GAY TRUTH

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 7, 2014  — The U.S. Supreme Court Monday has declined to hear  Elane Photography v. Willock , the case of a photographer who was told by the New Mexico Supreme Court that she must, as “the price of citizenship,” use her creative talents to communicate a message with which she disagrees or suffer punishment. Nonetheless, Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing Elane Photography and its owners, Jonathan and Elaine Huguenin, point out that the central concern in the case—government punishment of Americans for declining to create or promote messages with which they disagree—is alive in other ADF cases moving forward around the country. Elaine Huguenin, co-owner of Elane Photography in Albuquerque, N.M. “Only unjust laws separate what people say from what they believe,” said Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Jordan Lorence. “The First Amendment protects our freedom to speak or not speak on any issue without fear of punishment. We had ho

English: Wedding cake of a same-sex marriage  (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The call for tolerating same-sex marriage has become a demand for compliance. Cases like Masterpiece Cake Shop in Colorado and Elane Huguenin's New Mexico photography business have shown us that "tolerance" ends exactly where the right to say "no" begins. And so people, businesses, and non-profits are forced to choose between their livelihoods and their convictions. Some fellow Christians are giving this new state of affairs a thumbs-up, including Kirsten Powers , whose fearless stand against abortion I admire, and Skye Jethani, a friend I respect greatly. They argue that Christians who won't participate in gay " weddings " are "applying Scripture selectively." If you object to baking a cake, shooting photographs or playing music for a ceremony for two men or two women, they say, you should also object to serving anyone with an unbiblical lifestyle. But since

The call for tolerating same-sex marriage has become a demand for compliance. Cases like  Masterpiece Cake Shop in Colorado  and  Elane Huguenin’s New Mexico photography business  have shown us that “tolerance” ends exactly where the right to say “no” begins. And so people, businesses, and non-profits are forced to choose between their livelihoods and their convictions. Some fellow Christians are giving this new state of affairs a thumbs-up, including  Kirsten Powers , whose fearless stand against abortion I admire, and  Skye Jethani , a friend I respect greatly. They argue that Christians who won’t participate in gay “ weddings ” are “applying Scripture selectively.” If you object to baking a cake, shooting photographs or playing music for a ceremony for two men or two women, they say, you should also object to serving  anyone  with an unbiblical lifestyle. But since no business owner can do a background check on every client’s personal life, Powers and Jethani conclude t

AUGUSTA, ME , February 3, 2014 ( LifeSiteNews.com ) – Five years ago, the administration at a Maine school told transgendered fifth-grader ‘Nicole’ Maines that he had to stop using the girls' bathroom at school and instead use a staff bathroom. But last week, the state's highest court said the administration had violated the state's law preventing gender-based and sexual identity discrimination. On Thursday, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court   ruled  5-1 on the lawsuit brought by Maines' family and the Maine Human Rights Commission, saying that the school violated the state’s Human Rights Act. The lawsuit was filed in 2009. 'Nicole' Maines Jennifer Levi, director of the Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders ' Transgender Rights Project, which is based in Boston,  told   NBC News  it is the first ruling of its kind from a state’s high court. The activist called it “a momentous decision that marks a huge breakthrough for transgender young pe

January 13, 2014 ( Albert Mohler ) - Does the legalization of same-sex marriage and polygamy mean the end of all morality laws? George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley thinks so, and he openly celebrates the death of all morals legislation—or, at least he says he does. Turley was the lead counsel in the “ Sister Wives ” case in Utah that legalized polygamy in that state last month, a reversal of the very morals legislation that the U. S. government required of Utah for that territory to be admitted as a state in the late nineteenth century. Here is how Professor Turley explained the case: It’s true that the Utah ruling is one of the latest examples of a national trend away from laws that impose a moral code . There is a difference, however, between the demise of morality laws and the demise of morality. This distinction appears to escape social conservatives nostalgic for a time when the government dictated whom you could live with or sleep with. But the

The title card for Sister Wives, a TLC reality television series about a polygamist family. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Does the legalization of same-sex marriage and polygamy mean the end of all morality laws? George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley thinks so, and he openly celebrates the death of all morals legislation—or, at least he says he does. Turley was the lead counsel in the “ Sister Wives ” case in Utah that legalized polygamy in that state last month, a reversal of the very morals legislation that the U. S. government required of Utah for that territory to be admitted as a state in the late nineteenth century. Here is how Professor Turley explained the case: It’s true that the Utah ruling is one of the latest examples of a national trend away from laws that impose a moral code. There is a difference, however, between the demise of morality laws and the demise of morality. This distinction appears to escape social conservatives nostalgic for a time

DENVER , January 9, 2013 ( LifeSiteNews.com ) — A Colorado cake artist who was ordered to make cakes for same-sex ceremonies has filed an  appeal , asserting his religous rights under the First Amendment . In December, Judge Robert Spencer of the Colorado Administrative Law Court  ruled  that the cake artist  must bake cakes for same-sex "wedding" ceremonies  - and then prove that he has complied. In July 2012, Charlie Craig and David Mullins asked Jack Phillips , owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, to make a wedding cake to celebrate their same-sex ceremony. In an exchange lasting about 30 seconds, Phillips politely declined, explaining that he would gladly make them any other type of baked item they wanted but that he could not make a cake promoting a same-sex ceremony because of his faith. Craig and Mullins, now represented by the American Civil Liberties Union , immediately left the shop and later filed a  complaint  with the Colorado Civil Rights Division . Phill

This was the first cake I decorated for a bakery. (I was their first cake decorator) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) A baker in suburban Denver must make cakes for same-sex weddings or face fines, according to a judge’s ruling last week. Judge Robert N. Spencer denied the bakery owner’s claim that he was exercising his freedoms of religion and speech when he told a gay couple he would not make their wedding cake . Spencer instead ordered him to “ cease and desist from discriminating” or face fines ranging from $50 to $500 per person per incident, according to the bakery owner’s attorney. This decision sends a boding message to other small businesses, especially those in the wedding industry such as florists, bakers , photographers, and event venues, putting them in a troubling standoff between freedom of religion and anti-discrimination laws. The baker, Jack Phillips, told WORLD he has support from loyal customers and many in the community. When asked how business has been days

Since the age of the French Revolution , the phrase " Let them eat cake " has been used as a symbol of out-of-touch, tyrannical elites or aristocracies. The phrase comes from a popular anecdote that a monarch (often identified as Marie Antoinette ), when told that the peasants had no bread to eat and were starving, proposed this as the solution: "Let them eat cake." Well, ironically in our own day the phrase is once again a fitting a symbol of an out-of-touch, tyrannical government: this time in the form of a Colorado Judge who ruled that a baker in Denver must provide wedding cakes to same-sex couples... or else pay the price. The decision from Administrative Law Judge Robert Spencer in Denver, CO is like a chilling flashback for anyone concerned about the first amendment protections of freedom of religion and expression — a flashback to a similar decision earlier this year in the case of Elane Photography in New Mexico . Before talking about this new case deal