Search for "United Airlines 800-299-7264 Flight Pet Policy"

‘Religious Freedom’ Rally Sets Stage for 1st Amendment Collision

By Sarah Posner

…regulations,” and vaguely referred to environmental regulations, economic policy, and foreign policy that were “moving in the direction of a nanny state,” a “Western European social model.” The contraception coverage requirement, Sweeney said in his speech, was “abnormal” and “not how things should be.” He warned of a “brand new form of bondage” due to people who “want to dip their hands into the government treasury.” While Sweeney’s speech sound…

‘No Room’ for Gays in Country that Worships God [Kenya] | Churches Fight to Keep Sexuality Out of Sex Ed [S. Korea] | Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…d his resignation this week after a flap over Brady’s partner of 32 years, Peter Stephens, but it was not accepted. According to the Herald-Sun, Ambassador Brady was waiting with Peter Stephens, his partner of 32 years, (photo right) on the tarmac of a Paris airport for the arrival of Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, when a protocol officer told the ambassador that the prime minister should not be greeted by Mr. Stephens. Ambassador Brady wa…

The Panic Over Churches’ Tax-Exempt Status in a Gay-Married World

By Sarah Posner

…evoke a non-profit’s tax-exempt status if it violates a fundamental public policy (in that case, public policy against race discrimination). The Bob Jones case is an essential part of the conservative movement’s institutional memory of what they consider to be government overreach, particularly by the IRS, and undue government interference with religious affairs and religious freedom. As historian Randall Balmer has documented, Bob Jones Universit…

“Hem and Haw”: A Failed Syria Strategy

By Haroon Moghul

…gional clout—and perhaps leaves the door open to future involvement. This policy of not having a policy, of trying to enter the room while keeping it propped open with your back foot, is a disaster. Either we take out Bashar Assad, and use the threat of decisive force to get Russia and Iran to join a discussion, on a future Syria without the Assads or we don’t. (Meanwhile, rebel forces who refuse to come to the table will be told in no uncertain…

White Nationalist Ideology Shines Through at Elite MAGA Conference: Inside NatCon Part II

By Ben Lorber

…gation revealed that his racist doctoral dissertation, “IQ and Immigration Policy,” had made assertions like “the average IQ of immigrants in the United States is substantially lower than that of the white native population, and the difference is likely to persist over several generations.” Apparently, the question of race isn’t far from the mind of those in the room at NatCon, either. Across the auditorium, an older white woman raises her hand to…

Meet the New Christian Right, Same as the Old Christian Right

By Patricia Miller

…s: infrastructure spending, trade, manufacturing, immigration, and foreign policy. He is happy to outsource much of the agenda around social policy, which includes all the culture war issues like abortion, LGBT rights and “religious liberty,” to Pence and his allies. Pence has deep roots as a culture warrior. When President George Bush’s massive plan to tackle HIV/AIDS in the developing world was passed, Pence, who was a congressman at the time, s…

‘Religious Freedom’: Constitutional Principle or Electoral Politics?

By Frances Kissling

…ous persons. And the Supreme Court has already determined that when public policy aimed at everyone conflicts with individual religious beliefs, public policy is the higher good. Justice Scalia in his majority opinion in Employment Division v. Smith, 1990, noted: “We have never held that an individual’s religious beliefs excuse him from compliance with an otherwise valid law prohibiting conduct that the State is free to regulate.” The CHA seems re…

Distortions Aside, Clergy Support Gay Rights in Surprising Numbers

By Peter Montgomery

…In some ways, clergy in the “Uncertain Middle” model an approach to public policy issues that gay-rights advocates need to bring more fully into the policy arena: the majority of these clergy believe that having religious questions or concerns about the nature or sinfulness of homosexuality does not require one to oppose equality in the legal realm. This is the separation of church and state in action; with churches deciding questions about leader…

Alabama’s IVF Ruling Reveals Deep Ties to This Increasingly Influential Christian Right Movement

By Annika Brockschmidt

…and why their position might not seem well thought through: This is not a policy idea for these people, it’s a prophecy idea. It’s a theological idea for them. And so, in these circles, when they talk about abortion, they’re not talking about policy. […]The conversation is: Abortion in any form is a form of child sacrifice. That empowers demons to have more control over America. […] Abortion to them is an arena of spiritual combat [and] one of th…

Of Values and Viruses: The Challenges for Obama’s New Global AIDS Coordinator

By Ariana Childs Graham

…or San Francisco General’s AIDS clinic, Director of the Office of HIV/AIDS Policy at the Department of Health and Human Services, Deputy Director to the White House Office of National AIDS Policy, and since 2001 has been CEO and Chief Medical Officer of Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation, among other roles. And while the consistent thread through these roles is a dedication to addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic, he’s not easily relegated to one camp or…