Scout Posts

Mars Hill has an openly strong stance against allowing gay members in the church. The release set off a firestorm online and in the alternative press.

Bills legalizing same-sex marriage were introduced in the new session of the Illinois General Assembly Wednesday. Proponents of equal marriage rights had hoped for a vote during the lame duck session but it did not happen.

House Republicans authorized the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group Wednesday night to continue paying outside counsel to defend the so-called Defense of Marriage Act DOMA, which discriminates against legally married same-sex couples.

First lady Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, and Condoleezza Rice are next in line behind Clinton on the Most Admired Woman list, while Nelson Mandela, Mitt Romney, Billy Graham, George W. Bush, and Pope Benedict XVI follow Obama as Most Admired Man.

While 53 percent of Americans support legalizing same-sex marriage, less than half of Americans support the idea of openly gay adults serving as Boy Scout leaders. Given the lack of a trend on this question, it is not clear whether support is higher than in the past, or the degree to which the lack of support may reflect respondents' reluctance to say how a private organization should decide who holds its positions of leadership.

The heavy and immediate emphasis on gun laws stands in contrast to the social media conversation following the Tucson and Trayvon Martin shootings. While each of these events had its own tragic elements, the issue of gun control was inherent in all of them. But, the volume and intensity of the discussion in the Newtown case far exceeded that of the Tucson or Martin shootings.

Under Iowa law, vital records including death certificates reflect legal parentage, and both spouses are parents to any child born during a marriage regardless of whether they have a biological relationship to the child. In March 2012, the Iowa Attorney General’s office filed court documents saying that the state will continue to refuse an accurate death certificate to Jenny and Jessica Buntemeyer, asserting that it was correct in erasing Jenny’s name.

University of Iowa Chief Diversity Officer and Associate Vice President Georgina Dodge believes that inviting students to provide this information will help with both student success and retention.