Jeremy Hooper's Blog, page 155
February 12, 2014
And another one: Kentucky to recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages
A state famous for its horse races just gained some ground in the march toward equality:
Kentucky ban on gay marriages from other states struck down by federal judge [Courier-Journal]
I'm beginning to think we should instead note the days when we don't see an awesome and historic ruling.
Sochi as stand-in: Is relatively better resort town giving false sense of Russian homo-hostility?
The sports site Deadspin has an interesting take on the journalism that is going on in Sochi. Writer Barry Petchesky's argument is that local journalists who are relying on Sochi (and particularly Sochi's lone gay bar) are actually doing a disservice to the true plight of Russian gays:
Sochi, a resort town that's relatively tolerant by Russian standards, isn't the place to report on the plight of the country's gays. Getting at the larger issues is impossible for journalists credentialed for ju...
Indiana 'pro-marriage' commentator: Equality activists outnumbered us, were nice
After so many years of covering rallies and protests and marches and whatnots, I've come to expect the anti-equality activists to followup any and every event with spin in which they claim their side 
was more successful and that our side was somehow mean-spirited. So it's somewhat refreshing to see an Indiana pastor admitting that equality activists vastly outnumbered the opposition at Monday's pro- and anti-equality demonstrations and hearing at the Indiana state, and honoring the spirit of...
February 11, 2014
NOM. Mad. Again.
Another day, another press release in which a failure of a special interest group pretends it has the intellectual, political, legal, and moral capital to condemn and/or bully others:
"In the end, this is simply an act of cowardice, with these officials bending to the false narrative of 'inevitability' projected by the radicals determined to impose marriage redefinition nationwide." — Brian Brown, NOM president —
Washington, D.C. — The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) today called the d...
Liberty Counsel calls to impeach President Obama (*for high crime of being elected twice)
The über anti-LGBT Liberty Counsel has just launched its next campaign. The cause: impeaching our President, natch:
And of course by doing nutty stuff like this, these conservatives only ensure we elect another Democrat in 2016.
Please proceed, governor.
IFI's Laurie Higgins calls for Putin style 'gay propaganda' law
On Friday I wrote a piece for GLAAD in which I argued that many American anti-LGBT activists, judging by their own words and stated goals, would surely push for a draconian "gay propaganda" law like the one that has cast such a pallor over the Sochi games if they felt like they could land one here at home. Today, aggressively anti-LGBT Illinois activist Laurie Higgins (who I actually cited as an example in my GLAAD piece) confirms my suspicions:
Agents of change,” secure in their tenured posit...
Sham 'ex-gay' org shows 10th Circuit the animus that animates 'protect marriage' movement
Arguing that "the substantially negative outcome associated with homosexual behavior and identity reveal that changes in social and legal policy concerning same-sex marriage are not merited and should be rejected," the widely discredited organization NARTH (National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality) has filed an amicus brief urging the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold Oklahoma and Utah's bans on same-sex marriage. The equally anti-LGBT Liberty Counsel filed the pa...
NOM sends Chairman Priebus a thank you for maintaining a pro-discrimination GOP
Because he, despite the drastic change in polling, political support, and legality that has happened under his chairmanship, insists that the Republican party is to remain a party defined by marriage discrimination, the pro-discrimination special interest group NOM is sending Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus a love note:
[NOM]
If only NOM could convince Hallmark to create a line of cards thanking prominent party leaders for alienating the very voters they will need if they hop...
'They're suing churches!' screams article lacking even one example of people suing churches
Milton, Massachusetts' Fontbonne Academy and Sammamish, Washington's Eastside Catholic High School are not, in fact, churches. They are affiliated with churches, sure. But they are schools.
Leave it to Joseph Backholm, the guy who tried and failed (hard!) to stop marriage equality from coming to Washington, to flat-out lie about this basic fact as he tries to stir up animus by claiming 
that LGBT activists are now suing churches:
Recently, Eastside Catholic High School caused an uproar when they...
