By Christy Barritt

Professor Requires Class to Wear “Rainbow” Ribbons

A professor at a community college in Tennessee required her students to wear a rainbow-colored ribbon to show their support for the gay rights movement as part of a classroom assignment.

The professor told students who protested the assignment because of their faith that they were “ignorant and uneducated.”

Alliance Defending Freedom represented those students and sent a letter to Columbia State Community College on their behalf, asking administrators to order the professor to apologize. At the time of this article, there had been no comment to the request.

“College officials must respect their students’ constitutional freedoms, including freedom of speech and freedom of religion,” said ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot. “Compelling students to utter government-approved ideas is not education, but abuse of power.”

Lawmakers Pass Federal Pro-Life Bill

The U.S. House of Representatives passed new legislation that would ban abortions after 20 weeks.

This new law came into play after abortionist Kermit Gosnell was found guilty earlier this year of three counts of first degree murder in the deaths of babies who were born alive.

Representative Trent Franks of Arizona introduced the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. Twenty weeks is the time marker that many say preborn babies can first feel pain. The House approved the bill by a vote of 228-196.

“Passage of this landmark bill marks the first time in history, in either chamber of the U.S. Congress, that affirmative protection has been extended to unborn children,” Franks said after the bill was passed. “It is my prayer that today also marks a day when America finally opens her eyes to the humanity of these little victims and the inhumanity of what is being done to them.”

Public Opposes Lawsuit Against Florist

A poll released by the Family Policy Institute of Washington showed that a majority of voters do not support a lawsuit against a florist who declined to provide floral arrangements for a same-sex wedding ceremony.

Barronelle Stutzman is the owner of Arlene’s Flowers and Gifts in Richland, Washington. The state Attorney General filed a consumer protection lawsuit against Stutzman after she refused her services to a gay couple on account of her religious beliefs. The gay couple, as well as the American Civil Liberties Union, also filed a discrimination lawsuit. 

Sixty-one percent of voters opposed the state Attorney General’s lawsuit. Twenty-
nine percent of voters said they either supported or strongly supported the lawsuit, and 10 percent had no opinion or were undecided.

The florist has filed a counter-suit against the Attorney General, claiming that the lawsuit violates her First Amendment right to exercise religion.

The story of this lawsuit has received national attention and sparked debate across the country.

News Media Shows Bias Toward Same-Sex Marriage

According to a new study by the Pew Research Center, the news media coverage of the legalizing of same-sex marriage has been biased in favor of the measure.

Stories with more statements supporting same-sex marriage greatly outweighed those with more statements opposing it—by a margin of approximately five-to-one.

Forty-seven percent of the nearly 500 news segments studied found that the stories focused primarily on support for the measure, nine percent largely focused on opposition, and 44 percent had a rough mix of both viewpoints.

Journalism.org analyzed the results and said, “All three of the major cable networks, for instance, had more stories with significantly more supportive statements than opposing, including Fox News.”

The study also showed that opinions on the issue posted on social media sites were closely split between those who support the measure at 31 percent and those who oppose it at 28 percent.

Christy Barritt is an award-winning author, freelance writer, and speaker living in Chesapeake, Virginia. She and her husband Scott have two sons.
www.christybarritt.com