Sept 2010
Texas Court Upholds Ban on Gay ‘Marriage’
LifeSiteNews.com
By Peter J. Smith
DALLAS, Texas, September 3, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com)
- A Texas appeals court has struck down a trial court’s ruling Tuesday that
the state’s ban on same-sex “marriage” violated the rights of a homosexual
couple seeking a divorce. The court declared that “the natural ability to
procreate” constituted the rational basis to restrict marriage to a man and
a woman.
The Court of Appeals for the 5th District of Texas
struck down the previous ruling that said that two homosexual
plaintiffs married in Massachusetts, identified as J.B. and H.B., had a
right to a same-sex “divorce” in Texas based on the “full faith and credit
clause” of the U.S. Constitution. The plaintiffs obtained a marriage license
from Massachusetts in September 2006, moved to Texas in 2008, and later that
year J.B. demanded a no-fault divorce.
More ....
Marriage fee gets surprise
blessing
House OKs cost increase, but some
lawmakers say bill slipped past them
By POLLY ROSS HUGHES
May 16, 2007
AUSTIN — In a switch some blamed on end-of-session blur, the House
sent Gov. Rick Perry a bill Tuesday that doubles marriage license fees
to $60 unless future brides and grooms take a class on how to be good
spouses.
Before the Senate approved the bill with the fee hike last week, the
House had taken it out, calling it a marriage tax and government
meddling in private lives.
Tuesday, the House reversed itself, returning a carrot-and-stick
approach to the bill. You take the eight-hour class, your marriage
license is free. You don't, you pay double.
Full article at:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4807939.html
A Sterile Worldview
Vanishing Russia
by Chuck Colson
October 25, 2006
According to a recent Los Angeles Times
article, Russia "has lost the equivalent of a city of 700,000 people every
year since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991." We're talking about
the population of San Francisco or Baltimore—a grim reminder of how
fruitless some worldviews can be.
If demographic trends hold steady, Russia's
population, which stands at 142 million today, will drop to 52 million by
2080. At that point, according to Sergei Mironov, the chairman of the upper
house of the Dumas, the Russian parliament, "there will no longer be a great
Russia . . . it will be torn apart piece by piece, and finally cease to
exist."
Mironov isn't alone in his fears. Russia's
demographic crisis raises "serious questions about whether Russia will be
able to hold on to its lands along the border with China or field an army,
let alone a workforce to support the ill and the elderly."
Even more disturbing than the numbers are the
reasons behind them: that is, "one of the world's fastest-growing AIDS
epidemics . . . alcohol and drug abuse . . . [and] suicide" are among the
leading causes of Russia's shrinking population.
Full article at:
http://www.informz.net/pfm/archives/archive_344784.html
In Our View - The Married Minority
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Columbian editorial writers
Move over smug married
types. Unmarried couples and singletons now make up the majority of American
households, according to a New York Times' analysis of new government
figures. Bridget Jones must be smiling. If only she'd known this sooner, she
would not have spent so much time swimming in Chardonnay, feeling like "a
tragic freak" and pining for Mark Darcy.
The Census Bureau found that more households than
not have unmarried people. Just 49.7 percent of the nation's 111.1 million
households in 2005 were made up of married couples, down from 52 percent
five years ago.
There are many culprits an increase in cohabitation
is one. But marrying age is likely the most significant factor driving this
shift. Among Americans aged 35-64, married couples still make up a majority
of all homes. It's in homes headed by people aged 25 to 34 that this
unmarried trend lives and thrives.
... Family-friendly workplaces are still important
and good for the bottom line, as is treating all singletons fairly.
Full article at:
http://www.columbian.com/opinion/news/10222006news69571.cfm
Beyond Marriage
by Gary L. Bauer, Chairman Campaign for Working Families
August 1, 2006
Pro-family advocates have repeatedly warned that
attempts to redefine marriage will lead to polygamy and perhaps even a total
devaluation of marriage. Our concerns have been greeted by the cultural
elites with scoffing and skepticism. But now we don't have to speculate
anymore; the proponents of homosexual "marriage" admit it and they have
posted their manifesto online at http://www.beyondmarriage.org.
No longer content with "the narrow terms of the
marriage debate," they are now advocating, "Legal recognition for a wide
rage of relationships, households and families - regardless of kinship or
conjugal status." They also demand, "Access for all, regardless of marital
or citizenship status, to vital government support programs, including but
not limited to health care, housing, Social Security and pension plans,
disaster recovery assistance, unemployment insurance, and welfare
assistance."
Pope condemns violent
videogames
Tim
Surette
GameSpot
1/25/2007
If
Jack Thompson,
the self-proclaimed
crusader against violent
games, was looking for a
powerful ally, he just
found one.
Pope Benedict XVI,
current head and
spiritual leader of the
Catholic Church, voiced
his opinion on games on
Wednesday from the
Vatican, saying that
violent or sexually
explicit games are a
"perversion" and
"repulsive".
As
part of the annual papal
message for World
Communications Day, the
theme of which was
'Children and the Media:
A Challenge for
Education', the pope
talked about the media's
effect on children,
paying particular
attention to games and
films.
"Any trend to produce
programmes and products
-- including animated
films and videogames --
which in the name of
entertainment exalt
violence and portray
antisocial behavior or
the trivialisation of
human sexuality is a
perversion, all the more
repulsive when these
programmes are directed
at children and
adolescents," the pope
said.
Full article at:
http://news.cnet.co.uk/gamesgear/0,39029682,49287203,00.htm
My Father Was an Anonymous
Sperm Donor
By Katrina Clark
December 17, 2006
The Washington Post
I really wasn't expecting
anything the day, earlier this year, when I sent an
e-mail to a man whose name I had found on the Internet.
I was looking for my father, and in some ways this man
fit the bill. But I never thought I'd hit pay dirt on my
first try. Then I got a reply -- with a picture
attached.
From my computer screen, my own
face seemed to stare back at me. And just like that,
after 17 years, the missing piece of the puzzle snapped
into place.
The puzzle of who I am.
I'm 18, and for most of my
life, I haven't known half my origins. I didn't know
where my nose or jaw came from, or my interest in
foreign cultures. I obviously got my teeth and my
penchant for corny jokes from my mother, along with my
feminist perspective. But a whole other part of me was a
mystery.
Full article at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/15/AR2006121501820.html?referrer=emailarticle
Washington State Supreme
Court Upholds Homosexual "Marriage" Ban
By Gudrun Schultz
SEATTLE, Washington, July 26, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Supreme Court of
Washington issued a long-awaited ruling today, upholding the state's ban on
homosexual "marriage," Seattlepi.com reported this morning.
In a 5-4 decision, the Court upheld the state's 1998 Defense of Marriage Act
(DOMA), which defines marriage as solely the union between one man and one
woman.
DOMA was instituted to "promote procreation and to encourage stable
families," Justice Barbara Madsen wrote in the decision.
"The legislature was entitled to believe that limiting marriage to
opposite-sex couples furthers the State's legitimate interests in
procreation and the well-being of children."
Washington's ban on homosexual marriages, which passed the state Legislature
with an overwhelming majority in 1998 despite the veto of Governor Gary
Locke, was challenged in 2004 by 19 homosexual couples. Backed by gay
activist organizations including the Northwest Women's Law Center, Lamba
Legal and the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, the couples
launched two suits claiming the ban violated their constitutional right to
equality.
The Court's decision to uphold the same-sex
marriage ban marks a significant victory for supporters of traditional
marriage in the country, following close behind the New York State Appeals
Court ruling earlier this month upholding the state's constitutional ban on
homosexual "marriage."
As in the Washington state decision, New York's ruling was made primarily on
the grounds of protecting the best interests of children. The Court said the
state of New York was justified in refusing to recognize same-sex marriages
based on concern for the welfare of children alone, stating:
"To recognize marriage between people of the same sex would result in the
abolition of male and female by making gender irrelevant, and the abolition
of gender would have devastating effects on children. Children do best when
raised with a mom and a dad."
Massachusetts remains the only state in the union to permit homosexual
"marriage."
An additional seven states are facing lawsuits seeking to overturn marriage
laws, including New Jersey and California.
See previous LifeSiteNews coverage:
Seattle Archbishop Condemns Gay "Marriage", Fears State-made Theology,
Lawsuits
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jul/06072501.html
Judge Legalizes Same-Sex "Marriage" for Washington State
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/aug/04080411.html
New York's Highest Court Rules 4-2 In Favor Of Traditional Marriage
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jul/06070601.html
Supreme Court Opinions:
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Clark County
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