KENTUCKY: Gay Minister And Partner Arrested After Marriage License Sit-In

Yesterday an openly gay Kentucky pastor and his partner were arrested for refusing to leave a Louisville city clerk's office after being denied a marriage license.

The two started by peacefully demonstrating outside of Metro Hall with a small group of people in the afternoon. Blanchard, who is a minister at Highland Baptist Church, then walked into the County Clerk’s office with James and asked to apply for a marriage license. Same sex marriage is not legal in Kentucky, so the couple was denied their request. “It is humiliating to be told such a thing and it is degrading,” Blanchard said. The men began a sit-in in the office. It continued after the office closed at 5 p.m. until just before 6 p.m. when police were called. “The officer was very kind. He stated that after 5 p.m. it’s considering trespassing and we would not voluntarily leave, so he would have to arrest us,” Blanchard said.

The couple was released shortly after the arrest and face a civil fine for criminal trespassing. (Tipped by JMG reader Dani)

Two Minutes Of British Hate #2

This is the second clip from Britain's version of Minnesota's Kalley Yanta.

Cremation Rates Rise

According to NBC News, cremation is the "hottest trend" in the funeral industry.

Every year in America, 2.5 million people die. In 2011, the last year for which numbers are available, 42 percent were cremated, according to the funeral directors association. That's double the rate of just 15 years ago. In some states, largely in the West, the cremation rate tops 70 percent. In Washington, it's 72 percent; in Nevada, almost 74 percent. (The lowest rate of cremation, in case you need a great pick-up line, is Mississippi's, at 15.7 percent.) So why the big jump in cremations? There are lots of reasons.

One is the softening of the Catholic church's views of the practice. For centuries – until 1963, in fact – the church outlawed it. The church's laws still express a preference for burial. But the outright ban is a thing of the past and now, under some circumstances, bishops can permit a funeral mass with cremated remains present. Another reason for the rise in cremations is the decline in nuclear families. As more Americans live far from hometowns and parents, and as family burial plots have waned in popularity and accessibility, millions have turned to cremation as a practical and cost-effective way to care for a loved one's remains.

The biggest reason for the rise in cremations, as the article notes, is cost.

AFA Headline Of The Day

The American Family Association is today cheering Russia's plan to criminalize "homosexual propaganda" and public displays of affection between people of the same gender.

As an evangelist who works in Russia,Tim Todd tells OneNewsNow that is quite a contrast to America, which has the most pro-homosexual president in the country's history. Todd, who heads Revival Fires International and has worked in Russia, understands that country's stand against the homosexual agenda. "America is opening the floodgate -- and if you want to know what God thinks about the sin of homosexuality, you can look at his urban renewal development plan in Sodom and Gomorrah," he points out. "It gives you a pretty good idea."  Todd says Russia has had an opportunity for years now to observe the homosexual agenda in America and Europe and learn firsthand what it has done to the culture. "[In America] there is open, blatant homosexuality on television and on the Internet where the homosexuals have come out of their hideouts in publicly proclaiming their sinful activity," he observes. Todd adds that he believes Russia has known all along the detriment homosexuality has on society -- and now they have proof in the United States.

Hat, Gloves, Scarf, Thermals

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A Strange Way To Mark Roe

To mark the 40th anniversary of Roe V Wade, the Center for Reproductive Rights enlisted Necessary Roughness star Mechad Brooks for an odd video clip that has outraged the religious right. When I watched this last night, all I could think was "Where is this going?"