Social Issues

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State lawmakers in New Hampshire are expected to take up a measure to repeal the state's same-sex marriage law in January, the same month the state holds a presidential primary. Republican candidates like Mitt Romney (shown), Rick Perry and Herman Cain have had to clarify their position on the hot-button social issue. (Associated Press)

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Kevin Kline's impending visit to D.C. will not see him promote the latest in desert solar power or international adoption policies, but rather, his bread and butter: Acting — Monday at Shakespeare Theatre Co., Sidney Harman Hall.

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Michelangelo Payne sits on bed No. 68 that was assigned to him when he first arrived off the streets Nov. 20, 2009 at the Central Union Mission. The homeless shelter for men is the oldest social services agency in the District. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)

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"I was empty, I was broken," says Michelangelo Payne of the day he arrived at the Central Union Mission two years ago. The shelter for men and is the oldest social services agency in the District. Founded in 1881 by the Rev. Latham Douglass, many of the men it first served were Civil War veterans wandering along Pennsylvania Avenue. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)

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Michelangelo Payne offers cookies to Carlos Manuel Lopez, 3, as he makes his rounds cleaning up and organizing things at Mount Gilead Baptist Church. The mission's current programs serve homeless men; underprivileged women, children and seniors; veterans and the growing needs of the city's Hispanic community. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)

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Mary Todd Lincoln's three-piece purple velvet ensemble is thought to have been made by black dressmaker Elizabeth Keckley. Mrs. Lincoln is shown as an influential anti-slavery advocate who supported Union troops. (Photo courtesy Smithsonial National Museum of American History)

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Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, with Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, speaks Wednesday to workers at Nationwide Insurance Co. in Des Moines, Iowa. Mr. Romney is using a tough stance against illegal immigration to separate himself from his rivals for the nomination. (Associated Press)

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivers a speech during a budget debate in Berlin on Wednesday. (Associated Press)

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**FILE** From left: Johnny Mullet, Lester Mullet, Daniel Mullet, Levi Miller and Eli Miller wait Oct. 19, 2011, to make their pleas in Holmes County Municipal Court in Millersburg, Ohio. The five men, along with reputed Amish breakaway sect leader Sam Mullet and Emanuel Shrock, were arrested Nov. 23, 2011, by the FBI and local sheriff's deputies on federal hate crime charges. (Associated Press/Wooster Daily Record)

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Allison Marman of Silver Spring visits her boyfriend, who has been living in McPherson Square, on Nov. 22, the day after U.S. Park Police arrested a person on charges of sexual assault and theft. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

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** FILE ** Park Police officers patrol McPherson Square after a report of sexual assault and theft at the Occupy D.C. camp. Prosecutors have not filed charges against the person who was accused but say an investigation is continuing. Many of the protesters at the camp say they have little information about the incident. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

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Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. maintained that, "A patchwork of immigration laws is not the answer and will only create further problems." (Associated Press)

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An Adopt-A-Highway sign at the intersection of Ward and Cedar Grove roads west of Lewes, Del., is one of two that give sponsorship credit to the Freedom Party, which is a neo-Nazi group that tried but failed to get the name "Nazi Party" on the signs. (News Journal)