(Washington Stand) The House of Representatives passed the so-called Respect for Marriage Act on Thursday, threatening the religious liberty of Americans who believe marriage is exclusively the union of one man and one woman. All House Democrats were joined by 39 Republicans in the 258-169 vote. (See the full list below.) One congressman voted present.

H.R. 8404, which critics call the “Disrespect for Marriage” Act, would allow individuals to sue Christian businessowners who refuse to participate in same-sex ceremonies and threaten the tax-exempt status of religious nonprofits that do not recognize same-sex “marriages.” It will jeopardize the ability of Christian adoption agencies that place children with married same-sex couples. The bill would also force all 50 states to recognize any marriage contracted by another state, repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, and endanger the tax-exempt status of faith-based nonprofits.

(The Federalist) About a year and a half ago, I noticed that my son — let’s call him Andy — was putting rainbow stickers on his phone. And a friend alerted me that Andy rebuked her daughter in a group chat for being “so cisgender.” I did some delicate digging, and it became clear: My child, then 13, was flirting with going “trans.”

He’s not alone. The number of transgender-identifying kids is up 20 to 40 times since a decade ago, to 1.5 percent of all teens. And the gender facilities that say they are the experts have been unmasked. Videos and statements have revealed that doctors in these so-called clinics are willing to give 15-year-old girls double mastectomies and call it treatment.

I wasn’t about to send my son off for experimental medical interventions that didn’t treat any underlying psychological issues. In this, I think I’m representative of the silent (and bullied) majority. Still, what could I do?

(Daily Wire) A clinical investigator of the drug commonly used off-label to block puberty in trans-identifying adolescents voiced his concerns about administering the drug without conducting proper safety tests.

Dr. Marc B. Garnick, a Harvard professor, oncologist, and co-principal investigator for the drug Lupron, wrote a letter to the editor of the New York Times in support of a recent investigation into the health effects of puberty blocker drugs for adolescents experiencing gender dysphoria.

“The scholarly and well-researched article raises significant safety issues about using puberty blockers in prepubescent and pubescent children as part of gender transitioning,” Garnick argued.

The letter was one of four accepted in response to the NYT article that described the “long-term physical effects and other consequences” of puberty blockers prescribed to adolescents experiencing gender distress. The other three letters, which were not written by medical professionals, criticized the article as “transphobic.”

(Standing For Freedom Center) One political philosopher put the goal of liberal progressivism in rather stark terms. He said, “Progressivism is, at its core, the hatred of your father and the rejection of God.”

While many self-proclaimed progressives might not put it like that, he’s right — at the core of their ideology is the rejection of anything and everything from the past that might hinder “inevitable progress.” This often means family. It always means biblical Christianity.

The triumph of progressivism in American culture has been on full display this week, as the Senate passed the (Dis)Respect for Marriage Act, which codifies the unconstitutional Obergefell decision “redefining” marriage in our nation.

Another way to describe progressives is as “moral revolutionaries,” and indeed they are. In Albert Mohler’s piece addressing the passage of this bill, “A massive victory for the moral revolutionaries,” he rightly noted:

“No civilization stands still. This kind of legislation is not neutral. The so-called ‘Respect for Marriage Act’ is either the sign of a civilization advancing or a civilization crumbling.”

(PJ Media) Per reporting via the Los Angeles Daily News, DNC darling and 2024 presidential hopeful Gov. Gavin Newsom has passed Californians’ vax status to an outfit called Street Level Strategy, apparently for the purpose of prodding “vaccine-hesitant” residents into getting vaxxed and haranguing the already-vaxxed to get boosted.

Political consulting firm Street Level Strategy, LLC, a custodian of Californians’ private medical records, bills itself as “a public affairs firm that specializes in grassroots mobilization, community organizing, digital organizing, and strategic consulting for a range of clients including Fortune 500 companies, non-profits, and trade associations.”

One L.A. resident quoted in the report said, “I’m being stalked by the state of California. I just got a call from a guy who told me he has my file and he sees I got the Pfizer vaccine, but not a booster.”

Pressed for comment, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) responded that “MyTurn, the state’s vaccine appointment program launched by CDPH, shares a list of booster eligible California residents with Street Level Strategy, LLC that includes names, age, gender, ethnicity, contact information and vaccination history in order to prioritize equity, with a focus on reaching communities that have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

(Washington Stand) The American family is in dire straits. And despite what conservative political pundits may think, the root cause is not because the Senate just passed a bill to codify same-sex marriage or because California is paying for women to fly there for abortions.

The CDC recently released their latest abortion statistics for 2020. One of the overlooked details of this year’s data is the increase in the percentage of abortions among unmarried women. The abortion rate among this demographic has always been high — around 84-85% — but it has now increased slightly to 86.3%, the highest number in 10 years. This equates out to 412 abortions for every 1,000 live births among unmarried women in the U.S. — an almost inconceivably high number.

For the American children who make it out of the womb alive, the outlook isn’t great. Ethics and Public Policy Center fellow Patrick Brown recently posted data from Pew Research Center pointing out the glaring statistic that the U.S. has a higher percentage of kids living in single parent homes (23%) than any other country in the world. The only other country above 20% is the U.K. (at 21%), which similarly has a very high unmarried abortion rate at 82%. The U.S. rate of 23% of kids living in single parent homes is more than three times higher than the world average of 7% — another startlingly high number.