again — this time by Denver attorney Autumn Scardina, for refusing to bake a custom-ordered cake to celebrate her transition from male to female.

The Editor says...
I will continue to say this until I am forcibly silenced:  There is no such thing as a "transition from male to female," or vice versa.  One is born with gender-specific XX or XY chromosomes.  One or the other.  They do not fluctuate or "transition" based on the clothes one wears or the surgery one undergoes.  If you are a man who elects to dress and act like a woman, you are a transvestite and a pervert, but you do not become a woman just because you want to.  These views are rapidly becoming unfashionable, yet I persist, for the same reason that if everyone in town began to proclaim that 2+2=3, I would continue to insist that 2+2=4.  If you disagree with my statements, visit some other web site.

Virginia teacher fired for refusing to use new pronouns for transgender student.  "You will be made to care," wrote Eric Erickson in RedState back in 2013.  He was referring to a court case in Colorado of a Christian baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple and was fined for it.  Today, we are being threatened, intimidated, and bullied into caring about people who believe they are trapped in the wrong body — that their biological gender is incorrect and that they are actually someone of the opposite gender — or some other gender created out of whole cloth.  A Virginia French teacher found out the consequences of trying to balance his religious beliefs with the new paradigm of "transitioning" to another gender.

The Editor says...
The people who say they believe in science (above all else) are willing to say that biology is sometimes incorrect.

Americans Can Now be Jailed for Not Servicing Same-sex "Weddings".  It's not yet like the Romans throwing Christians to the lions for practicing their faith, but the Phoenix government may be throwing them in jail — for refusing to service same-sex "weddings."  It's a shocking reality that inspired two Arizona Christian artists to sue the city in 2016, and now their case will be taken up by their state's supreme court.  Breanna Koski and Joanna Duka are the owners of Brush & Nib Studio, a business born of the goal to recreate "the beauty God placed all around us and to share that beauty with others.  And this goal made it natural for Joanna and Breanna to focus on artwork for weddings, one of the most beautiful days in someone's life," relates the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which is representing the artists.

For the West to Live, 'Equality' Must Die.  Equality is the chief faux virtue of our time.  Our obsession with it brings to mind the great G.K. Chesterton's observation, "The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes.  The business of Conservatives is to prevent mistakes from being corrected."  Long ago the West erred by exalting "equality" at, ultimately, quality's — and sanity's — expense.  In fact, it's at a point where boys claiming girlhood are allowed in girls' bathrooms and locker areas based on equality dogma.  How do we correct this mistake?  First, stop being connedservative and realize that few people have pondered equality deeply and that, of those who have, few actually believe in it.

Eternal Darkness of the Leftist Mind.  From kindergartners to adults, allowing men into women restrooms has led to numerous sexual assaults.  Why do Perry and his fellow leftists ignore this commonsense reality?  What kind of bizarre thinking causes leftists to conclude that accommodating a handful of disturbed men trumps protecting little girls and women?  Meanwhile, leftists claim to be our superiors in regard to advocating for and protecting women.

Should Grieving Families Be Forced to Deal With a Cross-Dressing Funeral Home Employee?  May I ask a simple question:  What is the legal definition of "sex"?  And no, I'm not asking about the verb, but about what it means to be a man or a woman, a boy or a girl.  Until very recently, to ask the question was to answer it.  Living things reproduce after their own kind, after all, and a brief primer on the birds and the bees would have cleared up any confusion.  That was certainly the understanding of the U.S. legislators who passed Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, and sex.

25 Reasons I'm Not a Democrat.  [#9] There are two genders and you can't change the one you are born with no matter how many surgeries, hormones, and weird pronouns that you apply to yourself.  Also, those genders should use different bathrooms and shouldn't be competing against each other in athletic endeavors.

Obama's Social Experiments Are Wreaking Havoc on America Today.  [Example #2]  Transgender ideology:  In 2016, Obama's Department of Justice (DOJ) redefined the Civil Rights Act of 1964, arguing that North Carolina's House Bill 2 engaged in illegal sex discrimination against transgender people.  The bill merely stipulated that school restrooms and locker rooms that are not single-occupancy must be single-sex, and that students can only use the facility that matches their biological sex on their birth certificate.  The DOJ's move here (and with a similar change in 2014) was monumental.  The Obama administration redefined "sex" — which has always referred to a human being's biological sex as male or female — to include "gender identity," a much more amorphous concept that could not have been further from the minds of Congress when it passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  With the stroke of a pen, the Obama administration made transgender ideology the law of the land, undermining North Carolina's state law and emboldening transgender activists to push their agenda even harder.

Christian Baker [is the] Victim of Sexual Activists — Again!.  The day of persecution is upon us.  We need only look to brave, beleaguered baker Jack Phillips to see this.  You probably already know his name.  The U.S. Supreme Court vindicated him earlier this summer in his struggle against the Colorado Civil Rights Commission and a gay couple that sought to force him to bake a cake celebrating their same-sex union.  But despite the Court's ruling that Colorado's handling of the case had demonstrated blatant hostility toward Jack's religious beliefs in violation of the First Amendment, Jack continues to face hateful attacks from sexual activists and a state bureaucracy bent upon serving their cause.

The Compulsory Society.  Vox may still be keeping up its risible just-the-facts posturing, but it is tendentious to the point of dishonesty:  "Colorado baker who refused to serve gay couple now wants to refuse to serve transgender person," it says.  That is not true, of course.  (But everybody knows that.)  Phillips serves customers of all sorts, including homosexual customers.  What he declines to do is to make cakes for certain events, participation in which, even as a vendor, would violate his conscience.  As he put it:  "I serve everybody.  It's just that I don't create cakes for every occasion."  Phillips has been prosecuted under a civil-rights law, but this is not really a case about civil rights:  It is a case about compulsion.

'Bake the cake or else' is back.  Liberals and gay activists remain obsessed with forcing Christians to bake their cakes.  And the answer, in the name of individual, religious and even gay civil rights, must still be no.  If you doubt the intensity of the left's fixation on punishing people of faith, I submit to you the Colorado's so-called Civil Rights Commission.  Despite Masterpiece Cakeshop winning a 7-2 U.S. Supreme Court victory condemning the state for punishing Jack Phillips for his religious beliefs, they're going after him again.  This time, the set-up involves a request for a variety of cakes that would violate his religious belief, including a cake celebrating a gender transition.

Christian Baker Jack Phillips [is] In the Crosshairs Again.  You would think winning a case in front of the U.S. Supreme Court would be enough, but unfortunately for Christian baker Jack Phillips, it wasn't.  He is under attack again by the State of Colorado for holding to his sincerely held religious beliefs.  This time the government is attacking Jack because he politely refused to design a cake requested by an attorney who said he was celebrating his "gender transition."  Despite the fact the Supreme Court just ruled 7-2 in Jack's favor (Masterpiece) and condemned Colorado's attempt to punish Jack for his beliefs in traditional marriage, the Colorado government has doubled down and taken new action to punish Jack for his belief that God created us male and female.

Colorado goes after Masterpiece Cakeshop again — this time over "gender transition" cake.  When Masterpiece Cakeshop won its case on June 4, 2018, in the U.S. Supreme Court over refusal to bake a cake celebrating a gay wedding, many people assumed it was a win for religious freedom and free speech (the right not to have government compel your speech). The cake shop did not refuse to sell cakes to gays, it simply didn't want to prepare a custom cake with a specific message on it which it believed was contrary to the owner's religious beliefs.  But as we covered at the time, the Supreme Court decision was tailored to bias against the cake shop in the Colorado administrative process.

Christian Baker Again Under Fire for Refusing Transgender Cake Despite Supreme Court Win.  In June, the Supreme Court decided the case Masterpiece Cakeshop v.  Colorado Civil Rights Commission, issuing a powerful rebuke to the Colorado Civil Rights Commission for its "religious hostility" toward Christian baker Jack Phillips.  Phillips had refused to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding, and the commission had compared his decision to religious arguments in favor of the Ku Klux Klan and Nazism.  Now, the commission is again going after Phillips for declining to create a custom cake — this time a cake celebrating transgenderism.  On Tuesday night [8/14/2018], Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the Christian law firm that represented Phillips before the Supreme Court and helped him gain an important 7-2 victory, filed a federal lawsuit against the commission to forestall action against Phillips.  "The state of Colorado is ignoring the message of the U.S. Supreme Court by continuing to single out Jack for punishment and to exhibit hostility toward his religious beliefs," ADF Senior Vice President of U.S. Legal Division Kristen Waggoner declared in a statement.

Colorado Is Going After Jack Phillips Of Masterpiece Cakeshop Again.  Jack Phillips, the Christian baker who prevailed at the U.S. Supreme Court after declining to create a custom wedding cake for a gay couple, filed a lawsuit in federal court late Tuesday [8/14/2018] suing the Colorado Civil Rights Commission.  Phillips and his attorneys at the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) say the Commission has revived its campaign against him following June's high court decision, singling Masterpiece Cakeshop out for disparate treatment on the basis of their religious beliefs.

Another locker room 'encounter' for Planet Fitness.  The motto at Planet Fitness is "The Judgement Free Zone" — but its liberal stance is close to landing the business in court after a woman who calls herself "Mrs. H" was kicked off the rolls because she complained that a man was in her locker room.  In an interview with OneNewsNow, Mrs. H explained what happened at the Leesburg, Florida, outlet: [...]

Oregon High Schools to Mix Genders in Showers and Bathrooms in New Transgender Ruling.  A U.S. District Court Judge in Oregon recently ruled that boys must be allowed to use the girls locker room, showers and bathrooms, and vice versa in public schools throughout the state.  According to Judge Marco Hernandez, for children to "see or be seen by someone of the opposite biological sex while either are undressing or performing bodily functions in a restroom, shower, or locker room does not give rise to a constitutional violation."  Perhaps not, but it does violate normal standards of decency.  The Judge offered an alternative to parents who disagreed with the policy, telling them to send their kids to private school, according to WND.  That way, not only do they get to have their conservative beliefs trampled on, but they also get to pay taxes to support the public school trampling on their conservative beliefs, and private school tuition.

Study Confirms:  Target's Bathroom Policy is Dangerous.  File this under "Who didn't see this coming?" According to a new study by Woman Means Something, reported sexual offenses have spiked since Target announced their "gender inclusive" policy of giving men access to women's and girls' bathrooms and changing rooms[.] [...] The Woman Means Something study looked at Target's new bathroom policy which began in April 2016 and allowed men who said they were women to use the women's restrooms (and vice versa) then compared that to media reported sexual offenses.  The actual count of incidents could be higher due to the media not covering it.

Gender-Inclusion Policies and Sexual Violence:  A Longitudinal Analysis of Media Reports at Target Stores.  While media-loss remains a limitation in the analysis, the present study supports the theory that sex predators may take opportunities afforded by gender-inclusion policies to perpetrate sexual violence against women in public spaces.  No other theory seems to account for the significant and precisely-timed increase seen in the Target reports.  Further study would be helpful to compare police reports to media-reported crime and to geographically match Target with similar stores to investigate whether sexual offenses have increased elsewhere.

7 Reasons Why the Transgender Revolution Will Fail.  [#5] The transgender revolution is dangerous.  When you insist that a biological male who identifies as a female has the "right" to use a women's bathroom, locker room, and dressing room, you are asking for trouble.  A headline from England stated, "Transgender prisoner who was put in a female jail despite not having sex-change surgery 'sexually assaulted four women inmates before being moved to a male prison'."  So, a biological male with male organs intact (and obviously, still attracted to women) was put in a women's prison.  Should we be surprised by what happened?  In the States, Planet Fitness sided against a female, former sexual assault victim who protested against the presence of a man (identified here as "Mr. Rice") in the locker room.  As explained in the case being brought by Liberty Counsel, "This is not the only incident with Mr. Rice known to Planet Fitness.  Another woman reported that he exposed his naked body to her in the women's locker room at this location.  In another instance, he was involved in an argument with another woman over use of the tanning room.  Misogynist, anti-woman harassment should have no place in Planet Fitness locations, and violates Florida law."

California town official faces calls for resignation after proclaiming July 'straight pride' month.  A California vice-mayor's declaration that July should be "straight pride" month has resulted in calls for his resignation or recall and threats of a demonstration at the next city council meeting.  Ted Hickman, the vice mayor of Dixon, California, noted in his "That's Life" column in Dixon's Independent Voice at the end of June that "last Sunday ended LGBTQF-WTF month ... with tens of thousands of folks dancing and prancing all over American celebrating the fact they are different than most of the rest of us and showing their 'pride' in being so."

It's Dangerous to Disagree in America.  Private citizens are a soft target.  Papa John's Pizza founder and CEO John Schnatter was forced out of his own company for making an innocuous statement during a call with analysts about the NFL kneelers hurting their sales.  Exemplary Google employee James Damore made one politically incorrect statement and was thrown out on his ear.  Apple's diversity chief, a black woman, thought she could praise the importance of diverse viewpoints instead of diversity based on race — and found herself the target of outrage and controversy that led to her termination. [...] The threat of losing your job extends beyond your behavior at work.  If you express right of center opinions outside of work, progressive activists can get you fired, as happened to Dr. Frank Turek.  He lost jobs with Cisco and Bank of America for writing a book in defense of traditional marriage.  A homosexual manager didn't like Turek's beliefs, and that was that.

AAPS News July 2016 — Discrimination.  [Scroll down]  The issue is not bathrooms, but metaphysics, writes Robert Reilly.  Attorney General Loretta Lynch told a group of transgendered people that "you are still wondering how you can possibly live the lives you were born to lead."  But the way they were born is precisely what they are trying to change, he notes.  The prominence of the bathroom issue makes no sense if we do not understand the underlying "denial of nature and the substitution of pure will as the means for unshackling us from what we are."

Washington state florist:  My life has been turned upside down because of my religious beliefs.  We each have our beliefs, and we want to live our lives in ways that reflect them.  We care about finding work that not only provides a good living, but also gives us a sense of joy.  We want to love what we do.  Five years ago, I felt like I had all of that.  But because I tried to do my work as an artist in ways that honored my religious beliefs, my home state of Washington turned my life upside down.  Since then, my state has been prosecuting me because I declined, for religious reasons, one request to celebrate one event for one gay customer — a friend of mine named Rob, whom I'd been delighted to serve for nearly a decade.

Leftist Justices Don't Like the Law.  The left doesn't like the rule of law much.  If they legally lose an election, they take to the streets as if some injustice had been done to them.  If we enforce our border laws, they become hysterical and try to intimidate and bully public officials.  If they can't get a law passed by constitutional means, they are perfectly happy to use regulation to exert extra-legal control over the citizenry.  All of which is bad enough in leftist media, leftist mobs and leftist officials.  But in leftist Supreme Court justices, it's even worse.  In an interview on my podcast this week, constitutional law attorney Jenna Ellis — the director of public policy at the James Dobson Family Institute — put several recent Supreme Court decisions in context as "compelled speech cases."  Whether it was allowing a Christian cake designer to refuse to use his art to celebrate gay marriage in Masterpiece Cakeshop, preventing the state of California from forcing abortion advertising on anti-abortion pregnancy centers in NIFLA v Becerra, or allowing public employees to work without funding leftist unions in Janus, the court, Ellis explained, has declared "the government cannot compel you as an individual to participate in or subsidize speech that you fundamentally disagree with."

Not I, said the discriminatory Red Hen.  When Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson decided to persecute Baronelle Stutzman, owner of Arlene's Flowers, he said, "If Ms. Stutzman sells flowers to heterosexual couples, she must sell them to same-sex couples."  Stutzman did sell flowers to same-sex couples.  The plaintiffs were regular customers.  What she wouldn't do was participate in a wedding ceremony celebrating something she saw as a nonmarriage claiming to be a marriage.  The Supreme Court ordered Washington's Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling against Stutzman in the light of the Masterpiece Cakeshop ruling.  Similarly, Masterpiece Cakeshop didn't turn away gay customers.  It neither made nor practiced any no-cake-for-gays policy.  Instead, it refused to make specialty products celebrating a same-sex union.

We Will Not Worship the Colorado Civil Rights Commission.  A born-again Christian named Jack Phillips ran a bakery.  Aware of Phillips' heartfelt religious beliefs, a gay couple demanded that he violate those beliefs by designing and creating an artistic cake to celebrate their marriage.  This was even before Colorado had legalized gay marriage.  Phillips politely told the couple that they were welcome in his bakery and that he would be happy to sell them anything off-the-shelf.  But he could not violate his faith.  He even offered to find them an alternative bakery for their cake (which is easy).  But the couple weren't satisfied.  They didn't really come to Phillips for a cake; they came for his scalp.

Oregon Forced Us to Close Our Cake Shop.  Here's What the Masterpiece Decision Means for Us.  We are thrilled for our friend, Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop who recently won his case at the Supreme Court.  Like Jack, we know what it is like to be treated unfairly by a state agency and mocked, threatened, and abused by critics.  We can only imagine the relief Jack is experiencing.  At the same time, we wonder what the future holds for our case, our lost business, and our family.  Ours may be, as Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote, the case that allows "further elaboration in the courts."  And we are encouraged to know that seven justices of the Supreme Court agree that a state's hostility to the religious beliefs of its citizens will not be tolerated under the First Amendment.

Students blast Supreme Court ruling on gay wedding cake.  Students at George Washington University were quick to denounce the recent Supreme Court decision ruling that a Christian baker is not obliged to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple, but struggled to apply the same principle in other contexts.  What would they say if the case were about a black baker being asked to cater a KKK rally, or a Jewish baker being asked to provide a cake for a Palestinian wedding?  [Video clip]

Colorado baker slammed with hostile reviews, protests after Supreme Court victory.  Colorado baker Jack Phillips received a standing ovation Saturday at the Western Conservative Summit, which came as a change of pace after a week of protests and negative reviews following his Supreme Court victory.  Since the high court ruled Monday in his favor, the owner of the Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood has been faced with protesters and a deluge of one-star reviews on Yelp, but he's not complaining.

CrossFit fires employee who supported Indiana gym's decision to cancel LGBTQ event, calling pride celebration 'a sin'.  CrossFit fired an employee Wednesday after he posted a series of tweets supporting a now-closed Indiana gym for canceling an LGBT pride workout, calling the idea for the event "a sin."  Russell Berger, who was described by CrossFit as a legal researcher, posted the since-deleted tweets thanking CrossFit Infiltrate "for standing by [their] convictions and refusing to celebrate sin by hosting an @IndyPride workout, FOX 59 reported.

CrossFit fires a high-level executive after he posted series of tweets saying that he believes celebrating LGBT pride is a 'sin'.  A high-level CrossFit executive has been fired for saying that celebrating LGBT pride is a 'sin'.  Russell Berger, who worked as CrossFit's chief knowledge officer, was terminated by the company on Wednesday [6/6/2018] over a stream of now-deleted tweets.  Berger, of Huntsville, Alabama, posted the comments as he tried to defend the owner of an Indianapolis CrossFit gym who canceled a special workout in honor of Pride Month.  'As someone who personally believes celebrating 'pride' is a sin, I'd like to personally encourage #CrossFitInfiltrate for standing by their convictions and refusing to host an @indypride workout.  The intolerance of the LGBTQ ideology toward any alternative views is mind-blowing,' Berger tweeted.

Supreme Court sides with Colorado baker who refused to make wedding cake for same-sex couple.  The Supreme Court ruled Monday [6/4/2018] in favor of a Colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, in one of the most closely watched cases of the term.  In a 7-2 decision, the justices set aside a Colorado court ruling against the baker — while stopping short of deciding the broader issue of whether a business can refuse to serve gay and lesbian people.  The opinion was penned by Justice Anthony Kennedy, who is often the swing justice in tight cases.

Supreme Court rules narrowly for Colorado baker who wouldn't make same-sex wedding cake.  The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday [6/4/2018] handed a victory on narrow grounds to a Colorado Christian baker who refused for religious reasons to make a wedding cake for a gay couple, stopping short of setting a major precedent allowing people to claim exemptions from anti-discrimination laws based on religious beliefs.  The justices, in a 7-2 decision, said the Colorado Civil Rights Commission showed an impermissible hostility toward religion when it found that baker Jack Phillips violated the state's anti-discrimination law by rebuffing gay couple David Mullins and Charlie Craig in 2012.  The state law bars businesses from refusing service based on race, sex, marital status or sexual orientation.

Nancy Pelosi Releases Statement on SCOTUS Gay Cake Ruling:  Christians Should Bake Gay Cakes.  On Monday [6/4/2018] the Supreme Court ruled in a 7-2 vote in favor of Christian baker Jack Phillips.  The Supremes ruled Phillips had the right to refuse to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple. [...] Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi weighed in on the decision on Monday [6/4/2018].  Pelosi says Masterpiece Cakeshop needs to bake the [...] cake.

U.S. Supreme Court backs Christian baker who rebuffed gay couple.  The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory on narrow grounds to a Colorado baker who refused based on his Christian beliefs to make a wedding cake for a gay couple, stopping short of setting a major precedent allowing people to claim religious exemptions from anti-discrimination laws.

Supreme Court Decision On Rights Was Correct, But Half-Baked.  The 7-to-2 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in favor of a Christian baker who refused to make a custom wedding cake for a same-sex wedding ceremony was a minor victory for religious rights, freedom of speech and freedom of commerce.  But it didn't go far enough.

A closer look at SCOTUS's gay cake decision.  The Supreme Court decided 7-2 that cake-maker Jack Phillips apparently did not have to make a cake for a homosexual ceremony.  I say "apparently" because the court's reasoning was convoluted.  Instead of saying outright that custom cake-makers don't have an obligation to produce custom made cakes for homosexual cermonies, the court simply said the local human rights commission didn't consider his right to follow his religious belief when he refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.

The Vindictive Gay Couple In The Masterpiece Cakeshop Case Richly Deserved To Lose.  Today [6/4/2018] the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Jack Phillips, the Colorado baker who refused to make a cake for a gay wedding.  I wish I could say the ruling was a huge win for the First Amendment.  All I can say is that it was not necessarily a loss for the First Amendment.  A win would have been a decision affirming an individual's right to operate his business, and create art, in accordance with his sincerely held religious beliefs.

Why Did Elena Kagan Vote for the Masterpiece Cakeshop Supreme Court Ruling?  Observers of Monday's Supreme Court ruling in favor of a Colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple in 2012 may have been surprised to find that two of the court's liberal justices, Elena Kagan and Stephen Breyer, joined with the conservative majority for the opinion.  But a legal expert told Newsweek this was the result of the very specific nature of this case.  "The reason and motive for the baker's refusal were based on his sincere religious beliefs and convictions," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion.  Justices Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Sonia Sotomayor dissented while Breyer and Kagan, considered to be liberal-leaning, joined the more conservative justices in a majority ruling.

Nancy Pelosi on Supreme Court Ruling:  Bake That Cake, Christians!.  Would-be Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) slammed Monday's 7-2 Supreme Court ruling in the Masterpiece Bakeshop case, attacking "discriminatory practices behind the guise of religious liberty."  The Court found in favor of a Colorado baker who was sued when he declined to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex marriage because of his Christian beliefs.  The baker asserted his religious liberty under the First Amendment.  The decision avoided ruling on the broader question of whether religious liberty trumps non-discrimination on the basis of sexuality, and held only that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission had not given the baker a fair hearing.

Ruling reveals left's bias.  The Supreme Court's ruling in Masterpiece Cakeshop v.  Colorado Civil Rights Commission has predictably caused those on all sides to man their battle stations.  Some celebrate a victory for religious freedom while others lament a step back for LGBT rights.  At the end of the day, though, the Supreme Court ruled that there is no right to discriminate based on the identity of the customers.  It basically determined the Colorado Civil Rights Commission was biased against the bakery because of the bakery's religious views.

In Cake Case, SCOTUS Basically Shows States How to Get Around the Ruling.  As a right-leaning person, I don't blame conservatives for cheering reports that the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in favor (sort of, as I'll address) of Masterpiece Cakeshop.  I thought the decision could have gone 5-4 in either direction, so a ruling this decisive surprised me.  In the case, the side of the baker argued that a person shouldn't have to participate in a ceremony (e.g. a wedding for two gay men) that his or her religion condemns.  The baker did not want to provide a wedding cake for a same-sex marriage because doing so would mean he was using his artistic talents to participate in a ceremony against his religious beliefs.  When the Supreme Court accepted the case, many on both the Left and the Right thought it could lead to a decision about the First Amendment and religious freedom.  The final decision, however, advanced neither.

Food Network's Sandra Lee Argues that Christians should be Second Class Citizens.  Sandra Lee, Food Network star and live-in girlfriend of New York Governor Chris Cuomo used to social media to declare her displeasure with the 7-2 Supreme Court ruling on the controversial Masterpiece Cakeshop v.  Colorado Civil Rights Commission decision.  Her support for same-sex marriage is curious since she's not married to the man she's living with.  I've always said that liberal support for same-sex sexuality is used to justify other immoral and socially denigrating sexual relationships

Legal Fight Continues for Farmer Banned from Market Over Objecting to Gay Weddings at His Orchard.  Once again, the subject of religious freedom is in the news.  This time, it's because a Catholic farmer in Michigan has been prohibited from participating in the East Lansing farmers market.  When Stephen Tennes was asked to host a lesbian wedding in his orchard at Country Mills Farms, he declined, stating on Facebook that it is his "Catholic belief that marriage is a sacramental union between one man and one woman."  Now Mr. Tennes claims he had been selling fruit at the local farmers market for the six years leading up to the wedding request.  But when his Facebook post came to the attention of East Lansing city officials, they asked him not to return for the 2017 season.  The city explained in a statement that Tennes was in violation of a "long-standing ordinance that protects sexual orientation as well as the Supreme Court's ruling that grants the right for same-sex couples to be married."

School Board Fights To Preserve Bathroom Policy After Judge OKs Trans Student's Lawsuit.  A Virginia public school district will pursue an appeal after a federal judge ruled that a transgender student can challenge the district's bathroom access policies under federal civil rights law and the Constitution.  The Gloucester County Public Schools asked U.S. District Court Judge Arenda Wright Allen to allow their appeal on Friday [6/1/2018].

LGBT Alarm as President Trump Signs 'Religious Liberty' Executive Order.  In a Thursday morning Rose Garden ceremony marking the National Day of Prayer, President Trump signed an executive order creating a new "faith initiative" that will be tasked with working on "religious liberty" issues across federal agencies.  "As president, I will always protect religious liberty," Trump said in his remarks.  The order — first reported Wednesday night by Religion News Service — will "help ensure that faith-based organizations have equal access to government funding and equal right to exercise their deeply held beliefs," Trump said.

Judge: You Have To Bake That Cake, But Not Serve A Beer To Someone In A MAGA Hat.  A strange story out of Philadelphia which has been brewing since shortly after President Trump was inaugurated and has now culminated in a court decision. [...] Considering all of the activities which the courts believe they can force business owners to participate in (or the customers they must serve) this no doubt sounds like something of a discontinuity to some of you.  But unfortunately for Greg, the judge is probably right.  In terms of who you can deny service to, the Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination in any privately owned "places of public accommodation" (which includes bars and restaurants), but only on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin.  These are considered "protected groups" who can't be denied service on that basis.There is no assured protection against denial of service based on political beliefs.

They Keep Telling Us Who They Are.  The California legislature is processing a bill to ban and criminalize all speech, all writing, that goes against "LGBTQ priorities".  Assembly Bill 2943, which has already sailed through two committees, would criminalize "efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions."  It seems to be aimed at practicing psychologists, psychiatrists, or counselors whose clients ask them to help them get rid of unwanted sexual attractions; but the bill is so vaguely written that it could be used against virtually anybody — commentators who dissent from the agenda of Organized Sodomy, parents who teach their children that there are only two "genders," and Biblically orthodox churches where homosexual acting-out is presented as a sin.

Rev. Graham to Trump:  Please Help Army Chaplain Being Persecuted by LGBT Enforcers.  Evangelical Christian Rev. Franklin Graham called upon President Donald Trump "to do something about" an Army chaplain, who is a Baptist, and who faces "serious punishment" because he refused to allow a lesbian couple to partisipate in one of his marriage retreats.  "Mr. President, I hope you will be able to do something about this," said Rev. Graham in an April 18 post on Facebook.  "You are the commander in chief of the U.S. Armed Forces."  "Army Chaplain Scott Squires is being punished for doing his job," said Graham.  "He's facing serious punishment for explaining to a soldier that he couldn't conduct a marriage retreat that would include same-sex couples — because of his belief in the biblical definition of marriage."

Anchorage: Still OK For Anyone To Use Any Bathroom They Feel Good In.  Voters in Alaska's capital city have settled — for the moment anyway — who can use which public bathroom.  The answer:  Anyone can use whichever one they feel most comfortable in.

Anchorage voters first in the nation to reject bathroom bill.  Voters in Alaska's largest city are on track to becoming the first in the U.S. to defeat a so-called bathroom bill in a referendum that asked them to require people using public bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender at birth.  The initiative asked Anchorage's voters to repeal an ordinance passed in 2015 that prevented discrimination based on sexual orientation and added a clause that would have prevented transgender people from using bathrooms and locker rooms corresponding to their gender identities.  Voting by mail and in person ended on April 3 and the repeal effort was losing 53-47 percent as of Monday [4/9/2018], with nearly 78,000 votes counted and only several hundred to be counted when tallying ends on Friday.  Supporters of the referendum have conceded defeat and opponents are claiming victory.

Let's flush the culture wars.  The North Carolina bathroom brouhaha is a classic case study, almost a solution in search of a problem.  It began in 2016 when Charlotte's city council passed an ordinance adding transgender people to the list of those who cannot be discriminated against.  Alarmed about the precedent this might set in other North Carolina cities and what it meant for bathrooms in the public schools and other facilities, conservatives sought redress in the state legislature, which enacted a statute specifically assigning boys and girls (and men and women) in the Tar Heel State to the bathroom corresponding to the gender on their birth certificate.  This legislative victory proved short-lived.  It prompted a broad boycott from out-of-state interests and individuals, ranging from the National Basketball Association, which pulled its all-star game from Charlotte, and Bruce Springsteen, who canceled a concert.

Perv Exposes Himself to Little Girl in Target Restroom in Chicago.  According to Chicago police, a mother entered the bathroom with her young daughter.  A man, insisting that he needed to use the restroom too, went into the women's room soon afterward.  The sicko pushed into the stall where the little girl was, exposed his genitals, used the facility, and then fled the scene, police said.  He was able to do this because of Target's "inclusive" policy of allowing biological men to enter the women's restroom if they self-identify as a woman, and vice versa.

Man Exposes Himself to Girl in Target Restroom.  Remember a couple of years ago how the left overflowed with rage when conservatives wanted to keep men in men's potties, women in women's potties?  The newest forefront in civil rights in 2016 was where one did their number twos.  I called it "the flush heard round the world."  Anyway, those of us who wanted to keep bathroom assignments the way they were, got called bigoted jackasses and the like, for daring to suggest some creepy guys might peep on little girls.  Because some creepy guys like peeping on little girls.  That was then.  Last week a creepy guy burst into a women's restroom in Target, and whipped out his mini-me for a little show and tell.  To a little girl.

How much more bad PR can you stand, Target?  Yet another dangerous I-told-you-so moment has occurred in another Target store, this time in Chicago.  Police say a man exposed himself to a little girl in the women's restroom on March 31, when he entered a stall and told her to leave.  A spokesman for Target said the man, who has not been identified, was intoxicated.  Target's corporate headquarters has been in a two-year battle with the Mississippi-based American Family Association after Target publicized its "inclusive" pro-transgender policy that allows men who identify as women to use the women-only facilities in stores.

Scammed by a Black, a Woman, and Now a 17-Year-Old.  The tactic is called incrementalism. [...] Incrementally, we went from leftists claiming that homosexuals wanted only tolerance to preachers being jailed, Christians forced out of business, and public schools teaching kids to try homosexuality.  Parents are not allowed to opt out their children from LGBT indoctrination.

On Easter Sunday, here's why Christians are giving thanks that Obama's out of the White House.  The Obama Department of Education used a progressive interpretation of Title IX to justify its attempt to coerce public schools into adopting radical transgender policies, including requiring them to allow men into female restrooms and locker rooms.

Who Would Demand Someone Bake a Cake, Anyway?  The Supreme Court is now considering the infamous gay wedding cake case.  A gay couple sought out a certain baker to bake a cake for their wedding, knowing the baker in question is a Christian.  He politely refused service, saying he couldn't give sanction to a practice that is against his faith.  Now the case is before the highest court in the land, and the controversy surrounding it hasn't died down in the least.  The case is about religious liberty, and liberty in general:  people have the right to not participate in something that opposes their faith.  But to people like Salon writer Nick Lingerfelt, who likely wouldn't appreciate being forced to write a column praising Jesus, it's discrimination.

Student Kicked Out of Class for Saying There Are Only Two Genders.  A religious studies major was barred from Christianity class at Indiana University of Pennsylvania for saying during class that there are only two genders.  Lake Ingle, a senior at the university, said he was silenced and punished by IUP Professor Alison Downie for questioning her during a Feb. 28 "Christianity 481: Self, Sin, and Salvation" lecture.  After showing a 15-minute TED Talk by transgender ex-pastor Paula Stone Williams discussing the "reality" of "mansplaining," "sexism from men," and "male privilege," the professor asked the women in the class to share their thoughts.  When no women in the class said anything, Ingle spoke up, challenging the professor on biology and the gender wage gap.  He told the class that the official view of biologists is that there are only two genders.

Department Of Education:  We're Done Being Involved With Transgender Students And Bathrooms.  The Department of Education has decided it will not investigate or interfere if transgender students complain they are barred from bathrooms that match their chosen gender, according to Buzzfeed News.  On Thursday [2/8/2018], Buzzfeed asked Liz Hill, a spokesperson for the Department of Education, if restroom complaints from transgender students are not covered by a 1972 federal civil rights law called Title IX.  Hill answered, "Yes, that's what the law says," adding on Friday, "Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, not gender identity."  Hill made it clear that some complaints by transgenders students will indeed be investigated, but bathroom complaints will not be among them.

Walgreens succumbs to tranny restroom tyranny.  The Walgreens drug-store chain is going the route of Target, allowing men into women's restrooms, under the pretext of being "transgenders" — a psychological fantasy with no basis in biology.

Jimmy Kimmel Compares Christian Baker Not Participating In Same-Sex Wedding to Anti-Semitism.  Late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel responded to a court ruling last week in favor of a Christian baker not being forced to participate in a same-sex wedding by likening it to refusing to serve Jewish people.  Last Wednesday, a California judge held that Cathy Miller, owner of Tastries Bakery in Bakersfield, has a First Amendment right not to create a wedding cake for the same-sex ceremony, the Associated Press reported.

Judge Rules Bakeshop Owner Doesn't Have To Bake Wedding Cake For Gay Couple.  A California judge ruled Monday [2/5/2018] the state couldn't force a cake shop owner to bake a cake for a gay couple's wedding, ruling that doing so would constitute a violation of free speech.  Superior Court Judge David Lampe denied the State of California's request for a preliminary injunction that sought to force bakeshop owner Cathy Miller to design a wedding cake for a gay couple.  "For this court to force such compliance would do violence to the essentials of Free Speech guaranteed under the First Amendment," Lampe ruled, according to a press release sent to The Daily Caller News Foundation.  The injunction also posited that if Miller refused to design the cake, the state would force her to close her Tastries Bakery shop altogether.

Walgreens will now let customers use bathrooms based on gender identity.  Walgreens has decided to change its bathroom policies following an incident at one of their Los Angeles locations — in which a woman was denied access to the ladies room because she "looked like a man."  The drugstore chain will now allow customers to "use restroom facilities that correspond to the individual's gender identity, regardless of the individual's sex assigned at birth," according to officials.  The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California announced the policy change in a statement on Monday [2/5/2018].  "Everyone needs safe restroom access, and California law protects every person's right to access restrooms based on their gender identity in workplaces, schools, and business establishments," explained ACLU SoCal Staff Attorney Amanda Goad.

Judge Rules Bakeshop Owner Doesn't Have To Bake Wedding Cake For Gay Couple.  A California judge ruled Monday the state couldn't force a cake shop owner to bake a cake for a gay couple's wedding, ruling that doing so would constitute a violation of free speech.  Superior Court Judge David Lampe denied the State of California's request for a preliminary injunction that sought to force bakeshop owner Cathy Miller to design a wedding cake for a gay couple.  "For this court to force such compliance would do violence to the essentials of Free Speech guaranteed under the First Amendment," Lampe ruled, according to a press release sent to The Daily Caller News Foundation.  The injunction also posited that if Miller refused to design the cake, the state would force her to close her Tastries Bakery shop altogether.

Transgender Mafia Puts Disabled Vet on Unemployment.  Will Caligan, a Desert Shield and Desert Storm veteran suffering Gulf War Syndrome, is out of a job.  What caused him to lose it is one more weight on the scale that is tipping America toward total insanity.  Caligan is a talented comics artist who contracted with Short Fuse Media Group to produce comic books.  If you have followed any of my investigations into #Comicsgate you would know that the comics industry has been completely taken over by rabid alt-left types who spent their days devising ways to destroy beloved characters by "diversifying" them into an approved SJW mold.  Caligan, a conservative Christian, had little chance of survival in that environment.  One hint of wrongthink could spell curtains for any artist, writer or producer in today's comics climate.

HHS Unveils Conscience and Religious Freedom Division: 'We're Open for Business'.  For eight years, the Barack Obama administration's Health and Human Services (HHS) tried to force nuns and others of faith to act against their moral convictions by complying with mandates put forth in the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, including contraceptives, abortion, and assisted suicide.  But on Thursday [1/18/2018], the agency announced a new division in its Office of Civil Rights (OCR) established to protect Americans from discrimination based on their religious beliefs.  Roger Severino, director of HHS's OCR, announced the new conscience and religious freedom division and spoke about how the development was set in motion by an executive order issued by President Donald Trump.

HHS launches office to enforce religious-freedom laws.  The Trump administration launched a division at the Health and Human Services Department on Thursday to protect doctors and medical providers who object to participating in abortions and assisted suicide on religious or moral grounds.  Officials said the division, part of the HHS' Office of Civil Rights, will stand ready to assist health care workers who say they're being coerced into participating in procedures that violate their beliefs.  Democrats strenuously objected, saying it will restrict health care access to women or transgender patients.

The Editor says...
Whaaaat?  [T]hey're being coerced into participating in procedures that violate their beliefs."  Like baking a cake for a homosexual wedding?

Iowa lawsuit pits gay rights against religious freedom.  The case pits a university policy barring discrimination based on sexual orientation against the religious beliefs of a 10-member group called Business Leaders in Christ.

Supreme Court's Refusal To Hear Two "Discrimination" Cases Means WIN For Religious Freedom.  In April 2016, Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant signed HB 1523.  The law, known as the Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act officially protects religious and moral convictions within the state from action by the government.  The convictions specific to the bill regard the definition of marriage, sexual relations within a marriage, and "an individual's immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy and genetics at time of birth." [...] Naturally, this law does not mean members of the LGBT community are barred from buying a cake, scheduling a photographer, booking a clergyman for their wedding, getting a marriage license, or using a spa.  What it does mean is that should one of the above-mentioned individuals have a religious or moral conviction that prevents them from providing services to an interested party, they will be free to live by their convictions and will not face government interference.

Gay Cakes Are Not a Constitutional Right.  One wonders what would have happened if the Sweet Cakes by Melissa case involved not the owners refusing to be coerced to violate their religious conscience by providing a cake not to two same-sex people celebrating their union and calling it a marriage, but rather a Muslim bakery being forced to bake a cake decorated with a cartoon picture of the prophet Muhammad covered with bacon sprinkles.  Would the bakery in that scenario be forced to pay a heavy business-killing fine for actually believing that the Founding Fathers meant freedom of religion when they enshrined it in the First Amendment?  Probably not, even if the ruling was made by a liberal Oregon judge who forget that this country was founded by people fleeing religious persecution and governmental war on their religious conscience.

Line Drawing in the Masterpiece Cakeshop Case.  During the Masterpiece Cakeshop oral arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday [12/5/2017], the two attorneys opposing cake artist Jack Phillips argued that the justices should not protect Phillips's freedom to abstain from creating expression he disagrees with.  Their primary argument was that, in their opinion, it is too difficult to draw lines protecting people's First Amendment right against compelled speech, so the high court should not protect Jack's rights.  But the correct answer cannot be "it is too difficult to draw a line, so no line will be drawn." That would mean the government could force businesses to create messages, including words and symbols, that they oppose.  The Supreme Court has never ruled that way.  Both attorneys arguing against Phillips admit that their theories would empower governments to compel their citizens to speak unwanted messages.

Masterpiece Cakeshop: The Slope Is, in Fact, Slippery.  [Scroll down]  The rhetoric of the time was often heated and at times indefensible.  But no one, not the most wild-eyed critic of the principles underlying the civil-rights legislation of the 1960s, ever suggested that, if such laws were passed, they would lead to obscure Christian bakers' being forced at the point of government bayonets to produce cakes for the celebration of homosexual weddings. [...] Telling a black man that he may not work in your bank because he is black is in reality a very different thing from telling a gay couple that you'd be happy to sell them cupcakes or cookies or pecan pies but you do not bake cakes for same-sex weddings — however much the principle of the thing may seem superficially similar.  If the public sphere is infinite, then the private sphere does not exist, and neither does private life.  Having a bakery with doors open to the public does not make your business, contra Justice Harlan, an agent of the state.  A bakery is not the Commerce Department or the local public high school.

Court rules Oregon bakers who refused to make lesbian couple a wedding cake WILL have to pay them $135,000 in damages.  The owners of the since-closed Gresham bakery — Aaron and Melissa Klein — argued that state Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian violated state and federal laws by forcing them to pay emotional-distress damages of $135,000 to the lesbian couple Rachel and Laurel Bowman-Cryer.

Court decides for homosexuals in Oregon bakers case.  An appellate court Thursday [12/28/2017] upheld a penalty against Oregon bakery owners who refused to make a cake for a same-sex wedding almost five years ago.

A court upheld a $135,000 fine for bakery owners who refused to make a cake for a gay couple.  The Court of Appeals announced its decision Thursday to uphold a $135,000 fine issued to bakery owners who refused to make a cake for a lesbian couple, our affiliate KATU reported.  Melissa and Aaron Klein had refused to bake a cake for Rachel Bowman-Cryer and her wife, Laurel back in February 2013.  They ended up closing the store, Sweet Cakes by Melissa, several months later due to backlash, but continued the business from home with the help of online donations.  Melissa Klein ended her online business as well.

No, the government can't restrict employees' free, non-governmental speech.  In a major win for protecting individual freedom of speech against government infringement, a federal district court ruled Wednesday that government workers cannot be restricted from engaging in free speech during their personal time and that policies requiring government officials to "pre-clear" messages are unconstitutional.  The case is Cochran v.  City of Atlanta.  Kelvin Cochran, Atlanta's fire chief from 2010 to 2015, wrote a short Christian devotional book for men on his personal time while in office.  Originally published in 2013, the book is titled "Who Told You That You Were Naked?" referencing God's question to Adam in Genesis 3 and the fall of man.  In the book, Cochran writes orthodox Christian views on marriage and sex.

Why Masterpiece Cakeshop case could bring a major Supreme Court ruling on free expression.  The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Tuesday in a landmark case that could determine if the First Amendment to the Constitution will continue to protect the freedom of artists who wish to act in a manner consistent with their sincerely held beliefs.  The case before our nation's highest court is called Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission.  The organization that I lead, Alliance Defending Freedom, is representing the cake shop and its owner, cake artist Jack Phillips.  Phillips said he couldn't design a custom wedding cake for two men who requested it.  He declined because using his artistic talents to celebrate a same-sex marriage would violate his Christian faith and his artistic freedom.

Gay Wedding Cakes [are] Not a Constitutional Right.  One wonders if the case currently before the Supreme Court did not involve the owner of the Masterpiece Cakeshop refusing to be coerced to violate his religious conscience by providing a wedding cake for a gay wedding that celebrates gay marriage, but rather a Muslim bakery being forced to bake a cake decorated with a cartoon picture of the prophet Muhammed covered with bacon sprinkles.  Creative expression in any form is free speech which, along with freedom of religion, is supposedly protected in the First Amendment.  People should not be compelled to write or say things they do not believe or agree with, whether it be in the form of ink on paper or frosting on wedding cakes.

The Baker and the Empire.  Liberalism won the same-sex marriage battle.  Religious conservatism isn't going away.  We all have to find a way to live together.  That goal requires some compromise and magnanimity.  Here is an opportunity:  Please, for the sake of the country, leave the baker alone.

Change my mind that there are more than 2 genders.  As you've probably realized we are at a critical hinge point for the First Amendment.  If the Supreme Court rules that a baker must show respect for someone's sexual choices by jettisoning faith and engaging in coerced speech, it's not going to stop there.  The inevitable next step is to mandate that speech predicated on the idea that there are only two genders is an act of violence subject to criminal prosecution.  [Indeed], those laws are already in place in New York City and the whole state of California.

SCOTUS and Wedding Cakes:  Don't Celebrate Yet.  A few days' passing and thorough reading of the oral argument transcript for Masterpiece Cakeshop Ltd. v.  Colorado Civil Rights Commission leave me less optimistic than commentators such as Amy Howe at Scotusblog and David French at National Review.

The Case for the Baker in the Gay-Wedding Culture War.  [Scroll down]  Live and let live would have been a far better response.  The baker's religious convictions are not trivial or obviously in bad faith, which means to say he is not just suddenly citing them solely when it comes to catering to gays.  His fundamentalism makes him refuse to make even Halloween cakes, for Pete's sake.  More to the point, he has said he would provide any form of custom-designed cakes for gay couples — a birthday cake, for example — except for one designed for a specific celebration that he has religious objections to.  And those religious convictions cannot be dismissed as arbitrary (even if you find them absurd).  Opposition to same-sex marriage has been an uncontested pillar of every major world religion for aeons.

Ohio demands Christian parents provide gender reassignment for daughter.  In the state of Ohio, social workers are asking a court to side with a teenage girl who is asking for gender reassignment treatment at a hospital instead of the counseling desired by her parents.  Filed in Hamilton County Juvenile Court, the complaint is petitioning Judge Sylvia Hendon to order Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center to provide treatment for the girl against her parent's wishes.  Documents filed with the court indicate that the parents do not acknowledge their daughter's desire to transition to a male persona.  The parents are seeking counseling consonant with their Christian beliefs, while they have not approved of her change in appearance to resemble a male.

A piece of cake for the Supreme Court.  The Supreme Court on Tuesday [12/5/2017] heard oral arguments in a case about a cake artist in Colorado.  Jack Phillips is being persecuted for harboring private beliefs insufficiently enthusiastic about gay marriage.  Phillips made custom cakes to order and served any customer, regardless of race, religion, or sexual orientation.  But there were some things he wouldn't do.  One was to subscribe to the cause of same-sex marriage, to spread a message about that newfangled institution that he believed to be false.  He would not say gay marriage is equal to sacramental matrimony between a man and a woman.

Bake the cake:  Where's Congress in the war on religious liberty?  Congress must pass federal legislation barring any state or federal branch of government from punishing individuals who refuse to service with their private property acts that violate their conscience.  While the federal government has no right to concoct new rights for protected classes and impose it upon the states — as the Supreme Court did with gay marriage and the growing spectrum of abortion jurisprudence — the elected branch of the federal government has a sacred responsibility to protect the people against states that blatantly infringe on the most fundamental rights.  If a federal court can create a right to unregulated abortion clinics and funding for Planned Parenthood, and force them upon states, then Congress has the power to arrest states from infringing upon conscience and property rights.

Day one of oral arguments for Masterpiece Cakeshop.  [Scroll down]  Justice Roberts asked the attorney representing the Colorado Civil Rights Commission a hypothetical about whether Catholic Legal Services should be compelled to represent same-sex couples against their religious beliefs or if the legal group should be forced to close its doors.  The attorney skirted the question.  Justice Kennedy then rattled off sections from the record showing the commission's bias against Jack Phillips's sincerely held religious beliefs.  Then, in the most important moment of the argument, Justice Kennedy commented that Colorado has not been tolerant of Jack Phillips.  And there it is, the crux of the case:  tolerance.  Should a state be tolerant of its citizens' religious beliefs?  May it disallow certain beliefs with which it disagrees, demanding that its citizens express antithetical beliefs or face punishment?

The Gay Marriage Ruling Supports the Baker.  The Court has declared that the liberties protected by the Due Process Clause include "intimate choices that define personal identity and belief."  But saying that one is glad to serve gays but not willing to support a gay "wedding" is precisely a choice that defines personal identity and belief.  Hence the Court now faces a quandary.  They can either ignore what they wrote in Obergefell or they can refuse to impose the moral view of the left on all Americans by upholding the First Amendment rights of those who don't wish to be forced to support something that is in direct contradiction to their "...choices that define personal identity and belief."  The reality is that when leftists, including those on the Supreme Court, write about liberties they are actually thinking only of liberties that they endorse.  For example, the same leftists who scream that pornography is protected by the First Amendment tell us that peacefully trying to change a woman's mind as she enters an abortion clinic is not protected by the First Amendment.

Justices Sharply Divided in Wedding Cake Case.  The case, which pits claims of religious freedom against the fight for gay rights, has attracted extraordinary public attention and about 100 friend-of-the-court briefs.  Mr. Phillips says that he should not be forced to use his talents to convey a message of support for same-sex marriage.  The couple, Charlie Craig and David Mullins, say that businesses open to the public should not be allowed to discriminate against gay men and lesbians. [...] Justice Sonia Sotomayor appeared unpersuaded.  "When have we ever given protection to a food?" she asked.

Supreme Court Today Mulls Whether Bakers Can Be Forced to Make Gay Wedding Cakes.  This morning [12/5/2017] the Supreme Court will be hearing arguments in a case that may determine whether businesses providing services for weddings — like bakers, florists, photographers — may decline to provide goods and services for same-sex couples based on their religious objections to gay marriage.  In Masterpiece Bakeshop Ltd. vs.  Colorado Civil Rights Commission, bakery owner Jake Phillips was ruled to have violated the state's anti-discrimination and public accommodation laws by declining to make a wedding cake for a gay couple.  Phillips has countered that his speech is being compelled and his religious freedom is being violated by being forced by law to produce a cake for the couple.

After Declining to Make a Wedding Cake, He's Going to the Supreme Court.  "How did we end up at the Supreme Court?  It's a long story," Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, told The Daily Signal.  The story began in 2012, when two men walked into his family-run bakery, and asked Jack to create a custom cake for their same-sex wedding ceremony.  Because of his Christian faith, Jack declined, and instead offered to sell them something different.  The couple "stormed out," Jack said, then sued him under Colorado's anti-discrimination law.  After losing his case before the Colorado commission and the Colorado Court of Appeals, which both ruled that that Jack has no First Amendment rights, Jack has one more chance before the U.S. Supreme Court, which agreed to hear his case Tuesday [11/28/2017].

Parents Repudiate Gender Indoctrination in Schools.  Americans are fed up with public school curricula that incorporate gender ideology in the name of civil rights and are fighting legal battles across the country to end the indoctrination.  Parents in Portland, Oregon, filed a federal lawsuit to reverse a Dallas School District policy allowing a biological female to use the bathroom and locker room for males.  Allowing the 16-year old "transgender male," Elliot Yoder, to use the boys' facilities violates the civil rights of the majority of students who are not transgender, the lawsuit argues.  Two years ago, Yoder requested to change her clothes before gym class in the boys' locker room because other students noticed when she left to change in the gender-neutral facility, which was inconveniently located two floors away.  The Dallas district accommodated her request, igniting parents to protest at a school board meeting.

What These Conservative Black Clergy Have to Say to LGBT Activists.  Conservative African-American clergy accused LGBT activists of hijacking the civil rights movement and launched a campaign to support a Colorado baker who refused to create a cake for a gay wedding.  The Rev. William Avon Keen, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Virginia, told reporters on Monday, October 23, that the civil rights movement's efforts to gain equal facilities for schooling and health care do not equate with a gay couple's wedding cake request.

Transgender Person Convicted Of Sexually Abusing 10-Year-Old Girl In Bathroom.  A biological man who identifies as a transgender woman has been convicted of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old Wyoming girl in a bathroom.  Miguel Martinez, who goes by the name Michelle, was found guilty of first-degree and second-degree sexual abuse of a minor, the Casper Star Tribune reported.  Martinez faces up to 70 years in prison, according to the Tribune.

Transgender Man Was Arrested for Sexually Assaulting a 10-Year-Old Girl in the Bathroom.  A Wyoming man who identifies as a transgender woman is on trial for allegedly sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl in a bathroom.  The trial for Miguel Martinez, who goes by the name Michelle, began on Monday [10/16/2017], the Billings Gazette reported.  Martinez allegedly invited the young girl into the bathroom with him where he allegedly fondled the girl's breasts and genitalia, before penetrating her.  The girl told police that "it hurt inside" and she started to cry, the Casper Star Tribune reported.

Christian printer refuses services to LGBTQ activist, says he doesn't want to 'make pressure worse'.  A Christian printer in Britain reportedly refused to print business cards for a transgender diversity expert, claiming taking up the order would go against his religious views.  Nigel Williams denied his printing services to Joanne Lockwood, a consultant at transgender diversity firm SEE Change Happen, which is aimed at offering advice to businesses on inclusion of LGBTQ staff, The Sunday Times reported.  Lockwood tried to get her company's promotional materials printed at Williams' firm, but he refused, saying taking up the contract would "make pressure worse" for other Christians.

AG directive protects religious objectors to LGBT rights.  In an order that undercuts protections for LGBT people, Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a sweeping directive to agencies Friday to do as much as possible to accommodate those who say their religious freedoms are being violated.

Gay coffee shop owner refuses service to Christians, kicks them out.  What happened to bake the cake?  Civil rights for these folks?  Or does that not count in this situation?

Christian activists booted from Seattle coffee shop: 'I'm gay.  You have to leave'.  A Christian pro-life group that was recently ejected from a Seattle coffee shop over its local activism is attracting hundreds of thousands of Facebook views after footage of the encounter was posted online.  Members of Abolish Human Abortion recently decided to order drinks in Seattle's Bedlam coffee shop after posting and distributing pro-life pamphlets in the local community.  Activists who joined Caleb Head and Caytie Davis on Oct. 1 were soon berated and told the leave when they were identified.  "I'm gay.  You have to leave," owner Ben Borgman said in the video.

Gay Coffee Shop Owner Forcibly Ejects Christian Customers For Their Beliefs.  It turns out those who vehemently demand Christians be tolerant of their views and lifestyles, and force Christians to perform services under threat of legal retaliation are — and I can't believe I'm writing this — intolerant of Christians, and refuse to provide services for them.  In a recently released video from the group Abolish Human Abortion, a pro-life advocacy group, a gay coffee shop owner can be seen berating, insulting, and forcing the removal of the Christian group because of their beliefs.  Caytie Davis and her fellows had been handing out pro-life pamphlets that targeted the homosexual community for the spread of the Gospel.  I won't pretend that the pamphlet's designs and words were fully geared for opening up discussion with the gay community without agitation first — you can check out the pamphlet for yourself at The Liberator — but the pamphlet's blunt message aside, the group did not bring it into the coffee shop with them.

Gay coffee shop owner kicks Christians out and goes on offensive rant.  A gay coffee shop owner in Seattle decided to kick out a group of Christian anti-abortion protesters, going on an expletive-laden, extremely offensive rant that was recorded and posted on Facebook.  The group, Abolish Human Abortion, appeared not to be bothering anyone.  They weren't in the shop to proselytize or hand out literature.  They just wanted a cup of coffee.  What they got was an obscene, even blasphemous rant from an unbalanced store owner.

Spot the crazy president.  President Obama threatened to cut off education funds if schools didn't allow boys to go into girls' facilities if they felt like girls.  Anyone who not only thinks that it is OK for boys to expose their sex organs to girls, but thinks the government should force everyone to allow it is off his rocker.

Court Stunner! Girl Must Use Girls Locker Room.  Rejecting eight years of "gender identity" politics under President Obama, a Missouri appeals court ruled a biological girl must use a locker room for girls.  The Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, this week affirmed the dismissal of a complaint by a female identified by the court only as R.M.A.

The Southern Poverty Law Center Has Become a Dangerous Joke.  [Scroll down]  We heard from men and women who've long served gay customers and formed lasting friendships with gay neighbors who now face death threats because they simply refused to lend their artistic talents to celebrate a gay wedding.  We heard one man's voice break as he told the story of how his father fought across Europe and helped liberate a concentration camp from Nazi control — and now his son is called a "Nazi" in part because he wants all people to enjoy the same rights of conscience and wants no man or woman to be coerced into supporting events they find immoral.

Masterpiece Cakeshop Is Fighting for the First Amendment.  For one thing, no matter how many times people repeat it, the case isn't about discrimination or challenging gay marriage.  But when the news first broke, USA Today, for example, tweeted, "The Supreme Court has agreed to reopen the national debate over same-sex marriage."  The headline (and story) on the website was worse; it read, "Supreme Court will hear religious liberty challenge to gay weddings."  Others similarly framed the case.  (And, don't worry, "religious liberty" is almost always solidly ensconced inside quotation marks to indicate that social conservatives are just using it as a facade.)  There is an impulse to frame every issue as a clash between the tolerant and the closed-minded.  But the Masterpiece case doesn't challenge, undermine or relitigate the issue of same-sex marriage in America.  Gay marriage wasn't even legal in Colorado when this incident occurred.

Christian bakers free to live out faith in Mississippi.  The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals announced June 22 that it was overturning a lower-court decision a year earlier that stopped the Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act.  HB 1523 was signed into law April 2016 by Gov. Phil Bryant but was challenged in the courts by homosexual activists.  Last week's ruling found that those activists lacked legal standing because the new law had not harmed them.  "The court determined," says attorney Kevin Theriot of Alliance Defending Freedom, "that the plaintiffs in this situation weren't even harmed enough to be able even to get into court, much less to win on the merits of the case."

Why Masterpiece Cakeshop case could rival Hobby Lobby decision.  Two of the most precious rights Americans possess are the right to express themselves freely and the right to practice their religion as they see fit.  Both are enshrined in the First Amendment.  But these rights are not absolute, and sometimes may clash with a duty toward others.  Monday the Supreme Court decided to hear a case that may test these limits — Masterpiece Cakeshop v.  Colorado Civil Rights Commission.  It started in July 2012.  Charlie Craig and David Mullins asked Jack Phillips, who owned the Masterpiece Cakeshop, to create a custom wedding cake to celebrate their same-sex marriage.  Phillips refused, saying he didn't want to promote a same-sex wedding due to his religious beliefs.

Rights of Conscience Besieged by Sexual Activists.  Mississippi's House Bill 1523 establishes badly needed protections for those Americans whose faith forbids them to participate in same-sex wedding ceremonies or to treat a person's gender as a matter of preference rather than an immutable, God-given characteristic.  The law precludes the state from taking discriminatory actions against those who reject the latest fruits of the sexual revolution — who choose instead to live in light of the knowledge that God created people "male" or "female," and to abide by the timeless moral law reserving sexual intimacy for the permanent, exclusive bond of marriage between a man and a woman.  The statute also creates a legal defense for citizens who refuse to violate these core beliefs.  The plaintiffs who challenged the statute argued that they are "stigmatized" by the very existence of these religious tenets.  I wonder if they've stopped to consider the "stigma" experienced by devout individuals who have, due to a sickening erosion of First Amendment principles, actually been prosecuted for refusing to forfeit their faith to someone else's ideas about human sexuality.

Supreme Court takes case on cake for same-sex marriage.  The Supreme Court decided Monday to hear a case involving a Colorado baker's refusal to design and make a cake for a same-sex marriage.  The baker, Jake Phillips, declined to make the custom cake and said it conflicted with his religious beliefs.  The Colorado Civil Rights Commission decided that Phillips' actions amounted to sexual orientation discrimination under the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act.  The Colorado Court of Appeals said the commission's ruling did not violate the First Amendment because Phillips' speech was "conduct compelled by a neutral and generally applicable law," as attorneys for Phillips noted in their petition to the high court.

Why Democrats keep losing.  [#9] They advocate weird sexual public practices.  Privately, anyone can be what he wants if his choice harms no one else.  Publicly, if a man who believes he is a woman walks into a public space historically reserved for women, then this action endangers the women because he may be just a pervert.  The Dems can't keep advocating obvious nonsense and expect the larger public to like them.

The Government Of Texas Just Made A New Law:  Christian Adoption Agencies Will Have The Right To Not Give Children To Homosexuals.  The State of Texas is absolutely right for doing this!  By passing this law, it is protecting vulnerable orphans from being taken by perverts.  The only reason why sodomites want to adopt children is to recruit them into their homosexual cult; they also want children to molest them, both spiritually and physically, forcing them into their depravities.  The sodomites want to sexually assault children.  Normal people produce; sodomites recruit.  This is the bottom line.

LGBT group objects to Lance Berkman speaking at Cardinals 'Christian Day'.  The St.  Louis Cardinals' decision to have Lance Berkman speak at its upcoming "Christian Day" has drawn ire from one local LGBT group.  Pride Center of St.  Louis said it was "disappointed" the team would allow Berkman to speak at the event due to his "divisive and demeaning" views. [...] Berkman spoke out against the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO), a measure aimed at protecting Houston's LGBT residents in 2015.  He appeared in an ad denouncing the law, which allowed transgender individuals to use public bathrooms consistent with their gender identity.

Michigan Man Banned From Farmers' Market for Refusing Same-sex Weddings on His Farm.  A farmer is suing the city of East Lansing, Michigan, for banning him from its farmers' market because he refuses to host same-sex weddings on his farm far outside the city.  Steve Tennes, owner of Country Mill Farms in Charlotte, Michigan, a small town 22 miles southwest of East Lansing, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court on May 31 challenging East Lansing's decision to bar him from its farmers' market, where he has sold produce every year since 2010.  Tennes argues that the city is targeting him for his religious beliefs in violation of both the U.S. Constitution and Michigan law.  In 2014, Tennes, a Roman Catholic, politely declined a request by two women to hold their marriage ceremony on his farm, which has hosted weddings for many years.  Tennes referred the women to another farm, which granted their request.  One of the women later publicized the disagreement on Facebook but took no legal action.

Just a Reminder That Planet Fitness Lets Men Use the Women's Locker Room.  Planet Fitness now has a Michigan court on its side in its quest to let men into the women's locker room.  When a woman who attended a Planet Fitness gym complained about a man in the women's room, Planet Fitness told her she needed to deal with it.  They were open to letting men who identify as women use that bathroom.  When the woman told others at the gym, the gym cancelled her gym membership and she sued.  A Michigan court has sided with Planet Fitness.

The US Government Is Now Forcing Farmers To Have Homosexual Weddings On Their Lands.  The government is now forcing farmers to have homosexual weddings on their lands.  This is already happening.  A Catholic farmer has been just recently prohibited from selling fruit because he refused to host a sodomite wedding on his land.

City: You can't sell blueberries unless you affirm gay marriage.  The Tennes family has been farming in Michigan for generations.  They grow all sorts of crops at the Country Mill Farm — organic apples, blueberries, pumpkins, sweet corn.  And for the past seven years, Steve Tennes and his family have sold their produce at the farmer's market owned by the city of East Lansing.  But this year — city officials told the devout Catholic family that their blueberries and sweet corn were not welcome at the farmer's market — and neither were they.

Federal Court Sides with Transgender Student in High School Bathroom Case.  Ash Whitaker, a transgender high school senior, sued his school district for not allowing him to use the boys' restroom at school because he was born female.  Whitaker claimed that the school violated Title IX regulations against gender discrimination, as well as the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.  On Tuesday [5/30/2017], the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Whitaker, upholding a preliminary injunction that allowed him to keep using his preferred facilities.  Whitaker, who according to court documents first identified publicly as a boy going into his freshman year, claims that the school's bathroom policy, which was not written in any codified guidelines or regulations, was harmful to him both physically, in the sense that he would get dehydrated (and faint) as a result of limiting water in trying to avoid using the bathroom, and emotionally, to the extent that he had suicidal thoughts.

The Editor says...
Title IX regulations may guard against gender discrimination, but I doubt if the authors of Title IX gave any thought to the prevention of discrimination based on "gender identity" issues or any other self-induced gender problems.  We may have reached the point at which any new law should now include a disclaimer exempting the enforcement of the law from "rights" yet to be invented by activist judges.

Illinois Purges Social Workers And Foster Families Who Don't 'Facilitate' Transgenderism.  The science-deniers are running the LGBTQ show over at the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), and dissenters will not be tolerated.  The department's new "enhanced" policies promoting the "well-being of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer/Questioning (LGBTQ) children and youth in the Department's care" ratchet in one direction only: encouraging children towards LGBTQ identities.  DCFS has drawn a rainbow-colored line in the sand, announcing it "will not tolerate exposing LGBTQ children and youth to staff/providers who are not supportive of children and youths' right to self-determination of sexual/gender identity."

The Editor says...
When did "self-determination of gender identity" become a right?

Christian printer wins in court against gay persecutors.  Good news for a Christian printer — a ruling in court means he won't be forced to print stuff for a gay wedding.  [Video clip]

Christian Printer Who Was Punished by Gov't For Refusing to Make Gay Pride T-Shirts Wins Big in Court.  A Kentucky appeals court has ruled that the government cannot force a Christian printer to make T-shirts for a gay pride event after the government previously stepped in and punished the businessowner for refusing to do so.  The Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled 2-to-1 that Blaine Adamson, owner of Hands on Originals, a print shop based in Lexington, Kentucky, is correct in his argument that being forced to create the T-shirts was a violation of his religious beliefs, according to the Becket, a law firm devoted to the defense of religious liberty.

Christian Bakers Fined for 'Injury to Feelings' After Refusing to Make 'Support Gay Marriage' Cake Get BIG Surprise.  Something quite surprising has happened to Christian bakers in Northern Ireland who were found guilty of discrimination for declining to make a cake that included the message "support gay marriage" on it:  The bakery's profits have increased.

Justice Department Quits Pro-Transgender Lawsuit.  President Donald Trump's Department of Justice has dropped a 2016 pro-transgender lawsuit against the state of North Carolina, marking another success for mainstream advocates who wish to preserve normal single-sex facilities and institutions.  The lawsuit was filed in May 2016 by deputies working for President Barack Obama, who was ideologically opposed to any civic or legal recognition that men and women are biologically different as well as legally equal.

Obergefell's Toxic Judicial Legacy.  The cultural, legal, and political consequences of establishing a right to same-sex marriage have dominated discussions regarding Justice Kennedy's Obergefell decision.  Will religious institutions that oppose same-sex marriage lose their tax-exempt status?  What will happen to vendors whose consciences prohibit them from participating in same-sex weddings?  How and when will schools address same-sex marriage?  Those consequences are important and merit serious discussion.  However, another aspect of the case — Justice Kennedy's instructions regarding judges' authority to create new "rights" — will prove equally important in the long run.  In Obergefell, Justice Kennedy did far more than merely discover a constitutional right to same-sex marriage.  He wrote that judges have an ongoing "duty" to identify and protect new "fundamental rights."  He maintained that judges should institute new rights whenever their "reasoned judgment" suggests that it is appropriate to do so.

Transgender bathroom bill's hit to North Carolina economy amounts to scant 'rounding error'.  It turns out that the economic devastation to North Carolina wrought by the much-publicized boycott over House Bill 2 wasn't all that devastating — and it wasn't all about HB2.  Overlooked in the uproar leading up to last week's repeal of the disputed transgender bathroom bill was its negligible impact on the state's economy:  The loss of business, concerts and sporting events represented just 6/100ths of 1 percent of the state's nearly $500 billion annual economy.

Abused women object to "trans" man in shelter:  Guess who gets evicted?  Would I be stating the obvious saying the prime directive of a women's shelter is to provide refuge and support to women (and kids) fleeing abusive relationships, and as such, those running shelters should be sensitive to the women's safety concerns?  Probably.  And then there's the Kelowna Women's Shelter.  Despite its name, the shelter seems to be a lot more concerned about not offending the feelings of fake women as opposed to providing a safe haven for real women.

High School Tries Shaming Boy, Demanding He 'Tolerate' Undressing with Girls to 'Make it Natural'.  A teenage boy and his parents have filed a lawsuit against a Pennsylvania high school saying that administrators tried to shame the boy for being "intolerant" and demanded that he undress with girls in the school locker room to "make it seem natural."  The lawsuit, filed by Alliance Defending Freedom and Independence Law Center (ILC), is alleging that the Boyertown Area School District in Boyertown, Pennsylvania, sexually harassed the plaintiff, CBS News reported.  "No school should rob any student of this legally protected personal privacy," said ILC attorney Randall Wenger.  "We trust that our children won't be forced into emotionally vulnerable situations like this when they are in the care of our schools because it's a school's duty to protect and respect the bodily privacy and dignity of all students."  "My client is standing up not only for himself but for others who feel bullied," Wenger added.

This Just In:  Boycott of N.C. Over Bathroom Bill Dies With a Whimper.  The economic boycott of North Carolina over the state's controversial "bathroom law" that requires men and women to use their respective bathrooms in public facilities is a failure.

NCAA Mixes Sports and Politics.  After a hiatus of more than 10 years, during which time the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) refused to hold championship events in South Carolina because the Confederate flag was not removed from the statehouse grounds in Columbia, an NCAA-sponsored event was held in Greenville, South Carolina.  The state was finally taken off the NCAA's "bad list" when the "offending" Confederate flag was removed in from the grounds of the South Carolina Capitol in July 2015. [...] Ironically, the NCAA games were originally slated to be held in neighboring North Carolina, in Greensboro, but the NCAA has now blackballed that state for political reasons.  In the North Carolina case, the Confederate flag was not the issue, but rather a North Carolina law drew the ire of the NCAA.  The law required "transgender" people to use public restrooms corresponding to the sex found on their birth certificate.

Tourism thriving, economy expanding in North Carolina despite bathroom bill desertions.  North Carolina may have lost out on the NCAA championships, the NBA All-Star Game and Bruce Springsteen thanks to its hotly contested transgender bathroom law, but the state's economy didn't miss a beat.  Economic indicators released for 2016 show that the boycott has failed to derail North Carolina as a regional and national powerhouse, despite the loss of high-profile performances and sporting events in response to House Bill 2, signed March 23 by then-Gov. Pat McCrory.  Tourism has thrived:  Hotel occupancy, room rates and demand for rooms set records in 2016, according to the year-end hotel lodging report issued last week by VisitNC, part of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina.

A New, Ideological Litmus Test for Christian Judges.  On December 2014, a reporter at a local Wyoming paper, the Pinedale Roundup, called the town's municipal judge, Ruth Neely, to ask if she was "excited" to be able to perform same-sex marriages.  (Two months earlier, the state had decided not to defend its same-sex marriage ban after it was struck down by a federal judge.)  In the ensuing conversation and later ones, Judge Neely explained that she'd never been asked to perform a same-sex marriage and mentioned her religious belief that marriage is the union of a husband and wife.  She also made clear that her beliefs would not prevent any same-sex couple in the area from getting married.  (They have not, in fact, done so, either:  To this day, no one has asked her to perform a same-sex wedding.)  Ominously, the reporter later called Judge Neely and offered not to run the story if she would "state a willingness to perform same-sex marriages."  This odd reaction to the judge's response to a hypothetical question was a portent of further trouble.

Losing is Contagious:  Inconsistent Conservatism Leads to Crushing Consistency on Courts.  The U.S. Supreme Court recently avoided deciding a closely followed transgender-rights lawsuit over public-school bathrooms, instead sending the case back to the lower court.  But another sexual-orientation lawsuit, State of Washington v.  Arlene's Flowers, may soon come before the high court.  This case arose after Arlene's Flowers, a flower shop owned by Barronelle Stutzman, refused to make a floral arrangement for a same-sex wedding.  Stutzman is a devout Christian who was willing to make such arrangements for same-sex couples but drew the line at weddings.  Stutzman's policy led state of Washington officials to team up with the ACLU and sue Arlene's Flowers for violating the state's anti-discrimination law.

Texas lawmakers advance bathroom bill against transgender students.  A Senate committee in Texas passed legislation Wednesday [3/8/2017] to require that transgender students in public schools use restrooms that match their birth sex.  The Senate State Affairs Committee passed Senate Bill 6, the so-called "bathroom bill," by a vote of 7-1 to advance it to the full chamber for a vote.

U.S. Supreme Court Cancels Transgender Bathroom Showdown.  The U.S. Supreme Court canceled a scheduled showdown over the bathroom rights of transgender students in public schools, sending the case back to a lower court after the Trump administration changed a pivotal federal policy.  The justices were planning to hear arguments March 28 in the case of Gavin Grimm, a transgender Virginia high school student suing his school district to get access to restrooms that align with his gender identity.

Bakers Accused of Hate Get Emotional Day in Court.  The ongoing battle between gay rights and religious liberty escalated Thursday as husband-and-wife bakers in Oregon appealed their case after being ordered to pay $135,000 in damages for declining to make a cake for a same-sex wedding.  "Everything up to this point has been administrative hearings," Aaron Klein, co-owner with his wife Melissa of the since-closed bakery, told The Daily Signal afterward.  "Every time we tried to make a constitutional argument it was stomped on, because it was administrative law," he said.  "But now we're finally in a courtroom where the Constitution and due process can be argued on a level we haven't seen before.  I'm looking forward to seeing the outcome."

Our Hawkish 'World War T' Elites.  It never seems to occur to these elites that the Obama administration badly overreached by effectively federalizing bathroom and locker room policy.  Do they really think that it's so obvious that people should agree to let sexually mature teenage males into the bathroom and locker room with their daughters?  Do they really think that this is the proper role for the federal government?

Report: Donald Trump Overrides Betsy DeVos' Support for Obama's Pro-Transgender Policy.  Donald Trump's education secretary opposed changing President Barack Obama's pro-transgender policy, according to a report in the New York Times, even though Obama's rules would have exposed the nation's single-sex institutions and civic groups to crippling lawsuits by gay advocacy groups.  But Attorney General Jeff Sessions prevailed in the closed-door dispute, and with aid from Trump, persuaded Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to support a reform of the Obama's pro-transgender policy.

Trump administration revokes Obama-era transgender bathroom guidance for schools.  The Trump administration Wednesday [2/22/2017] revoked federal guidelines issued by former President Barack Obama that allowed public school students to use restrooms and other facilities corresponding to their gender identity.  A document submitted to the Supreme Court by the Solicitor General's office said that the Obama-era directive issued this past May did not "undergo any formal public process" or explain how the directive was "consistent with the express language of Title IX," the federal law outlawing sex discrimination in education and activities.

Trump administration to rewrite Obama's transgender rule.  The Supreme Court is slated to hear oral arguments late next month on a case involving a transgender teen from Virginia who sued the local school board for the right to use the men's bathroom on campus despite being born a female.  The debate over transgender "bathroom bills" gained increasing attention late last year after the Obama administration sent guidance to public schools saying they should allow transgender students to use whichever bathroom matches their gender identity.

Trump administration to repeal transgender school bathroom order:  Report.  The Trump administration will rescind an Obama-era order compelling public schools nationwide to permit restroom and locker room access on the basis of gender identity, the Washington Blade reported.  The Blade cites Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, who says she heard from "reliable sources" that President Trump has authorized the Education and Justice Departments to revoke the guidance.

Freedom or Football?  The National Football League has officially put the State of Texas on notice: if that state persists in denying men with peculiar sexual proclivities access to public rooms full of young girls with their pants down, then Texas may be denied the privilege of hosting any more Super Bowls.  To be precise, as you probably know, Texas lawmakers are proposing a law similar to North Carolina's, restricting access to public bathrooms and changing rooms to people of the actual biological sex for which those facilities were designed. [...] Why is this controversial?  Because it is "inconsistent with [the NFL's] values."  Really?  And when was this great table of NFL values etched in stone?  Would the NFL have taken up this issue as a matter of principle at any time prior to, say, five years ago?

Washington's Supreme Court Imposes Its Progressive Faith on a Christian Florist.  If you care about the Bill of Rights, the rights of conscience, or even the English language, there's a chance that this morning you felt a disturbance in the Force — as if the Founders cried out in rage and were suddenly silenced.  That disturbance was the Washington Supreme Court's oppressive ruling in State of Washington v.  Arlene's Flowers, a case holding that a florist was bound by state law to use her artistic talents to design floral arrangements to celebrate what she viewed as an immoral event:  a gay wedding.

Oddly enough, media silent about Muslim bakeries that all refused to bake cake for gay couple.  Stephen Crowder (a Conservative humorist and commentator) went to multiple bakeries in Dearborn Michigan and could find a single Muslim bakery that would bake him a wedding cake celebrating gay marriage.  [...] But this post is not about how Muslims are big fat bigots and homophobes for not wanting to bake a cake for a gay couple.  We support the Muslim bakers' rights to refuse service just as much as we support the Christians.  As a matter of fact, I'll take it a step further than Crowder does in his video and say that we believe any private establishment should have the liberty to refuse service to anyone for any reason. [...] No, this is a story about media bias.  You see, when the media baited a Christian pizzeria owner into saying that she probably wouldn't cater a gay wedding, the media went ballistic!

Christian florist who turned away same-sex couple broke anti-discrimination laws, Washington court says.  Barronelle Stutzman, a florist in the town of Richland, said she was exercising her First Amendment rights.  Her lawyers promised that they would ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the decision.  Stutzman had previously sold the couple flowers and knew they were gay.  However, Stutzman told them that she couldn't provide flowers for their wedding because same-sex marriage was incompatible with her Christian beliefs.  Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson and the couple sued her, saying she broke state anti-discrimination and consumer protection laws, and the lower court agreed.  The state's nine high court justices upheld that verdict.

The court has now ruled that you must participate in a homosexual wedding, whether you want to or not.
Washington Supreme Court rules against Christian florist in gay wedding case.  The Washington Supreme Court says a Christian florist broke state law by declining to participate in a same-sex wedding ceremony, setting the stage for the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on the contentious legal conflict between gay rights and religious liberty.  The state court rejected the First Amendment arguments advanced by Barronelle Stutzman, the 72-year-old owner of Arlene's Flowers in Richland, Washington.  It ruled that protections against compelled speech do not apply to her case because her work is not an "inherently expressive" act.

Yarn shop won't sell to 'women's movement' supporters.  A knitting shop in Tennessee is asking those who want yarn for any project relating to the recent "women's movement" to go elsewhere.  In a Facebook post Tuesday, The Joy of Knitting asks that "if you want yarn for any project for the women's movement that you please shop for yarn elsewhere," and said the "vulgarity, vile and evilness of this movement is absolutely despicable."

Trump Should Dump Obama's Transgender Shower Decree.  Obama's transgender bathroom, locker-room, and shower-stall decree belongs high atop the list of edicts that President Donald J. Trump should obliterate.  From priorities to prematurity to procedure, this is public policy at its worst.  Obama jointly used his departments of Justice and Education to declare that all learning institutions that take federal funds — from kindergarten through graduate school — must allow students to enjoy the lavatories, locker rooms, showers, other facilities, and sports teams that correspond not to their objective genitalia but to their subjective "gender identity." According to the DOJ and the DOE:  "Gender identify refers to an individual's internal sense of gender.  A person's gender identity may be different from or the same as the person's sex defined at birth."  This pronouncement emerged via a May 13 "guidance letter."

The accused pedophile behind the 'bathroom bills'.  Accused pedophile, "mega-Obama-bundler" and long-time prominent fixture of the radical left, Terry Bean, is responsible for the bathroom bills sweeping America.  If not for Bean's "affluenza," it is quite likely that the 68-year-old would be in prison today for allegedly having sex with a 15-year-old boy in an Oregon hotel room in 2013 with his then-lover Kiah Lawson, who was 25 at the time.  As reported at Oregonlive, Bean "had offered the boy at least $200,000 to settle the case."  Terry Bean is the co-founder of several radical groups posing as civil rights organizations.  One of these organizations, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), created the template for the bathroom bill ordinances sweeping the nation.

Transgender Bill Could Cost San Antonio $234 Million, Says Study of Final Four.  A study for the city of San Antonio predicted that the 2018 Final Four would bring nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in spending to the city, a talking point sure to be raised as debate continues over a proposed Texas law seen by some as discriminatory to transgender people.  A similar law in North Carolina prompted the N.C.A.A. and the N.B.A. to pull events from that state.  According to a memo obtained Friday by The New York Times and verified by a spokeswoman for the local organizing committee, next year's Final Four would lead to $135 million in direct spending and a total economic impact, accounting for money spent by tens of thousands of visitors at other businesses, of $234 million.

The Editor says...
Obviously the people of San Antonio must decide if basketball is more important than morality and common sense.

The transgender bathroom case arrives at the Supreme Court.  Back in October I wrote about the announcement that the Supreme Court would be hearing the case of G.G. v.  Gloucester County School Board.  This is the long awaited "transgender bathroom law" challenge to the Obama administration's reinterpretation of Title IX law which sought to morph the definition of "sex" to include the SJW concept of gender identity.

Texas Transgender Bathroom Bill Triggers National Speculation.  The transgender bathroom battle is being hit straight-on in the Lone Star State.  A state senator has pre-filed a bill which she says "seeks to put an end to a controversy that began in Washington D.C."  National media outlets are already speculating on whether the fight will be similar to the one in North Carolina.  Texas State Senator Lois W. Kolkhorst (R-Brenham) filed Senate Bill 6, the "Texas Privacy Act" which she says is "a bid to address the personal privacy concerns of many Texans."  Kolkhorst called herself "a longtime privacy advocate" and added, "This bill is written not to begin a controversy, but to end one."

North Carolina Republicans stall vote to repeal 'anti-LGBT' bathroom law.  Republican legislators in North Carolina declined to repeal the controversial bathroom bill after multiple delays and private meetings between GOP lawmakers.  The state House adjourned without voting to repeal the Public Facilities and Privacy Security act, or House Bill 2 (HB2), during a special session called by outgoing Gov Pat McCrory.  Shortly after, the Senate voted down the repeal, to chants "shame" as lawmakers filed out of the chambers.  Democrats introduced the bill to repeal HB2 Wednesday afternoon [12/21/2016], which was met with an amendment from Republicans including a "cooling off period" — a proposal to would block municipalities from approving ordinances affecting public accommodations and access to restrooms for more than six months.

North Carolina fails to repeal 'bathroom wars' law.  North Carolina lawmakers failed to scrap a law that served as a spark in America's "bathroom wars" over transgender identity, and the broader cultural battle between conservatives and liberals.  The state assembly had convened a special session to do away with so-called House Bill 2, which required transgender people to use restrooms corresponding to the gender on their birth certificates — not the one they identify as — in schools and government buildings.

North Carolina Limits on Transgender Rights Appear Headed for Repeal.  The North Carolina legislature plans to hold a special session Wednesday [12/21/2016] to consider fully repealing the contentious law curbing legal protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.  The move comes after the Charlotte City Council rescinded a local anti-discrimination ordinance on Monday that had prompted passage of the statewide law in March.  Governor-elect Roy Cooper, a Democrat, said in a statement Monday morning that Republican legislative leaders had "assured" him that a special session would be called "to repeal H.B. 2 in full."  Mr. Cooper won the Nov. 8 election after arguing that the law, known as House Bill 2, H.B. 2 or "the bathroom bill," had embarrassed the state, cost it thousands of jobs and set off an exodus of high-profile sporting events.

The Ugly End To The Charlotte "Bathroom Bill" Debacle.  After all of the hooting and hollering in North Carolina over the Charlotte "transgender bathroom issue" and the state response with HB2, was it all for nothing?  Was this just a stunt by the Democrats which they were willing to abandon as soon as the election was over and their candidate had won the governorship?  They're saying it's not, but the evidence seems to be pointing in the other direction.  While everyone else was focused on the Electoral College, Charlotte turned around and repealed the ordinance with the state legislature saying that they would, in turn, repeal HB2.

Transgender Student Can Continue To Use Girls' Bathroom, Federal Appeals Court Rules.  A transgender female student at an Ohio school will be able to continue using the girls' restroom under a Thursday evening [12/15/2016] federal appeals court's ruling.  An order that the Highland Local School District allow the student to use the girls' restroom will remain in effect for now, the US Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit ruled.  The court denied the school district's request to halt enforcement of a preliminary injunction issued against the school.  The move is the latest in a series of lawsuits and other actions over the question of whether existing civil rights laws — here, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 — protect against anti-transgender discrimination through their bans on sex discrimination.  The Obama administration has backed the view that transgender people are protected by the current laws.

Judge finds Gov. John Bel Edwards exceeded constitutional authority with LGBT order.  Gov. John Bel Edwards overstepped his authority in an order requiring state agencies and private companies contracting for state work to not discriminate against lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people in the workplace, a district judge in Baton Rouge ruled Wednesday morning [12/14/2016].  19th Judicial District Court Judge Todd Hernandez affirmed the constitutional independence of the Attorney General's office and noted that a Governor cannot act outside the scope of his authority by creating law with executive orders.

A New Defense for Religious Liberty:  Going on Offense against Bad Laws.  It is no secret that religious liberty is under attack.  The wedding photographer, florist, and cake baker are no longer able to practice their faith at work without fear of retribution for refusing to fall in line with the new government orthodoxy.

Hundreds support Christian florist fined for refusing to work gay wedding.  Hundreds of supporters cheered on the Washington Christian grandmother and florist who was fined for declining to make floral arrangements for a same-sex wedding as she appeared before the state's Supreme Court on Tuesday for oral arguments in her appeal of an unfavorable lower court ruling.  As previously reported by The Christian Post, Barronelle Stutzman, the owner of Arlene's Flowers in Richland, Washington, was fined $1,001 by the Benton County Superior Court in 2015 because of her objection to making floral arrangements for the same-sex wedding of her longtime customer Robert Ingersoll and his partner Curt Freed in 2013 because she felt it would have violated her Christian beliefs on marriage to do so.

Oregon official who bullied Christian bakery owners loses election.  An Oregon bureaucrat who waged political jihad against the owners of a Christian bakery was given the heave-ho by voters.  Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian was defeated by Republican Dennis Richardson in his bid to be Secretary of State.  It's the first time a Republican has been elected to a statewide office in Oregon since 2002.  So consider this — Avakian was too liberal for what is arguably one of the most liberal states in the country.  Avakian, a passionate advocate for the LGBTQIA crowd, was thrust into the national spotlight when he declared war on a Christian bakery in 2013.

ACLU Seeks Damages Against Kim Davis.  We all remember the battle over marriage license in Kentucky.  I wrote several articles following the goings-on of the court battle, arrest and final release of Davis.  She was finally able to prevail when the State of Kentucky removed the County and County Clerks name from the licenses.  This, in almost every way, was seen as a victory for Kim.  She was no longer regarded as defying the law or the court, and the contempt charges were dropped.  So, that would have seemed to be the end of the controversy for Kim.  That would be wrong.

More Power, Less Principle in the Culture Wars.  [Scroll down]  The school lavatory imbroglio about transgender students makes the matter clearer still.  Had Washington really cared about the transgendered, it could have played a sympathy card with the public and invited solutions, a third or fourth lavatory perhaps.  Instead, it settled on the one way most likely to arouse opposition from the church and adherents to traditional mores.  It insisted that the schools allow biologically male teens to enter the locker rooms and lavatories of teenaged girls at will.  Picking a fight intentionally seems a strange way to help the transgendered, but it fits perfectly with the elite's needs by creating yet another way to denigrate any who adhere to alternative views.  The transgendered, along with the teenage girls, simply became props to help the ruling class establish its credentials.

Supreme Court to rule in Virginia transgender case.  The Supreme Court will take up transgender rights for the first time in the case of a Virginia school board that wants to prevent a transgender teenager from using the boys' bathroom at his high school.  The justices said Friday they will hear the appeal from the Gloucester County school board sometime next year.  The high court's order means that student Gavin Grimm will not be able to use the boys' bathroom in the meantime.  A lower court had ordered the school board to accommodate Grimm, but the justices in August put that order on hold while they considered whether to hear the appeal.

Supreme Court becomes hall monitors.  Chief Justice John Roberts is an embarrassment to the nation who should resign immediately because he just allowed the court to beclown itself by taking up a school bathroom case.

Supreme Court to hear Virginia transgender restroom case.  After months of speculation, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Friday that it will hear a Virginia case involving the fight over restroom access between a school district and a transgender teenager.

Court: Hey, you Christians, it's just a witch.  A bakery owner in Northern Ireland, who refused to provide a cake that promotes homosexuality, must now decide whether to make a final appeal.  Daniel McArthur, owner of Ashers Bakery, learned Oct. 24 that the Court of Appeals ruled he illegally discriminated against homosexuals.  Ashers refused to create a cake (pictured above) with a "Support Gay Marriage" slogan, and an image of Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie.  The request was made by a homosexual rights activist identified by BBC News as Gareth Lee.  The bakery has served Lee in the past, Arthur told the court, but he turned Lee down because of the cake's message.

Illinois judge cites "cisgender" subjects in transgender bathroom ruling.  A judge in Illinois has dealt another blow to parents seeking to protect the privacy of students in bathrooms, locker rooms and showers.  This is a case which dates back to last winter when the families of girls in Illinois school District 211 went to court asking for an injunction against a new federal mandate saying that boys who "identify" as girls should be allowed in their toilet and changing facilities.  That case has bounced back and forth a few times now, but the most recent ruling just came down and it went against the parents.  A federal judge has ruled that there is no constitutional right not to share restrooms or locker rooms with transgender students and the wording of his ruling is rather jaw dropping.

16 Times Democrats Tried To Prosecute Their Opponents.  [#9] Advocates for Sex-Protected Bathrooms:  The Obama administration threatened to defund schools that didn't want to allow transgender students to share bathrooms, locker rooms, and overnight sleeping quarters with children of the opposite biological sex.  The edict was aimed at crushing dissent from Republican lawmakers who have pushed back against new regulations to force schools, private businesses, and churches into following the trans agenda with little public discussion or allowance for multiple ways to accommodate all parties.

Sweet Cakes by Melissa closed for good by Gay Mafia.  In 2013, years before the Obergefell v .Hodges Supreme Court decision that made same-sex marriage the so-called "law of the land," a small family owned and operated bakery in Oregon refused to bake a wedding cake for a lesbian wedding because it was a violation of their Constitutional right to exercise their freedom of religion.  Even though the Oregon law they allegedly violated — Oregon Equality Act of 2007 — contained exemptions for religious organizations and schools when it came to sexual orientation issues, the state does not consider religion to be relevant when it comes to Christian-owned businesses.  After being fined $135,000 by the state of Oregon, and receiving numerous protests and death threats, Sweet Cakes by Melissa is now officially closed — for good!

Gay Mafia snuffs out Constitution and Chief Justice Roy Moore.  As Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton continue to demonstrate how far America has fallen morally and Constitutionally, forces outside of government continue to take advantage of our decline using activist judges to do what they've been unsuccessful in doing under the law.  On Friday [9/30/2016], Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, Roy Moore, was suspended without pay for the remainder of his term for alleged ethics violations under the Canons of Judicial Ethics for Alabama Judges.  And what was his abhorrent ethical breach?  He enforced the law under the Alabama Constitution as it relates to same-sex marriage, specifically the Alabama Sanctity of Marriage Amendment, voted into law by 81% of the citizens in the state in 2006.

The Media Won't Pressure Charlotte To Solve The Trans Bathrooms Squabble, But You Can.  Things haven't been the same in North Carolina since Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts, in her selfish desire to be a progressive icon at her city's expense, decided to legislate against uncomfortable looks in the locker room.  That's how this whole thing started.  A sex offender who once fondled a 15-year-old boy as he slept wanted the rest of society to normalize transgender bathroom trips through legislation, even though transgender people say they were already using whatever bathrooms they wanted.  He was the president of Charlotte's LGBT Chamber of Commerce (as opposed to the straight one) which conducted a survey about discrimination in the city.  Spoiler alert:  they said they found discrimination!  In bathrooms!

What Follows the Bathroom Boycott?  The state of North Carolina is being tarred and feathered in the sports world because it passed a bill in March stating that the state's public schools would abide by boy-girl divisions dating back to the advent of man.  The bill said, "Local boards of education shall require every multiple occupancy bathroom or changing facility that is designated for student use to be designated for and used only by students based on their biological sex."  This, according to the gender-deconstructing left, is the "new Jim Crow," a cruel and usual punishment of students who reject the gender they were "assigned at birth." Obama's Department of Justice used the media-created hubbub, replete with a phantom victimology, to mandate bathroom "inclusion" on every public school in America.

Minnesota parents sue after transgender student twerks in girls' locker room.  Nearly a dozen Minnesota families are suing their school district for failing to take action after their daughters were exposed to a transgender male student allegedly twerking and engaging in other sexual behavior in the girls' locker room.  The lawsuit concerns Minnesota's Virginia Public Schools, which changed its restroom and locker room policy in response to the Obama administration order in May compelling public schools nationwide to regulate intimate sex-segregated facilities on the basis of gender identity.  The transgender student, only identified as "Student X" in the complaint, would allegedly dance to lewd music while in the locker room, including by "twerking, grinding, and lifting up his skirt to reveal his underwear" in front of high school girls.

The Editor says...
A so-called transgender person's entire existence is all about sex.  That's all they know.  Perverse behavior of this sort is to be expected.

Massachusetts Government Can Force Transgender Bathroom Policies On Churches, Guidance Says.  Under a Massachusetts civil rights agency's interpretation of new anti-discrimination law, churches can be forced to let biological males who identify as transgender women use the women's bathroom.  Recently passed legislation amending the state's anti-discrimination law to include protections for "gender identity" will take effect Oct. 1.  The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, which enforces the state's anti-discrimination laws, recently published a "Gender identity guidance" that lays out what will be legally required of employers and "agents of places of public accommodation."

Judge blocks transgender bathroom law for 3 plaintiffs.  A federal judge has temporarily ruled that the University of North Carolina can't block two transgender students and an employee from using bathrooms that match their gender identity.

Obama's LGBT Agenda Suffers Loss in Case of Transgender Funeral Director.  When families lose loved ones, they often seek out funeral homes for solace and comfort and, for people of faith, spiritual consolation as well.  At such a delicate time, the last thing grieving families expect is a debate over whether male funeral home employees should be allowed to dress like women at their loved one's funeral.  But that is exactly the conflict President Barack Obama's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission set in motion when it sued Thomas Rost.  As a matter of faith, Rost, the owner of three funeral homes in Michigan, required his male and female employees to dress in keeping with the solemnity and sensitivity of funerals and burials.  Thankfully, a federal district court has vindicated Rost's religious liberty in a well-reasoned decision under the nation's Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Revolt: Judge Blocks Obama's Insane Bathroom Directive.  There's a sane federal judge in the Lone Star state that has blocked Obama's insane edict on transgenders and bathrooms in public schools.  He took a solid stance in opposition to the president's mandate that a student should be able to choose the bathroom they wish to use based on their chosen gender preference rather than reality.

U.S. Judge's Order Stops Obama's Bathroom Guidance in Its Tracks.  A United States District Judge ordered a halt to the Obama administration's recent actions requiring transgender access to showers, bathrooms, and lockers in our nation's schools and in other public contexts.

Judge blocks Obama administration directive on transgender bathroom use.  A federal judge on Sunday [8/21/2016] blocked the Obama administration's directive that school children be allowed to use bathrooms and other facilities that align with their gender identity regardless of biological gender — siding, for now, with 13 states and agencies challenging the controversial order.  U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor did not rule on the underlying challenge itself.  The order means that the administration's directive will be blocked while the case itself plays out.

Obama's Transgender Bathroom Policy Blocked by Federal Judge.  A federal judge in Fort Worth, Texas, on Sunday sided with Texas and 12 other states that argued the administration's policy usurps local control and threatens students' safety and privacy.  The use of public bathrooms and locker rooms by transgender people has become the latest front in civil rights struggles between social conservatives and the administration following battles over same-sex marriage and military service by openly gay members of the armed forces in which President Barack Obama has sided with gay-rights advocates.  The ruling by U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor came after the U.S. Supreme Court on Aug. 3 temporarily blocked an order that would let a transgender student use the boys' bathrooms during his senior year at a Virginia high school.

Transgender: Obama To End Single-Sex Bathrooms on Federal Property.  President Barack Obama's deputies will insert a rule in federal regulations on Friday [8/19/2016] to prevent federal facilities from operating single-sex bathrooms.  The rule in the "Federal Register" of regulations will open up thousands of bathrooms in federally operated buildings to employees and visitors who claim on any given day to be "transgender" members of the opposite sex.

University to females:  Transgenders can use your bathroom, don't 'gender police' if a man comes in.  The University of South Alabama today [8/15/2016] debuts a wide-sweeping new policy that allows men who identify as female to use girls' bathrooms.  In announcing the new policy, it also admonished students not to "gender police" if someone of another biological sex saunters into the restroom.  "There is no rule that a person must look a certain way to use a certain restroom.  This kind of 'gender policing' is harmful.  Individuals should not have to dress or groom in a way that conforms to someone else's gender standards," the university stated in its FAQ section announcing the new policy.

Obama to issue transgender bathroom order for federal facilities:  Report.  The Obama administration will announce this week a new directive granting access to intimate federal facilities on the basis of gender identity.  BuzzFeed News reported Monday [8/15/2016] that the regulation will be posted in the Federal Register at some point this week, opening up thousands of federally operated restrooms to transgender people who wish to use the facilities corresponding with their gender identity rather than biological sex.

51 Illinois Families Ask Court to Suspend School's Bathroom, Locker Room Policy.  Adding to the handful of lawsuits involving transgender students across the country, lawyers representing a group of 51 families in a Chicago suburb asked a federal judge to temporarily suspend a school policy that grants a transgender student access to the girls' restrooms and locker rooms.  "Every parent sends their kids to school expecting that the school is going to protect them at the most basic level — their safety, their privacy, their dignity," Jeremy Tedesco, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs in the case, said after the hearing wrapped on Monday afternoon [8/15/2016].  "What we're asking for is a temporary injunction that will allow the girls to continue to have single-sex facilities to themselves, free from the presence of the male students while the case is pending."

Standing up to bathroom bullies in Charlotte.  The N.C. Values Coalition says the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board should walk away from its controversial new anti-bullying policy.  We say the school board members should stand firm.  Religious conservatives upbraided the school board Tuesday over the policy, which allows transgender students to use school bathrooms and locker rooms based on their gender identity.  That puts other students' "privacy, safety and dignity" at risk, the coalition contends.  Nonsense.  Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has explicitly said that all students will have access to increased privacy, such as a single-stall restroom or a screened area in the locker room.  No girls will be forced to see boys' private parts, or vice versa.  It should go without saying, but no sane, moral adult would force that on any child.  And that's not what's happening here.

North Carolina's Children:  Friendly Fire Casualties In Transgender Culture War.  Earlier this week I wrote about the need for today's spiritual leaders to rise up and take a stand for righteousness in America by preaching from the pulpit on the political issues of today affecting morality and Christianity, a form of civil disobedience, if you will.  Little did I realize at the time that some of the big issues over the past few days would make civil disobedience the theme of the week.  Today we learn of another situation near and dear to the hearts of the decrepit left ... transgenderism.  Already a battleground on the topic, North Carolina is once again ground zero as the Charlotte-Mecklenburg indoctrination and brainwashing administration — a.k.a. the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School System (CMS) — have joined hands with the Gay Mafia by issuing a pending decision to cease in referring to students as boys or girls.

Texas, 12 states to ask judge to stall Obama transgender bathroom order.  Some 13 states led by Texas will ask a federal judge Friday [8/12/2016] to halt the Obama administration's order to allow transgender students in U.S. public schools to use the restrooms of their choice.  The hearing in Fort Worth is the latest in the battle between the federal government and various states opposed to the policy change.  U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor will hear arguments over the states' request for a preliminary injunction to halt the Obama directive just weeks before school re-opens for the fall.  It is not knowwn when the judge might issue a ruling.

Who is Judge Ruth Neely from Pinedale, Wyoming?  I respect the right of others to disagree with my religious or moral beliefs.  To decide not to associate with me because of my opinions.  To stay away from me because of my circle of friends.  I have the same rights with regard to them.  Our rights are equal, and they are fundamental to our humanity.  Let's not become another Iran.  We can live tolerantly with each other.  We need not harness the fearsome power of government to bludgeon those who disagree with us on moral and religious matters.

Unprecedented:  Small town judge faces ban for religious beliefs.  Ignoring the pleas of LGBT citizens in the small town of Pinedale, Wyoming, a state agency is demanding that — after over 20 years of sterling service — Judge Ruth Neely be banned for life from the judiciary and pay up to $40,000 in fines merely for stating that her faith prevents her from personally performing same-sex weddings.  Even though small-town magistrates like Judge Neely aren't required or even paid by the state to perform weddings, the state agency concluded that Judge Neely "manifested a bias" and is therefore permanently unfit to serve as a judge.  This would be the first time in the country that a judge was removed from office because of her religious beliefs about marriage.

Neely case reaches fever pitch.  Since 2014, Pinedale Municipal Judge and Circuit Court Magistrate Ruth Neely's case has become increasingly more public and controversial — earning statewide, as well as national media attention.  What began as a quote for a local newspaper has grown into a constitutional debate, and Neely's position and reputation hangs in the balance.

Protect Religious Liberty and Free Speech for All!  Stand with Judge Neely.  In our work together as advocates for Life, Marriage and Religious Freedom we are continually encountering a growing intolerance from elitists even for our right to speak.  As Judge William Rehnquist recently put it, we now live in a society "that bristles at all things religious."  While these challenges to the first amendment typically come in the context of the same-sex marriage debates, they have far reaching implications for the church's entire ability to speak and act in the public square.  To put it simply, if we lose our right to free speech, we will lose our ability to advocate for marriage, life and family and ultimately for the gospel itself.

Supreme Court blocks ruling on Virginia transgender bathroom case.  The Supreme Court decided Wednesday [8/3/2016] to put a hold on a ruling that would have required a Virginia school district to allow a transgender high school student to use the boy's bathroom.  The eight justices split 5-3, with Democrat-appointed Justice Stephen Breyer siding with the Republican-appointed judges that the Gloucester County public school system does not have to accommodate student Gavin Grimm's request to use the bathroom of his choice.

These PC Stores Better Stop Insulting Families Because I'm Running Out of Places to Shop.  Political correctness works against organic families.  This has been evident for years.  Lately, it has gotten worse.  Political correctness, or propaganda compliance, has gone commercial.  Now companies far beyond energy corporations feel the need to bow to PC dictates.  The left mastered the art of boycotts.  Now the mere specter of a boycott or a hashtag campaign keeps businesses compliant to leftist dictates.  The right has not been as proactive about boycotts, but with the trends in executive decrees and the implosion of basic words, organic families feel more pressure and, therefore, the need to push back.  A clever company even noticed the desire and designed an app that rates companies on things conservatives care about.  But the trouble is, PC pressures have been so effective that we are running out of places to shop.

Bill would prevent LGBT discrimination at religious schools.  A bill moving through the [California] Legislature would remove a longstanding exemption from anti-discrimination laws for religious institutions, potentially exposing the schools to civil rights lawsuits from students and employees.

New NCAA Rule:  Championship Sites Must Allow Cross-Dressing Men To Use Women's Bathrooms, Showers.  The National Collegiate Athletic Association has announced that all cities and college campuses seeking to host future NCAA championship events must fill out a lengthy, seven-page questionnaire about whether men can use women's bathrooms and waltz into women's locker rooms to take showers.  The NCAA Board of Governors announced its new bathroom-and-locker-room survey on Friday [7/22/2016].

One more store to boycott:
Macy's Fires Catholic Over Transgender Bathroom Incident.  A senior store detective at Macy's has been fired from his job after he intervened when a female customer reported that a man entered the women's bathroom.  After he was asked to leave the restroom, the man complained saying he believes he is really a female.  The woman and her daughter were frightened by the man's presence.  The case is now before the New York State Division of Human Rights, reports the ChurchMilitant.com.  Javier Chavez says he was never told about any policy that would allow men to use women's facilities.

NBA to move 2017 All Star game from Charlotte due to bathroom bill.  The National Basketball Association announced that it will not play the 2017 All Star game in Charlotte, N.C. because of the LGBT bill passed earlier this year.  No alternate site for the game has been announced.  The NBA's action follows the decisions by several large corporations and well known entertainers to boycott North Carolina because of the bathroom bill.

PGA will not pull 2017 PGA Championship out of Charlotte despite HB2 controversy.  The PGA of America has announced that the 2017 PGA Championship will remain at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina despite the HB2 bathroom bill that led the NBA to remove the 2017 All-Star Game from the city.  The PGA of America released a written statement on Thursday night explaining their decision to stay at Quail Hollow.  "The PGA of America strongly opposes North Carolina HB2.  It contradicts our commitment to create an inclusive and welcoming environment at our events.  We remain hopeful that the law will be changed." read the statement, via ESPN.

Connecticut State Government:  Believing There Are Only Two Genders Is 'Genderism'.  According the Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF), which published an LGBT glossary of more than 250 terms, the belief that there are only two genders — male and female — should be treated as "genderism."  The guide, which was published as part of the DCF's Safe Harbors Project and was last updated July 7, defines "genderism" as:  "The system of belief that there are only two genders (men and women) and that gender is inherently tied to one's sex assigned at birth.  It holds cisgender people as superior to transgender people, and punishes or excludes those who don't conform to society's expectations of gender."

A Florist Caught Between Faith and Financial Ruin.  When a florist was forced to choose between a beloved customer, who is gay, and following her Christian convictions, she made a decision that changed lives and, perhaps, how the law will see such cases in the future.

Texarkana Repeals Transgender Bathroom Ordinance.  The issue of transgender access to bathrooms and locker rooms of the opposite sex — which came to the forefront of the public mind in April when Target announced its new policy — has been quietly incubating behind the scenes for longer than most Americans are aware.  The battle has been brewing for many months in places as diverse as Washington State and Texarkana, Arkansas, as the radical Left has conspired to create this issue and introduce it by stealth and deception.  And while communities all over the country are waking up to find that this issue has moved into their cities, counties, and states, many are organizing efforts to defeat it and return sanity to their communities.

Big companies back DOJ suit against NC bathroom law.  Leading airlines, hotel chains, retailers and tech companies are backing the Department of Justice in its lawsuit against North Carolina over the state's controversial bathroom law.  American and United airlines, the Hilton and Marriott hotel chains, as well as Apple, Dropbox, eBay, IBM, Microsoft, PayPal, and Ikea, are among 68 companies signing on to a "friend of the court" brief asking a federal judge to issue an order that stops the law, known as HB2, from being enforced until a court has ruled on the discrimination case.  HB2 requires people to use the public bathroom matching their gender at birth.  In the brief, the companies said the law's effects reach far beyond North Carolina's boundaries.

Ten states sue Obama administration over transgender bathroom policy.  Ten states lodged a new legal challenge on Friday against the Obama administration's requirement that public schools allow transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identity.  The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Nebraska, comes after 11 other states sued to block the same policy in May.  Barack Obama announced the new rules as his administration fought an intensifying battle with North Carolina, which passed a law barring transgender people from using bathrooms and other gendered facilities that don't match the gender listed on their birth certificates.  The federal policy applies to every public school district in the country, and districts that fail to comply risk forfeiting millions in federal funding.  With Friday's [7/8/2016] lawsuit, the number of states challenging the policy reaches almost two dozen.  Many observers predict that the battle will ultimately come before the supreme court.

Another Governor Signs Transgender Bathroom Bill.  Republican Gov.  Charlie Baker signed a bill into a law Friday [7/8/2016] preventing discrimination and allowing transgender to use the bathroom of their choice.  Massachusetts now allows transgenders to use the bathroom corresponding to their "gender identity," rather than their biological sex, reports The Boston Globe.  The bill prevents discrimination against transgenders in certain public areas, such as restaurants, museums and malls.  It broadens a 2011 law that banned discrimination against transgenders in housing and the workplace.

Kim Davis Is Being Sued For Denying a Man the License to Marry His Laptop.  A man who wants to marry his laptop has filed a federal lawsuit against Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis for denying the issue him a marriage license.  According to the Liberty Council, Mark "Chris" Sevier, the plaintiff, has also filed lawsuits against Gov.  Matt Bevin and Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear.  Davis first made headlines last year when she denied to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, and now Sevier is out to make a point about marriage.

Iowa: 'Some' churches must comply with transgender bathroom laws.  Is a church a place of public accommodation and if so — are congregations required to follow anti-discrimination laws regarding gender and sexual orientation?  That's the issue raised by a brochure published by the Iowa Civil Rights Commission.  They contend that any church that opens its doors to the public would be required to comply with sexual orientation and gender identity laws. [...] Chelsey Youman, First Liberty's chief of staff, told me the ramifications of Iowa's policy cannot be overstated.  "This is an unprecedented move by a government agency to mandate that anytime a church opens its doors to the public that it automatically qualifies as a place of public accommodation," Youman said.  "And this is just the tip of the iceberg."

Christian Mingle Ordered To Accept Gay Singles.  Dating website ChristianMingle has settled a lawsuit and now will accept same-sex searches.  Previously, the site only allowed women to search for men and men to search for women.  A class-action suit was filed in 2013 by two gay men against Sparks Networks Inc., the owner of ChristianMingle and several other dating sites.  The suit alleged that the sites were in violation of California's anti-discrimination law.

Why Mississippi's Law on Religious Rights and LGBT Discrimination Got Blocked.  Why doesn't anyone care about Mississippi?  This spring, the state's legislature passed H.B. 1523, an extensive law written to protect people who believe any of the following:  that marriage is between a man and a woman; that sex should only happen in the context of marriage; and that the words "male" and "female" refer to "an individual's immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy and genetics at time of birth."  The law claim these protections are a form of religious freedom.  It provides that religious organizations can refuse to rent out their social halls for a same-sex wedding, for example, and that clergy can refuse to perform a same-sex marriage ceremony.  These groups can also fire a single mother who gets pregnant, or, in the case of religious adoption agencies, decline to place a child with a same-sex couple.  Doctors and psychologists can refuse to get involved with gender-reassignment procedures or take cases that would violate their religious beliefs.  Schools and other public agencies can create "sex-specific standards" for dress code, bathrooms, and more.  State employees can also refuse to sign same-sex-marriage licenses, and they can't be fired for saying they believe homosexuality is wrong, for example.  It is, without a doubt, the most extensive legislation of its kind to be passed into law since the U.S. Supreme Court's same-sex-marriage decision one year ago.  And for the most part, the country has been silent.  Now, a federal judge has blocked the law from going into effect, which was set to happen on July 1.

Judge blocks Mississippi religious objections law.  A federal judge has blocked a Mississippi law that would let merchants and government employees cite religious beliefs in denying or delaying services to same-sex couples.

Virginia Governor Blasts Religious Freedom.  Governor Terry McAuliffe of Virginia decried having to "veto a so-called 'religious freedom' bill.  It's such an oxymoron," on WTOP radio Wednesday [6/29/2016].  The bill that McAuliffe vetoed is a short one, and simply states that religious organizations or clergy should not be required to participate in the solemnization of marriages and should not be penalized for their refusal to do so.  Its language specifically aimed to protect the actions of those "with a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman."  It is not uncommon for Democrats to question religious freedom legislation, saying that it goes beyond defending religious freedom and into anti-LGBT discrimination.

New move for Kim Davis' after being jailed in marriage fight.  The Kentucky county clerk jailed by U.S. District Judge David Bunning after she refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in violation of her constitutionally protected religious beliefs is asking an appeals court to vacate the judge's order.  The request from Kim Davis to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals explains that a subsequent change in state law is giving her the exact accommodation she requested throughout the dispute.  Bunning abruptly jailed her with no opportunity to argue her case and then threatened her deputies with penalties if they also refused to issue the licenses.

The American Left is Evil:  Orlando Shooting.  Leftists are the minority.  However, they own the federal government, social media, public education, Hollywood, and the Democratic party.  They incite misdirected anger, hate and guilt to bully the public into embracing their anti-American and anti-God agenda.  Because the Left controls the media, they get away with falsely portraying their opposition.  The Left takes disapproval of them forcing their agenda on us to absurd extremes.  For example:  If you say "no" to men using girl's restrooms, Leftists in the media brand you an insane hatemonger who seeks the murder of all homosexuals.  If you disagree with the Left's illogical obsession with disarming Americans, repealing the second amendment, Leftist media brands you a racist toothless idiot redneck that wants to shoot all people who do not look like you.

Employee Accused of Sexually Assaulting Young Girl in Bathroom of Riverside Restaurant.  A restaurant employee in Riverside accused of sexually assaulting a young girl has been booked on suspicion of lewd acts on a child, police said Wednesday.  The assault occurred about noon Monday [6/6/2016] when the girl went to use a bathroom at the business located in the 1700 block of University Avenue, the Riverside Police Department stated on Facebook.  The girl's mother went into the restroom a short time later and found the employee, identified by police as 34-year-old Avimael Lopez, inside the same bathroom, according to the Police Department.

College dorms a new front in U.S. battle over transgender rights.  As lawmakers across the United States battle over whether to allow transgender Americans to use public restrooms that match their gender identities, universities are scrambling to ensure that dorms meet federal standards.  At a time of year when the nation's 2,100 residential colleges and universities are sorting out student housing assignments, they also are poring over a May letter from the Obama administration that thrusts them into the national debate on transgender rights.  Known as the "dear colleague" letter, it makes clear that federal law protects transgender students' right to live in housing that reflects their gender identity.  Schools that fail to provide adequate housing to transgender students could face lawsuits or the loss of any federal funding they rely on.

Obama Civil Rights Director:  Against American Values To Keep Men Out Of Women's Bathroom.  Legislation that keeps men out of women's bathrooms is directly contrary to American values, according to assistant attorney general Vanita Gupta, who heads up the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Civil Rights Division.  Gupta made the claim at a forum held on Tuesday [6/7/2016] by the Washington Council of Lawyers.

Transgender Ideology Trumps Free Speech In Northern Virginia Schools.  Youths in Fairfax County, Virginia, can now be disciplined and even expelled from school for criticizing the intrusive and aggressive transgender ideology.  The transgender change in school regulations was imposed last night during a dramatic board meeting where only 12 pro-trans witnesses were invited to testify.  The board members met on Thursday night only after being informed the night before that the discipline change would be considered.  No opposing voices were allowed to be heard, parents were relegated to shouting opposition from the seats and some were ejected from the meeting.

Alabama top justice tells judges not to issue gay marriage licenses.  Alabama's top justice said Wednesday [6/8/2016] that state probate judges should not issue same-sex marriage licenses, despite the Supreme Court's landmark ruling legalizing gay marriage last year.  Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore cited conflicting rulings and said until they are resolved, a prior directive from March telling judges to comply with the state's gay marriage ban would remain in effect.  He wrote:  "Until further decision by the Alabama Supreme Court, the existing orders of the Alabama Supreme Court that Alabama probate judges have a ministerial duty not to issue any marriage license contrary to the Alabama Sanctity of Marriage Amendment or the Alabama Marriage Protection Act remain in full force and effect."

Why All The Hippies Morphed Into Campus Fascists.  [Scroll down]  Now clergy will be forced by law to perform marriages for same-sex couples.  While it's still perfectly legal for a Presbyterian minister to decline to marry a couple of heterosexual Methodists simply because they aren't members of the congregation, he will be committing a crime if he refuses to perform nuptials for two dudes who are shopping for a ceremonial backdrop.

Security Guard Arrested For Removing Man From Women's Bathroom.  A female security guard working at a Washington, D.C. grocery store was arrested Monday afternoon for physically escorting a man out of the women's restroom after he refused to leave because he identifies as a woman.  The shopper — a young, African-American male who identified himself as Ebony Belcher to local news outlets — reportedly passed the security guard on his way into the women's restroom at a Giant grocery store in Northeast D.C.

Liberals Enable Sexual Predators to Hunt Women.  A recent Daily Signal article explained why a CNN poll about letting men use women's restrooms was flawed: the reality is, most people oppose letting men use women's restrooms.  While it's an excellent article, it implicitly buys into the liberal framing of the whole issue.  While "transgender" men who are attracted to women — as Bruce Jenner is — are a valid concern, the biggest problem with this liberal policy is that it allows any registered sex offender to use the women's bathroom with impunity.  The vast majority of the opposition to "gender-neutral" restrooms is based on the fact that liberals believe that since gender is fluid, a man could consider himself a woman any time he wanted to molest women.  Liberals don't require a man who uses a women's restroom to have a doctor's note; his word that at that moment he's feeling like a woman is enough.

Transgender Privilege and the Americans with Disabilities Act.  There is a lot behind the Obama administration's diktat to public schools requiring them to treat transgender students in accord with claimed gender identity.  The administration is pandering to radical LGBT activism, attempting to expand federal and especially executive power, continuing the left's ongoing ideological war against American tradition, and cynically manipulating the Democratic base on behalf of Hillary Clinton.  The Administration has preposterously tried to defend its coercive "guidance" to local school districts as analogous to federal enforcement operations during the civil rights struggles of the 1950s and 1960s.  In fact, the rationales and means employed bear a closer resemblance to the use and misuse of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) since its passage in 1990, by disability activist groups and wealthy and influential plaintiffs' lawyers.  It's a case of the regulatory state simply picking and choosing rationales from smorgasbord of "rights" statutes to dictate to the people.

ACLU leader quits after daughters encounter men in the women's restroom.  Maya Dillard Smith, interim director of the Georgia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, has resigned over the ACLU's position on who can use which public restrooms.  The resignation occurred after her two daughters were traumatized by encountering men in the women's restroom.

ACLU state leader quits after daughters 'frightened' by biological males in restroom.  Evidently, Maya Dillard Smith, interim director of the Georgia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, has had an epiphany. [...] Dillard Smith is responding to a biological imperative: the protection of her children.  This is what pierced the veil of ideology that had blinded her to the realities obscured by the fine rhetoric and shiny ideals the ACLU purports to uphold.

Who will be using opposite sex bathrooms under cover of being 'transgender'?  The political left says that the notion that men do not belong in the same public bathrooms as girls and women proves the political right are full of hate towards the LGBT community because it stereotypes transgendered individuals as dangerous.  The transgendered, they argue, are mostly passive individuals who pose no threat.  The political right argues the idea people have a legal right to select a gender du jour would enable actual criminals to get in close proximity to their preferred targets. [...] Based on numbers provided by the US Census Bureau, approximately six out of every 100,000 Americans identify as the opposite sex from which they were born.  That is such a minute percentage that the odds are that most Americans have never even seen a transgendered person except on television.

Group Says Legal Expert Has Received Death Threats For Testifying Against Obama Transgender Guidance.  A legal expert has received death threats after she testified against the legality of the Obama administration's Transgender Guidance.  University of San Diego law professor Gail Heriot — a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights — was invited to testify before a House hearing on "executive overreach" where she called the transgender guidance "fundamentally anti-democratic."

Kentucky Joins in Lawsuit to Battle Obama Administration Overreach.  Matt Bevin, governor of Kentucky, announced today [5/27/2016] that his state would join with Texas and eleven other states in a lawsuit that fights back against the Obama administration's bathroom directive, which called for public schools to go gender neutral, erasing the lines of decency and risking the comfort and safety of children.  The directive also called for allowing boys and girls to share hotel rooms on overnight class trips, should one decide they "felt like" the opposite sex.

Dear LGBT Community, Resistance to Your Community Has Nothing To Do With Being "Phobic".  The dictionary defines a phobia is "an extreme, or irrational fear of something."  A good visual example would be someone's fear of snakes, dogs, or heights.  The person, upon being introduced to the very sight of these things, is reduced to something like a cornered animal with his or her primal fight-or-flight instinct hammering at the mind.  You can see how the "phobe" accusation is a ridiculous one.  "Phobe" hardly fits those who disagree with homosexuality or transgenderism, or it's activist community's agenda, but that's not the point.  The point is to paint the opposition as irrational, and/or hateful.  This way the opposing person, or persons, is viewed with an initial level of contempt, and their words and points are automatically worth less, or not even up for consideration.

Watch as Democrat unable to deal with professor's challenge on 'transgender' bathroom rule loses it, starts calling names.  During a House Judiciary Committee hearing on the recent transgender bathroom mandate, Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) found herself unable to rationally deal with a witness, a law school professor, who had submitted a 21-page written statement to be entered as testimony.

11 states sue Obama administration over transgender bathroom guidance.  Eleven states filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against the Obama administration to challenge its federal guidance on how schools should accommodate transgender students.  The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas on behalf of Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin.  The lawsuit argues that the federal government has worked to turn workplaces and schools "into laboratories for a massive social experiment."  It also argues that the federal government is "flouting the democratic process, and running roughshod over commonsense policies protecting children."

New building code:  All single-user bathrooms should be gender neutral.  A new building code is about to take some of the steam out of the debate over gender-neutral bathrooms for transgender people.  The newly adopted code by the International Code Council calls for all new construction to have single-user, unisex bathrooms, where occupancy standards apply.  Specifically, the code outlines that for "assembly and mercantile facilities" where six or more water closets (toilets) are required, at least one of the toilet rooms be provided with a single water closet and a single lavatory.  These gender-neutral toilet rooms would be intended for family/assisted-use but would also be available for single users.  The plumbing code — under the latest International Building Code — requires all single-user toilet facilities to be labeled for use by either sex or gender-neutral.  The change will not be entered into the organization's policy books until 2018.

Rep. Lofgren Calls Civil Rights Commissioner 'Ignorant Bigot' for Criticizing Bathroom Mandate.  Rep.  Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) called U.S. Civil Rights Commissioner Gail Heriot, a law professor at the University of San Diego School of Law, an "ignorant bigot" for Heriot's testimony Tuesday [5/24/2016] that the guidance issued by the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights, which says students may use bathrooms and locker rooms in accordance with their gender identity, was "teaching young people a terrible lesson."  The exchange occurred during a hearing held by the House Judiciary Committee's Task Force on Executive Overreach.

A Monstrous Moral Leviathan.  Having grown up within a mile of the Beltway during the Cold War, the greatest fear dominating my childhood and adolescence was that I might one day look up and see a brilliant mushroom cloud rising over DC.  At the time, it never occurred to me that the biggest threat to our nation would come not from a foreign enemy, but from within the halls of power in our nation's capital.  Our government Leviathan is very real and has grown to previously unimaginable proportions.  Its ever-increasing reach seems to know no bounds.  And what was once perceived to be Leviathan's mostly fiscal threat to the health and well-being of our nation is now a monstrous moral threat.  Leviathan's vast bureaucracies are now its foot soldiers, who have busied themselves with weaponizing executive edicts, errant court rulings and out-of-control regulatory powers against all who disagree with our Ruling Elites never-ending social/moral engineering experimentation.

11 states sue US government over transgender bathroom policy.  Officials from 11 U.S. states sued the Obama administration on Wednesday [5/25/2016], seeking to overturn a directive from the federal government that public schools should allow transgender students to use the bathroom matching their gender identity.  Ramping up the simmering battles over contentious cultural issues in America, the states, led by Texas, accused the federal government of rewriting laws by "administrative fiat."

These Are the Radical DOJ Lawyers Suing North Carolina Over Transgender Bathroom Use.  PJ Media published the Every Single One series in 2011.  The series documented the Obama administration's hiring of radical lawyers to fill the career ranks in the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division.  Every single one of the new attorney hires were radical leftists or partisans.  Since 2011, the situation has only gotten worse.  Much worse.  The Civil Rights Division exercises enormous power over the everyday lives of Americans:  they are involved in employment, education, housing, religious liberty, abortion, prisons, policing, and much, much more.  The radical beliefs of these radical lawyers have turned into radical administration policies.

Time to Shut Down the Department of Education.  The Department of Education was created under President Carter in 1979 under the same misguided pretense that has driven much of the growth of our massively bloated federal government — that if there is something we really care about, we should give more money and power to Washington bureaucrats.  It would be good news if the Department of Education just wasted the money it gets from our hard-earned taxes.  But it uses the money to do real damage.  Nothing could provide a better example than the newly issued guidance letter that the Department of Education, jointly with the Justice Department, just sent to public school districts across the country, threatening to cut of [sic] federal funds if public schools do not comply with guidelines for treatment of so-called transgender students.

Obama, The Great Bathroom War of 2016, and The Cultural Revolution.  The left is advancing a cultural revolution of radical egalitarianism, creating a new cultural hegemony of which the Great Bathroom War of 2016 is but the most recent element. [...] As reported by the New York Times, maybe only three out of a thousand people identify as transgender.  So why would Obama stir up a hornets nest to accommodate this tiny minority?  Obama thereby has taken a symbolic stand of strategic significance for the ongoing cultural revolution.  It has profound political implications both short and long term.

Ask this 13-Year-Old Girl if Transgender Bathrooms Pose a Threat.  In the midst of outcries from the transgender community that women don't face threats in public bathrooms, police in England are looking for a man who allegedly took photos of a 13-year-old girl while she used the bathroom at a McDonalds in Berkshire. [...] This incident has occurred at the same time that transgender activists in America are saying there are no threats to women should transgendered women (i.e., men) be allowed in their bathrooms.  The LGBT lobby has been releasing ads in North Carolina that voice opposition to the state's law requiring people to use public restrooms that match their biological sex.  HB2, as the law is known, was designed to help protect the privacy and security of women.

Liberal Mary Fallin Appointed Co-Chair of RNC Platform Committee.  As soon as Obama promulgated his transgender mandate earlier this month, the Oklahoma legislature jumped into action to block the illegal edict.  The bathroom safety bill, SB 1619, was originally sponsored by the Senate pro temp and the House speaker.  Suddenly, the Chamber of (Crony) Commerce came out against the bill, and Speaker Jeffrey Hickman took his name off it.  According to local grassroots activists, Gov.  Mary Fallin, who has not uttered a word in defense of state's rights against Obama's absurd and immoral decree, has ensured that state party leaders backed off the bill.  With just three days left until the end of the session, the bill is now stalled.

Senator Tillis Throws North Carolina Under the Transgender Bus.  If you want to know why the most extreme elements of the Left are winning 50-year culture wars overnight without facing a modicum of opposition, look no further than North Carolina's junior senator, Thom Tillis, and his refusal to defend HB2. [...] More broadly, how can Tillis suggest that he will wash his hands of HB2 because it's a state issue?  Yes, that's the point.  It was a state issue until the two unelected branches of the federal government (DOJ and Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals) made it a federal issue.  Why won't the representatives from North Carolina in the elected branch of the federal government help return the issue to the states?  Moreover, eradicating gender differences is neither a state nor a federal issue; it is reflective of mental illness and de-civilization.  It's also important to remember that once the Obama administration sent out the letter demanding unisex accommodations in all 50 states, this is no longer "a state issue."

Our '1984': An equal opportunity gender disaster.  In the Oceania of "1984," it is standard practice for the so-called Ministry of Truth to manufacture convenient fictions that are tailored to steer public opinion toward acceptance of government-approved propaganda.  The depth of the government's ability to manipulate the public is characterized by the illogic of the ruling Party's slogans:  War is peace.  Freedom is slavery.  Ignorance is strength.  Boys are girls.  Oh wait, that last one came from Obama's Department of Justice, not Orwell's Ministry of Truth.

Across America, State Officials Are Rebelling Against Obama's Transgender Bathroom Decree.  Across America, local and state officials are pushing back very strongly against the Obama administration's decree concerning transgender use of school bathrooms and locker rooms.  Pennsylvania lawmakers are the latest to criticize the Obama proclamation, which orders that schools "may not require transgender students to use facilities inconsistent with their gender identity or to use individual-user facilities when other students are not required to do so."

GOP files bill to block Obama's transgender rule.  Rep.  Luke Messer, R-Ind., proposed legislation on Wednesday [5/18/2016] aimed at blocking President Obama's new guidelines that require schools to let transgender students use the restrooms of their choice, or risk losing federal funding.  Messer's bill would put into U.S. law that schools can't lose their funding for failure to comply, and Messer said that step is needed to stop the federal government's overreach into local issues.  "Everyone on both sides of this debate should be treated with respect," Messer said.  "And, through public discourse, I believe we can come to a solution that protects the privacy and dignity of everyone involved."

Charlotte Observer:  Girls must overcome 'discomfort' at seeing male genitals in locker room.  A shocking editorial in the Charlotte Observer counseled young girls to get over the "discomfort" they feel at the sight of male genitalia when transgender facilities are allowed in North Carolina.  The newspaper assumes the law will eventually be repealed or declared illegal.  While that may or may not happen any time soon, it is the justification for this position used by the Observer that reveals the true nature of this battle of the bathroom.

Security Guard Arrested For Removing Man From Women's Bathroom.  A female security guard working at a Washington, D.C. grocery store was arrested Monday afternoon [5/16/2016] for physically escorting a man out of the women's restroom after he refused to leave because he identifies as a woman.  The shopper — a young, African-American male who identified himself as Ebony Belcher to local news outlets — reportedly passed the security guard on his way into the women's restroom at a Giant grocery store in Northeast D.C.

What the restroom war is really about.  So why have liberals chosen to force the issue of "transgender" rights down our throats and trigger another (and possibly) losing fight over loo access?  The answer is not only that liberals are drawn to the issue like salmon to their home stream, but that they're afraid to leave it be.  But not for the reason you think.  Indeed, they couldn't care less about the hurt feelings of the sexually confused.  What they're targeting is the mindset of those men who aren't at all confused.  After all, you have to remember that their goal has always been a state of being that doesn't admit any identity for oneself other than that provided by the government.

College boots ex-Delta Force hero after complaint from LGBT activist.  Jerry Boykin is the kind of man you'd want teaching your sons — a good and decent man, an honorable man — a Christian man.  For the past nine years the retired lieutenant general has taught leadership and ethics at Hampden-Sydney College, a highly regarded, all-male school based in Virginia.  By many accounts — he is beloved and deeply respected by students.  But Gen.  Boykin will not be returning to the classroom this fall.  That's because he tells me he's been fired.  The man who was one of the original members of Delta Force and once commanded all of the U.S. Army's Green Berets — the man who served his nation with honor and distinction for more than 36 years — was ousted because of political correctness.

Update:
Lt. General Jerry Boykin Wins Back Job at College.  Hampden-Sydney has reinstated retired Army Lt.  Gen.  William "Jerry" Boykin as a visiting professor.  He was let go after his comments on transgender bathrooms.  General Boykin is a devout Christian who was formerly one of the greatest warriors in the U.S. military.  A founding member in 1978 of America's most elite military counterinsurgency unit, Delta Force, he rose through the fighting ranks to become the commanding general of Delta Force.  He later was the head of the Army's Special Warfare Center, led the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, and served at the Pentagon as Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, retiring as a three-star general and one of the world's foremost experts on national security and fighting terrorism.

College reverses decision, rehires famed Delta Force hero.  When given the choice of standing alongside a decorated military hero or a bunch of militant LGBT activists[,] choose wisely.  The leadership of Hampden-Sydney College learned that lesson the hard way.

Three Things Texas Is Doing to 'Defy' Obama's Transgender Directive.  The Obama administration's directive that public schools give transgender students access to the bathrooms and locker rooms of their choice will not stand in Texas, Lt.  Gov.  Dan Patrick said.  "We are going to look at every pathway to resist the federal government," Patrick, a Republican, said in a Wednesday [5/18/2016] interview with The Daily Signal.  "At the end of the day, I believe, first we can get the administration to back off."  Shortly after a school superintendent in Forth Worth, Texas, unilaterally imposed rules involving transgender students in his district, the U.S. Justice and Education departments rolled out a similar directive for schools around the country.  Patrick said his state will not be "blackmailed" by President Barack Obama, and the directive is "a poke in the eye at the values of the American family."

Does Obama's Troubled Childhood Explain His Bathroom Weirdness?  It is not considered polite to mention it, but Obama observers have ignored a great deal of evidence that the president of the United States was abused at approximately age ten and afterwards, in a way that would be criminal under American and European law. [...] All this should be irrelevant, but it is not — certainly not when the president of the United States issues decrees to our school systems that directly affect the psychological development of children.  The Western world has seen major "revolutionary" movements based on assumed or real sexual desires and behavior. [...] Obama's "Bathroom Edict" is an obvious abuse of presidential power.  It should not be obeyed, even if parents and teachers have to mount a major resistance campaign.  The fact that it hasn't already stirred enormous public outrage shows how desensitized we have become.

LTG Jerry Boykin:  Toilette* Terrorists Claim Their First Victim.  Obama's campaign to normalize the abnormal by forcing the "acceptance" of men entering women's restrooms, locker rooms and showers has claimed its first high profile victim in Lieutenant General William "Jerry" Boykin, USA, Ret.  General Boykin, the former commander of the Army's elite Delta Force, is Executive Vice President of the Family Research Council, and also taught at Hampden College — one of America's last two all-male colleges.  Boykin has now been fired by the college in retaliation for comments he made regarding the effect of Obama's edict that "gender fluid" men must be allowed — without question — to use the facilities of their choice.

College Caves, Fires Lt.  Gen.  Jerry Boykin For Condemning PC Gender Ideology.  Hampden-Sydney College has caved to radical gender ideologues who demanded the firing of Ret.  Lt.  Gen.  William "Jerry" Boykin after his criticism of transgender bathrooms.  Boykin — once commander of the Army's elite Delta Force and currently executive vice president of Family Research Council — has been teaching at the all-male college located in Virginia.

Can We Restore Local Control of Education?  [Scroll down]  But the Departments of Justice and Education (the Civil Rights Division and the Office for Civil Rights, respectively) issued the directive, not Obama.  The real power behind the Obama administration's recent order on school bathrooms (and much else that this administration has done) is likely to have been the Department of Justice, because the letter frames the new policy as a civil rights issue (sex discrimination) under Title IX.  Which brings us to an important influence this administration has had on the DOJ:  Obama has been conducting his own Gramscian march through that institution.  As J. Christian Adams has been chronicling for quite some time, this administration has been busy transforming the DOJ's Civil Rights Division into a leftist activist group.

Funny Definition of Democracy You've Got There, Mr. President.  Where does the ex-constitutional law lecturer who now serves as U.S. president get off with trying to remake moral policy for a nation of 330 million?  Where does he get the idea it's his business to instruct the 50 states that schools must henceforth allow the transgendered — whatever that curiously concocted word may mean — to visit the school restroom of their choice?  Most of all, where does he suppose he gets the authority to do all this?  Our modern-day Wizard of Oz is blowing and bloviating with glee.  It's time someone pulled back the curtains.

Homosexuality still illegal in Lebanon, but North Carolina boycotters not boycotting.  [Scroll down]  This news comes after businesses, celebrities, and musical acts decided to boycott North Carolina over their decision to not allow transgender people to use any bathroom they want.  But look what I found!  Some of these businesses and people have not boycotted Lebanon even though homosexuals can receive jail time.  Apparently, the ability to not use the bathroom of your choice is worse than police throwing you in prison.  Bryan Adams boycotted North Carolina, but he performed in Lebanon in 2010, 2011, and 2015.

Obama's Threat to Defund Schools Over Trans Bathroom Issue Violates Federal Law.  The Obama Administration has done it again.  In an effort to strip school children of their modesty and morals, Obama has issued new instructions governing use of restrooms, locker rooms, and showers in every government-funded school in the country.  And, in predictably lawless fashion, Obama has violated not one, but two federal laws.  First, he took a 1972 law, Title IX, which was designed to prevent sex discrimination in education, and says that as of Friday, the word "sex" in the statute does not mean the "sex" you were born with.  It means whatever "gender" you feel like on a given day.  And, if that was not bad enough, the manner in which the Obama Administration acted was to legislate by letter, not just usurping legislative power, but by violating another federal law — the Administrative Procedures Act.

Obama's Dictatorial Transgender Proclamation.  George Orwell would be impressed.  On Friday [5/13/2016], the Obama administration issued a proclamation with all the force of law, requiring all public-education institutions in the land to allow boys to use girls' bathrooms and locker facilities.  They need only feel very strongly, on any given day, that they are really girls deep down inside.  Of course, the president can't formally issue a law.  This is still a democracy — superficially at least.  So whenever Obama "changes the law," as he likes to brag, the new law usually takes the form of something else.  In this case, the new law took the form of "guidance" in a "dear colleague" letter issued jointly by the Department of Justice and Department of Education to school officials from sea to shining sea.

We Must Defy Obama's Transgender Decree — No Matter the Cost.  The Obama administration declared on May 9th that forcing people to use bathroom facilities based on their God-given plumbing was state-sponsored discrimination.  Four days later they dropped an even bigger cultural bombshell.  The president issued a directive requiring every public school in the nation to accommodate transgender students — under Title IX guidelines.  Boys who identify as girls and vice versa must be allowed to use the bathrooms and locker rooms and shower stalls of their choosing.  They must also be allowed to play on the sports teams of their choosing.

Resisting Obama's Transgender Directive:  A Hill to Die On.  [Scroll down]  Specifically, the administration's directive last week requires every public school in the nation to provide transgender students access to all activities and facilities consistent with their gender identity, at the risk of losing federal funds.  The Framers are rolling over in their graves, not just because of this inversion of moral standards but also because of the lawless manner in which this is being forced down the throats of the states, the American people and the public schools.  President Obama knows he doesn't have the legal authority to issue such an order, but he is determined to create as much chaos as he can and to unilaterally impose his iron will to the fullest extent before his term expires.  No one will convince me that this has anything to do with the rights of transgender people.  Rather, Obama and his fellow leftist tyrants are seeing how far they can push the envelope — how much they can fundamentally transform America against the people's will and against the protections guaranteed by the federal and state constitutions.

Obama says schools demanded advice on transgender bathrooms.  President Obama said Monday his administration directed schools to provide transgender bathrooms for students because school districts were imploring Washington for guidance to protect "vulnerable" children.  "Kids who are sometimes in the minority, kids who have a different sexual orientation or are transgender are subject to a lot of bullying, potentially," Mr. Obama said in an interview with Buzzfeed.  "They are vulnerable.  Schools were asking us, were asking the Department of Education, how should we handle this?"

Obama's edict has nothing to do with transgenders.  On Monday [5/9/2016] the governor of North Carolina was supposed to respond to the president's threat to eliminate our new privacy law (HB2) — so we responded with a lawsuit against the feds.  Nice!  But the administration swung back with a lawsuit of its own, threatening to withhold our own tax dollars.  On Tuesday the superintendent of the Fort Worth Independent School District signed new guidelines for boys to use girls' bathrooms and play in girls' sports throughout the entire district.  But he didn't stop there.  He expanded the guidelines to say, "Prior to notifying any parent ... regarding the student's gender identity or any potential transition process, school personnel must work closely with the student to assess the degree to which, if any, the parent ... has been or will be involved in the process."  Wait!  Hold up a second.  If the parent should be involved, or will the parent be involved?!  To eliminate the parent in a sex-change transition process is absolutely absurd.  And all of this was done without the school board's approval!  These guidelines were not debated, discussed or disclosed to anyone.  He just put them in place.

To Obama, transgender lives matter more than black ones.  The U.S. Justice Department and Department of Education, based on a decree from Obama, released a joint letter online to school systems around the nation, threatening them to let transgenders use the bathroom they "identify" with, or face the wrath of the federal government.  Attorney General Loretta Lynch has blasted North Carolina's HB2 law and accused backers of endorsing "state-sponsored discrimination" against transgendered people.  "This is about the dignity and the respect that we accord our fellow citizens," she said.  Lynch also equated the passing of HB2 with states enacting Jim Crow laws to stop civil-rights progress.  She pointed out that just a few decades ago, black people were also barred from using certain bathrooms.  What about the "dignity and respect" of black Americans and the civil rights pioneers who fought for real equality, Mrs.  Lynch?

Head of DOJ Civil Rights Division Explains Her Own Experience With Discrimination.  The head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, where the new "guidance" on transgenders originated, says she has experienced racial discrimination first-hand.  Vanita Gupta spoke on Sunday [5/15/2016] to a legal advocacy group called Muslim Advocates, which honored her with an award named after the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.

Homeschoolers: Refuse Government Funding To Ensure Independence from Obama's Gender Identity 'Decree'.  Following the Obama administration's recent threat that school districts that prevent gender-confused students from using whichever sex bathroom they prefer could have their federal funding withdrawn, some homeschoolers are pointing to the value of having independence from government control.  Tina Hollenbeck, a homeschooling parent in Wisconsin, tells Breitbart News, "If homeschoolers take vouchers or any other form of government funding 'help' — even an 'educational expenses credit' on their taxes — they are enslaving themselves to government mandates."

Obama's Lawsuit Against North Carolina Isn't About Civil Rights.  Some of us care little about the debate over public bathrooms.  We do, however, care about the ongoing destruction of federalism, individual choice and good-faith debate in America. [...] U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced on Monday that the Department of Justice was filing a federal civil rights lawsuit against the state of North Carolina, Gov.  Pat McCrory, the North Carolina Department of Public Safety and the University of North Carolina for passing the "controversial law" (this is the go-to characterization of conservative bills that pass with healthy majorities) requiring transgender people to use public bathrooms matching their birth certificate.  She had this to say: [...]

Obama's bathroom wars:  Too familiar.  On Friday, May 13, the Obama administration released guidelines stipulating that American schools must allow males into changing rooms, showers, and bathrooms previously reserved for females, and vice versa.  Schools that do not comply will be subject to lawsuits and fines. [...] Men want to protect women.  Women want to be protected by men.  The Obama administration's announcement that it will force males into females' private space, where vulnerable, naked, not yet mature girls will be exposed to situations that frighten them, parallels other spectacles where men are demoralized by being forced to surrender their role as protectors of women.  I don't know if Obama planned this.  I do know that this is a minor parallel to major atrocities.

Obama's Bathroom Decree Unburdens Us All From Reality.  It's good to know the president has enough free time to worry about such things as people's right to use whichever bathroom they want.  I was afraid he'd be bogged down with the fight against ISIS or his sputtering, failed economy.  Nope.  Since instructing the Justice Department, which also finds itself unburdened by pesky job-related obligations such as investigating Fast and Furious, the IRS being sicced on Americans because of their political beliefs, or the timely conclusion of looking into a former secretary of state treating classified material like junk mail, is finally addressing the civil rights issue of our time.

Obama has nationalized our bathrooms.  On Friday night's [5/13/2016] radio program, Conservative Review Editor-in-Chief Mark Levin played Donald Trump's response to the Obama administration's new directive to school districts about bathrooms.  The Democrats and the Left are on the move.  And Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, was asked this morning whether or not boys and girls should use the bathroom they identify with, rather than the bathroom assigned to their biological sex.

Sex and State Power — What's Behind Obama's Transgender Push.  The Obama administration has announced that from this day forward, all public schools in America must let children choose their bathroom and locker room based upon a child's feelings about his or her gender on any given day.  This means that, if a male sexual predator (or simply a sexually curious boy) feels that today is a good day to be a girl and watch the girls' volleyball team strip off in the bathroom, that is his right and the school is obligated to comply[.]

WH rips Texas official who criticized LGBT directive.  The White House on Friday blasted Texas Lt.  Gov.  Dan Patrick (R) for his criticism of President Obama's new transgender bathroom guidance to public schools. [...] The debate over the Obama administration's directive quickly intensified Friday, foreshadowing a fight over LGBT rights that could play a major role in the 2016 elections.  Many Republicans are pushing back on the measure.  Patrick called the guidelines an example of executive overreach that interferes with family values.

States dig in against directive on transgender bathroom use.  Politicians in Texas, Arkansas and elsewhere vowed defiance — and other conservative states could follow suit - after the Obama administration told public schools across the U.S. on Friday to let transgender students use the bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity.

CNN calls it "guidance."
Feds' transgender guidance provokes fierce backlash.  The Obama administration's directive on the use of school bathrooms by transgender students has provoked a torrent of criticism.  It also marks a new front in America's long-running culture wars.  The latest battle over transgender rights and sexual identity comes in response to a joint letter Friday [5/13/2016] from the Departments of Education and Justice directing public schools to ensure that "transgender students enjoy a supportive and nondiscriminatory school environment."

'Bathroom Barry's' Real Legacy.  'Bathroom Barry' is no longer just a figment of overworked imagination.  Barack-aka-Barry-Soetoro-Obama has gone into the school washroom and he's never coming out again.  This latest invasion on the safety and privacy of innocent school children, came hurtling at their parents in the middle of the night.

Texas Governor Vows to Fight Obama Trans Bathroom Policy: 'He's Not a King'.  Texas Governor Greg Abbott vowed Friday [5/13/2016] to fight a recent letter from the Obama administration threatening to pull funding and seek legal action against schools that block transgender students from using the facilities of their choice.  Abbott took to Twitter to accuse President Barack Obama of rewriting the Civil Rights Act to suit his own purposes.

Obama in the girls' bathroom.  The diktat comes in the form of a letter from the Justice Department's Office of Civil Rights stating that "when a student or the student's parent or guardian ... notifies the school administration that the student will assert a gender identity that differs from previous representations or records, the school will begin treating the student consistent with the student's gender identity."  Schools are forbidden from seeking to verify a student's "gender assertion."  In short, there will no longer be any single sex locker rooms or showers in America's public schools.  You could not have found a conservative fever swamp in 2008 in which anyone would have predicted a slide so far and fast into such absurd relativism within the short (but seemingly endless) span of a single presidency.

It's Not About Bathrooms Anymore.  By now, most Americans have heard about North Carolina House Bill 2.  The new law has dominated the media landscape for several weeks, but only in the past few days has the real issue come into focus.  In almost every article, news report, and blog post covering the new law, the officially named "Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act" is referred to as North Carolina's "controversial bathroom bill."  Let me assure you that, among everyday North Carolinians, there is no controversy.  Recent Civitas Institute polling indicates most people are aware of the law (85 percent) and an overwhelming majority (69 percent) believe that the Charlotte City Council ordinance HB2 overturned was unreasonable and unsafe.  The media have sparked a firestorm and fed the flames with stories about bathroom assaults against transgendered individuals and about tearful students claiming oppression, but only a handful of politicians and public policy organizations give the law even a second thought.

Loretta Lynch:  North Carolina on Her Mind.  The same Obama administration that insists on giving billions to Pakistan after the country harbored the architect of 9/11 seeks to defund North Carolina after its government excluded males from its ladies' rooms.  Some evils demand immediate, unforgiving eradication, and not allowing the sweet transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania, to use the stall next to your pre-teen daughter ranks as just such an offense.  Attorney General Loretta Lynch, in comparing North Carolina's law codifying common sense to Jim Crow, noted of her lawsuit against the Tar Heel State that "we retain the option of curtailing federal funding to the North Carolina Department of Public Safety and the University of North Carolina as this case proceeds."

America's Moral Dilemma Won't Be Solved in the Public Bathrooms.  In the midst of perhaps the most baffling presidential election America has faced in modern history, morality is caught in the crosshairs.  Meanwhile, America seems to be stuck in the toilet.  The current public bathroom debacle is designed to stir emotions and steer the unsuspecting masses away from reason into emotional la-la land.  There is so much emotional spin around issues regarding the sanctity of human life and human sexuality that America remains in constant emotional flux while the tirades replace prayer, wisdom and healthy reasoning.  While I commend the now millions of Americans who are joining the protests and signing petitions against the government enforced efforts to use misplaced compassion to help transgender people, more is needed.

UNC Students Fight Back Against Obama Administration Bathroom Lawsuit.  A group of students at the University of North Carolina are fighting back against the Obama administration's civil rights lawsuit against the state this week by filing a lawsuit of their own, alleging that the federal government is forcing them to choose between their educational pursuits and personal privacy.  "Our clients, the students, are between the proverbial rock and a hard place," Jeremy Tedesco, an attorney for Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing the students in their case, told The Daily Signal.  "They could lose their funding, they could have neutral restrooms and locker rooms — there's really only two ways this could go and both of them violate their rights."

Black bishop:  Transgender bathrooms 'not civil-rights issue'.  Attorney General Loretta Lynch is not only suing the state of North Carolina to force accommodation for transgenders to use the restrooms and locker rooms according to their gender identity, the nation's top law enforcement officer suggested the debate is reminiscent of the segregation battles of the 1960s, a contention firmly rejected by one of the nation's most prominent black ministers.  On Monday, Lynch made numerous direct comparisons between the North Carolina bathroom debate and laws that discriminated against black people just over a half century ago.  "It was not so very long ago that states, including North Carolina, had other signs above restrooms, water fountains and on public accommodations, keeping people out based on a distinction without a difference," Lynch said.

The Editor says...
The difference, in case you attended public schools, is that one may be born black, but one is not born transsexual.  Electing to change from one sex to the other is a conscious act.

N. Carolina's resistance to LGBT demands to inspire others?  Is North Carolina at the forefront of a revolt?  Veteran journalist David Kupelian sure hopes so.  "After watching almost every institution, from the Boy Scouts to even some churches, cave under pressure to the increasingly deranged demands of the LGBT movement — and backed fully by the Obama administration — it's more than refreshing to see the state of North Carolina sue the federal government for its obvious overreach and bullying," said Kupelian, WND's managing editor and author of "The Snapping of the American Mind."  "Hopefully North Carolina's fortitude will encourage other individuals, organizations and government entities to stop the trend of cravenly capitulating to what they all know, deep down, is wrong, immoral and pathological."

North Carolina's cojones.  For the past eight years, common sense has disappeared from the political spectrum with nonsensical executive orders and the machinations of the closet fascists in office.  The federal government interfering in states' rights has become routine but there are signs that state resistance to the bullying will hopefully be a harbinger of welcome change.  The great state of North Carolina is flexing the might of principle against a hostile Department of Justice.  It has filed a lawsuit against the DOJ for threatening to withdraw funding to the state over its common sense law concerning privacy in restrooms.  The mere fact that North Carolina had to pass a law declaring that persons must only use the public bathrooms for the gender they were born with is a testament to the tyranny of a very powerful minority aka the LGBT political bloc.

Transgender Activism Has Produced a Legal Absurdity.  In a 2-1 panel ruling in mid April, a federal appellate court decided (or at least seemed to think that it decided) that G.G., a girl who identifies herself as male, has a legal right to use the boys' restrooms at her high school in rural Gloucester County, Va.  In so doing, the panel's majority, consisting of two appointees of President Obama, kowtowed to the Obama administration's radical claim that federal law requires any college or school that receives federal funding to make its single-sex restrooms, locker rooms, showers, housing, and sports teams available to "transgender students consistent with their gender identity."  Never has a more brazen and aggressive bureaucratic misreading of federal law encountered a more craven and confused judicial reception.

N.C. fires lawsuit back at feds over LGBT law.  Officials in North Carolina filed a lawsuit Monday [5/9/2016] against the Department of Justice over the feds' demand that the state not implement its controversial LGBT law or risk losing federal funds.  The Justice Department had set a deadline of Monday for Gov.  Pat McCrory to report whether he would refuse to enforce the last that took effect in March.  McCrory's defiance could lead to a protracted legal battle.  McCrory's lawsuit, filed in federal court in North Carolina, asks a judge to block Justice Department action that could threaten billions of dollars in federal money flowing to the state.

After Firing Curt Schilling for Transgender Comments, ESPN Hires LGBT Activist Abby Wambach.  Curt Schilling's politics got him fired from ESPN.  Abby Wambach's politics didn't prevent her from getting hired.  And neither did her recent DUI arrest, which resulted in a guilty plea less than a month ago and admissions of past marijuana and cocaine use.  ESPN hired Wambach to analyze soccer at the Olympics, and venture into more contentious matters with "Outside the Lines" and on a planned podcast called "Fearless Conversation with Abby Wambach," a program the AP describes as one in "which she promises won't shy away from controversy."

Activism masquerading as journalism:
Here's Who's Controlling the Bathroom Debate.  The bathroom wars raging in North Carolina, set off by House Bill 2 passed by the N.C. General Assembly, have attained international attention, partly from a febrile cadre of gay activists, but largely due to the Charlotte Observer that covers the city where the donnybrook began — and N.C.'s capital city daily, the Raleigh News & Observer.  Without these papers, both owned by the McClatchy chain, the bathroom gender issue would have come and gone in a few days. [...] For two straight weeks, the Raleigh paper published from four to seven pieces a day on the subject — news articles, editorials, guest opinion, editorial cartoons, letters to the editor, and blurbs in their political happenings column.  The theme that emerges is to exhort readers to approve of transgender lifestyles and special rights.

The Obama Justice Department's Insane Attack on North Carolina.  Of all Barack Obama's unforgivable sins, his corruption and politicization of the Department of Justice ranks near the top.  Under Eric Holder and now Loretta Lynch, DOJ has become a lunatic enforcer of far-left fantasies.  The latest instance is DOJ's letter to the Governor of North Carolina, claiming that North Carolina's law requiring that bathrooms, locker rooms and so on be used by those of the proper sex — male or female, based on physical organs — violates the federal civil rights laws.

Justice Department says North Carolina's anti-LGBT bathroom law violates civil rights and can't be enforced.  The Justice Department has warned North Carolina's governor that the state's anti-LGBT 'bathroom bill' violates civil rights laws and cannot be enforced.

Cancellations Over North Carolina's 'Discrimination' — Silence About Hypocrisy.  North Carolina's new public facilities law simply says that in all government-controlled locations, offices and facilities, any bathroom that accommodates more than one person at a time must be assigned to a single gender. [...] To some, the North Carolina bathroom law is so offensive that it would be wrong to do business in this state that unfairly "discriminates."  But doing business in foreign locations, where if a male entered a female bathroom he'd be thrown in jail or worse, and where being homosexual or transgender is a crime — not a problem.

North Carolina defiant over 'bathroom bill' deadline: 'We will take no action'.  North Carolina officials have said they will defy a federal deadline to suspend their controversial "bathroom bill" by Monday [5/9/2016] or risk losing as much $4.8 b[illio]n in government funding.  "That deadline will come and go," said Tim Moore, the speaker of the state house of representatives.  "We will take no action."  He continued:  "Obviously, we don't ever want to lose any money, but we're not going to get bullied by the Obama administration to take action prior to Monday's date.  That's not how this works."

Widespread Mental Illness Taking Over America, One Bathroom at a Time.  I feel as if the world around me is suffering from some undiagnosed, contagious mental illness, and the few of us trying not to contract it are being screamed at for not wanting to suffer, too.  Yes, I'm talking about the transgender bathroom hysteria.  Let's get this out of the way right now:  This is NOT about transgendered people using the restroom of their choice.  To my knowledge, they've been doing just that for years and years with no problems.  The number of transgendered people is so low that the chances that I've actually been in the bathroom at the same time as one of them are astronomically low.  But if I was, I had no idea and it doesn't bother me to think that I may have, at some point, shared a bathroom with a transgendered person.  That's not why America's mothers and fathers are up in arms.

The Left's Thought-Fascism Hits ESPN.  [Scroll down]  By inclusive, ESPN does not mean ideologically inclusive.  They simply mean that if you do not kowtow to politically correct idiocies about men magically becoming women, you will not be tolerated.  ESPN is the same channel that rewarded Caitlyn Jenner, nee Bruce, the Arthur Ashe Courage Award for getting a misguided boob job, facial reconstruction surgeries and hormone treatments that will not solve his underlying mental illness.  Pointing out that Caitlyn is still a man, however, will get you fired from that same network.  Not only that, but you will be memory-holed.

Seven Sure Signs That America Has Declared War On Our Faith.  [#2] The Colorado Supreme Court has chosen not to hear the case of Christian baker Jack Phillips who was previously ordered by the Colorado Civil Rights Commission "to create cakes for same-sex celebrations, re-educate his staff, and file quarterly 'compliance' reports for two years." [...] The Court declined to hear the case, meaning that the state's Civil Rights Commission not only has the power to require a bakery to make same-sex "wedding" cakes but also to require that baker to "reeducate" his staff and file regular reports proving that he is baking those cakes.  Chairman Mao would be proud of state-mandated "reeducation" like this.

Gender Chaos in an XX-XY World.  We live in a country where people think it's okay for has-been rock stars to cancel concerts because of their beliefs but it's not okay for bakers, florists and photographers to do the same.  We also live in a nation controlled by very confused people who believe it's good to reinforce the abnormal behavior of a few by altering the normal behavior of the majority.  If you ever needed a definition of insanity, well, there you go.  So how did we get here?  It's pretty simple.  We no longer live in a society that filters the world through the Biblical prism of "right and wrong" or "good and evil."  In the absence of moral absolutes, people tend to make issues over non-issues and create wars defending non-victims.

With Apologies to Nathan Hale.  [Scroll down]  And let's think of Nathan Hale.  Would the great Nathan, were he alive today, be as regretful that he had only one life to give for this country?  Would Hale die for bathroom freedom fighters, as the grotesque Bruce Springsteen called those folks who were born one sex but like to spend time in the other sex's bathrooms?  Brucie baby has chosen not to make his noise in North Carolina, whose state legislature recently tried to preserve the preposterous idea that "single-sex multiple-occupancy bathrooms should be entered based on a person's biological gender, not what they imagine it to be."

What's Really Driving the Bathroom Wars.  [Scroll down]  This war on embodiment is not precisely new.  Liberals have for decades been in need of a no-nonsense birds-and-bees talk.  Still, the nuttiness is accelerating.  In recent years progressives have demanded that every imaginable form of human coupling (or throupling) be sanctioned and celebrated.  (Mere toleration, of course, is not sufficient.)  Physically healthy people have declared themselves "trans-abled" and destroyed their own eyes or limbs to conform to a subjective self-image.  Nuns must now contribute to the suppression of female fertility, even as we are all expected to ignore overwhelming evidence of men's superior fitness for military service.  Even the traditional practice of announcing a newborn's sex at birth has been unironically presented as barbaric and backwards.

You Will Be Compelled to Agree.  The rules of bigotry according to the left represent a constantly shifting kaleidoscope of nonsense.  This week, we learned that if you don't want your small daughter peeing next to a giant man who thinks he is a woman, you are a bigot; if you are a woman who is uncomfortable with a man who thinks he is a woman whipping out his male genitalia to urinate in front of you, you are a bigot; if you are a religious person who doesn't want to participate in an activity you consider sinful, you are a bigot.

Why Christians are losing the war over gay-wedding cakes.  In today's Wedding Cake War, conservatives are floundering on the battlefield of religious liberty.  While this remains a central and legitimate combat zone, the Right should fight on at least three other constitutional grounds:  freedom of association, freedom of speech and involuntary servitude. [...] Government bakeries, if any exist, must bake wedding cakes for anyone who asks.  But the private sector is another matter.

Believing in two genders is a 'hate crime' under police investigation at Loyola Marymount University.  [Scroll down]  Both the police and the university's Bias Incident Response Team are investigating the stated belief that only two genders exist, male and female, as a hate crime.  A Loyola alumni office employee discussed her views on sexual orientation, which align with the Roman Catholic Church, with three students who were hanging up posters on the subject on April 14.  Cosette Carleo, one of the students involved, told The College Fix in a phone interview that the hate crime under investigation is "denying transgenderism."  Carleo's account agrees in part with an email by the husband of the employee with whom she tangled.  The employee told Carleo, who identifies as gender-neutral, that only two genders exist, male and female, according to the student.  Carleo told The Fix that statement was the hate crime.

NCAA takes firmer stance against LGBT discrimination with new championship process.  In an effort to protect its teams and their respective fanbases from discrimination — particularly to those in the LGBT community — in states such as North Carolina, the NCAA has implemented an anti-discrimination process for championship bids, the organization announced on Wednesday following its quarterly meeting in Indianapolis.  "Well, it's a step in the right direction," Pat Griffin, professor emerita at the University of Massachusetts and a leading advocate for the LGBT movement told USA TODAY Sports on Wednesday [4/27/2016] in response to the NCAA's updated process.  "Their silence prior to this was unacceptable.  I'm happy to see that they have spoken.  I think there's more that they could have done but it's a start."

Report: North Carolina sites could lose tourney games over discrimination.  A measure adopted by the NCAA Board of Governors could reportedly lead to two North Carolina cities losing their hosting rights for NCAA Tournament games in 2017 and '18.  The measure would require host sites or cities bidding to host games "to demonstrate how they will provide an environment that is safe, healthy and free of discrimination," according to a statement from the NCAA.  The NCAA said the decision follows actions of legislatures in several states.  While the NCAA didn't specify which states, Mississippi and North Carolina have recently passed laws that critics say can allow discrimination against members of the LGBT community.

Big Business Helps Squash Voters on Religious Liberty Debate.  When it comes to religious liberty debates, big businesses don't want the people to decide.  Or at least they don't want the people of Missouri to decide.  While the more explosive battles in Georgia, Mississippi, and North Carolina about bills regarding religious liberty and LGBT accommodations have gained national attention, Missouri has flown mostly under the radar.  Perhaps it was because Missouri was debating a bill that, if passed, would have gone to the people to vote on, not the governor's desk.

Transgender Fender Bender.  My friend's niece is a French teacher in a local high school and has a female transgender who insists on being called by a male name.  I guess she'll insist on using the men's room also.  Now according to this insane logic If a woman is woman but thinks she's a man she can use either bathroom.  The same goes for a man who thinks he's a woman, he can use the ladies room.  All they have to do is just think it.

Oregon Bakers Continue Legal Fight, Challenging 'Gag Order'.  The Oregon bakers who were ordered to pay $135,000 for refusing to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding filed a brief with the Oregon Court of Appeals on Monday, arguing the ruling against them was biased and violates both the Oregon and U.S. constitutions.  "In America, you're innocent until proven guilty," said Kelly Shackelford, president and CEO of First Liberty Institute, the group representing Aaron and Melissa Klein in their legal fight.  "Commissioner Brad Avakian decided the Kleins were guilty before he even heard their case.  This is an egregious violation of the Kleins' rights to due process.  We hope the Oregon Court of Appeals will remedy this by dismissing the government's case against the Kleins."

Christians furious about what Michelle Obama said during commencement speech.  [Scroll down]  These days, if you're a Christian, the government has decided to bring its full weight against you.  If Christians decline to provide services to a particular event, i.e. a same-sex marriage, because it violates their faith beliefs and their First Amendment rights, they should not be prosecuted.  But that has occurred in several states in America.  So instead of being honest with people, Mrs.  Obama just regurgitated inaccurate talking points.  I suppose Mrs.  Obama has no problem with her husband's assault against the Little Sisters of the Poor, who had to go before the Supreme Court of the United States.  Or even the case affecting a private sector company, Hobby Lobby, where again, her husband's administration legally assaulted that company for its Christian faith.

Silver: NBA must move all-star game if no change to controversial North Carolina law.  NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Thursday [4/21/2016] that if the league is to keep the 2017 all-star game in Charlotte it will require a change in the controversial North Carolina law passed last month that overturned protections for gay and transgender people.  "We've been, I think, crystal clear, that a change in the law is necessary to play in the kind of environment that we think is appropriate for a celebratory NBA event, but that we did have some time and if the view of the people who were allied with us, in terms of a change, the view of the people on the ground in North Carolina was that the situation would best be served by us not setting a deadline, then we would not set a deadline at this time," Silver said during a meeting with the Associated Press Sports Editors at the league's headquarters in midtown Manhattan.

The Rainbow Jihad.  A Kentucky county clerk thrown in jail.  A New York state family fined thousands of dollars.  An Oregon baker fined hundreds of thousands of dollars.  A decorated Iowa newspaper editor loses his job.  A Washington State florist facing the loss of her home and life savings.  Soldiers court-martialed.  These are but a few of the casualties of the Rainbow Jihad in America, and there will be more.  Because the endgame is not "tolerance" or "diversity" but "you will be made to care."

Rally Held in Support of South L.A. LGBTQ Students After Fight Breaks Out Over Gender-Neutral Bathroom.  After anti-gay protesters descended on a South Los Angeles high school that recently touted its gender-neutral bathrooms, the organizer of a rally in support of LGBTQ students declared the campus a "no-hate zone" on Wednesday afternoon.  The initial protests occurred after classes Tuesday [4/19/2016] at Santee Education Complex, just south of downtown, and led to a fight that was caught on cellphone video.

Curt Schilling:  I'm not sorry, I'm still rich and 'I'm not transphobic'.  Two days after ESPN terminated his contract, Curt Schilling still won't apologize for his controversial anti-transgender remarks posted on his Facebook page and personal website.  But he will defend himself.  "I'm not transphobic.  I'm not homophobic," Schilling said in an interview with Stephen K. Brannon of the Breitbart News Daily airing on SiriusXM.  "If in my past I'd ever been a racist or I had ever said something racist, or if I had ever been transphobic or homophobic, somebody somewhere would have said something I'm sure given my status."

ESPN Fired Curt Schilling for Telling the Truth.  Curt Schilling tells blunt and uncomfortable truths, so there is no place for him in progressive corporate America.  Last summer, ESPN suspended him for a personal Facebook post that rightly compared Muslim extremists to Nazis and rightly noted that even a minority of extremists can cause catastrophic conflict.  But in the world of progressive corporate politics, the truth is "Islamophobic" and must be punished.  Yesterday, ESPN fired Schilling.  His offense?  Posting a crude meme on his personal Facebook page that took direct aim at allowing men access to women's restrooms.  He also wrote, "A man is a man no matter what they call themselves.  I don't care what they are, who they sleep with, men's room was designed for the penis, women's not so much.  Now you need laws telling us differently?  Pathetic."

The Umbrage Factory.  America is a country of strivers.  Alas, having attained so much success, many Americans now strive to be offended.  Polite agreement to disagree is gone.  Now people log on to social media where they discover words that offend their delicate sensibilities.  Then they make sure everyone knows they are aggrieved.  Sometimes the perennially offended even win a trophy for their troubles — such as the scalp of ESPN analyst and former Major League Baseball pitcher Curt Schilling.

ESPN fires analyst and former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling over transgender comments.  ESPN has announced that it has fired network analyst and former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling following his comments on Facebook about transgender people.  In a statement released Wednesday, ESPN says "Curt Schilling has been advised that his conduct was unacceptable.  This week, Schilling reposted an image of an overweight man wearing a long blond wig and revealing women's clothing.  It included the phrase:  "Let him in!  To the restroom with your daughter or else you're a narrow minded, judgmental, unloving, racist bigot who needs to die!!!"

ESPN Has a Right to Fire Curt Schilling.  What Rights Do People of Faith Have?  ESPN has fired Curt Schilling.  The company said that his speech went against company values because ESPN is "an inclusive company.  What's at stake here?  Curt Schilling has a right to say biological men don't belong in women's bathrooms in whatever controversial way he wants.  And ESPN has a right to give Caitlyn Jenner the "Arthur Ashe Courage Award" for being a men's sports icon who now publicly identifies as a woman.  And whether we agree or disagree with Schilling's message or ESPN's isn't the point.  The bigger issue is that ESPN, like any other company, has a right to control its message, which means it should be generally free to make employment decisions based on its values, not Curt Schilling's, and certainly not the government's.

Curt Schilling, ESPN and your God-given plumbing.  There's no question that Curt Schilling has uttered a good number of politically incorrect statements during his career at ESPN.  The former All-Star pitcher has compared radical Muslims to Nazis and most recently suggested that Hillary Clinton "should be buried under a jail somewhere.  But it was something he shared on social media — about transgender bathrooms — that turned out to be the last straw for ESPN.  To be blunt — he was unceremoniously fired because he has a problem with men using the ladies room.

The Editor says...
I have worked in the broadcasting business since 1971, and I can tell you this:  TV sports personalities are expected to be bombastic, opinionated, and able to extemporaneously expound at great length about the tiniest details of professional sports.  The sports nut / couch potato will little note nor long remember anything that even his favorite sportscaster says.  Therefore, if he (or she) occasionally sheds some light on a politically incorrect topic, that offense should be forgiven; for indeed, that's how live television goes sometimes.  Once in a while, the truth pops out.

Dr. Richard Land:  Gender Activists 'Practicing Psychological Child Abuse' On 'Our Nation's Children'.  In defending North Carolina's new "bathroom" law, author and theologian Dr.  Richard Land said it is psychologically harmful to expose young boys and girls to transgender sexuality, and that "conditioning children" to believe that "chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex is normal" is nothing more than "child abuse.  Dr.  Land, president of Southern Evangelical Seminary and former five-term member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, added that the LGBT activists and lawmakers who push transgender and transsexual policies are abusing a "whole generation of our nation's children" and it is up to "clear-thinking adults to stop them."

Britain issues warning for LGBT travelers visiting North Carolina and Mississippi.  The British Foreign Office has released an advisory warning travelers to be aware of controversial new laws in North Carolina and Mississippi before visiting the United States.  The travel advisory update — directed to members of the country's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community — was posted on the Foreign Office's website Tuesday [4/19/2016].  "The U.S. is an extremely diverse society and attitudes towards LGBT people differ hugely across the country," the advisory says.  "LGBT travelers may be affected by legislation passed recently in the states of North Carolina and Mississippi.  Before traveling please read our general travel advice for the LGBT community."

Vermont's LGBT-related travel ban to cost Mississippi economy $559.  Vermont is one of four states to have banned employee travel to Mississippi and North Carolina, but expense reimbursement data show the Green Mountain State's bark is worse than its bite.  According to information from the Agency of Administration, Vermont's travel ban against Mississippi will cost that state's economy about $559 annually.  The hit to North Carolina will cost the state's economy about $14,265.

Gender diverse bathrooms, locker rooms, sports, and more.  One tactic of the proud, modern, American progressives today is using federal grant monies to leverage state legislation in order to overturn the tradition of separate but equal bathroom facilities (excepting a few anatomically relevant necessities) and move toward an inclusiveness that mirrors what happened when Brown v.  Board of Education (1954) overturned Plessy v.  Ferguson (1896).  North Carolina is the current battleground in the toilet debate, with Tennessee lining up to be next.  In both cases, the Federal Government uses threats to withhold money to leverage state behavior, supplemented by its crony capitalist allies who threaten to take their business elsewhere.

Boycotts, Bathrooms, and the Boss.  [B]oycotting an entire state, at least voluntarily — i.e. not through sanctions — is the most ineffective boycott of all because it is near impossible to do in today's interconnected world.  You want to boycott North Carolina, Mr. Springsteen?  Okay.  Better make sure none of your millions find their way through a Bank of America account.  And no sleeping on a Sealy mattress tonight.  That Hanes undershirt you're wearing?  Scrap it.  Same with the Burt's Bees you just put on those talented lips of yours.  All those "evil corporations" are headquartered in North Carolina.  And you'd better cancel that upcoming tour stop in Italy as well.  They still don't even recognize gay marriage!

Rep. Mark Walker: Liberals Exploiting Bathroom Bill Controversy For Political Gain.  A bathroom bill, a rock star, and competing claims of privacy have catapulted North Carolina into the center of a national debate over transgender rights.  And Rep.  Mark Walker, R-N.C., says he knows why.  The freshman legislator argues that Democrats are manufacturing outrage over the law for political gain in the Tar Heel state.

Liberals' Double Standard on Bathrooms, Boycotts, and Religious Freedom.  At issue are a Mississippi law that narrowly and carefully protects the rights of religious charities, small businesses, and select public servants and a North Carolina law that reasonably protects privacy and safety in public restrooms, while leaving private institutions free to set their own bathroom policies.  These laws, apparently, are now unacceptable to some voices on the left.  But are they really?  The hypocrisy in their opposition suggests otherwise.

After mayor refuses trip to Mississippi, Navy will bring USS Portland to PDX.  After Portland Mayor Charlie Hales announced he refuses to travel to Mississippi next month to commission the USS Portland over the state's anti-gay laws, the Navy has announced the commissioning will take place in Portland.  The law signed by the Mississippi governor earlier this month allows churches, religious charities and privately held businesses to decline services to people whose lifestyles violate their religious beliefs.  Individual government employees may also opt out, although the measure says governments must still provide services.

Halting LGBT rules, North Carolina lawmakers again rebuff cities.  The decision by the North Carolina legislature and Gov.  Pat McCrory to overturn Charlotte's anti-discrimination ordinance for LGBT citizens isn't simply another skirmish in the decades-old culture war between conservatives and progressives.  It's the latest muscle-flexing by leaders in Republican-controlled states to rebuff local governments — often large cities run by Democrats — implementing policies they disagree with or haven't sanctioned.

Disney's Religious Liberty Hypocrisy Exposed.  If Disney wants to throw its weight around in the political realm, it ought to at least base its opinions on a true story.  Instead, Disney embraced the "creative process," concocted a story about the bill, and proceeded to bellow with outrage. [...] Disney claims to be concerned about discrimination toward LGBT individuals — so much so that it was willing to pack up and leave Georgia once and for all if the Free Exercise Protection Act became law.  One would expect that its principled stand would extend to any location where Disney movies are filmed.  One would be wrong.  In the last five years, Disney has produced or released several movies that were filmed in countries that penalize homosexual acts, with penalties ranging from fines to life imprisonment and even death.

North Carolina: We won't be bullied by big business hypocrites.  PayPal, the website known for processing online payments, believes grown men have a constitutional right to use the same bathrooms as little girls. [...] In Georgia, Mississippi, Arkansas and Indiana[,] religious liberty bills have come under attack from a number of Fortune 500 companies[,] from Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines to UPS and Marriott Hotels.  But the American Family Association says what's shocking is that all of those companies opposing religious liberty in the name of LGBT rights are operating in countries where gays are facing fines and imprisonment.

Want to Improve Your State?  Pass an Anti-LGBT Law!  [Scroll down]  The truth is the only people wishing to impose their beliefs on others are leftists.  While a Christian business may choose to deny services for an event, they have no interest in denying service to an individual.  Transgender people have been using public restrooms without issue since the 1960s and there is no reason anyone should expect their personal sense of gender to override the natural inclinations of others to use the correct bathroom in public.  Transgender people are simply not going to be discriminated against and those who feel they will be fall under the 'no shoes, no service' concept of appropriate social behavior and expectations.  No one involved on the right has even proposed criminalizing or limiting transgender freedoms or liberty and certainly no one cares if a gay person buys from their shop.  People simply do not want to be bullied into participating in events or concepts they deeply oppose and no one wants their daughter in the same bathroom with a man who believes wearing a dress and a wig makes him a woman.

Mississippi Is on the Right Side of History.  Lawmakers in Mississippi took a stand for the First Amendment this week, and the usual suspects aren't happy.  Liberal politicians, LGBT activists, and big business are all in a tizzy, claiming discrimination where absolutely none exists and completely misrepresenting this commonsense law in hopes of bullying the state to reverse its decision.  Here's the scenario:  Thanks to a Supreme Court ruling last summer, same-sex marriage is now legal in all 50 states.  The new Mississippi law does nothing to change that.  As a matter of fact, this new law does not take away any right from anyone.

If Bakers Can be Forced to Service Faux Weddings, so Can Churches.  As our Great Sexual Heresy continues its march onwards and downwards, state governments have forced bakers, wedding planners, florists and other businesses to service faux weddings.  This is unprecedented, as never before were Americans governmentally compelled to participate in events they found morally objectionable.  Yet when some project out on our cultural trajectory and say churches one day will be subject to the same coercion, they're met with laughter; this will never, ever happen, they're told.  Yet this is an illogical and inconsistent position.

Bruce Springsteen cancels N.C. show over anti-LGBT law.  The LBGT community in North Carolina just got a big show of solidarity from none other than Bruce Springsteen.  The rock icon announced Friday [4/8/2016] on his official website that he is canceling Sunday's scheduled show in Greensboro to protest the state's newly passed House Bill 2 — dubbed the "bathroom law" — which dictates which public restrooms may be used by transgender individuals and prevents LBGT individuals to sue over human rights violations in the workplace.

Mississippi has taken a bold step to defend religious liberty.  Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant signed a religious freedom law Tuesday [4/5/2016] that will protect people who believe that marriage is between a man and a woman.  The Religious Freedom Law will "protect sincerely held religious beliefs and moral convictions of individuals, organizations and private associations from discriminatory action by state government or its political subdivisions, which would include counties, cities, and institutions of higher learning."  In other words, every Christian who owns a business in the state of Mississippi owes the governor a thank-you.

North Carolina: We won't be bullied by big business hypocrites.  PayPal, the website known for processing online payments, believes grown men have a constitutional right to use the same bathrooms as little girls.  So when North Carolina Gov.  Pat McCrory signed a bill that banned people from using bathrooms not assigned to their birth sex, PayPal became enraged and retaliated.  They canceled plans to open a new operations center in Charlotte — a facility that would've employed more than 400 workers.

Vermont bans official travel to Mississippi over LGBT law.  The state of Vermont is banning, for now, official travel to Mississippi because of that state's passage of a law that allows religious groups and some private businesses to refuse service to gay couples.

PayPal [and] Apple lecture North Carolina [but they] do business in countries far more hostile to gays.  PayPal drew a line in the sand when North Carolina enacted a law prohibiting people from using the restrooms of the opposite sex, but critics say that line got washed away on the shores of Malaysia, a nation that consistently ranks among the least LGBT-friendly in the world.  The company canceled its plan to build a global operations center in Charlotte after the passage of HB2, which CEO Daniel Schulman called discrimination against the transgendered.  He noted that the move would cost North Carolina 400 well-paying jobs.

New York State workers banned from non-essential visits to Mississippi because of anti-LGBT law.  Gov.  Cuomo on Tuesday [4/5/2016] banned non-essential trips by state workers to Mississippi because of a new law in that state that critics say sanctions discrimination against gays and lesbians.  Cuomo signed the executive order banning travel to Mississippi after Gov.  Phil Bryant signed a law — dubbed the Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act — that prevents the government from taking action against organizations that deny service to people based on religious objections.

The Editor says...
When there is a ban on official travel from New York to Mississippi, who will notice?

8 Questions for PayPal on Its Decision to Boycott North Carolina.  [#1] North Carolina's new law would ensure that public multi-occupancy bathrooms — not bathrooms controlled by private companies or individuals, such as the PayPal bathrooms — correspond to a person's biological sex as listed on his birth certificates (which can be changed). Why does PayPal object to that?  Does PayPal believe that providing LGBT Americans "equal rights under the law" requires allowing people who are biologically male to use women's bathrooms?

How The Media Attack Religious Liberty.  Most of the media won't acknowledge that Americans who refuse to participate in a gay wedding could have any sincerely held beliefs or good faith arguments to make. [...] One way the news media signal their dismissiveness of religious liberty is by insinuating that the entire debate is bogus.  Editors do this by putting quotation marks around the term "religious freedom," as if this notion, when practiced by Christians, is somehow ambiguous or manipulative or deceptive.  Now, if those quotation marks exist because the topic itself is up for debate, then why isn't there a similar journalistic standard for the usage of "inequality," "environmentalist," "civil rights," "investments," "loopholes" or any of the hundreds of other similarly contentious or loaded words in our political discourse?  Another, more overt way of misleading the public about religious freedom is framing the debate as a struggle between open-minded, civil-rights seeking gays and a bunch of bigots frightened of progress — essentially the tone of every piece covering Mississippi's new religious liberty law.

North Carolina loses 400 jobs as PayPal pulls facility.  North Carolina's "bathroom bill" just cost the state 400 future jobs.  PayPal has canceled its plans to open a new global operations center in Charlotte, following passage of a North Carolina law that prevents cities from creating non-discrimination policies based on gender identity.  The measure also mandates that students in state schools use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender when they were born.

PayPal cancels North Carolina expansion over discrimination law.  PayPal says it's canceling plans to bring 400 jobs to North Carolina after lawmakers passed a law that restricts protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

Bathroom Boycotts Flush Safety of Women and Girls.  North Carolina enacted a law on March 23 that bans individuals from using public bathrooms and changing facilities that do not correspond to their biological sex as stated on their birth certificate.  The law repealed Charlotte's "nondiscrimination" ordinance that allowed individuals to use public bathrooms of the sex with which they identify.  North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory's office issued a statement of "myths and facts" to refute liberal media bias concerning what McCrory and other lucid people consider a "common sense" law.  Nonetheless, public officials, who identify as defenders of women's rights and privacy, have issued executive orders discriminating against North Carolina in the name of ending discrimination.  San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, a Democrat, issued an order March 25, barring "any publicly-funded City employee travel to the State of North Carolina that is not absolutely essential to public health and safety."

Mississippi Moves to Protect Religious Freedom on Marriage.  This morning [4/1/2016], the Mississippi House passed a bill, HB 1523, protecting religious freedom.  If the House disposes of a procedural maneuver that has delayed a final vote until Monday, the bill will go to the governor's desk for his signature, as the Senate passed the bill earlier this week.  The bill is good policy and the governor should sign it.  HB 1523, "Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act," is based on the principle of protecting minority rights after major social change.  In other states where marriage had been redefined, citizens and religious organizations who continued believing that marriage was a union of husband and wife have been penalized by the government.  Bakers and florists have been fined, adoption agencies shuttered.  So the citizens of Mississippi have acted to make sure it never happens in their state.  In the aftermath of the Supreme Court's redefinition of marriage, they're working to protect their civil liberties.

It's open season on people of faith in Georgia.  Georgia's Republican governor stunned the state's religious community Monday [3/28/2016] by vetoing legislation that would have protected preachers who refuse to perform LGBT marriages.  "It's open season on people of faith in our state," said State Sen. Josh McKoon, the author of the 2014 Religious Freedom Restoration Act.  "It's a slap in the face to conservatives, to evangelicals and to the broader faith community," he told me.

Disney threatens to stop filming in Georgia if anti-gay bill becomes law.  Delivering a potentially serious blow to one of the fastest growing production hubs in the country, Walt Disney Co. is threatening to no longer film in the state of Georgia if an anti-gay bill is signed into law there.  The Free Exercise Protection Act is on the desk of Gov. Nathan Deal, who has until May 3 to decide whether to veto it.  Hollywood business totaling billions of dollars could hang in the balance.  The measure, passed by Georgia lawmakers March 16, would offer protections to faith-based entities that refuse to provide services that they say violate their beliefs.  If it becomes law, the proposed legislation would have the effect of beefing up legal safeguards for opponents of same-sex marriage.

The Left Demands Georgia Bow to Hollywood Values.  They want total submission.  Disney is threatening to pull is film business out of Georgia if the Governor signs the legislation.  Pay no attention to Disney operating in states that have even broader religious freedom legislation.  The NFL says Georgia may put its Super Bowl bid in jeopardy if the Governor signs the legislation.  Pay no attention to the NFL considering two other states for that Super Bowl, both of which have religious freedom legislation already.  What does Georgia's law do?  [#1] It says no preacher can be forced to perform a religious service in violation of his faith.  [#2] It says no religious organization can be forced to hire people that disagree with the religious tenets of the organization.  [#3] It says the government cannot force a business to stay open on a Saturday or Sunday.  [#4] It specifically says the organizations cannot discriminate against protected classes of citizens.  The legislation also includes the federal RFRA language that Bill Clinton signed into law.  That's it.  It does not apply to for profit businesses at all.  It only applies to religious organizations.

Phoenix Councilman Pilloried by Thought Police for Objecting to Same-Sex Marriage.  LGBT activists are assailing Phoenix City Councilman Michael Nowakowski for affirming traditional marriage after a video surfaced online Tuesday [3/8/2016] showing him objecting to same-sex marriage and transgender people being allowed to use restrooms designated for the opposite sex.  Nowakowski, a Catholic Democrat, made his comments last month while speaking to a group of Christian pastors about a controversy over public prayer at council meetings.

Transgender man to sue barbershop that denied service for 'religious' reason.  A California transgender man plans to take legal action against a barbershop after the owner refused to give the customer a haircut, stating that he only serves "men" due to his religious beliefs.  Kendall Oliver — a US army sergeant who identifies as a transgender man and uses the gender-neutral pronoun "they" — said a business called The Barbershop in Rancho Cucamonga in southern California refused to give them a haircut this week, saying the shop doesn't offer cuts to "women".

'Gay' case against Christian bakery goes wobbly.  The anti-discrimination laws intended to protect homosexual consumers in Northern Ireland actually discriminate against Christians, the nation's most senior lawyer will be allowed to argue in a case against a baker.  Ashers Baking Co. is appealing a lower court ruling that found the company violated the anti-discrimination protections by refusing to fulfill a customer's request for a cake celebrating "gay marriage."

Ashers: Judges agree Attorney General's involvement in case.  The Christian Institute is supporting Ashers Baking Company in their stand for biblical marriage, after they were sued for not decorating a cake with a pro-gay marriage slogan.  Simon Calvert, Deputy Director of The Christian Institute, described the court case as a "legal, political and theological saga" but noted that Ashers' owners are hugely grateful for all the support they have received.

Texas bakers face threats after declining to bake gay wedding cake.  A small town bakery owned by a Christian family is under siege after they declined to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple.  Edie and David Delorme own the Kern's Bake Shop in Longview, Texas — known around town for their petit fours and sugar cookies — and also their custom-made wedding cakes.  The Delormes are also devout Christians — faithful members of a nearby Baptist church — and they run their bakery according to the tenets of their religious beliefs.  That became a problem on Feb. 17th when Ben Valencia and Luis Marmolejo requested the bakers make a cake for their upcoming wedding.

Thousands rally against legalizing same-sex civil unions in Italy.  Thousands of people filled Rome's Circus Maximus on Saturday [1/30/2016] to protest a proposal to legally recognize same-sex civil unions in Italy, the only county in Western Europe not to do so.  Around 1,500 buses were chartered from across Italy to bring the protesters, who filled the ancient Roman chariot racing arena.  Parents pushed strollers, Roman Catholic priests were out in force, and people waved balloons and banners, including one that read, "No to the Gaystapo," a reference to the Nazi Gestapo.

N.Y. court upholds $13,000 fine against farm owners who refused to host gay wedding.  A New York appellate court upheld Thursday a $13,000 judgment against the owners of Liberty Ridge Farm for refusing to host a same-sex marriage on their property.  Cynthia and Robert Gifford, who own the 100-acre farm in Rensselaer County, violated the state's Human Rights Law when they declined for religious reasons a September 2012 request by Melisa McCarthy and Jennifer McCarthy to rent the venue for their wedding ceremony, the court ruled.

Anglican Communion suspends the Episcopal Church after years of gay rights debates.  For the first time, the global organizing body of Anglicans has punished the Episcopal Church, following years of heated debate with the American church over homosexuality, same-sex marriage and the role of women.  The Anglican Communion's announcement Thursday [1/14/2016] that it would suspend its U.S. branch for three years from key voting positions was seen as a blow to the Episcopal Church, which allows its clergy to perform same-sex marriages and this summer voted to include the rite in its church laws.  It was also seen as a victory for conservative Anglicans, especially those in Africa,, [sic] who for years have been pressing the Anglican Communion to discipline the U.S. body.

UVA Prof: 'Helping to Make a Religiously Prohibited Wedding the Best... Is To Assist a Sacrilege'.  A University of Virginia law professor who supports same-sex marriage says that for those who believe weddings are "an inherently religious ceremony... helping to make a religiously prohibited wedding the best and most memorable it can be is to assist a sacrilege."  Prof. Douglas Laycock, who helped draft the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, told CNSNews.com that the Barronelle Stutzman case is about "the religious context" of a wedding, not whether merchants can discriminate against gay couples.

Prominent doc says LGBT opposition got him excised from hospital staff.  Dr. Paul Church clashed with officials at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for years over the issue, bitterly opposing the hospital's policy of promoting such events as Gay Pride Week and "LGBT Achievement" awards ceremonies.  The hospital's stance ignored overwhelming evidence that practices common in the LGBT increase the risk of disease and mental illness, according to Church, a Cornell-trained urologist who worked at the hospital for 28 years.

State squeezes last penny from bakers who defied lesbian-wedding cake order.  [Scroll down]  In July, they were ordered to pay more than $135,000 in damages to a lesbian couple after they refused to bake their wedding cake.  The Kleins objected because of their religious beliefs.  The judgment was awarded to the lesbians for "emotional suffering."  Just a few weeks before Christmas, Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian wiped out the Klein family's bank accounts — taking nearly $7,000.  Faced with a state-mandated 9 percent interest penalty, the Kleins opted to pay the disputed amount in full — turning over a $136,927.07 check to the government.  That money, which was not in their bank account, was acquired through donations the family.

Oregon Seizes Bank Accounts of Christian Baker Who Refused Gay Wed Cake.  Melissa Klein, the owner of the bakery that refused to bake a cake for a homosexual wedding ceremony, has revealed that the state of Oregon seized all of her bank accounts weeks before she planned to pay the settlement from the suit brought against her by the couple.  According to Fox News, Klein and her husband were hit with a penalty of over $135,000 in July payable to the lesbian couple who cited "emotional suffering" for the mom-and-pop bakers holding to their Christian beliefs.

Mass. Court Rules Catholic School Can't Necessarily Refuse to Hire Gays.  Massachusetts, like all states, has its own antidiscrimination laws for employment, housing, public accommodations, et cetera.  Like many states, Massachusetts does acknowledge the right of religious institutions to choose with whom to associate on the basis of its beliefs and provides some exceptions to antidiscrimination laws.  But these exemptions are not all-encompassing, as Catholic girls' school Fontbonne Academy just discovered this week.  The Catholic school retracted a job offer they extended to Matthew Barrett to be their food services director when he put his husband's name as his emergency contact on employment forms, meaning he's gay and married.  That's not exactly in alignment with the Catholic Church's teachings.  Barrett and the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) fought the decision as antigay discrimination.  The school defended itself, calling on the religious exemption, but the judge ruled it didn't actually apply here.

Christian Daycare Workers Fired Because They Didn't Call A Little Girl A Boy.  The trans movement is all about inconveniencing and making everyone else uncomfortable for the sake of .0004 percent of the population.  In the latest madness trans story, Christian daycare workers actually were fired because they called a child a 'girl' instead of a 'boy.'

Christian Daycare Workers Fired for Refusing to Call a Little Girl a Boy.  Two daycare workers have been fired for refusing to go along with the center's transgender agenda.  Madeline Kirksey, one of the workers who is an author of a Christian book, says her religious liberty rights have been violated.  The two were fired after refusing to call a little girl a boy.

Christian Daycare Workers Fighting Back After Being Fired For Refusing to Call a Girl a Boy.  Two Christian daycare workers fired for refusing to call a six-year-old girl a boy are fighting back.  They have hired legal counsel and are going to sue.  One of the workers was fired from a Houston area school the day the Houston "bathroom ordinance" was soundly defeated by voters.  The other worker was fired the Thursday before.

Oregon bakery owners refuse to pay damages in gay wedding cake case.  The owners of an Oregon bakery are refusing to pay $135,000 in state-ordered damages to a same-sex couple who were denied service.  Melissa and Aaron Klein, owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, cited religious beliefs when they refused to bake a wedding cake for Laurel and Rachel Bowman-Cryer more than two years ago.

Alabama Supreme Court: We Don't Have To Recognize Lesbian Adoption.  Alabama's Supreme Court refused to recognize a lesbian woman's adoption Friday [9/18/2015], drawing criticism from gay rights activists and raising questions about the future of same-sex adoptions.  The case centered around a lesbian couple who shared custody of three children but later split up.  One of them gave birth to the children with the help of a sperm donor, and her partner later adopted the children while living in Georgia, so they could both be the official, legal parents.  The biological mother, who now lives in Alabama, tried to keep the children from the adoptive mother after the couple parted ways, sparking the legal battle.  The Alabama Supreme Court ruled that Alabama did not have to recognize the adoption made in Georgia, stripping the adoptive mother of her rights to the children.

Tide Commercial Mocks Christians Who Support 'Sanctity of Marriage'.  Sincerely-held religious beliefs are now the butt of a joke for one major brand.  Tide laundry detergent recently released a commercial poking fun at Christians who still hold to that "old-fashioned" belief that marriage should be between one man and one woman.  You know, those "silly" families who have lost their businesses, fought long legal battles or resigned from their jobs for refusing to endorse a same-sex wedding.  The commercial starts off showing two men in tuxedos, holding hands and walking up to a church.  They are greeted by a Kim Davis-esque churchgoer who stops talking to a minister to turn and give the men a glare.

Ellen Page Ignores Christians Fired, Fined, and Banned for Not Obeying Homosexual Dogma.  Headlines pretend Ellen Page is speaking for the oppressed when she is actually the oppressor. [...] I've never heard Ted Cruz calling for LGBT people to lose their First Amendment rights due to their sexual practices, so what is she talking about?

How Does Gay 'Marriage' Hurt Us? Here's How.  Christians are often asked by gay activists why they oppose same-sex "marriage."  "How does our marriage hurt you?" they ask.  Well, I can think of one significant way it will hurt us:  It will destroy religious freedom and free speech rights.  The handwriting is on the wall in Canada, which legalized same-sex "marriage" in 2005, in effect completely changing its true meaning.  Since then, as Michael Coren notes in National Review Online, "there have been between 200 and 300 proceedings ... against critics and opponents of same-sex marriage."  Of course he means legal proceedings. [...] Those with religious objections to conducting such ceremonies now face the loss of their jobs.

Colorado Baker Case Latest Defeat for Religious Liberty.  The Colorado Court of Appeals has handed the concept of religious liberty for individuals yet another defeat, with its August 13 ruling against suburban Denver baker Jack Phillips.  The appellate court upheld a lower court ruling that the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop had illegally discriminated against two homosexual men by refusing to bake a cake to celebrate their "marriage."  The two men, Charlie Craig and David Mullins, had filed a complaint with the aid of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), citing Colorado's anti-discrimination law.  Phillips told them that to accede to their wishes would violate his religious beliefs.  When the two men ordered the cake in 2012, Colorado did not recognize same-sex marriage; however, the court held that the refusal by Phillips to bake the cake ran afoul of the state's law which prohibits discrimination based upon "sexual orientation."

Hey Christians, Say Goodbye To Religious Freedom.  The owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, Jack Phillips, declined to participate in Charlie Craig and David Mullins' celebration, because such an event conflicted with his Christian faith.  Here are a few things Phillips didn't do:  He didn't query consumers about their sexual preferences.  He didn't bar same-sex couples from purchasing a cake at a place of public accommodation.  He didn't ask consumers traveling in same-sex pairs to leave his shop.  He didn't hang a 'No Gays Allowed' sign in his window.  What he could never have known when he first opened his shop was that celebrating gay marriages would be a precondition for making a living.

Christian Baker Vows to Defy Court, LGBT Activists.  A family bakery owned by a Christian cannot refuse to make wedding cakes for homosexual couples, the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled Thursday [8/13/2015].  The court affirmed the Colorado Civil Rights Commission's order that Jack Phillips, the owner of the Masterpiece Cakeshop, violated the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act when he refused to make a wedding cake for Charlie Craig and David Mullins.

Christian baker who refused to make a gay wedding cake cannot use his religious beliefs as a defense, court rules.  A Christian baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay marriage ceremony cannot use his religious beliefs as a defense, a court has ruled.  Jack Phillips, who owns Masterpiece Cakeshop near Denver, Colorado, was accused of discrimination after refusing to bake a wedding cake for David Mullins and Charlie Craig in 2012.  Philips said forcing him to make cakes for gay marriage ceremonies violated his right to freedom of speech and his religious freedoms, but today the Colorado Court of Appeals rejected his argument.

Board: Judges Can't Use Freedom of Religion to Avoid Performing Same-Sex Marriages.  The Ohio Supreme Court Board of Professional Conduct released a nonbinding, advisory ruling Monday [8/10/2015] that denies judges the right to cite their religious beliefs in refusing to marry same-sex couples.  Citing the judicial oath of office to "support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of Ohio," the opinion states, "A judge who is willing to perform marriages of only opposite-sex couples because of his or her personal, moral, or religious beliefs may be viewed as possessing a bias or prejudice against a specific class or group of people based on sexual orientation."

Ohio Judges Can't Choose Not to Marry Couples.  This is the ruling of an advisory board, and so it's still unclear to what extent it will be enforced.  In 2012, an appeals court rejected a claim that federal judge Vaughn Walker was biased even though he refused to disclose he was gay and in a long-term relationship with a man before overturning California's Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage.  The 9th Circuit Court of appeals held that just because he potentially had a personal stake in the outcome of the law, it was absurd to think he couldn't independently and fairly perform his judicial functions, and "to hold otherwise would demonstrate a lack of respect for the integrity of our federal courts."

Craig James Sues Fox Sports for Religious Discrimination over Gay Marriage Firing.  College football analyst Craig James filed suit against Fox Sports in a Dallas court this morning [8/3/2015] contending religious discrimination for his 2013 termination over his stance on gay marriage.  "Fox Sports fired James for one reason only:  his religious beliefs about marriage," the 35-page suit charges.  "In so doing, Fox Sports violated the law.  Specifically, Fox Sports violated the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act ('TCHRA') and Texas contract law along with a myriad of equitable principles."

The Gay Mafia Wants to Stop You From Doing This.  There is an organized movement within the gay rights community that is sometimess referred to as the "gay mafia."  They want to harass those who disagree with their agenda and silence any dissent from their agenda.  They have worked overtime in the past twenty-four hours because an AP poll shows that the number of Americans who now support gay marriage has declined since the Supreme Court's ruling and a majority believe Christian businesses should not be compelled to provide goods and services to gay weddings.  They cannot have that.  They also cannot have books and data that dispute their claims.  One such book is by my friend Ryan Anderson.

Sweet Cakes by Melissa breaks record on crowdfunding site.  The Gresham bakery that refused to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple is breaking records with its crowdfunding campaign.  Sweet Cakes by Melissa was kicked off GoFundMe earlier this year, but has since raised more than $350,000 on the crowdfunding site Continue to Give.  The growing total, which far exceeds the couple's $150,000 goal, is the largest individual campaign in the history of the three-year-old site, the Washington Times reported.  The couple previously netted more than $60,000 from Go Fund Me before that campaign was taken down.  The founder of Continue to Give, Jesse Wellhoefer, said he refused to remove the Sweet Cakes campaign despite "lots and lots" of complaints, according to the Washington Times.  The bakery owners, Aaron and Melissa Klein, were ordered to pay the couple $135,000 in damages, the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries ruled July 2.

Christians Must Brace Themselves for the Coming Persecution in Obama's LGBT America.  Rod Dreher, writing in an article in Time Magazine, has this to say about the recent US Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage:  "LGBT activists and their fellow travelers will be coming after social conservatives.  The Supreme Court has now, in constitutional doctrine, said that homosexuality is equivalent to race.  The next goal of activists will be a long-term campaign to remove tax-exempt status from dissenting religious institutions.  The more immediate goal will be the shunning and persecution of dissenters within civil society."

The Gay Lifestyle Fallacy.  The United States is sinking into the moral decay of tribal warfare.  No longer can Christians state their case without a torrent of hatred coming from both atheists and those in the gay rights cabal.  Any opinion that does not toe the progressive line will not be tolerated.  This comes from the party of tolerance.  Your identity, your lifestyle, even you very dignity will be trashed if you do not comply.  This way of thinking will soon be a coercive force in every citizens life.  Much of it starts with those who speak out from within the gay community, or those who have been raised inside the gay community and have felt its corrosive way of thinking first hand.

Bakers who refused to make lesbian wedding cake told to pay $135K by Monday — or else.  Two Christian bakers who refused to bake a cake for a lesbian wedding have been ordered to pay $135,000 in damages by July 13 or else the state of Oregon could place a lien on their home.  Aaron and Melissa Klein, the owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, were punished by the state's Bureau of Labor and Industry (BOLI) for unlawfully discriminating against a same-sex couple.  The Kleins, who are devout evangelical Christians, argued that baking the cake would be a violation of their religious beliefs.

Rusk County clerk resigns over gay marriage ruling.  Rusk County Clerk Joyce Lewis-Kugle has resigned because of an unwillingness to comply with the Supreme Court's ruling on issuing same-sex marriage licenses, County Judge Joel Hale said Friday [7/10/2015].  Hale said he received Lewis-Kugle's resignation letter Thursday, effective Monday.  "(She) felt like she couldn't continue (at the position) after the (June 25) Supreme Court decision," he said, adding that her departure is a tremendous loss to Rusk County.  Lewis-Kugle was not available for comment Friday.

Now Democrats Want to Ban the Words 'Husband' and 'Wife'.  Now that compulsory gay marriage is the law of the land thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court, liberals are reaching out from that decision to see where else they can force the gay lobby's agenda on the country.  Next up is a war against the words "husband" and "wife" because they are somehow "anti-gay."  California Congresscritter Lois Capps is now leading the charge to try to get the two words expunged from federal law.

Dems declare war on words 'husband,' 'wife'.  More than two dozen Democrats have proposed legislation that would eliminate the words "husband" and "wife" from federal law.  Those "gendered terms" would be replaced by "gender-neutral" words like "spouse" or "married couple," according to the bill from Rep. Lois Capps, D-Calif.  "The Amend the Code for Marriage Equality Act recognizes that the words in our laws have meaning and can continue to reflect prejudice and discrimination even when rendered null by our highest courts," Capps said.  "Our values as a country are reflected in our laws.  I authored this bill because it is imperative that our federal code reflect the equality of all marriages."

The Editor says...
When the liberals start deleting words from the dictionary, it will be impossible to teach future generations the difference between right and wrong, or the difference between normal and perverse, because the words that describe perversion will have been outlawed.  The normalization of perversion is not only well underway, it's gaining momentum.

Sen. Lee: 'Religious Individuals... Could Lose Everything'.  Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) says that if his First Amendment Defense Act fails to pass, "religious individuals and institutions could lose everything from tax-exempt status to government contracts, government employment and things like that."  Lee and Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) introduced the bill in June that would bar the federal government from imposing penalties on individuals, businesses, and religious organizations acting "in accordance with a religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman, or that sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage."

We 'refuse to comply': Christian bakers won't be bullied by gag order.  It's going to take more than a gag order from a state bureaucrat to shut up two Christian bakers under assault for refusing to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple in Oregon.  As reported by Bizpac Review on Saturday, Aaron and Melissa Klein were not only hit with a $135,000 fine for refusing to bake the cake, but they were also ordered by Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian to stop speaking out about the case.  The Kleins, owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, told Fox News' Todd Starnes they have no intention of obeying what they see as a clear violation of their First Amendment rights.

Wasserman-Schultz on Bakers Fined $135K Over Wedding Cake: 'You Shouldn't Be Able to Turn People Away'.  Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz said the marriage debate is over.  "The marriage equality decision is settled.  Love is love and now everyone in America enjoys the protection of the United States Constitution when it comes to who they choose to marry legally," Wasserman-Schultz told The Daily Signal.  She also weighed in on the religious liberty debate.  "That doesn't mean that churches and religious institutions have to conduct same-sex marriages and it doesn't mean that religious institutions aren't able to practice their own values.  But, in this country, we do not allow people to discriminate."

Christian Bakers Fined $135K Over Lesbian Wedding Cake Raise More Than $210K.  A fundraising campaign that was launched to help Aaron and Melissa Klein, the bakers fined $135,000 for refusing to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding, has raised more than $210,000.  The Kleins told The Daily Signal in an earlier interview that their income has virtually been cut in half since they were forced to close their business as a result.  Additionally, if the family is required to pay the fine, their financial situation will become increasingly tighter.  To make ends meet, Aaron Klein has picked up a job as a garbage collector.

Do Christians Even Have a Chance Against Oregon's Bureaucracy?  On July 2, Brad Avakian, commissioner of Oregon's Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI), ordered Aaron and Melissa Klein to pay $135,000 in damages for "emotional, mental and physical suffering" to a lesbian couple after the Kleins — owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa — declined to bake a cake celebrating their same-sex wedding.  Avakian also ordered the Kleins to "cease and desist" from "publishing, circulating, issuing or displaying, or causing to be published ... any communication to the effect that any of the accommodations ... will be refused, withheld from or denied to, or that any discrimination be made against, any person on account of their sexual orientation."  This gag order explicitly applied not just to formal business communications but also to the Klein's statements to the press, such as, "This fight is not over.  We will continue to stand strong."

Cultural aggression, destructive policies, and ceaseless smearing are wearing out a great people.  [Scroll down]  Ask Aaron and Melissa Klein what they think of the state of our civil liberties, after an Oregon judge not only sanctioned the destruction of their wedding cake business but denied them the freedom to discuss their plight.  Ask Brendan Eich, the former Mozilla CEO who committed the crime of writing a check to support organizations opposed to gay marriage.  Ask any conservative attempting to ply a trade in Hollywood or academia.  The Left's cultural fascists have perfected the ability to silence their opposition without the use of jackboots and truncheons as in the past, though as we've seen an angry mob or a riot squad here and there is hardly out of the question.  Next up will be the forfeiting of tax exemptions by churches — unless the Left is willing to make exceptions for those it deems "helpful" to the cause.

Colorado court to hear baker's appeal over gay wedding cake.  A Colorado appeals court is scheduled Tuesday [7/7/2015] to hear the case of Jack Phillips, a baker who refused to bake a cake for a gay wedding.  Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips is appealing an order he received to cease his anti-gay policy or face fines instead.

Sorry, Slate: Oregon Did Put a 'Gag Order' on Those Christian Bakers.  On Thursday [7/2/2015], The Daily Signal published an article about Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) Commissioner Brad Avakian ordering Aaron and Melissa Klein, Christian bakers who had refused to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple, to pay the couple $135,000 for "emotional" damages and issuing a gag order against the Kleins.  On Monday [7/6/2015], Slate published an article criticizing The Daily Signal's coverage headlined "No, Oregon Did Not 'Gag' That Anti-Gay Bakery."  While that's a great, provocative headline, Slate's headline is simply not true.

Forcing Churches to Perform Same-Sex Marriages Would End Separation of Church and State.  I do not believe churches, synagogues, mosques or other religious assemblies should be obligated to perform same-sex weddings if such unions go against their teachings.  That decision must be left to the churches and their congregations to decide.  If the federal government sees fit to either compel churches to perform same-sex marriages or punish them for refusing to do so then it is interfering in the internal affairs of religious congregations.  Churches would cease to be autonomous organizations and become functionaries of the whims of the government.  This would be a violation of the separation of church and state.

More about the one-sided separation of church and state.

Oregon Declares War On Christian Faith.  In one of the most egregious anti-Christian acts committed by a state official in recent memory, Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian not only upheld the ridiculous $135,000 fine levied against Aaron and Melissa Klein for declining to bake a cake for a lesbian commitment ceremony, but he ordered the Kleins to "cease and desist" from making any public comments about their religious convictions relative to this case.  This is an outrage and a travesty, and it must be rebuked and resisted.  Who does Mr. Avakian think he is?

Bakers hit out after court rules that they must pay $135k to lesbian couple after they refused to make them a wedding cake.  The owners of a Portland-area bakery who refused to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple and were ordered to pay them $135,000 in damages have hit back at the ruling.  Aaron and Melissa Klein, the owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa bakery were ordered to pay $60,000 in damages to Laurel Bowman-Cryer and $75,000 in damages to Rachel Bowman-Cryer for emotional suffering.  But they say that they're being discriminated against because their views are being silenced by Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian.

Oregon Issues Gag Order for Bakers Who Refused to Make Gay Wedding Cake.  In April, an administrative judge with the Oregon Department of Labor ordered Aaron and Melissa Klein, the owners of the now shuttered bakery Sweet Cakes by Melissa, to pay a fine of $135,000 for refusing to bake a cake for a lesbian couple's wedding.  While there's a case the couple violated the state's public accommodation laws, there's little doubt that the fine was excessive and the reasoning for it specious.

Entire County Clerk Office Resigns Over Same-Sex Marriage.  No same-sex marriage licenses are being issued in Decatur County, Tennessee, because the entire county clerk's office has resigned following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.  Decatur County Clerk Gwen Pope explained her decision to quit her elected post.  "It's for the glory of God.  He's going to get all the glory," she told WBIR.

U.S. Kentucky Clerk Sued for Not Issuing Gay-Marriage Licenses.  The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky filed a federal lawsuit against Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis on Thursday afternoon [7/2/2015] on behalf of two homosexual and two heterosexual couples, all of whom were turned away when they tried to get marriage licenses from Davis' office this week.

Final order: Sweet Cakes bakery must pay $135,000 to lesbian couple.  The owners of a Gresham bakery must pay $135,000 to a lesbian couple who were refused service more than two years ago, the Bureau of Labor and Industries ruled Thursday [7/2/2015].

Family Of Seven Impoverished By Activist Oregon Gov't Over Wedding Cake.  A family of seven behind the bakery Sweetcakes in Oregon was sued for $135,000 by a same sex couple after the couple was politely declined a wedding cake due to the baker's Christian faith.  I say the family was sued and not just Aaron and Melissa Klein of Sweetcakes because the family is going to go broke to pay the $135k to Rachel and Laurel Bowman-Cryer who equated the polite decline of a wedding cake to "mental rape."

Obergefell's Threat to Religious Liberty.  Despite what the newspaper headlines say, the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges did not "legalize" same-sex marriage.  It mandated same-sex marriage, something very different.  States were previously free to recognize gay marriage, but now they are compelled to do so.  From now on, it is illegal — unconstitutional — for any state not to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.  Many tout Obergefell as a victory for civil rights, but it is anything but.

No Truce With the Left.  Republicans are still trying to figure out a truce on gay marriage.  They retreated to civil unions, then accepted a full defeat on gay marriage and then acted baffled when Christian bakery owners were dragged into court for refusing to participate in gay weddings.  When the left insisted that gay marriage was a civil rights issue, they refused to take them at their word.  Now they're wondering how an accommodation can be made with tranny rights.  A brief look back at gay rights will show that the only possible accommodation is one in which men in dresses have a legal right to use the ladies room and every single closed female space and event.  And yes, that means your business will be shut down if you object to Steve using the female locker room.

It Was Always About The Christians.  After The Supreme Cultural Revolutionary Council declared marriage, as we have known it for 10,000 years, to be null and void, most of the chattering skulls on what passes for the Right these days went into predictable hysterics.  Progressive lunatics decorated themselves in rainbows, celebrating without fully understanding what it is they are celebrating. [...] The health care bill was mostly changes in the law to interfere with the free exercise of religion.  Forcing some Christians to pay for abortions, for example, is forcing them to violate their faith.  Do that enough and even the faithful give up.

The Formal End to Judeo-Christian America.  The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on the redefinition of marriage seals the end of America as the Founders envisioned it.  From well before 1776 until the second half of the 20th century, the moral values of the United States were rooted in the Bible and its God. [...] Beginning with the Supreme Court's ban on nondenominational school prayer in 1962, the same-sex marriage decision has essentially completed the state's secularization of American society.  This is one thing about which both right and left, religious and secular, can agree.  One side may rejoice over the fact, and the other may weep, but it is a fact.

15 Reasons 'Marriage Equality' Is About Neither Marriage Nor Equality.  Same-sex marriage is a notion that contains within itself the seeds of its own destruction.  I doubt many have thought this through, with the ironic exception of the elites who have been pushing the agenda the hardest.  Most people are weary of it all and going along to get along, especially since dissent has become such a socially expensive proposition, almost overnight.  That in itself should deeply concern anyone who values freedom of expression. [...] The same-sex marriage agenda is more like a magic bullet with a trajectory that will abolish civil marriage for everyone, and in doing so, will embed central planning into American life.  And that, my friends, is the whole point of it.  Along with Obamacare, net neutrality, and Common Core, genderless marriage is a blueprint for regulating life, particularly family life.

The Next Culture War.  More and more Christians feel estranged from mainstream culture.  They fear they will soon be treated as social pariahs, the moral equivalent of segregationists because of their adherence to scriptural teaching on gay marriage.  They fear their colleges will be decertified, their religious institutions will lose their tax-exempt status, their religious liberty will come under greater assault.  The Supreme Court's gay marriage decision landed like some sort of culminating body blow onto this beleaguered climate.

Quo Vadis, America?  "Natural law — God's law — will always trump common law," said Alveda King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and a Christian leader in her own right, "God will have the final word in this matter."  But, for now, Justice Anthony Kennedy has the final word.  Same-sex marriage is the law of the land, as the right of gays and lesbians to marry is right there in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which was ratified in 1868.  We just didn't see it.  Tony Kennedy spotted what no previous court had detected.  The absurdity of the decision aside, it represents another stride forward for the revolution preached by Antonio Gramsci.  Before we can capture the West, the Italian Marxist argued, we must capture the culture.  For only if we change the culture can we change how people think and believe.  And then a new generation will not only come to accept but to embrace what their fathers would have resisted to the death.

Here's How Religious Business Owners Could Protect Themselves Against Gay Marriage Decision.  In the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to legalize gay marriage, conservative lawmakers put forth a plan they claim will protect "many of the millions of Americans who voted to define marriage as an exclusively male-female institution."  But will that plan protect the Washington florist being sued by the state for acting on her beliefs about marriage?  Or the New York farmers being fined $13,000 for refusing to host a same-sex wedding in their backyard?  The answer, quite simply, is no.

The Most Radical Decision Ever?  Are you religious?  Be afraid.  The Court's opinion shows the justices know their holding has grave implications for the free exercise of religion, but the paragraph in the opinion that purports to reassure does not.  Pointedly, it mentions only the freedom to dissent and debate on matters of religion and morality, not the freedom to act on ones views.  In the wake of this decision, family businesses, non-profits and perhaps even religious congregations will be sued under state and federal civil rights laws.

Arkansas clerk will resign over marriage licenses for same-sex couples.  A county clerk in Arkansas plans to resign effective June 30 because of a moral objection to issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Obergefell v. Hodges and Tax Exemption for Churches.  Following Obergefell v. Hodges, much discussion now centers on the potential loss of tax-exempt status to churches that resist.  Same-sex marriage zealots will look for opportunities to cement the Court's decision by forcing churches, through the lower courts, to perform same-sex marriages.  Either they do it — the churches — or lose it (their tax-exempt status).  Meanwhile, denominational hierarchies will huddle behind closed doors and examine options beyond compliance or non-compliance when their doctrine clearly forbids clergy to conduct marriage ceremonies for any couple other than one man and one woman.

Churches are the left's next target in the gay-marriage war.  Everyone knows where the debate over gay marriage is going next.  Now that the Supreme Court has imposed its edict on the land, the question is whether religious institutions and people of faith will still be permitted to act on moral beliefs that the court has portrayed as bigoted and deeply wounding.

The Church will survive gay marriage if it sticks to its guns.  The Supreme Court's same-sex marriage decision is only three days old and already there are calls to end the tax exemption not just for religious schools, but for churches as well. [...] Even before the Supreme Court concocted a constitutional right to gay marriage, American religious liberty was being systematically undermined.  There were widespread efforts to exclude orthodox Christian organizations from American colleges and universities, occasional attempts to literally coerce Christians into voicing support for homosexual conduct, and well-known efforts to destroy businesses that aren't willing to participate in gay weddings.

As Left Celebrates, Right Preps For All-Out Anti-Religious Assault.  With Justice Kennedy's opinion in one hand and a rainbow flag in the other, the secular left will now press its advantage.  Conservatives who pooh-pooh such notions should remember when the secular left insisted that same-sex marriage was a conservative scare tactic.  The left requires constant revolution.  And that revolution will not end with the declaration of "dignity" provided by Kennedy or a few vulgar parades [...] or a rainbow light display at the White House.  It will not end until the unbelievers are destroyed.

Christian farm family penalized in gay wedding refusal decries 'orchestrated set-up'.  When Melisa Erwin called the Giffords about using their upstate New York property for a same-sex wedding ceremony, she apparently knew in advance that they would refuse.  For one thing, she and her fiancee recorded the conversation.  Even so, an administrative judge with the New York State Division of Human Rights ordered the Giffords to pay $3,000 to Ms. Erwin and Jennifer McCarthy for "mental pain and suffering," in addition to $10,000 for violating the state's human rights ordinance.  In a brief filed Thursday [6/25/2015], attorneys for Cynthia and Robert Gifford argue that the state's ruling violates the First Amendment, but they also criticize the same-sex couple for what they describe as an "orchestrated set-up."

Idaho city's ordinance tells pastors to marry gays or go to jail.  Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, city officials have laid down the law to Christian pastors within their community, telling them bluntly via an ordinance that if they refuse to marry homosexuals, they will face jail time and fines.  The dictate comes on the heels of a legal battle with Donald and Evelyn Knapp, ordained ministers who own the Hitching Post wedding chapel in the city, but who oppose gay marriage, The Daily Caller reported.  A federal judge recently ruled that the state's ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional, while the city of Coeur d'Alene has an ordinance that prevents discrimination based on sexual preference.

Post-SCOTUS Gay Marriage: Religious institution tax exemptions at risk.  Forty-eight hours after the Supreme Court's monumental gay marriage decision, and progressives are already calling for an end to tax exemptions for churches.  Anticipating the Supreme Court's eventual ruling on Obergefell v. Hodges, Senator Mike Lee and Rep. Raul Labrador introduced the First Amendment Defense Act.  The bill would protect religious institutions who, for religious beliefs, do not actively participate in gay wedding ceremonies.

Why the Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage could lead to civil war.  Today the Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 in favor of same sex marriage in all 50 states.  My friends, we are witnessing the end of federalism in our nation.  In a single vote, 5 folks basically just told the states to "stick it."  Furthermore, we are in effect nullifying the First Amendment.  Consider this:  what happens when a gay couple goes into a church wanting to plan a ceremony and the pastor says no?  We now have a conflict between the First Amendment and individual behavior.

The Supreme Court Has Ruled.  Principled People Will Not Obey.  Following the Supreme Court's illegal, immoral, and incredible "gay" rights decision, the White House (owned by the American people, not the President) was flooded with rainbow-color lights in celebration of that disgusting, dangerous, and decadent decision.  Such impudence and defiance was an insult to America and a goading of God.  However, be assured that God sees the evil and the good and He is involved in our world.  Sometime His judgment seems slow, but it is always sure and severe.  Judgment is on the way! [...] However, the Supreme Court is not infallible (as only a fool would say) nor is it final (as only a fanatic would say).  I remind you that their decisions are called, "opinions" and do not reach the level of the Ten Commandments — or even the Ten Recommendations.  Same-sex "marriages" will continue to be abnormal, abominable, and aberrational even as shallow people applaud them.

SCOTUS Declares Itself God, Redefines Marriage and Rights.  The day after declaring Obamacare magically rewritten and that the lawsuits against discrimination in housing require no proof of actual discrimination, the Supreme Court found a unicorn in the 14th Amendment.  By a vote of 5-4, the Supreme Court ruled that the right to privacy under that aforementioned 14th Amendment (adopted in 1868, when every state in America criminalized sodomy) requires that every state in America grant marriage licenses to men who want to marry men and women who want to marry women, and that every state recognize such licenses from every other state.

Troubling fallout as gay marriage becomes the law of the land.  [Scroll down]  There are other worries, too, now that same-sex marriage is the law of the land.  Kennedy, for example, included a grudging acceptance that people who oppose gay marriage on religious grounds can "advocate" their dissenting views.  But the ruling may throw into question issues like tax exemptions for some religious groups that refuse to recognize same-sex marriage.  And Justice Samuel Alito was surely right to warn that people "determined to stamp out every vestige of dissent" will use the ruling "to vilify" critics.

Is This New 'Constitutional Right' Really Just A 'Right To Trample' Religious Liberty?  Before this decision, if you were gay, you were free to marry or not depending on the state in which you lived.  Now, a reluctant-to-commit gay person no longer can use legality as an excuse.  Instead of living your lives free from government infringement, you've just invited the government into your bedroom, and your relationship.  Who wants that?  I guess the people who previously wanted government to butt out, want them to butt back in.  Now, if you split up, instead of simply going your separate ways with whatever you brought to the relationship, now you have to go to the government to get out of the tangled web you were so anxious to get into.

Same-Sex Marriage Ruling Starts New Religious Freedom War.  Navy chaplain Wes Modder, sportscaster Craig James and others have lost jobs or are losing their jobs because they hold Christian beliefs on sex and marriage.  Business owners face more than losing their businesses, as Washington florist Barronelle Stutzman could lose her home and life's savings, and Colorado baker Jack Phillips risks jail time if he continues refusing to bake cakes celebrating gay marriage.  There are others, and the list grows monthly.  Their legal rights are no different from Hobby Lobby's to refuse to cover abortion under ObamaCare.  Whether from a state or federal RFRA (Religious Freedom Restoration Act) or the Constitution's First Amendment, all Americans have the right to believe what their faith teaches and live according to those beliefs.

Top Clinton Advisor Dodges Question On Protecting Tax Status For Churches Opposed to Gay Marriage.  Karen Finney, a top advisor for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, declined to answer if she believes churches that refuse to perform same sex marriages should lose their tax exempt status.  Responding to a question from Breitbart News, Finney dodged with, "honestly today just thinking about what this means for my LGBT friends."

Huckabee: Gay Marriage Could Criminalize Christianity.  The legalization of same-sex marriage would be a "very dangerous place" for America to go and could lead to civil disobedience, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee warns. [...] "I refuse to sit silently as politically driven interest groups threaten the foundation of religious liberty, criminalize Christianity, and demand that Americans abandon Biblical principles of natural marriage," Huckabee wrote.

A Maryland DJ has refused to work a birthday party for a gay man. 'We ought to obey God rather than men.'  First there was the New Mexico wedding photographer.  Then there was the Indiana pizza maker.  Now there is the Maryland disc jockey.

Emails Raise Questions of Bias in Case Against Bakers Who Denied Service for Same-Sex Wedding.  The Daily Signal has exclusively learned that the government agency responsible for enforcing Oregon's anti-discrimination law appears to be working closely with a powerful gay rights advocacy group in its case against Aaron and Melissa Klein, owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa.  Communications between the agency, the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, and the LGBT organization, Basic Rights Oregon, raise questions about potential bias in the state's decision to charge the Kleins with discrimination for refusing to make a cake for a same-sex wedding.  In April, a judge for the agency recommended the Kleins be fined $135,000.

The Dictatorship of Godless Perverts [...] cannot permit anyone to question the regime's absolute authority.  The commissars of the regime will tell you "what it means to be a man, and what it means to be a woman," and you are not permitted to talk back to them.  There can be no discussion or debate.  If you do not endorse the Official Truth, you must be silenced.  You must be punished if you refuse to repudiate your opposition, because everything you "consider natural and normal" — your "basic, deep-rooted ideas" — "will need to change."

Gay Marriage Goes Beyond 'Bake Me a Cake'.  Over the last few years, the gay marriage movement has transformed from "equality for all" to "bake me a cake."  As it picks up steam, the movement looks more and more totalitarian, both at home and abroad.  Witness the latest news from the Great White North: [...]

Jewelry store sign prompts same-sex couple to ask for refund.  A same-sex couple from St. John's is upset after discovering the jewelry store that sold them their engagement rings has posted a sign that seems to oppose same-sex marriage — but one of the store's owners says he's allowed to post his religious beliefs.

Give the 'bigot' bomb a break.  A lesbian couple purchased engagement rings from a Christian jeweler.  They were so pleased with the service, they referred a friend to the shop to purchase a ring for his girlfriend.  Said friend spied a sign that read:  "The sanctity of marriage is under attack.  Let's keep marriage between a man and a woman."  Offense was taken.  Once upon a time, this would have led to, in ascending order:  an eye roll, daggered glares or an inquiry about the sentiment with perhaps a few words exchanged ending in an agreement to disagree.  That is no longer the world in which we live.

Louisiana religious liberty bill goes down in defeat as Republicans side with LGBT activists.  Louisiana Republican lawmakers sided with Democrats, big business and LGBT activists to kill a bill that would have protected individuals and religious institutions opposed to same-sex marriage.  In doing so, lawmakers defied the objections of an overwhelmingly majority of voters and handed Gov. Bobby Jindal a significant defeat for his legislative agenda.  A house legal committee voted 10-2 on Tuesday [5/19/2015] to shelve the Louisiana Marriage and Conscience Act — a measure that critics said could sanction discrimination against same-sex couples.

You 'Must be Made' to Obey.  [Scroll down]  Of course, if homosexual behavior, something denounced as both "vile affections" and "an abomination" throughout both the Old and New Testaments, is no longer sexual sin, then there can be no sexual sin whatsoever.  To coerce, through the power of the police state, faithful Christians to abandon the millennia-old biblical sexual ethic and embrace the sin of Sodom would likewise require that Christians sign-off on fornication, adultery, incest and bestiality.  Such is the unnatural nature of government-mandated moral relativism.  "But this isn't free speech, it's hate speech!" come the mournful cries of the ill-informed and the ill-prepared, desperately afraid to debate the issues on the merits.

LGBT Undermining of the Constitution, Culture, and Conservatives.  Conservative commentator and legal analyst Matt Barber elaborated that most LGBT individuals are part of a "sexual anarchy ... [a] cultural Marxist movement."  They seek "to burn down the white picket fence," not traditional bourgeois committed relationships.  Kincaid analyzed the Marxist backgrounds of various LGBT movement founders and declared that "Communism is not dead," for Karl Marx called for family abolition, "not just an economic theory."  Kincaid focused on American Communist Party member Harry Hay, whose FBI surveillance file is available at ASI's website.  Hay wore a "NAMBLA walks with me" sign at a San Francisco gay parade and later pursued the occult as a "radical fairie."  Journalist James Simpson explained in his presentation that actually, the "left does not care about gay rights."  As Communist regimes indicate with their criminalization of homosexuality throughout history, the "issue is always the revolution."

The Progressive Mask Comes Off.  [Scroll down]  We're now sadly familiar with the shunning that surrounds the issue of gay marriage:  Just last week, a judge suggested a mind-boggling $135,000 fine for an Oregon family who refused to bake a cake for a lesbian wedding.  But the net is cast far wider than that.  Last week, speaking at a Women in the World Summit in Manhattan, Hillary Clinton declared that "deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs, and structural biases have to be changed" when it comes to issues such as abortion.  Really?  That's kind of a big deal, is it not?  She sounds like she's on the Totalitarian Side of History!

New GoFundMe rule makes it easy to kill Christian campaigns.  GoFundMe's old policy on crowdfunding may not have been enough to justify its decision last weekend to kill campaigns on behalf of a Christian-owned florist and bakery — but its new policy is.  The website quietly expanded its list of banned crowdfunding activities this week shortly after The Washington Times questioned GoFundMe's reliance on its policy against campaigns in defense of "formal charges of heinous crimes" to pull fundraisers for Arlene's Flowers and for Sweet Cakes by Melissa.

Imagine 'Gay Marriage Reparations'.  We hear conflicting numbers about how many children are being raised in gay homes.  Sometimes it's 40,000; sometimes it's 14 million.  Those things are hard to peg, since sexuality is a bit of a revolving door.  Parents are coming out and going back in the closet all the time.  Over time, there is no doubt that there will be at least 100,000 citizens, probably well over 500,000, placed into same-sex homes entirely or predominantly because of the state's response to demands for expanded marriage rights from gay lobbying organizations.

Bake Me a Cake — or Else.  In January 2013, Rachel Cryer and her mother walked into Sweet Cakes By Melissa, a bakery in Gresham, Oregon, and tried to order a wedding cake.  Aaron Klein, the co-owner (and Melissa's husband), was informed Cryer would be marrying another woman.  He apologized and told them that providing a cake for a same-sex wedding violated his Christian convictions.  Cryer walked out of the store.  In a suburb adjacent to Portland, one of the most progressive cities in America, Sweet Cakes By Melissa was living on borrowed time once the incident became public.  (The city is so famously tolerant that Sam Adams, the first openly gay mayor of a major city, survived two recall attempts after it was revealed that he had lied about having a relationship with an underage teenage boy.  His supporters initially smeared those making the accusations as homophobic.)  Protests started outside the bakery soon after, and by September 2013 Sweet Cakes had closed its doors.

'We Will Not Obey': Christian Leaders Threaten Civil Disobedience if Supreme Court Legalizes Gay Marriage.  "We respectfully warn the Supreme Court not to cross that line," read a document titled, Pledge in Solidarity to Defend Marriage.  "We stand united together in defense of marriage.  Make no mistake about our resolve."  "While there are many things we can endure, redefining marriage is so fundamental to the natural order and the common good that this is the line we must draw and one we cannot and will not cross," the pledge states.

Obama's Lawyer Basically Tells SCOTUS That Religious Schools Are Toast.  During oral arguments made in the same-sex marriage case heard by the Supreme Court on Tuesday [4/28/2015] (Obergefell v. Hodges), Justices Roberts and Alito questioned Solicitor General Donald Verrilli about the rights of religious schools if the Court decides to impose same-sex marriage on the states.  Justice Roberts asked if religious schools that provide housing to married students would be required to offer such housing to same-sex couples.  Verrilli demurred, saying there is currently no federal law banning discrimination based on sexual orientation.  "Those issues are going to have to be worked out," he said.

Puffed-up Leftist Tyranny Punishes Dissenters.  Forget for a moment the ever-failing economy, the implosion of our foreign policy coherence, and our virtually unilateral withdrawal in the war on terror under Barack Obama's presidency.  If liberty lovers don't start fighting back soon, we'll forfeit our freedom of thought and religious expression under the assault of fascist leftist activists in our culture.  Let's just look at two of the many recent events that should have us very concerned.  As you may have guessed, they revolve around the controversial matter of same-sex marriage.  At the outset, let me say that this issue is no longer about same-sex marriage or gay rights; it is about our basic liberties.

Exclusive: Bakers Facing $135K Fine Over Wedding Cake for Same-Sex Couple Speak Out.  It was the first time seeing her bakery since the new owners moved in.  "This is really hard," Melissa Klein said, tears filling up her eyes.  Almost two years ago, Melissa and her husband, Aaron, owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, had to close the bakery they built from scratch after declining to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding.  "I did all the flooring in here — this was a collection agency before we moved the bakery in," Aaron said, peering through the glass window.

The Show Trial of Ian Reisner.  From Go Fund Me to Wisconsin's John Doe law to the Quaker Friends School of Baltimore to Oregon State University, from same-sex marriage to climate change, a wave of liberal fascism is sweeping the country.  Freedom of religion, not to mention free speech, is under assault.  And in the style of show trials from the days of the Nazis and the Stalin-era Soviet Union, Americans who have the nerve to practice their religion or simply speak up are not merely being intimidated into silence — they must now be forced publicly to admit their "errors."

Idaho city's ordinance tells pastors to marry gays or go to jail.  Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, city officials have laid down the law to Christian pastors within their community, telling them bluntly via an ordinance that if they refuse to marry homosexuals, they will face jail time and fines.  The dictate comes on the heels of a legal battle with Donald and Evelyn Knapp, ordained ministers who own the Hitching Post wedding chapel in the city, but who oppose gay marriage, The Daily Caller reported.  A federal judge recently ruled that the state's ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional, while the city of Coeur d'Alene has an ordinance that prevents discrimination based on sexual preference.

Oregon panel proposes $135K hit against bakers in gay-wedding cake dispute.  An Oregon commission proposed Friday [4/24/2015] levying a $135,000 hit against Aaron and Melissa Klein for refusing to provide a wedding cake for a same-sex marriage ceremony based on their Christian beliefs.  Aaron and Melissa Klein, who are struggling to make ends meet after closing Sweet Cakes by Melissa in September 2013, received the 110-page proposed order Friday [4/24/2015] from the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, which ruled against the couple in February.  Mr. Klein said Friday the figure was "shocking" but not entirely unexpected.  The commission has the authority to mete out awards for damages of up to $150,000.

Bakers face $135,000 fine for refusing to make cake for gay wedding.  The owners of an Oregon bakery learned Friday [4/24/2015] that there is a severe price to pay for following their Christian faith.  A judge for the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) recommended a lesbian couple should receive $135,000 in damages for their emotional suffering after Sweet Cakes by Melissa refused to make them a wedding cake.  As a result, Aaron and Melissa Klein could lose everything they own — including their home.

Gay Marriage: A Trojan Horse Movement.  Consider that Annise Parker, the lesbian mayor of Houston, Texas, demanded to review pastors' church sermons before public outrage forced her to back off.  We have already seen how small businesses have been singled out and attacked for refusing to provide certain services to gays.  What is less known is that these gay couples are frequently part of the movement.  They deliberately seek out businesses known for their Christian owners.  They deliberately demand a service they know in advance will be refused.  When the inevitable happens they use it as pretext to destroy the business and savage its owners.  Doesn't it amaze you how quickly legal groups immediately materialize to assist in the attack?  The fact that they got unexpected push back through a spontaneous crowd sourcing campaign to support one pizza shop will not dissuade them from future efforts.  If gay marriage is adopted, their current bullying behavior will look like child's play compared to what's coming.

So much for live and let live.
Gay-rights advocates torpedo GoFundMe campaign for Christian-owned bakery.  A crowdfunding campaign that had raised more than $109,000 for the Christian-owned bakery Sweet Cakes by Melissa in Oregon was removed Saturday [4/25/2015] after complaints from gay-rights advocates.  The website GoFundMe said in a statement Saturday [4/25/2015] that it took down the page because the campaign violated the policy against raising money "in defense of formal charges of heinous crimes, including violent, hateful, or sexual acts."

Bakers face $135,000 fine for refusing to make cake for gay wedding.  The owners of an Oregon bakery learned Friday [4/22/2015] that there is a severe price to pay for following their Christian faith.  A judge for the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) recommended a lesbian couple should receive $135,000 in damages for their emotional suffering after Sweet Cakes by Melissa refused to make them a wedding cake.  As a result[,] Aaron and Melissa Klein could lose everything they own — including their home.  The Oregonian reports the recommended penalty is not final and could be raised or lowered by State Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian.

Pastors Descend on Texas Capitol to Support Bill Protecting Them from Performing Gay Marriages.  Pastors from all over Texas are descending upon the Texas Capitol today [4/22/2015] to support a Texas House Bill that protects the rights of certain religious organizations and individuals when refusing to perform or to recognize a gay marriage.  The Texas Pastor Council has issued a Call to Action for "Pastors At The Capitol" for Wednesday, April 22nd.  They will be attending the House State Affairs Committee hearing on H.B. 3567 to "begin challenging the false narrative of the Texas Association of Business that Texas can't be both business friendly and protect the religious freedom of the people."

The Ugly Side of the Gay Marriage Campaign.  The growing militance of the gay marriage crusade finds its rough parallel, I think, with the civil rights movement of the 1960s.  Having achieved its long-sought goals of removing legal barriers to equal rights through the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, the Equal Housing Act, and other measures, what happened to the civil rights movement?  A radical new faction took center stage, with the rise of the "black power" movement.

Involuntary Servitude Returns to America.  Given that America no longer allows involuntary servitude, why do florists, photographers, bakers or printers have to work for anyone who requests his services?  Why are they not protected by the Thirteenth Amendment?

Big Law Thinks Gay Marriage Opponents Are Like Racist Bigots. That's a Problem.  Sunday's [4/12/2015] New York Times stated plainly what many of us have known for a while:  Our nation's elites are intolerant of ordinary Americans.  The reporter for the Times revealed a startling reality: "In dozens of interviews, lawyers and law professors said the imbalance in legal firepower in the same-sex marriage cases resulted from a conviction among many lawyers that opposition to such unions is bigotry akin to racism."

Pizza Shop That Backed Indiana Religious Freedom Law Reopens.  A northern Indiana pizzeria that closed after its owner said his religious beliefs wouldn't allow him to cater a gay wedding opened Thursday [4/9/2015] to a full house of friends, regulars and people wanting to show their support.  "It's a relief to get going again and try to get back to normal," said Kevin O'Connor, owner of Memories Pizza.

Memories Pizza Reopens To Packed House, Lib Protesters Fail To Show.  A northern Indiana pizzeria that closed after its owner said his religious beliefs wouldn't allow him to cater a gay wedding opened Thursday [4/9/2015] to a full house of friends, regulars and people wanting to show their support.

NYT Writer: Christians 'Must Be Made' to Embrace Gay Lifestyle.  In the wake of the Indiana donnybrook over religious liberty, which somehow was transformed overnight into a question of gay rights, it couldn't be long before the New York Times weighed in against Christians.  Yet who could have expected the draconian measures the Times would propose?  Either Christians fully embrace the gay lifestyle, or you will be coerced into doing so.

The Gay Marriage Wake-Up Call.  I've been all around the world fighting for children's rights to a mother and father, and I've seen the same tactics from Italy to Palo Alto.  Children's rights advocates bring up the U.N. Declaration of the Rights of the Child, Margaret Atwood and Aldous Huxley, eugenics and Lebensraum, the problems of illegal adoption and child trafficking, or the history of black baby markets and slavery — and bam! The gay-marriage advocates find a Christian somewhere, anywhere, and start a fight about Leviticus. [...] Ligbitists want to debate religious liberty rather than the effect of gay marriage on children.  Why?  If the debate centers on religious liberty, the terms of discussion reinforce the false notion that all objections to gay marriage are based on spiritual doctrine, particularly Christianity.

The Ongoing War Against Christianity.  Columnist George Will points out that Apple's openly gay CEO, Tim Cook, "...thinks Indiana is a terrible place.  (But) He opened marketing and retail operations in Saudi Arabia two months before a man was sentenced to 450 lashes for being gay."  Will was commenting on Cook's recent Washington Post op-ed protesting Indiana's new, now amended, Religious Freedom Restoration Act and similar initiatives around the country.  World Magazine reports that Cook has recently been in the United Arab Emirates negotiating on behalf of Apple, where homosexuality is against the law and the penalty is death.  Cook's duplicity is not just in deeds, but also in words.

Memories Pizza Story Was Literally Fabricated Out of Nothing.  If you didn't know this — I assumed it, but it's good to have it known, on the record — Memories Pizza didn't actually discriminate against anyone, nor even publicly announce their desire to discriminate.  What happened was that an axe-grinding, social-justicing, attention-whoring reporterette for a local tv station decided to just start walking into pizza places and asking them, preposterously, if they would sell pizza (?) to a gay wedding.

Memories Pizza Place May Never Re-Open, Due to Death Threats.  There will be no reportage on this.  Death threats are only publicized to the extent they can portray the left as sympathetic victims.  When the left threatens to murder political opponents, the media covers it up.

I Got 21 Problems And A Gay Wedding Cake Ain't One.  The RFRA does not give businesses a "license to discriminate" against LGBT persons, but rather works within a narrow legal parameter to give businesses defense against federal lawsuit.  That is because the states can recognize individual rights in a more assertive fashion than the federal government, under the 9th and 10th amendments to the U.S. Constitution.  In other words, not only can the Christian owners of a bakery refuse to write an inscription on the wedding cake of a gay couple, but the black owners of a T-shirt business don't have to print the KKK's burning crosses on shirts, and Jewish owners of a gift shop don't have to put Nazi symbols on coffee cups.  Everyone has equal rights, or no one does.

Precursor to the Mark of the Beast?  Traveling the country as a political activist, I am well aware that the left's national initiative goes far beyond seeking tolerance.  Their goal is to force Christians to celebrate every item on the homosexual agenda.  They deem anything less unacceptable, bigoted, and hateful.  Do not be deceived, folks.  Christian businesses are not refusing service to homosexuals.  The Christians driven out of business by leftist activists routinely served homosexuals, but in good conscience could not service a homosexual wedding.  Rather than selecting vendors eager to service same-sex weddings, leftists insidiously targeted Christian businesses in an attempt to bully them into compromising their faith as they perceive it — in essence, denying Christ.  Meanwhile, the mainstream media is complicit in helping leftist hit-persons portray themselves as passive victims and Christian business owners as hate-filled aggressors.

Video on Muslim bakers points to double standard on gay weddings.  It turns out some Muslim-owned bakeries are no more willing to create wedding cakes for same-sex ceremonies than their Christian counterparts.  Conservative podcast host Steven Crowder posted hidden-camera video Thursday [4/2/2015] showing employees at several Muslim-owned bakeries in Dearborn, Michigan, declining his business or referring him to other shops when he asked for a wedding cake with the message "Ben and Steven forever."

If I Knew You Were Coming for Me, I'd've Baked a Cake.  In Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, Christians are killed for their beliefs.  In America, they're not (yet) being killed, just having their businesses destroyed.

Answer for Christian businesses: Use a 'Terms of Service Agreement'.  Since the vast majority of people today are very familiar with Terms of Service Agreements and how they work, Christian companies can literally spell out, in no uncertain terms, that company policy is based on their "Christian" beliefs, and that such companies will not render service that will in any way compromise those beliefs.  Since Terms of Service Agreements can be very specific, Christian companies can list examples of behaviors that offend and/or go against their religious beliefs, and how those beliefs would be compromised by providing their services related to a specific activity or legal ceremony.  The terms could also state that the consumer must "agree" to respect their company's religious "rights" before service is rendered.

Professor: Indiana RFRA 'Fix' Could Send Christians to Jail.  The greatly anticipated "fix" to the Indiana religious freedom law has been released by the Indiana legislative committee, and it is far worse than conservatives feared.  According to law professor Mark Rienzi, the new fix will allow the state to prosecute Christians criminally for denying gay weddings their professional affirmation.

Indiana Legislature Caves, Guts Religious Freedom Restoration Act.  The amendment to the RFRA actively states that service providers may not use the RFRA as a defense if they refuse to serve people based on sexual orientation.  Presumably, the Indiana legislators hope that the RFRA will still protect service providers who refuse to serve same-sex weddings, since failure to serve same-sex weddings is not the same as failure to serve gay clients.  But that is a flimsy branch upon which to build an argument for freedom.

Will Muslim Bakeries Make a Gay Wedding Cake?  Yes folks, I did this.  I went there.  [Video clip]

A Guy Walked Into a Muslim Bakery and Ordered a Gay Wedding Cake.  Is anyone surprised by this?  Steven Crowder went into a bunch of Muslim bakeries in Dearborn, Michigan, and tried to order a "gay" wedding cake.  Many of the bakers politely declined and sent him to other bakeries, including one man who tried to send him up the street to Kroger.  Oddly enough, we haven't seen any mainstream media reporters ambushing unsuspecting Muslim bakers and demanding in McCarthyesque fashion, "Are you now, or have you ever been a homosexual hater?"  Could it be because, as Crowder notes in the video, "You're still killed in virtually every Muslim country for being gay."

Indiana Shows the Left Has No Concept of Freedom.  What interests and concerns me about the fight over Indiana's religious freedom law is not its implication for gay weddings and whether pizza will be served at them.  Much more important are the basic principles that are being invoked to argue against the Indiana law.  These arguments set out to define religious freedom out of existence, and they end up defining all freedom out of existence.

Pizza Shop Targeted for Refusing to Cater Gay Wedding Receives Over $250K in Donations.  A fundraising effort for the family-owned pizza restaurant at the center of a national controversy over Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act raised over 250,000 dollars in less than 24 hours.  After telling a local media outlet their views on the state's religious freedom law — which has since been amended to remove divisive parts — the O'Connor family of Walkerton, Ind. received a barrage of threatening phone calls, Tweets and negative reviews on their Yelp page.  Fearful of the threats, the O'Connors closed their restaurant, Memories Pizza.

GoFundMe campaign raises $842K for Memories Pizza.  A business in Walkerton is getting national attention and backlash following its statements and stance on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.  Memories Pizza is on the record saying it wouldn't cater gay weddings, and that stance has gone viral online.

"Before God, this is something we couldn't make" Christian Baker Tells Court.  The Ulster baker who has been taken to court for refusing to make a cake celebrating gay marriage said that his religion was too important to him to go against his beliefs, the Daily Express reports. [...] The business refused to undertake an order by a gay activist who wanted it decorated with Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie, arm-in-arm under the words "Support Gay Marriage".

Should Mom-and-Pops That Forgo Gay Weddings Be Destroyed?  What do white evangelicals, Muslims, Mormons, blacks, conservative Republicans, and immigrants from Africa, South America, and Central America all have in common?  They're less likely to support gay marriage than the average Californian.  Over the years, I've patronized restaurants owned by members of all those groups.  Today, if I went out into Greater Los Angeles and chatted up owners of mom-and-pop restaurants, I'd sooner or later find one who would decline to cater a gay wedding.  The owners might be members of Rick Warren's church in Orange County.  Or a family of immigrants in Little Ethiopia or on Olvera Street.  Or a single black man or woman in Carson or Inglewood or El Segundo.  Should we destroy their livelihoods?

Stand Up for Indiana!  In what has been called the "Catholic moment" in America, in the late 1940s and 1950s, Catholics were admonished from pulpits to "live the faith" and "set an example" for others.  Public lives were to reflect moral beliefs.  Christians were to avoid those "living in sin."  Christians who operated motels and hotels did not rent rooms to unmarried couples.  Fast forward to 21st-century America.  Indiana just enacted a law, as have 19 other states, to protect the rights of religious people to practice their beliefs in how they live their lives and conduct their businesses.  And the reaction?  Nearly hysterical.

Networks Pile on to Attack 'Controversial' Indiana Religious Freedom Law.  On Saturday [3/28/2015] and Sunday, the "big three" (ABC, CBS, and NBC) networks vigorously condemned a new Indiana law that would protect private businesses from government infringement on their religious freedom.  Rather than provide balanced coverage of the Indiana bill, the networks eagerly trashed the legislation as opening "the door to discrimination against gays and lesbians."

NCAA Worried Gay Players Won't Be Able to Buy Wedding Cakes from Christian Bakeries in Indiana.  How can they possibly play without the assurance that they can violate the religious freedom of Christian bakers and florists in Indiana?

NCAA 'concerned' over Indiana law that allows biz to reject gays.  Indiana Gov. Mike Pence's decision to sign into law a measure that could allow businesses to turn away gay and lesbian customers in the name of "religious freedom" has left the NCAA fretting ahead of next week's men's basketball Final Four in Indianapolis.  "We are especially concerned about how this legislation could affect our student-athletes and employees," NCAA President Mark Emmert said in a statement Thursday afternoon [3/26/2015].

Gay rights activists to Christians — surrender, or else.  A few years ago I hosted gay activist attorney Andrea Ritchie on my radio program and asked her whether she believed the homosexual lobby could peacefully coexist with traditional Christian morality.  After a very pregnant pause, she responded pointedly:  "Sure, if Christians will give up their resistance to our cause."  Today, in the midst of the inane opposition to the Indiana religious freedom bill, her alarming words prove frighteningly prophetic.

Lawsuit: Fire chief terminated because of Christian faith.  The city of Atlanta fired its fire chief solely because of his religious beliefs about same-sex marriage and homosexual conduct, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday [2/25/2015] in federal court.  The lawsuit was filed by Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys on behalf of former fire chief Kelvin Cochran, one of the nation's most decorated firefighters and a devout Christian.  Cochran was suspended for 30 days last November and was subsequently fired over a men's devotional book he authored that included a section on biblical sexual morality.

Christian florist rejects attorney general's offer, won't betray her religious beliefs.  Barronelle Stutzman, a Washington State florist who declined to provide flowers for a gay wedding, has rejected a deal by the attorney general's office that would've forced her to betray her religious beliefs — much like Judas betrayed Jesus.  "You are asking me to walk in the way of a well-known betrayer, one who sold something of infinite worth for 30 pieces of silver," Stutzman wrote in a letter to state Attorney General Bob Ferguson.  "That is something I will not do."

Tyranny and America's moral decline.  [Scroll down]  Take, for instance, the recent case of Baronelle Stutzman, the 70-year-old Washington state florist who declined to provide flowers for the "wedding" of two men because, as a Christian, she held a fundamental belief that a wedding is to be a union of a man and woman, as God established in Genesis 2:24 and His son Jesus affirmed in Matthew 19:5 and Mark 10:8.  One of the "aggrieved" parties, Robert Ingersoll, had been a customer of Stutzman's for more than a decade, indicating she held no animus toward homosexuals.  In fact, when she turned down Ingersoll's request for a floral arrangement for the wedding, she referred him to other florists.  The two men received the flowers they wanted, and after the case became news they even received offers of free flowers from others.  In other words, they suffered no harm.

How to Win the Christian Baker/Same-Sex Wedding Cake Debate.  Usually missed in the commentary on this subject is that the bakers in question are not refusing service to a type of people — they are refusing to be party to a type of message.  This is not debatable.  When you put writing on a same-sex "wedding" cake, you're crafting a message; if you place figurines (of two men, for instance) on that cake, you're erecting symbols relating that message.  Note here that the Supreme Court has already ruled that "Symbolic Speech" — a legal term in U.S. law — is protected under the First Amendment; examples of such rulings would be that pertaining to flag-burning and the Tinker v. Des Moines case.  And can we compel people to participate in the creation of a message?  Forced speech is not free speech.

State Says 70-Year-Old Flower Shop Owner Discriminated Against Gay Couple. Here's How She Responded.  In a phone interview with The Daily Signal, Barronelle Stutzman said the decision — and its accompanying fines — will put her flower shop out of business, or worse.  After the fines and legal fees, "There won't be anything left," Stutzman said.  "They want my home, they want my business, they want my personal finances as an example for other people to be quiet."

Everything Liberals Touch Turns to Injustice.  In Oregon, Aaron and Melissa Klein and their five children are losing their home due to bankruptcy.  Their business, Sweet Cakes by Melissa, is going under.  Why would that be?  Could they be part of the 30 million without health insurance?  Not at all.  The couple refused to bake a cake for a lesbian couple's wedding and so Oregon ordered them to pay the lesbian couple $150,000.

Why does the government consider this grandmother public enemy No. 1?  Meet Barronelle Stutzman — who is being treated as Washington State's Public Enemy No. 1.  Stutzman is a grandmother, a devout Southern Baptist and the owner of a small flower shop.  The 70-year-old Christian is also opposed to gay marriage — a religious belief that could cost Stutzman her business, her life-savings and even her home.  A Washington judge ruled Feb. 18 that Stutzman, the owner of Arlene's Flowers, violated the law when she refused to provide flowers to a same-sex couple for their wedding.

Judge Rules Against Grandma Florist For Refusing To Service Gay Wedding.  A Washington grandmother and florist of 40 years who refused to service gay weddings because of her faith will now be forced to arrange flowers for gay ceremonies, a judge ruled Wednesday [2/18/2015].  On top of that, the woman, Barronelle Stutzman, will have to pay the legal penalties imposed by the judge as well as attorney's fees.  Benton County Superior Court Judge Alex Ekstrom ruled in a summary judgement that Stutzman violated anti-discrimination and consumer protection laws.

The Editor says...
This serves as a warning:  Democrats can and will use any legislation — even something as innocent as "consumer protection" or "voting rights" or "clean air" laws — against us in the future.  That's why it is important to oppose every plank in the Democrat platform:  There's always something rotten under the candy coating.

Great-Grandma Florist Could Lose Livelihood for Saying No to This Wedding.  A florist in Washington state is being sued for adhering to her Christian beliefs in declining to make flower arrangements for one couple's wedding.  Before the lawsuit, Barronelle Stutzman, owner of Arlene's Flowers in Richland, Wash., had employed workers who identify as homosexual and sold floral arrangements to gay and lesbian customers.  One such customer turned out to be one of the men who would sue her for not being willing to be hired for their same-sex wedding.

How believing in the Bible can get you canned in today's America.  If you want to get fired, sued or lose your business in today's America, stand with Biblical convictions.  In Oregon, our friends Aaron and Melissa Klein were found guilty of discrimination by the state just this week, and could face up to $150,000 in fines for not baking a cake for a same-sex wedding.  In Wisconsin, a 15-year-old boy was reprimanded and reportedly punished by his school for backing traditional family in adoption cases.  In New Jersey, a high school teacher was suspended for stating her Biblical beliefs about homosexuality on her personal Facebook page (while at home, off the clock).  In Illinois, a university professor was fired for saying that homosexual acts are "morally wrong."

Alabama same-sex marriage resistance, federal law to collide in court.  Estimates vary, but judges in about 45 of the state's 67 counties refused to issue licenses for same-sex marriages, while more than 20 judges complied with the federal courts.  After listening to about 30 minutes of arguments from each side, U.S. District Judge Callie Granade called a recess and then quickly issued her ruling in support of four same-sex couples seeking action against Mobile Probate Judge Don Davis, who had refused to issue them marriage licenses.

U.S. Judge Orders Alabama Official to Issue Same-Sex Marriage Licenses.  A federal judge here [in Mobile, Alabama] on Thursday [2/12/2015] ordered that a county probate judge must comply with her earlier ruling and cannot refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.  The federal judge, Callie V. S. Granade of Federal District Court here, wrote that the county judge, Don Davis, of Probate Court in Mobile County, cannot deny a marriage license "on the ground that plaintiffs constitute same-sex couples or because it is prohibited by the sanctity of marriage."

Ben Carson lands on Southern Poverty Law Center's 'extremist' list because he opposes gay marriage.  An iconic American civil rights group that was founded to fight the Ku Klux Klan is now taking aim at the only African-American to hint he might run for president in 2016 — because he opposes gay marriage.  Republican Ben Carson, a retired world-class pediatric neurosurgeon, has found himself listed on the Southern Poverty Law Center's 'Extremist Watch' website alongside neo-Nazis, skinheads, and Klansmen, in a peculiar example of the group's mission-creep.  Carson said Monday [2/9/2015] that the characterization is 'projectionist and ignorant.'

Update:
Southern Poverty Law Center issues totally unconvincing apology to Dr. Ben Carson.  The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) apparently realized its primary goal, fundraising, was in danger by its placing of Dr. Ben Carson on its "Extremist File" list.  But the apology it has issued is the least convincing pretense of remorse that I have ever seen.

Southern Poverty Law Center Apologizes To Ben Carson For Putting Him On Its 'Extremist' List.  Retired neurosurgeon and possible 2016 presidential candidate Ben Carson isn't an anti-gay extremist after all, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.  Under intense scrutiny after it was revealed that the civil rights organization had lumped Carson in with the likes of KKK members and other zealots on its "extremist watch list," the SPLC announced on Wednesday [2/11/2015] that it was scrubbing Carson's name.

Oregon bakery will have to pay lesbian couple up to $150,000 for refusing to make wedding cake.  A lesbian couple filed a discrimination suit against the Sweet Cakes by Melissa bakery in Gresham when the owners refused to make them a wedding cake, citing religious beliefs.  The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries determined on Monday [2/2/2015] that the bakers discriminated against the couple.

Cake maker who refused to bake for gay wedding labeled a 'Nazi' by Colorado civil rights officials.  Colorado baker Jack Phillips was found guilty of discrimination for refusing to prepare a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, but his attorneys said Monday that a state official who ruled against him is guilty of anti-religious bias.  Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys released an audio recording in which Diann Rice, a member of the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, said that Mr. Phillips' citing of his religious beliefs in his defense puts him on the same level as Nazis and slaveholders.

Some clerks ax nuptials so they won't have to marry gays.  Clerks in at least five Florida counties say they'll end courthouse weddings for everyone so they won't have to marry same-sex couples starting next week.  They'll still be forced to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, thanks to U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle's ruling on New Year's Day. His Thursday ruling clarifies that all 67 Florida court clerks should begin issuing the licenses starting Tuesday, when a stay expires on Hinkle's original decision invalidating the state's ban on same-sex marriage expires.

Catholic Church Severs Ties with Agency over Gay Adoption Ruling.  The Catholic Church in Northern Ireland is pulling the plug on a long-standing relationship with the Family Care Society, a Catholic adoption agency, after a judge ruled that all adoption services must be willing to place children with same-sex couples and singles.  In a statement released Thursday, the Catholic Bishops of Northern Ireland said it was "with regret" that they were severing their relationship with the Belfast-based Family Care Society, an agency that the church itself founded.

Benham Brothers on Anti-Duggar Campaign: 'Truth Is Considered Hate to Those Who Hate The Truth'.  Jason and David Benham, two Christian entrepreneurs who have been targeted by gay activists for their belief in traditional marriage, are speaking out about the campaign by those same activists who are seeking the cancellation of the popular TLC television series "19 Kids and Counting," accusing the Duggar family of "fear mongering."  "Since when is it considered 'fear mongering' to say that God designed a man to be with a woman, or that kids deserve to have a mom and a dad, or that the ladies room should be for biological females?" David Benham told CNSNews.com.  "Saying the Duggars are inciting people to hate is simply propaganda."

Gays Force San Fran Wedding Photographers to Close Shop.  A small photography business run by a husband and wife has closed their business, due to intense media scrutiny, threats and pressure from the gay community in their Bay Area home town.

Prominent Protestant Pastors Vow To No Longer Perform Government Marriages.  Two Protestant pastors, concerned about rapidly-changing government definitions of marriage, have started a movement encouraging priests and ministers to refuse to perform civil marriages.

It's Time to Save the American Family; A Joyless Experiment Strained to the Limit.  [Scroll down]  Related to the demise of the father is the astonishing, disfiguring and wholly curious rise of perversion in the arena of personal identity.  Individual identities which could not have been fathomed a generation ago are beginning to flourish across the cultural wasteland.  Societal standards appear, to our children, as a seamless web of truths, metabolized by the young and taken into the mind as natural pillars of the culture, simply accepted as "truth."  So, for example, if polygamy is taught as a principle in a nation, then the members naturally accept and adapt, regardless of any negative impact on individual family members.  Yet, learning false standards often causes lifelong havoc, as seen in the existence of survivors of childhood sexual abuse, who often have no felt understanding of sexual mores, and therefore struggle to adapt to stable relationships.

Couple fined for refusing to host same-sex wedding on their farm.  Cynthia and Robert Gifford are caught in a same-sex nightmare.  They've been forced to defend themselves against claims that they're lesbian-hating homophobes.  "We respect and care for everyone!" Cynthia Gifford told me.  "We had an openly gay man working for us this past season," she said.  "We've had a woman who's transitioning to be a man.  We don't discriminate against anyone."  But the government of the state of New York sees things differently.

What Do Gays Really Want From The Church?  The question that is most puzzling to me is why did the gay couple choose to do business with that particular wedding chapel?  Were there not any other places that they could have gone (such as the Justice of the Peace) to have their wedding performed?  Why did the gay couple in Colorado approach the Christian Bakery?  Were there no other bakeries in their city or town?  It appears that the gay community is targeting Christians and the Christian church.  If that is indeed the case, what do they want from the church?

Coeur d'Alene apparently changes stance, agrees that for-profit chapel need not perform same-sex weddings.  As I noted Wednesday, the Couer d'Alene City Attorney concluded that for-profit chapels were covered by the city ban on sexual orientation discrimination:  "if they are providing services primarily or substantially for profit and they discriminate in providing those services based on sexual orientation then they would likely be in violation of the ordinance."  But Boise State Public Radio (Jessica Robinson) reports that the city has apparently changed its position: [...]

Coeur d'Alene Says Hitching Post Is Exempt From Gay Rights Law.  The city of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, said a for-profit wedding chapel owned by two ministers doesn't have to perform same-sex marriages.  The city has been embroiled in controversy ever since the owners of the Hitching Post sued the city.  They say a city anti-discrimination law threatened to force them to marry same-sex couples now that gay marriage is legal in Idaho.  The story lit up conservative and gay-rights blogs.  Wedding chapel owners Donald and Evelyn Knapp said they feared jail time or fines if they declined marriage services to a same-sex couple.

Can ministers who make a living by conducting weddings be required to conduct same-sex weddings?  Donald and Evelyn Knapp are apparently ordained ministers who run The Hitching Post, a chapel in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, at which they conduct weddings.  (This strikes me as quite similar to many ministers' practice of charging to officiate weddings when they are invited to do so at other venues.)  Coeur d'Alene has an ordinance banning discrimination based on, among other things, sexual orientation in places of public accommodation.

Idaho pastors opposed to gay marriage sue city over law.  Two pastors in Idaho, who fear they could be penalized for refusing to perform newly legal gay marriages at their private wedding chapel, have filed a lawsuit, saying an Idaho anti-discrimination law violates their right to free speech and religious liberty.

Idaho city's ordinance tells pastors to marry gays or go to jail.  Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, city officials have laid down the law to Christian pastors within their community, telling them bluntly via an ordinance that if they refuse to marry homosexuals, they will face jail time and fines.  The dictate comes on the heels of a legal battle with Donald and Evelyn Knapp, ordained ministers who own the Hitching Post wedding chapel in the city, but who oppose gay marriage, The Daily Caller reported.

Government to Ordained Ministers: Celebrate Same-Sex Wedding or Go to Jail.  For years, those in favor of same-sex marriage have argued that all Americans should be free to live as they choose.  And yet in countless cases, the government has coerced those who simply wish to be free to live in accordance with their belief that marriage is the union of a man and a woman.  Just this weekend, a case has arisen in Idaho, where city officials have told ordained ministers they have to celebrate same-sex weddings or face fines and jail time.

Criminalizing Innocent Christian Behavior.  Where are all the atheist freedom lovers we always hear about?  It's time for them to start standing up for religious liberty.  The left and militant gay movement are getting bolder and bolder, and too many Christians are stewing in their apathy.  It seems that with each passing month, this senseless tyranny advances.  The latest is that two Christian ministers in Idaho, Donald and Evelyn Knapp, have allegedly been ordered to perform same-sex wedding ceremonies at their chapel or face fines or jail sentences.

City Threatens to Arrest Ministers Who Refuse to Perform Same-Sex Weddings.  Two Christian ministers who own an Idaho wedding chapel were told they had to either perform same-sex weddings or face jail time and up to $1,000 in daily fines, according to a lawsuit filed Friday [10/17/2014] in federal court.  Alliance Defending Freedom is representing Donald and Evelyn Knapp, two ordained ministers who own the Hitching Post Wedding Chapel in Coeur d'Alene.  "Right now they are at risk of being prosecuted," attorney Jeremy Tedesco told me.  "The threat of enforcement is more than just credible."

Gaslighting America Out of Existence.  [An] excellent example of gaslighting is the top-down normalization of homosexuality, which has been almost universally regarded as a repugnant aberration throughout human history.  Now we are told it is normal, and that it is not perverts who are sick, but you for thinking there is something wrong with perversion.  If you don't enjoy watching football players engage in passionate kisses with their homosexual boyfriends on television, you are a defective person.

LGBT Tyranny Can Take Your First Amendment Rights Away.  We are too apathetic.  We allow a small minority of people to take our freedoms away because we care more about being politically correct than we do about protecting our Bill of Rights.  We are allowing a bank to discriminate against Christians.  While I support the rights of LGBTs, I don't believe Americans can be comfortable with losing their First Amendment rights because not everyone agrees with everything LGBTs do.  We need to start fighting back. [...] LGBTs now have the power to get people fired and ruin their businesses and careers.  Americans should be outraged.

What's The Only Job Left in America Where You Can Safely Oppose Same-Sex Marriage?  It is now obvious that in America, the left and the media will celebrate as you are shamed and paraded through the streets in stocks if you do not approve same-sex marriage.  They believe that the right to privacy somehow covers government approval of same-sex marriage, but not writing a check to back a campaign against that approval.  Engage in business in any aspect of American society, and you may be subject not only to the dictates of government, but to the job-killing hatred of the mob.  So, is there any job left in America in which it is safe to abide by your religious views against same-sex marriage?

Is conservative free speech banned in America?  If it's called "progress" and a sign of "freedom" that two men can openly kiss on national TV, what is it called when someone offended by that same scene can be fined or suspended from their job?  Is that progress?  Is that free speech?  Ask Miami Dolphins safety Don Jones.  He tweeted about how disgusted and offended he was by that kiss.  Jones was immediately fined and barred from team activities until he finishes "training for his recent comments made on social media."  Training?  You mean like a "reeducation camp?"

Human Rights Commission Says the Freedom to Practice Religion Is not a Human Right.  The Human Rights Commission of Lexington KY justifies the gay fascist bullying campaign against Christian businesses who don't wish to participate in gay weddings and other events by saying Christians should only be allowed to practice religion within their homes and churches.

Commission says Christian business owners should leave religion at home.  The Human Rights Commission in Lexington, Kentucky has a chilling message for Christian business owners who refuse service to LGBT organizations:  leave your religion at home.  "It would be safe to do so, yes," Executive Director Raymond Sexton told me.  "Or in this case you can find yourself two years down the road and you're still involved in a legal battle because you did not do so."  On Tuesday [10/7/2014], a Lexington Human Rights Commission hearing examiner issued a recommended ruling that the owner of a T-shirt company violated a local ordinance against sexual-orientation discrimination.

Judge Wants To Force A Printer To Make Pro-Gay T-Shirts.  An administrative law judge has ruled that a Kentucky printer's refusal to print gay pride t-shirts "constitutes unlawful discrimination," and, by extension, that printers cannot refuse to print materials promoting ideas they disagree with.

Liberty Ridge Farm owners appeal ruling over lesbian wedding.  In the bucolic town of Schaghticoke, NY, Liberty Ridge Farm serves as a setting for family outings and events of all sorts on a family owned farm in the country.  They are open to the public for a portion of each year, featuring events ranging from day camps to field trips to a corn maze.  And until recently they hosted weddings.  That all changed after the owners, Cynthia and Robert Gifford, encountered Melisa Erwin and Jennifer McCarthy, a lesbian couple who approached the Giffords about holding their wedding there.  Cynthia Gifford declined, citing her religious beliefs.

Cardinal: U.S. 'Creed' on Gay Marriage Means Christians Must Approve It or Be Punished, Like Sharia.  Cardinal Francis George, head of the Catholic archdiocese of Chicago, said the levers of power in government, education, entertainment, and media are enforcing a "public creed," a "fake church" that requires all citizens to approve of gay marriage and related sexual anomalies or be punished by the State, just "as Christians and Jews are fined for their religion in countries governed by Sharia law."  Cardinal George, who was president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in 2007-10, made his remarks in his Sept. 7 column for the archdiocesean newspaper.

'Lesbian Bridezillas' Town Considers Law To Punish Shop Owners' Refusal To Do Business.  In the wake of a media firestorm raging against the Christian owners of a bridal shop who refused to supply wedding dresses for lesbian brides, the town of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania is debating a possible law on whether shop owners have a right to refuse business to customers.

NY Farm Yanks Wedding Ceremonies After $13K Court Fine For Refusing Lesbian Wedding.  Cynthia and Robert Gifford, owners of Liberty Ridge Farm in New York, used to rent out their farm so couples could get married on the grounds.  They will no longer offer such services because the state ruled they had to violate their Christian beliefs and allow same-sex weddings on their property.  The state had fined the Giffords $13,000 when they refused to allow a lesbian couple, Jennifer McCarthy and Melisa Erwin, to be married on their farm in 2012.  The Giffords were against a wedding ceremony for the lesbian couple but said a wedding reception would be permissible.

Couple Fined For Refusing To Host Gay Wedding Shuts Down Venue.  A Christian couple fined $13,000 for refusing to host a lesbian wedding on their New York farm has decided to close the venue rather than violate their religious beliefs.  Cynthia and Robert Gifford decided not to host ceremonies anymore, other than those already scheduled, Alliance Defending Freedom attorney James Trainor told The Blaze.

The Editor says...
You can submit to the homosexuals, or close your business, or sell it, or burn it down, but in any case the homosexuals win.

Government to Farmers: Host Same-Sex Wedding or Pay a $13,000 Fine.  Should the government be able to coerce a family farm into hosting a same-sex wedding?  In a free society, the answer is no.  Family farms should be free to operate in accordance with the beliefs and values of their owners.  Government shouldn't be able to fine citizens for acting in the market according to their own — rather than the government's — values, unless there is a compelling government interest being pursued in the least restrictive way possible.  But the New York State Division of Human Rights doesn't see things this way.

LGBT Movement forces Child Welfare Services, run by Churches, to Close.  In recent years, some religious child welfare providers who believe that children deserve to be placed with married mothers and fathers have lost government funding and have shut down because of laws requiring them to serve the lesbian, gay, bi and transsexual (LGBT) communities, despite their contradicting religious convictions.  In Illinois, unmarried heterosexual couples and homosexuals may legally adopt children and become foster parents, leading to the discontinuation of the Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Rockford's adoption services.  In Washington D.C. a similar adoption program was shut down due to another law that requires religious organizations serving the general public to provide services to homosexuals regardless of religious beliefs.  Comparable cases are found in California, Massachusetts, and all across the nation — cases which offer a choice between sincere religious beliefs and punishment under law, or compliance and the forsaking of religious conscience.

Lesbian Bridezillas Bully Bridal Shop Owner over Religious Beliefs.  A Pennsylvania Christian bridal shop owner who refused to provide wedding gowns to a lesbian couple because of her religious beliefs was bullied by the lesbians on Facebook, where their post about the shop owner's refusal to serve them went viral.  The New York Daily News reports the lesbians, who tried to schedule an appointment at W.W. Bridal Boutique in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, were "unidentified," but said the owner — who was identified as Victoria Miller — told them she "[does] not service same-sex couples."  "We feel we have to answer to God for what we do," Miller told The Press Enterprise.  "And providing those two girls dresses for a sanctified marriage would break God's law."

Panel: Baker must make cakes for gay weddings.  Colorado's Civil Rights Commission on Friday ordered a baker to make wedding cakes for same-sex couples, finding his religious objections to the practice did not trump the state's anti-discrimination statutes.

Make Them Bake Cake!.  The Colorado's Civil Rights Commission has ordered a suburban Denver baker named Jack Phillips to make wedding cakes for same-sex couples, finding that his religious objections do not supersede the state's anti-discrimination statutes.  Because if the Constitution should be subordinate to anything it's the local thought police and nuptial pastries.

Bakery will no longer sell wedding cakes after adverse discrimination ruling.  Wedding cakes are no longer on the menu at Lakewood, Colo.-based Masterpiece Cake Shop.  Owner Jack Phillips will stop offering wedding cake services in the wake of a ruling that his shop must sell cakes for same-sex wedding ceremonies, despite his religious objections.  The ordeal began in 2012 when Dave Mullins and Charlie Craig solicited a cake for their wedding from Phillips' shop.  They were turned down by Phillips, who has been a Christian for 35 years and whose religious convictions do not permit him to endorse same-sex weddings.  At the time, Phillips told the men "I'll make you birthday cakes, shower cakes, sell you cookies and brownies, I just don't make cake for same-sex weddings."

Baker forced to make gay wedding cakes, undergo sensitivity training, after losing lawsuit.  A family owned bakery has been ordered to make wedding cakes for gay couples and guarantee that its staff be given comprehensive training on Colorado's anti-discrimination laws after the state's Civil Rights Commission determined the Christian baker violated the law by refusing to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.  Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, in Lakewood, Colorado was directed to change his store policies immediately and force his staff to attend the training sessions.

Liberals' Dark Ages.  The touchstone of liberalism is tolerance of differing ideas.  Yet this mob exists to enforce conformity of thought and to delegitimize any dissent from its sanctioned worldview.  Intolerance is its calling card.  Each week seems to bring another incident.  Last week it was David and Jason Benham, whose pending HGTV show was canceled after the mob unearthed old remarks the brothers made about their Christian beliefs on homosexuality.  People can't have a house-flipping show unless they believe and say the "right" things in their life off the set?

Christian Journalist 'Can't Sleep, Lost 14 Lbs, And May Leave City' After Threats by Gay Marriage Advocates.  Ireland, once a rock-solid Christian country, has now become so intolerant of Christian beliefs that its leading opponent of gay marriage may be forced to leave the country because of fears for his personal safety.  After repeated threats and obscene verbal attacks, John Waters, a nationally-known newspaper columnist, author and broadcaster who supports Christian family traditions, says he is now unable to go into the centre of Dublin at night because he fears for his own safety.

Liberals' mob rule.  Last week brought a chilling reminder of how mercilessly some liberals will work to silence and marginalize people who hold views with which they disagree.  Even for those [...] who support same-sex marriage, the virtual manhunt of Mozilla chief Brendan Eich was scary to watch.  His heresy was a private donation in support of an anti-gay marriage initiative six years ago.  Mob rule enforcing groupthink is as illiberal as it gets, and yet it was liberals demanding uniformity of thought — or else.

Supreme Court rejects appeal from New Mexico photographer who wouldn't shoot same-sex ceremony.  The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal Monday from a studio that refused to photograph a lesbian couple's commitment ceremony, letting stand a New Mexico high court ruling that helped spur a national debate over gay rights and religious freedom.

Corrosive Conformity.  The various tendencies that operate under the general heading of "gay rights" have had an extraordinary run of it in the past several years, in both the political and the cultural theaters.  We now have a constitutional right to commit homosexual acts (Lawrence v. Texas), while Facebook offers at last count 56 different gender options to its users (trans with or without asterisk, genderqueer, neutrois, and two-spirit among them).  Having won the battle in California, the sore winners are roaming the battlefield with bayonets and taking no prisoners.

You Can't Spell "Progressive" without an "S.S.".  It's time to come right out and say it — the gay "rights" movement is the biggest threat to American freedom in existence today.  Bigger than Islamic terrorism.  Bigger than Russian revanchism.  Bigger even than ObamaCare and our continuing out-of-control spending.  Yet, this is only one small part of the "progressive" movement in America which is quickly taking on shades of 1933.  Under Barack Obama, the radical Left has apparently felt that its time has come, and its movement toward open totalitarianism has accelerated.  The recent displays of homofascism are but the tip of the iceberg in the Left's attempts to create an all encompassing control of your lives, your words, and even your thoughts.

Support same-sex marriage or face the wrath of the PC police.
CEO of Firefox maker Mozilla steps down.  Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich will step down following uproar over his apparent opposition to gay marriage.  In a statement released Thursday, Mozilla — which makes the Firefox Web browser — apologized for not reacting more quickly to the controversy surrounding Eich, who made a 2008 donation supporting California's ban on gay marriage, The Guardian reports.

Purge The 7 Million.  According to Wikipedia, 7,001,084 people voted for Prop 8.  Why do any of those people still have jobs?  Shouldn't they all be forced to resign?  And why should they have the privilege of living in California at all?

Mozilla's Chief Felled by View on Gay Unions.  In Silicon Valley, where personal quirks and even antisocial personalities are tolerated as long as you are building new products and making money, a socially conservative viewpoint may be one trait you have to keep to yourself.  On Thursday, Brendan Eich, who has helped develop some of the web's most important technologies, resigned under pressure as chief executive of Mozilla, the maker of the popular Firefox web browser, just two weeks after taking the job.  The reason?  In 2008, he donated $1,000 in support of Proposition 8, a California measure that banned same-sex marriage.

ABC Uses Footage of Hateful Westboro Baptist to Slime CEO Who Opposes Gay Marriage.  According to Good Morning America's Linzie Janis, a CEO who made a donation in opposition to gay marriage is the same as the hateful members of the Westboro Baptist Church.  On Friday, Janis reported on Brendan Eich, the former head of the tech company Mozilla.  Eich was ousted after liberal groups found out that in 2008 he made a $1000 donation to support Proposition 8 in California.

Brendan Eich and the New American Totalitarian State.  Imagine going to work one day only to be, in effect, fired — not because of anything you did or didn't do at your job, but because of something you did in your personal life.  Something religious.  Or maybe, something political.  Imagine if you were denied a promotion at work because a co-worker found out you had made a personal donation to a conservative candidate.  Imagine if your environmentally-correct boss discovered that, in your free time at home, you supported an organization that exposed the fallacies of man-made global warming and asked you for your resignation.  Imagine if you were the successful CEO of Widget Corp, lauded and respected for your accomplishments, but clients or customers found out you were a tea partier and demanded you be forced out.  That's exactly what happened to Brendan Eich, a highly-respected tech guru in Silicon Valley and co-founder of Mozilla Corporation, after he was appointed CEO in late March.

How did people find out that Mozilla's CEO donated to support Prop 8?  Rumors are floating around Twitter that proof of Brendan Eich's donation was illegally leaked by people in government sympathetic to the cause of gay marriage.  Not so.  I'd forgotten about it, but friends reminded me that the LA Times obtained a list of people who gave, for and against, to the fight over the Prop 8 referendum in 2008.  They put the whole database online and made it searchable. [...] The Prop 8 donor list now functions essentially as a blacklist, and Eich isn't its first or only victim.

Today's Most Ominous News Story...  ... is the resignation of Brendan Eich as CEO of Mozilla, the company that makes the Firefox browser.  Eich is a superstar in the world of technology; among other things, he invented Javascript and was one of the founders of Mozilla.  But in 2008 he contributed $1,000 to support Proposition 8, the California ballot proposition that defended traditional marriage.  For that, he was pilloried by left-wing activists.  He lasted barely more than a week before being forced to resign from the company he helped to create. So the liberals claim another scalp.

In [the] Mozilla Case, The Left's Intolerance Is Out Of The Closet.  The left hounded a CEO from his job over a 2008 donation in favor of a California measure opposing gay marriage.  So much for free speech and job performance.  This is a descent into mob tyranny and mediocrity.  The dirty work of the left was achieved after Brendan Eich, recently appointed CEO of Mozilla, a software company based in Silicon Valley, was forced out of the company he helped found, all to feed the maw of political correctness.

Does Brendan Eich Have a Case Against Mozilla?  Many of the comments at various blogs addressing the forced resignation of Brendan Eich emphasize the fact that Mozilla is a private company and can hire or fire whomever they want for any reason.  This is partially true.  In at-will states, which California is, most employers have wide latitude in terminating the employer-employee relationship.  But they cannot wrongfully terminate an employee, violate the terms of an existing contract, or discriminate against an employee.

The Rise Of Totalitarian Liberalism.  George Orwell gave us a look at the operation of a totalitarian one-party state in 1984.  This week Mozilla gave us a look at its nascent liberal variant.  Recently appointed CEO Brandon Eich was officially made a nonperson.  He was dispatched down the memory hole as the company announced that he has "step[ped] down from his role as CEO" as a result of his contribution of $1,000 to the passage of California's Prop 8 six years ago.

Mozilla blowback: bursting the PC bubble?  The people at Mozilla may yet live to regret their decision in cooperating with the forcing out of Brendan Eich.  Apparently the internet giant has been getting a lot of negative reaction to its jettisoning of Eich for his contribution in support of California's Proposition 8 back in 2008.  Whether or not this will actually end up hurting Mozilla, one wonders whether Mozilla even anticipated the possibility.  The folks at Mozilla travel in a world in which PC thought dominates, [...]

Mozilla chief learns, if you don't support gay marriage, you don't deserve a job .  As we enter this golden age of tolerance and diversity, the nation's gay rights community is sending a warning message to Americans:  If you don't support gay marriage, you don't deserve a job.  Apparently, Brendan Eich did not get that message.  He's the former chief executive officer at Mozilla, the technology group that gave us the Firefox Web browser.  Eich resigned under a firestorm of controversy after it was revealed he had donated $1,000 in support of California's Proposition 8, a ballot initiative that protected traditional marriage.

Eich.  Much of the shock following the removal of Brendan Eich from the position of Mozilla CEO came from the realization that, in a manner of speaking, America was now at war.  True it's a culture war, not a physical conflict.  But if you were waiting for the moment when the Cold Civil War actually begins, this might be it.

If they can hound out Brendan Eich for being anti-gay marriage, who will be next?  Brendan Eich, the CEO of Mozilla, has been forced to resign from his job because he once donated to an anti-gay marriage campaign.  This is deeply unfair.  At the time that he made the donation (2008), Barack Obama was also opposed to gay marriage — as was Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and almost all the leadership of the Democratic Party.  Eich always stressed that his personal views were separate from his work and he pledged to abide by Mozilla's pro-equality policies.

More on donor lists and the Mozilla oppression.  I see Allahpundit at Hot Air took a thorough look at the issue, and confirmed my recollection:  California law requires donations above $100 for ballot measures to identify themselves, and their employers.  The L.A. Times published the Prop 8 list as a searchable database.  This became a key tool in the triumph of fascism over democracy (and that is exactly what just happened) because, as Allah[pundit] observes, the Prop 8 donor list has already been used as a blacklist to ruin other lives and careers.  Vote the wrong way, and the brownshirts come for you, simple as that.

Mozilla's Gay-Marriage Litmus Test Violates Liberal Values.  [Scroll down]  Calls for his ouster were premised on the notion that all support for Proposition 8 was hateful, and that a CEO should be judged not just by his or her conduct in the professional realm, but also by political causes he or she supports as a private citizen.  If that attitude spreads, it will damage our society.

The Left Isn't Pro-Gay — It's Pro-Power.  Did the activists who claimed Eich's scalp care about him or his $1,000 donation to defend marriage?  They're already forgetting his name and moving on to the next target.  Eich just happened to make a good target.  The Mozilla Foundation is shaky, its board was insecure, and once an online dating company cynically came out with a publicity stunt to keep the news cycle churning, the scalp of the man behind Javascript was claimed.  If he had hung on for another few days, the whole thing would have gone away.

What Mozilla Has Taught Us.  Last week, [Brendan] Eich could not grovel quite enough to keep his job as CEO of Mozilla, a software enterprise best known for producing the Firefox web browser.  He resigned under pressure after "marriage equality" activists revealed that Eich had donated $1,000 to the 2008 Proposition 8 campaign in California.  Proposition 8, which passed with more than 52 percent of the vote, amended the California constitution to read, "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."  Distressingly few editorialists came to Eich's defense.

Some gay activists fear same-sex supporters are becoming intolerant.  The announcement by popular Web browser Mozilla Firefox that co-founder and CEO Brendan Eich was stepping down after two weeks on the job for a 2008 contribution has sparked furious debate over civil rights, privacy and corporate responsibility.  A leading gay blogger has accused the movement of displaying the same intolerance activists accuse their opponents of practicing, while the website Slate.com published a satirical list of other California companies that should be purged of gay-marriage skeptics, which presumably include the 52 percent of Californians who voted for Proposition 8 in 2008.

Cake WarsCake Wars.  In December 2013, Judge Robert Spencer ordered the owner of Masterpiece Cake Shop to start baking cakes for gay weddings.  According to undercover footage obtained by the ACLU the proprietor, Jack Phillips, agreed to bake a cake for a wedding between two dogs, but refused to bake a cake for a gay marriage.  Some saw the issue in terms of free speech; Jack Phillips was refusing to participate in something he disagreed with.  Others saw it as a question of discrimination; Jack Phillips was denying a service to gays that he granted to heterosexuals (including heterosexual dogs).  While both views have merit, if you value civil rights you have to side with Jack Philips.

Celebrate Gay Marriage — or Else.  Future historians will likely be flummoxed by the moment we're living in.  In what amounts to less than a blink of an eye in the history of Western civilization, homosexuality has gone from a diagnosed mental disorder to something to be celebrated — or else.  Indeed, the rush to mandatory celebration is so intense, refusal is now considered tantamount to a crime.  And, in some rare instances, an actual crime if the right constable or bureaucrat concludes that you have uttered "hate speech."  Or, if you refuse to bake a gay couple a cake for their wedding.  That was the horror story that sparked much of this foofaraw.

Gov. Jan Brewer vetoes right to refuse service bill SB 1062.  Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed Wednesday [2/26/2014] a controversial bill that would have allowed businesses to deny services to gays and others based on religious beliefs. [...] Brewer said the bill "could divide Arizona in ways we could not even imagine and no one would ever want."  The bill was broadly worded and could result in unintended negative consequences, she added.

Religious-Liberty Scholars Counter Egregious Distortions of Arizona Bill.  There has been a blizzard of hysterical misinformation about Arizona's SB 1062.  As anyone who takes the trouble to consult the text of the legislation will readily discover, SB 1062 does not mention, much less single out, gays or same-sex ceremonies.

If the Left knew Christians were coming they'd've baked a cake.  Brewer's decision to nix the measure in the current political and cultural climate emboldens radicals to treat opposition to same-sex marriage as a thought crime.  The legislation that Brewer fashioned into an origami rainbow was aimed at discouraging activist thuggery.  It is necessary because progressive activists have become increasingly aggressive and even sadistic during the Obama administration.  They taunt and abuse people by trying to force them to do things that violate their sincerely held religious beliefs.  They want to roll back the religious freedoms protected by the Constitution.  The vetoed bill would have given some much-needed protection against lawsuits to those who refuse on religious grounds to provide services.  In other words, it would have made it more difficult for activists to successfully sue service providers for refusing to make cakes for gay weddings or to do photographic spreads of such ceremonies.

When 'leave us alone' became 'bake us a cake!'  Sexual orientation is not race — and permitting what would most definitely be a very small number of observant Christians to exercise their right of conscience is vastly different from pervasive and state-sponsored racism. [...] We have reached a point in the gay rights debate where all the low-hanging fruit has been picked.  We are now entering into the zero-sum game phase of the debate, where gay rights and religious liberty must collide.

How freedom dies.  "Religious Right Cheers a Bill Allowing Refusal to Serve Gays."  Thus did the New York Times' headline, leaving no doubt as to who the black hats are, describe the proposed Arizona law to permit businesses, on religious grounds, to deny service to same-sex couples.

Kansas House passes bill allowing refusal of service to same-sex couples.  Denying services to same-sex couples may soon become legal in Kansas.  House Bill 2453 explicitly protects religious individuals, groups and businesses that refuse services to same-sex couples, particularly those looking to tie the knot.  It passed the state's Republican-dominated House on Wednesday [2/12/2014] with a vote of 72-49, and has gone to the Senate for a vote.

Oregon: Christian Businesses Must Follow Demands of Gay Customers.  The owners of a Christian bakery who refused to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple are facing hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines after they were found guilty of violating the couple's civil rights.  The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries said they found "substantial evidence" that Sweet Cakes by Melissa discriminated against the lesbian couple and violated the Oregon Equality Act of 2007, a law that protects the rights of the LGBT community.

An Absolute Right to Refuse Service.  If I'm a business owner and someone comes in requesting goods or services that would require me to violate my conscience — especially my biblically-based, sincerely held religious beliefs — I will not, under any circumstances, provide those goods or services.  This is my absolute, non-negotiable, constitutionally guaranteed right.

Does the Constitution Force Bakers to Bake?  Several recent court cases have resulted in small business owners, who create the wares and services that they sell, being ordered by a judge to sell their custom-made products (e.g., wedding cakes and floral arrangements) or services (e.g., wedding photography) to gay couples despite the small business owners' refusal to do so based on their religious principles.

Gonorrhea, Syphilis Regain Traction in U.S., CDC Reports.  While all three diseases [gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia] are curable with antibiotics, many people don't get tested as recommended, said Gail Bolan, the director of the CDC's STD prevention division.  That's especially the case for syphilis, where the rise is entirely attributable to men, particularly those who are gay or bisexual.

Penalizing Those Who Hold Biblical Views of Marriage.  In a series of instances we have seen the gatekeepers of civil society attack those who hold Biblical views about marriage and sexuality — Chick-fil-A, Barilla Pasta, Craig James who was fired from ESPN, and now Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty.  It is even worse, of course, when it is the government that penalizes those who hold Biblical views.  That should be anathema in America.  While A&E exercised its rights, in a growing number of incidents, government has not respected the free-contract and free-speech rights of Americans.

A&E declares war on 'Duck Dynasty's' Christian values.  Duck Dynasty has been sacrificed on the altar of political correctness.  By now you probably know that A&E indefinitely suspended Phil Robertson, the patriarch of the Duck Dynasty family, for following the teachings of the Holy Bible.

Homosexuals Get Duck Dy-Nasty.  "Tolerance," as it has been marketed, was always a con. [...] For one thing, tolerance always implies a negative, real or perceived; you wouldn't have to tolerate a beautiful car or a delectable meal — you relish those things.  But you might have to tolerate a cold or bad weather.  Thus, tolerance is only noble in two situations:  One is when dealing with something objectively negative that cannot be eliminated, such as irremediable pain.  The other is when confronted with something you don't happen to like and could avoid, but that is objectively good or neutral; an example would be tolerating a food you detest in order to avoid offending your hosts.

Christianity on trial in Duck Dynasty controversy.  Will cooler heads prevail in the gay community, realizing that Christians ought to be allowed to have their two millennia-old beliefs respected in the public square?  That would be the optimal outcome, but I don't really predict it will happen, as things now stand.

The Editor says...
The abhorrence of homosexuality is much older than "two millennia."  Homosexuality has been abnormal since the creation of the earth.  (Genesis 5:2)

The Intolerant 'Gay Marriage' Movement.  [T]olerance is the last thing on the mind of the gay marriage movement.  Once the laws were on the books (or via judicial fiat in many cases), tolerance was gone.  Once gay marriage was legal, the power of the state was brought down on anyone who had the temerity to disagree with gay marriage.  In New Mexico, a photographer did not want to photograph a gay wedding because of her Christian beliefs.  There, tolerance went out the window.  Instead of going to a photographer who might be more sympathetic to gay marriage, the two individuals getting "married" called the thought police.

Judge Orders Colo. Cake-Maker to Serve Gay Couples.  A baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex ceremony must serve gay couples despite his religious beliefs or face fines, a judge said Friday [12/6/2013].

Photographer sued for refusing to take pictures at lesbian couple's ceremony goes to the Supreme Court.  A photographer sued by a lesbian couple after she refused to take pictures at their commitment ceremony is taking her fight for religious freedom to the Supreme Court.  Elaine Huguenin, who runs a photography business in Albuquerque, New Mexico, refused to take the snaps for the happy day of Vanessa Willock and Misti Collinsworth in 2006.  The women then filed a discrimination lawsuit again Ms Huguenin.  New Mexico law prohibits businesses from discriminating against people based on their sexuality.

80 Airmen Threatened, Harassed For Refusing To Support Gay Marriage.  A military that's hostile to Christianity will fall to pieces over the long haul because there simply aren't enough Muslims, atheists, homosexuals and liberals that want to join the military to keep it staffed.  Since liberals detest the military anyway, that's not going to trouble them, but the rest of us should be concerned.

Airmen say Air Force is punishing evangelical Christians.  Evangelical Christian airmen at Lackland Air Force Base are facing severe threats and retribution for their religious beliefs and some personnel have been ordered to publicly express their position on gay marriage.  "There is an atmosphere of intimidation at Lackland Air Force Base," said Steve Branson, the pastor of Village Parkway Baptist Church in San Antonio.  "Gay commanders and officers are pushing their agenda on the airmen.  There is a culture of fear in the military and it's gone to a new level with the issue of homosexuality."

Broadcaster Fired for Opposing Same-Sex Marriage Blasts Fox Sports for Religious Discrimination.  This is not just a blatant case of religious discrimination in violation of law.  It is not merely an example of yet another step in the media's attempt to silence those of a traditional perspective on same-sex marriage.  It is a story that traces up much higher in the national FOX Sports organization than the regional network.

Broadcaster Fired for Opposing Same-Sex Marriage Blasts Fox Sports for Religious Discrimination.  This is not just a blatant case of religious discrimination in violation of law.  It is not merely an example of yet another step in the media's attempt to silence those of a traditional perspective on same-sex marriage.  It is a story that traces up much higher in the national FOX Sports organization than the regional network.

The Editor says...
Activists on the left sometimes say, "Same-sex marriage doesn't harm you, so why are you opposed to it?"  As more and more cases like that of Craig James come to light, and people lose their jobs due to political correctness, the answer will be self-evident.

Catholic College Rescinds Invitation to Speaker Defending Same-Sex Marriage.  Providence College, a Roman Catholic school in Rhode Island, has canceled a lecture in support of same-sex marriage on Thursday by a gay philosophy professor, citing a church document that says that "Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles."

Christian baker hounded by gays to close shop: My faith in God 'has grown'.  An Oregon baker with Christian beliefs who was forced to shut down operations after refusing to make a cake for a planned same-sex wedding says her faith in God has not wavered — and in fact, has grown stronger because of the ordeal.  Aaron and Melissa Klein, who claim a Christian faith, operated the Gresham, Ore., shop, Sweet Cakes by Melissa.  In May, because of their religious beliefs, the Kleins turned down a request from a lesbian couple, Rachel Cryer and Laurel Bowmann, to bake a cake for their upcoming wedding.

Air Force cracking down on Christians.  Senior Master Sgt. Phillip Monk found himself at odds with his Lackland Air Force Base commander after he objected to her plans to severely punish an instructor who had expressed religious objections to homosexuality.  During the conversation, his commander ordered him to share his personal views on homosexuality.  "I was relieved of my position because I don't agree with my commander's position on gay marriage," he told me.  "We've been told that if you publicly say that homosexuality is wrong, you are in violation of Air Force policy."

Christian bakery closes after LGBT threats, protests.  A family-owned Christian bakery, under investigation for refusing to bake a wedding cake for a lesbian couple, has been forced to close its doors after a vicious boycott by militant homosexual activists.  Sweet Cakes By Melissa posted a message on its Facebook page alerting customers that their Gresham, Ore. retail store would be shut down after months of harassment from pro-gay marriage forces.

Texas Guard refuses to process same-sex benefits.  The Texas National Guard refused to process requests from same-sex couples for benefits on Tuesday [9/3/2013], citing the state constitution's ban on gay marriage, despite a Pentagon directive to do so.  Pentagon officials said Texas appeared to be the only state that planned to turn gay and lesbian couples away on Tuesday, the first working day that gays in the military may apply for benefits.

The 'Human Rights' Juggernaut.  On August 22, the New Mexico supreme court unanimously ruled that a wedding photographer broke the law by refusing to photograph a same-sex commitment ceremony.  While gay rights advocates are celebrating this latest in a string of legal and political victories, the outcome of Elane Photography v. Vanessa Willock has alarmed religious liberty advocates.  And it could end up having a profound influence on First Amendment jurisprudence.

New Mexico photographer loses gay marriage case.  A commercial photography business owned by opponents of same-sex marriage violated New Mexico's anti-discrimination law by refusing to take pictures of a gay couple's commitment ceremony, the state's highest court ruled unanimously Thursday [8/22/2013].

NM Supreme Court Finds Refusing to Photograph Gay Wedding Illegal.  The New Mexico Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that, by refusing to photograph a gay wedding, a photography studio violated the New Mexico Human Rights Act (NMHRA).  The court found that Elane Photography's refusal to serve Vanessa Willock violated the act, which "prohibits a public accommodation from refusing to offer its services to a person based on that person's sexual orientation," according to the ruling.

Reserving the right to refuse service.  In yet another topic sure to enrage, Sterling Beard — writing at The Corner — catches up with the latest news on a strange case coming to us from New Mexico.  It's now gone all the way to the state Supreme Court, and the story may be at an end.  In case you hadn't heard, wedding photographers can't refuse to take pictures at a gay wedding or they have violated the New Mexico Human Rights Act.

The Editor says...
Notice if you will that the homosexuals have "human rights" but the rest of us don't.

New Mexico Takes a Stab at Nullifying the Constitution.  Given that a person exercises his religion by living his life in harmony with his beliefs, any attempt by government to force people to commit sins is a clear and direct repudiation of the targeted individual's First Amendment rights.  Nonetheless, the New Mexico Supreme Court has found that a photographer who declined to photograph a gay "wedding" was at fault.

Tolerance, Health and Fascism.  Last week, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled that an event photographer's refusal on religious grounds to shoot the commitment ceremony of a same-sex couple amounted to illegal discrimination.  The photographer had never objected to photographing gays.  She did not, however, wish to be part of a ceremony to which she religiously objected.  In America today, thanks to myriad laws and progressive justices, people can go to prison for refusing to participate in an event to which they object.  This is what happened to a florist in Washington state who had always sold flowers to gay customers but refused to be the florist for a gay wedding:  sued and fined.

Judge: Clerks must issue marriage licenses to gay couples.  On Monday, Judge Alan Malott ruled it unconstitutional to ban same-sex couples from getting married in Bernalillo County.  Malott ruled that the Bernalillo and Santa Fe county clerks must grant marriage licenses to gay couples who apply for them.

Airmen Punished for Objecting to Gay Marriage.  A 19-year veteran of the Air Force said he was relieved of his duties after he disagreed with his openly gay commander when she wanted to severely punish an instructor who had expressed religious objections to homosexuality.  "I was relieved of my position because I don't agree with my commander's position on gay marriage," Senior Master Sgt. Phillip Monk told Fox News.  "We've been told that if you publicly say that homosexuality is wrong, you are in violation of Air Force policy."

Airman opposed to gay marriage files complaint after being transferred.  A senior Air Force NCO who says he was punished because of his opposition to gay marriage this week filed a formal complaint against his commander, claiming she violated his religious beliefs.  Senior Master Sgt. Phillip Monk, a 19-year airman serving at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, claims he was relieved of his duties and reassigned following a heated exchange over the hot-button social issue.

Mock 'Marriage' Will Criminalize Christianity.  While poorly decided U.S. Supreme Court cases are a dime a dozen, prior to last Wednesday, two stood out among the most wretched and constitutionally groundless in American History.  First was the 1857 Dred Scott decision.  Among other things, it robbed African-Americans of both their U.S. citizenship and their dignity.  Next came the 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade.  It has robbed over 55 million U.S. citizens of their very lives.  For the first time in American history, the high court imagined a phantom constitutional right for women to dismember alive their own pre-born children.  Both of these cases are blights on American history.

Gay marriage fight now becomes a religious liberty fight.  The next offensive in this culture war will involve wielding government to force individuals to accept the new definition of marriage, falsely invoking analogies to civil rights.  As a prototype, consider the assault on the liberty of Elaine Huguenin, the wedding photographer in New Mexico.  In 2006, a couple asked her to photograph their wedding.  When she learned the couple were lesbians, she declined, explaining that pursuant to her faith, she only photographed man-woman weddings.  The couple got a different photographer, but they sued Huguenin.

IRS Could Revoke Non-Profit Status for Religious Institutions Refusing to Perform Same-Sex Marriages.  The DOMA decision makes clear that marriage is a state-to-state issue, meaning that religious institutions that receive non-profit status on the federal level but do not perform or accept same-sex marriages in states where it is legal could have non-profit status revoked.  Furthermore, should the IRS move to revoke federal non-profit status for churches, synagogues and mosques that do not perform same-sex marriage more generally, the Court could easily justify that decision on the basis of "eradicating discrimination" in religious education.

Flour power isn't sweet on gay marriage; bakeries snub same-sex couples' weddings.  Supporters of same-sex marriage are taking their fight to new venues daily — first to the courts, then to state legislatures, and now to bakeries.  The owner of a Colorado bakery who refused to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple is fighting a civil-rights complaint filed May 31 by the attorney general's office.  A hearing is scheduled for Sept. 23 before an administrative-law judge in Denver.

Washington state and the ACLU sue florist for refusing to sell flowers for gay wedding because of Christian beliefs.  The American Civil Liberties Union joined the state of Washington by filing its own lawsuit on Thursday [5/30/2013] against Arlene's Flowers and its proprietor, Barronelle Stutzman, over the woman's refusal to sell flowers for a same-sex wedding.

Proof that sexual preference carries more weight than religious freedom:
WA State Sues Florist for Refusing to Service Gay Wedding.  There is no question that rank-and-file gay couples of all political stripes are sincere in their desire to enjoy the benefits and status that come with marriage.  There is no sinister agenda at work in the issue of same-sex marriage among the masses.  But the same cannot be said of the organized left who have always intended to use the issue of gay marriage as a vehicle to destroy the Christian Church and marginalize Christians.

WA State Atty Gen Violates Christian Florist's Constitutional Rights.  A Christian florist in Washington State, who declined to provide flowers for a same-sex wedding because she objects for religious reasons, is being taken to court by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson.  This case could ultimately lead the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit one of its past mistakes.

School Cancels Santorum Speech over Marriage Views.  A Michigan high school canceled a speech by former Sen. Rick Santorum after teachers became outraged over his opposition to gay marriage and threatened to stage protests and a possible work stoppage.  Santorum had been invited to deliver a upcoming speech on leadership by the Young Americans for Freedom chapter at Gross Pointe South High School.  But the speech was canceled on Monday [4/8/2013] after the school district's superintendent heard from angry teachers.

Introduction:

The definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman, excluding all other combinations, could have been written into the Constitution, but some things just go without saying.  At least they did until about 50 years ago.

Perversion is defined as "Deviation from the normal path, whether it be in the area of one's intellect, emotions, actions, or reactions."  In other words, it's abnormal.  Normalizing homosexuality and legitimizing same-sex marriage is not the bottom of the slippery slope.  All this will lead to polygamy and much more.  As I always say, this kind of incrementalism only goes one direction.  The battle over same-sex marriage won't mark the end of the friction between radical leftists and normal people — the average everyday people who would prefer to have American society operate under the traditional rules and expectations we embraced until just recently.  There are those who have a perpetual urge to push the envelope until all the moral foundations of this country are overturned.

When one is caught in the middle of this controversy, it's decision time.  Same-sex marriage can easily lead to the loss of your liberty and livelihood, as has been demonstrated already.  This page is about the people who have been caught in the path of the same-sex leviathan.  At present, there is only one well-known example, and while this person's defiance and subsequent jail experience have been widely publicized, with some degree of news media sensationalism, others are sure to follow.

Commentary on the case of Kim Davis:

America's Toxic Brew: "Diversity".  There does seem to be one "group" of people that the PC crowd doesn't extend its sympathies to, and that would be Christians.  Kim Davis, the (Kentucky) Rowan county clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to homosexual couples based on her strongly held religious convictions, is now in jail for contempt of court.  The gleeful gay activists are ecstatic, claiming "Love won".  No, tyranny won.  The first amendment of the constitution guarantees religious liberty, and the fact that Ms. Davis is a "government" employee does not strip her of those constitutional protections.  Neither the state of Kentucky, nor its citizens ever approved same-sex marriage.  No, that matter was decided for over 300 million of us by five lawyers in robes.

Obama admin helps Muslims win big religious liberty lawsuit; why not Christian bakers?  When a couple of Muslim truck drivers are fired for refusing to haul beer on religious grounds, they're awarded $240,000.  When a couple of bakers refuse to bake a same-sex wedding cake on religious grounds, they're the ones being forced to pay big.  In the case of the Muslim truck drivers, the Obama administration's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission stepped in and won the case for them.

Kim Davis Should Have Declared Rowan County a Sanctuary City.  Let me say right off the bat that I don't agree with what Kim Davis did.  However, I found the hand wringing by Democrats and the media over her actions to be completely disingenuous and hypocritical.  As many others have pointed out, Democrats have had no problem with county clerks who have refused to, say, issue gun licenses in compliance with court order.

Govt workers have right to refuse gay marriage licenses -pope.  Pope Francis said on Monday [9/28/2015] government officials have a "human right" to refuse to discharge a duty, such as issuing marriage licenses to homosexuals, if they feel it violates their conscience.

Clerk Kim Davis Switching Parties to Become a Republican.  Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, a longtime Democrat, says she is switching to the Republican Party because she feels abandoned by Democrats in her crusade against same-sex marriage.  Davis made the announcement while in Washington, D.C., to attend the Family Research Council's Value Voters Summit, said Charla Bansley, a spokeswoman for Liberty Counsel, which represents Davis in her legal battles.  "I've always been a Democrat, but the party left me," Davis said, according to Bansley.

Gay Men Want Kim Davis Back in Jail.  Two sources close to Kentucky country clerk Kim Davis tell Breitbart News that the gay men whose demand for a marriage license started her on a path to jail for five days are again trying to get her locked up.

Kentucky clerk in gay marriage dispute switches to Republican Party.  A county clerk in Kentucky who was briefly jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples said on Friday that she and her family have switched to the Republican Party because the Democrats no longer represented them.

Pair of state legislators trying to nullify Supreme Court same-sex marriage ruling in Tennessee.  Obergefell v. Hodges is the Supreme Court's landmark June 26 ruling that same-sex couples have a fundamental constitutional right to marry and legalizing same-sex marriage in all 50 states.  Senate Bill 1437/House Bill 1412 also declares that "No state or local agency or official shall give force or effect to any court order that has the effect of violating Tennessee's laws protecting natural marriage," and says the state attorney general "shall defend any state or local government official from any lawsuit regarding the official's recognition of natural marriage."

Kim Davis may have invalidated marriage license forms, deputy clerk says.  When [Kim] Davis returned to work last Monday [9/15/2015], she reiterated her opposition to gay marriage but said she wouldn't prevent her deputies from issuing licenses to such couples — as long as those documents didn't carry her name or title.  Davis may have gone further than that, the lawyer for deputy Rowan County court clerk Brian Mason said in an update report Friday [9/18/2015] to a federal judge.  Davis replaced the old marriage license forms with forms that don't carry her name, the name of the county or any reference to a clerk or deputy clerk, said Mason's lawyer, Richard Hughes.

Kentucky clerk Kim Davis interfered with judge's order, attorney says.  The attorney for one of the deputy clerks in Kim Davis' office says Davis disobeyed a federal judge's order when she altered marriage license forms for same-sex couples.

Saga Surrounding Kentucky Clerk May Not Be Over.  Kim Davis is out of jail and on the job, but the saga surrounding the Kentucky county clerk who has refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples appears to be far from over.  In a court filing Friday [9/18/2015], the attorney for one of Davis' employees said he believes Davis has again violated a federal court order by altering marriage license forms to remove her name and the name of the county.  In a separate court filing on Friday [9/18/2015], attorneys for the gay couples who sued Davis appear to agree and say they are "exploring legal options."

Lawlessness and Kim Davis' Fireweed-like Faith.  The Rowan County Kentucky elected official Kim Davis was jailed unjustly.  Unjustly, because we live in a society which promotes "right" as "wrong," and wrong as right and laws are applied to some and not others.  I guess we should ignore that top-down, this country is filled with leftist ideologues who violate laws yet are not thrown in jail like Ms. Davis was.  President Obama blatantly violates immigration laws already on the books.  Elected officials across the country do the same in their creation of sanctuary cities, offering lawbreakers safe harbor, not jail time.  Officials were not jailed for purportedly allowing Baltimore thugs time and space to destroy personal property.  And then there's Hillary Clinton.  In sharp contrast, Ms. Davis made a simple request to have her name removed from marriage licenses for conscious-sake [sic].  She asked for religious accommodations and got jail time.  Would the outcome be different were she a Muslim?  Or an atheist in the Air Force?  Or Caitlyn Jenner?  It matters not how messy Ms. Davis' pre-conversion past is or to which political party she belongs.  It's about principle.  And the rule of law.

America has never been a 'Christian' nation. Kim Davis picked the wrong issue.  If [Kim] Davis wants to be consistent she would refuse a marriage license for anyone who has sinned, which would limit the number of applications to zero since "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."  (Romans 3:23)  Davis had four options:  Issue the license, have someone else issue it, resign, or go to jail.  She chose to go to jail, which, unlike Rosa Parks to whom she is being compared, makes her look more like a religious fanatic than a martyr.  Removal of her name from the marriage licenses would be a good compromise.

Stop Saying Same-Sex Marriage is the 'Law of the Land'.  Ever notice that radical leftists never say, "It's the law of the land" when speaking of a national law they fundamentally disagree with? [...] The courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, do not write laws.  The legal system sort of operates under the mistaken notion that all High Court rulings somehow automatically become the law of the land.  In many instances, however, laws have to be rewritten by the legislatures to comply with U.S. Supreme Court rulings.  Kentucky law has yet to be changed to redefine marriage and to authorize its local clerks to issue same-sex marriage licenses.  Until the Kentucky law is amended, clerks in Kentucky granting such licenses are doing so out of gratuitous deference, not legal obligation.  If U.S. District Judge David Bunning were to give this legal reality some honest reflection, he might get the cold sweats, because he wrongly held Ms. Davis in contempt and took away her liberty.

Oath Keepers: We'll Protect Kim Davis with 'Boots On the Ground'.  The Oath Keepers volunteer militia has offered its support to Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis in Kentucky.  According to Raw Story, founder Stewart Rhodes discussed the proposition and possible planning of heading to Kentucky to offer the militia's services to Davis during a conference call.  Former Kentucky sheriff Denny Peyman, Missouri member John Karriman, and West Virginia member Allen Landieri also joined in during the 15-minute conversation.  "People should consider her under our protection," said Rhodes.  "We'll make sure that our people are keeping a close eye on the situation and we're going have boots on the ground to keep watch regardless, because this judge needs to understand that he's not going be able to just go grab this lady whenever he feels like it."

Kentucky Clerk Again Asks for Delay on Gay-Marriage Licenses.  A Kentucky county clerk who was recently jailed for denying same-sex couples marriage licenses filed an appeal Friday [9/11/2015] that asks for another delay in issuing the licenses.

Do We Still Have Unalienable Rights?  Someone recently asked the Kentucky clerk refusing to issue a same sex marriage license:  "Under whose authority can you deny the license?"  Kim Davis, the clerk in Rowan County, answered, "Under God's authority."  Ridicule and derision have been spewing from the tolerant left continuously since the shocking statement was made.  But the issue raises fundamental questions relating to American liberty.  Can the state force a citizen to do something against her religious conscience?  In the Davis matter, because the clerk works for the local government, the most relevant issue is whether the federal government actually has jurisdiction over the family law decisions of the states and localities in the first place.

Kentucky Clerk's Contempt Is Different.  Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who refused a federal judge's direct order to issue marriage licenses, was freed from jail Tuesday [9/8/2015].  But some conservatives have questioned why she was there in the first place, comparing her stand with that of President Barack Obama, who says he won't deport some immigrants in the U.S. without legal authority; with the noncooperation of "sanctuary city" mayors with federal immigration authorities; and with the refusal of California Governor Jerry Brown to defend Proposition 8 when it was challenged in federal court.  These public officials, the conservatives point out, refused to follow the law.  Yet they are not only free, but also lauded by liberals.  This charge of hypocrisy requires a serious response.

Expect More Tyranny and Thus More Kim Davises.  Why do so many who castigate Kim Davis for flouting the law routinely cheer on President Obama for actions far more lawless and consequential?  Why are those demonizing the Rowan County, Kentucky, clerk so indifferent to the Supreme Court's rank abuse of power that created the atmosphere of conflict from which her actions arose?  Who died and made the Supreme Court god?  Well, the Supreme Court made itself god in 1803, with the case of Marbury v. Madison, in which it asserted its power of judicial review — the right to declare acts of the legislative and executive branches unconstitutional.  The Constitution guarantees liberty by conferring powers and imposing restraints on the government.  If one branch can, with impunity, inflate its powers by ignoring the plain language and original intent of the Framers, then how can the Constitution do its job?

Religious faith and the rule of law.  Kentucky law requires that applicants for marriage licenses be unmarried, residents of Kentucky and at least 18 years of age.  As a county clerk, Ms. Davis cannot add to these requirements another requirement — namely, that the applicants be of the opposite sex.  She cannot do that because the Supreme Court has ruled that marriage is a fundamental liberty, the exercise of which is protected by the Constitution, and within that liberty is the right to choose a same-sex marriage mate, uninterfered with by the state.  By adding her own requirement and using the force of law to enforce that requirement, she is frustrating the ruling of the Supreme Court, interfering with the fundamental liberties of marriage applicants, and violating her oath to uphold the Constitution, the final interpreter of which is the Supreme Court.

Huckabee Admits Staffer Physically Blocked Ted Cruz From Kim Davis Rally.  Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee painted fellow GOP presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) as an unwelcome guest at a rally for Kentucky clerk Kim Davis Tuesday [9/8/2015], admitting that his staffer physically blocked Cruz from getting on stage.  In a Wednesday [9/9/2015] appearance on NewsMax TV's "Steve Malzberg Show" first reported by BuzzFeed's Andrew Kaczynski, Huckabee said his campaign planned the event, and he made Cruz's visit with Davis possible.

Gay Marriage and the 10th Amendment.  What the U.S. Supreme Court rules is not the "Law of the Land."  The Law of the Land is the Constitution of the United States.  Relying on a single clause, the due process clause of the 14th Amendment which was designed to protect the rights of former slaves, the majority of the Court consisting of four political appointees and one "independent" made a decision "at odds not only with the Constitution but with the principles upon which our nation was built", as Justice Thomas wrote in his dissent.  The majority decision held that all the states must give under the due process clause of the 14th Amendment the law of a single state declaring that homosexuals have the right to marry even when thirty states have laws that state that marriage can only be a union of a man and a woman.  Nothing in the Constitution gives the Supreme Court the right to nullify a State's law that marriage can only take place between a man and a woman.  Kim Davis, the county clerk may refuse to marry homosexuals because the Supreme Court unconstitutionally exceeded its constitutional authority.

Be Careful What You Wish For In the "Kim Davis" Case.  Imagine waking up to the news that a Quaker county sheriff is denying concealed carry permits to citizens because of his religious objection to violence; or, a Muslim DMV supervisor in Dearborn, Michigan has ordered his staff to refuse to issue driver's licenses to women out of a religious objection to women behind the wheel.  These are among the realities that await should we make Kim Davis, the embattled County Clerk from Rowan County, Kentucky, an archetype for "religious freedom" in America.

A Short Route to Chaos.  As Kim Davis sat in jail, she received criticism from not only the usual liberal suspects but also conservative-leaning Christians who take an oddly absolutist stance against civil disobedience by government officials.  If a Christian clerk resists an unconstitutional and unjust law to sign gay marriage licenses, why is that morally wrong?  It undermines the proper functioning of the government, say her Christian critics.  But that argument only makes sense if the smooth functioning of a tyranny is a moral good.  It isn't. [...] The unquestioning adherence of government officials to unjust laws does far more damage to the real good for which government exists than the supposed bad example of Kim Davis ever could.  Were civil disobedience by government officials everywhere and always wrong, the United States of America wouldn't exist.  Its origin traces to the willingness of colonial officials to resist King George III's unjust decrees, and many of those acts of resistance look like minor quibbles compared to the serious objection Kim Davis raises.

Why Kim Davis is the First Game-Changing 2016 Moment.  Given the unprecedented assaults the Left had already foisted upon the First Amendment in a post-Windsor/Obergefell world, all of the campaigns were already on notice that religious liberty was going to be one of the primary litmus tests of this primary.  Yet even with that foreknowledge, it still didn't stop several Republican presidential candidates from botching the issue already.  But the story of the Kentucky county clerk, who remains indefinitely incarcerated without a trial despite the fact she violated no actual law anywhere on the books, is the first real game-changing moment in this campaign.

The Rule Of Law Only Matters When The Left Says It Does.  The same liberals who cheer on illegal immigrants, felons and rioters have suddenly found their inner appreciation for the law and demand the state punish Kim Davis to the fullest extent.  The unbridled glee that accompanied Davis's arrest revealed the left loves enforcing the law — when it punishes their ideological opponents.  However, when the rule of law goes against sanctuary cities and other "noble" causes, the left occupies the high moral ground and says they are practicing civil disobedience in refusing to enforce the unjust laws of the federal government.  Hypocrisy is too weak of a term to describe the left's support of Davis's prosecution.

Jerry Brown Flouted Gay Marriage Law. Why Not A Kentucky Clerk?  As is now well-known, Kentucky clerk Kim Davis stopped issuing marriage licenses after the Supreme Court ruled in June that states are required to recognize same-sex nuptials.  But the fury aimed at Davis has been disproportionate to the actual facts of the situation, and shows galling — and revealing — inconsistency on the part of her critics.  In particular, where was the outcry when Attorney General and later Governor of California, Jerry Brown, refused to mount a defense of gay-marriage ban Proposition 8?  Representing the state in court was at the center of his job.  Yet he put his personal preferences — some influenced by his liberal version of Catholicism — ahead of the clear dictates of his state's voters, who had been forced to use the initiative process when politicians failed them.

Kim Davis Might Be Wrong, But So Is Demonizing Her For Her Convictions.  Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who has stated that she is willing to go to jail for the sake of her religious beliefs, became the punchline of jokes for things that had nothing to do with her stance on gay marriage.  "How could someone this ugly be married three times?" read one meme.  "Who gave her a license to eat that much?" read another.  What is it about the social media age that makes us behave so cruelly towards one another?

Voters Show Little Sympathy for Jailed Clerk in Gay Marriage Spat.  A federal judge has sent a Kentucky county clerk to jail for refusing to issue wedding licenses to gay couples despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in late June upholding the legality of same-sex marriage. The clerk insists that gay marriage violates her Christian beliefs.  But just 26% of Likely U.S. Voters think an elected official should be able to a ignore a federal court ruling that he or she disagrees with for religious reasons.  The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 66% think the official should carry out the law as the federal court has interpreted it.

Huckabee Hijacks Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis's 15 Minutes.  If the rest of the nation has moved on from the debate over gay marriage, it seems to just be heating up in Kentucky, the latest battlefield in the war over "religious liberty."  Davis was released from the custody of a U.S. Marshal Tuesday [9/8/2015] after six days in the clink, courtesy of Judge David Bunning who ordered Davis to jail after she refused his order to issue marriage licenses to all couples, gay and straight.  The crowd erupted when presidential candidate and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, joined by Davis' attorney, took to the stage and told the crowd that their hero had been freed.

Kentucky clerk Kim Davis released from jail.  Rowan County, Kentucky clerk Kim Davis was ordered released from jail Tuesday [9/8/2015] by the judge who locked her up for refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.  Davis exited the Carter County Detention Center in Grayson, Kentucky just after 2:30 p.m.  She had been there since Thursday.

Jail Time for Christians: No Longer a Hypothesis.  So this is how the game is played.  Leftist operatives in the courts (supreme and state) create unconstitutional laws to further their anti-God agenda.  Then leftists say those who disobey their lawless laws are not behaving like Christians and good Americans.  Many on our side fall for it.  The SCOTUS' ruling on Obamacare and homosexual marriage means the Constitution will now say whatever leftists want it to say.  Folks, do you realize that based on this new precedent, the left can make anything they want a law?  Incest, pedophilia, bestiality, and so on?  Before you call me crazy, leftists are already clamoring for the normalization of these sins.  Have you heard of NAMBLA (North American Man Boy Love Association)? [...] Christians with their heads not buried in the sand knew that jail time was coming for Christians who refuse to bow down and worship homosexuals' false god.

Liberalism and Optional Law.  Conservatives are split on whether or not the Kentucky clerk, Kim Davis, should be in jail because she refuses to allow an illegal edict by the Supreme Court to overrule the democratically passed law of Kentucky.  On one hand, because conservatives believe in the rule of law there is a natural tendency to say that even if we, especially government officials, don't like a Supreme Court ruling we have to abide by it.  On the other hand, there's the fact that liberals constantly break the law with impunity.  For example, Jerry Brown refused to defend Prop 8 and Obama refused to enforce DOMA yet neither are in jail.  Essentially the question is should conservatives accept rule of law for conservatives but not for liberals?

Civil disobedience carries consequences.  In response to the Supreme Court's Obergefell ruling forcing the redefinition of marriage in all 50 states, elected county clerk Kim Davis stopped issuing all marriage licenses.  To anyone.  After defying a federal court order to do her job or resign, she was jailed on the charge of contempt.  Davis has been held up by some as a prisoner of conscience.  She might be that, but it is a bridge too far to argue that she has a leg to stand on legally.  This is not the case of a private citizen refusing to bake a wedding cake, but of a public official essentially banning civil marriage in her county.

First They Came for the Christians.  We live in a fundamentally transformed America where Rowan County, Kentucky, Clerk Kim Davis is thrown in jail for refusing to issue a lesbian couple a marriage license in violation of her religious beliefs but San Francisco officials who violated the law, created a sanctuary city, and harbored an illegal criminal alien charged with the murder of Kate Steinle, are not?  Kim Davis, we are told, is obligated as a public official under the law, as determined by the Supreme Court, which was not established to write laws to issue such licenses.  But then are we saying Christians can't be public officials?  What about Muslims?  Would a Muslim clerk be thrown in jail?

Now That Kim Davis Is In Jail For Her Beliefs, What Say We Rethink Hobby Lobby?  On one hand, Kim Davis (who's a Democratic Party voter, to be clear) should be lauded for standing by the force of her convictions in refusing to provide marriage licenses for gays.  On the other hand, sometimes the duties and requirements of jobs change.  We have a choice in complying with them, or leaving for a different job.  It appears as if she could have simply allowed the other clerks to perform the marriages and do the paperwork.  That said, jail is foolish.  They could have simply let her go.  But, where, exactly, does the 1st Amendment start and end in this situation?

Kim Davis is no Rosa Parks.  Whatever their intentions, these people are doing great harm to the cause of religious liberty and to the reputation of their faith.  Davis's defiance is the wrong test case for the protection of religious freedom.  The Supreme Court's far-reaching Obergefell decision legalizing gay marriage will have radiating consequences for people who hold traditional moral views on marriage and family.  Some challenges will concern religious institutions — colleges, social service providers, aid organizations — that interact in various ways with government.  Other controversies will concern the ability of closely held businesses to refrain from providing services.  But there is no serious case to be made for the right of public officials to break laws they don't agree with, even for religious reasons.  This is, in essence, seizing power from our system of laws and courts.

Kim Davis is a Democrat. Why does that matter?  Kim Davis — one of three Kentucky county clerks refusing to issue marriage licenses in violation of multiple court orders, and the only one sentenced to jail time Thursday — is a Democrat.  There's a good chance you already knew that — especially if you are a mainstay on political Twitter, as it has been widely tweeted about.  It's the topic de jour in certain conservative corners of the Internet.  But we know that the court's decision and the big reveal up above might not be enough to unravel the nest of conspiracy theories circulating around Davis, her allegedly secret party affiliation, and why it has not been a central feature of the many, many stories written about her legal claims.

Ted Cruz's measured defense of Kentucky clerk who won't issue marriage licenses to gay couples.  Sen. Ted Cruz has gone further than most 2016 contenders in promoting "religious liberty," honoring bakers and florists who've refused services to gay couples and denouncing the Supreme Court for "lawlessness" in legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide.  But when it comes to the Kentucky county clerk who is defying a federal court order by refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, Cruz has struck a more measured tone than many of his rivals.  In a Facebook post tonight [9/2/2015], he condemned a "war on faith" and said there needs to be a way to work around religious objections to federal and state law.

GOP candidates blast 'absurd' jailing of Kentucky marriage clerk.  The Kentucky clerk who has been jailed for refusing to issue licenses to same-sex couples is getting full-throated support from several Republican presidential candidates.  Sens. Rand Paul (Ky.) and Ted Cruz (Texas) blasted a judge's decision Thursday [9/3/2015] to hold Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis in contempt of court.  "I think it's absurd to put someone in jail for exercising their religious liberty," Paul said on CNN's "Wolf," citing his home state clerk's "heartfelt conviction."  Cruz, a vocal opponent of the Supreme Court's decision legalizing same-sex marriage this summer, also rebuked the judge.  "Today, judicial lawlessness crossed into judicial tyranny."

Kentucky clerks to license marriages as their boss is jailed.  A defiant county clerk went to jail Thursday [9/3/2015] for refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, but five of her deputies agreed to issue the licenses themselves, potentially ending the church-state standoff in Rowan County, Kentucky.

Kim Davis in Jail, Criminal Illegals Out of Jail.  Kim Davis was thrown into jail for disobeying a court opinion that created a constitutional right to something that never existed until 2001 — at the expense of the oldest and most foundational right — religious liberty.  On the same day, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a transgendered illegal alien, who was convicted of drunk driving, cannot be deported to Mexico because he faces the likelihood of "torture."

Remember The Law is Only Sacred When It Furthers a Liberal Value.  Working for the government is not an inalienable right.  So Kim Davis, a county clerk in Kentucky, was wrong to refuse same-sex couples marriage licenses in her office.  If you're unwilling to enforce the law, you shouldn't be an officer of the state.  After all, it's not a clerk's job to ascertain the constitutionality or practicality of a law.  If it were, we'd have anarchy.  There are hundreds of other vocations she is free to pursue if this one doesn't suit her.  So Davis' stand isn't about religious freedom.  Not really.  Signing off on state documents is not tantamount to being forced, as bakers and photographers have been, to participate in a wedding ceremony.  There are certainly bigots out there intent on coercing Christian businesses to choose between their faith and their livelihood; this isn't one of those instances.  If you want to participate in civil obedience, don't work for the state.

Jailed clerk's attorney:  Marriage licenses for gays are void.  A jailed Kentucky clerk asserted that marriage licenses issued without her authority Friday [9/4/2015] to gay couples in Rowan County are void and "not worth the paper they are written on" because she didn't authorize them, her attorney said.

White House On Kim Davis: No Public Official Above The Rule Of Law.  The White House says no public official is above the rule of law, after Kentucky County Court Clerk Kim Davis was ordered to jail for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples.  White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest gave reporters who questioned him about President Obama's reaction to the case:  "I will just say on principle that the success of our democracy depends on the rule of law and there is no public official that is above the rule of law," Earnest said.

Free Kim Davis.  [Scroll down]  The second and more salient question is one that Davis herself has raised:  "Under what law am I authorized to issue homosexual couples a marriage license?"  In a letter to his supporters, Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee clarified the decision by Democrat Davis.  "The Supreme Court cannot and did not make a law," said Huckabee.  "They only made a ruling on a law.  Congress makes the laws.  Because Congress has made no law allowing for same-sex marriage, Kim does not have the Constitutional authority to issue a marriage license to homosexual couples."

#StandWithKim Davis.  Her arrest represents tyranny — not because there is no legal authority to arrest, or because freedom of religion trumps rule of law, but because selective use of legal authority is tyranny.  And Kim Davis is right to risk jail in defiance of federal lawlessness.  God bless her for that bravery.  There are three issues to contemplate here.  First, legally, does the government have the authority to jail Davis?  Second, morally, does the government have the authority to put Davis in jail?  Third, morally, should Davis have gone to jail rather than quitting?

Kentucky clerk asks Supreme Court to intervene in marriage case.  Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, who opposes to gay marriage for religious reasons, asked the nation's highest court on Friday [8/28/2015] to grant her "asylum for her conscience."  The Supreme Court ruled in June that the Constitution guarantees gay people the right to marry.  However, Davis contends the First Amendment guarantees her the right of religious freedom.  She stopped issuing all marriage licenses in the days after the landmark decision.  Two gay couples and two straight couples sued her, arguing that she must fulfill her duties as an elected official despite her religious conviction.  A federal court judge ordered Davis to issue licenses and an appeals court upheld the decision.

Judicial tyranny: Kentucky judge does with a gavel what Bull Connor did with dogs and fire hoses.  It happened in the Commonwealth of Kentucky where Judge David Bunning ordered U.S. Marshalls to arrest Kim Davis — the clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky.  Mrs. Davis is a devout Christian who refused to issue gay marriage licenses. She claimed that doing so would violate her religious beliefs.  Davis is represented by the public interest law firm Liberty Counsel.  The firm's attorneys asked the court to accommodate her beliefs by simply removing her name from the licenses.  But Judge Bunning refused to do so.  He refused to accommodate her religious beliefs — and ordered U.S. Marshals to take her into custody.  I truly believe Judge Bunning wanted to intimidate Christians and send a very clear message — that resistance to same-sex marriage will not be tolerated — doing with the gavel what Bull Connor tried to do with dogs and fire hoses.

Refusal to Issue a Same Sex Marriage License Is a Civic Duty.  Although the nation's press has portrayed her as lawless, this one courageous lady is standing in the gap, defending the rule of law against judicial tyranny.  As an elected official faced with an obviously illegitimate Supreme Court opinion, in a better time, a President could have explained to the American people why the Fourteenth Amendment has nothing to do with same-sex marriage, and protected her.  Failing that, Clerk Davis should have been able to call on her state's Governor to protect her — to interpose between her and the five Justices.  However, Democrat Governor Steven Lynn Beshear is demanding she make a choice — either resign, or comply with his lawless instructions to implement the Supreme Court decision sanctifying same sex marriage.  The Governor apparently believes in the unconstitutional Doctrine of Judicial Supremacy — that by a stroke of the pen, five elite lawyers wearing black robes can rewrite the Constitution, and that no one may question their decisions.  Even worse, the Governor apparently cares nothing about the created order.

Can a Christian Be a County Clerk in America?  This is a question it now appears may ultimately be decided by five Supreme Court justices.  With it, too, will ride such questions as:  Can a Christian be a doctor?  A nurse?  A public-school teacher?  In June, when five justices declared that the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment creates a right to "same-sex marriage," Justice Clarence Thomas issued a warning.  "In our society, marriage is not simply a governmental institution, it is a religious institution as well," Thomas wrote in his dissent.  "Today's decision might change the former, but it cannot change the latter.  It appears all but inevitable that the two will come into conflict, particularly as individuals and churches are confronted with demands to participate in and endorse civil marriages between same-sex couples.  "The majority," said Thomas, "appears unmoved by that inevitability."

Ky. clerk jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses.  Five of six deputies in the office of a Kentucky county clerk jailed Thursday [9/3/2015] for her refusal to issue marriage licenses after the Supreme Court allowed gays to wed say they will process the paperwork starting Friday.  But Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, whom U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning found in contempt of court, said through her lawyers that she will not authorize any of her employees to issue licenses in her absence.  The judge placed her in the custody of U.S. marshals and had her taken to Carter County jail.  "My conscience will not allow it," Davis said earlier to Bunning.  "God's moral law convicts me and conflicts with my duties."

Judge orders Kentucky clerk to jail for refusing to issue marriage licenses for gay couples.  A defiant county clerk went to jail Thursday for refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, but five of her deputies agreed to comply with the law, ending a two-month church-state standoff in Rowan County, Kentucky.

Religious liberty: The Kentucky county clerk and the Muslim flight attendant.  The New York Times and the rest of the national media are giving front page treatment to Kim Davis, the Rowan County, Kentucky county clerk who refuses to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples on religious grounds. [...] A Muslim-American group plans Tuesday [9/1/2015] to file a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against ExpressJet Airlines for allegedly failing to accommodate a Metro Detroit-area Muslim flight attendant who objects to serving alcohol based on her religious beliefs.

Supreme Court rules against Kentucky clerk in gay marriage case.  The Supreme Court on Monday ruled against the Kentucky county clerk who has refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses, and the clerk will arrive at work Tuesday morning [9/1/2015] to face her moment of truth.

Kentucky clerk asks Supreme Court to intervene in marriage case.  Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, who opposes to gay marriage for religious reasons, asked the nation's highest court on Friday [8/28/2015] to grant her "asylum for her conscience."  The Supreme Court ruled in June that the Constitution guarantees gay people the right to marry.  However, Davis contends the First Amendment guarantees her the right of religious freedom.  She stopped issuing all marriage licenses in the days after the landmark decision.  Two gay couples and two straight couples sued her, arguing that she must fulfill her duties as an elected official despite her religious conviction.  A federal court judge ordered Davis to issue licenses and an appeals court upheld the decision.

Appeals court upholds order that holdout Kentucky clerk issue marriage licences to gay couples.  A federal appeals court has upheld a ruling ordering a Kentucky county clerk to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.

Kentucky County Clerk Defies Court Order, Still Refusing to Hand Out Gay 'Marriage' Licenses.  A county clerk in Morehead, Kentucky is defying a court order and still refusing to hand out marriage licenses to gay couples because she says her religion prevents it.  County Clerk Kim Davis immediately refused to hand out marriage licenses to gay couples the minute the Supreme Court decided that gay marriage was legal all across the country.  A court then told her to issue the licenses whether she wanted to or not, but she is still refusing to do so.

"Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?  Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor [the] covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God."

- I Corinthians 6:9-10