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发帖数: 19713 | 1 1. The Clucking Mess of Chick-fil-A
Georgia-based fried chicken chain Chick-fil-A became a national flash point
when it was revealed that the company had donated more than $5 million to
antigay groups, including a hate group as designated by the Southern Poverty
Law Center. Company president Dan Cathy added to the firestorm when he said
he opposes marriage equality and operates his fast-food chain according to
“biblical principles.” The resulting boycotts led conservative former
Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee to call for a national Chick-fil-A
Appreciation Day. LGBT activists responded with kiss-in protests, and a gay
artist vandalized a Torrance, Calif., franchise with the words “Tastes Like
Hate.”
2. Obama Finally Evolves
On May 9, in an interview with ABC’s Robin Roberts, Barack Obama became the
first sitting U.S. president to support marriage equality. Obama’s
announcement encouraged politicians, religious leaders, pop culture figures,
and citizens to get on the right side of history, and prompted The Advocate
to issue its first-ever presidential endorsement.
3. Frank Ocean Makes History
R&B artist Frank Ocean, best known as part of the hip-hop collective Odd
Future, made waves in the music world when he used a Tumblr post to reveal
that his first love was another man. While the critically acclaimed Channel
Orange artist hasn’t elaborated on his specific orientation, the revelation
rocked the hip-hop world, drawing largely supportive responses from fans
and insiders (including Jay-Z and 50 Cent).
4. Kansas Lawmakers Try To Legalize Discrimination
In response to college town Lawrence, Kan.’s antidiscrimination ordinance,
state lawmakers tried to pass the Kansas Preservation of Religious Freedom
Act, which would allow anyone to opt out of nondiscrimination policies by
claiming they violate their “religious freedom.” Gov. Sam Brownback said
he would sign the bill, but it ultimately died as the legislative session
ended, without receiving a Senate vote.
5. A Dad Teaches World About Parenting Gender-Variant Kids
German father Nils Pickert told feminist magazine Emma that he sometimes
wears skirts to support his preschool-age son who prefers to wear skirts and
dresses. Pickert said his son is the talk of his small, conservative,
traditional southern German town, but the father insists on supporting him.
“I only had one option left: to broaden my shoulders for my little buddy
and dress in a skirt myself,” said Pickert. The interview and photos went
viral.
6. North Carolina Pastors in a Panic
With interfaith coalitions that support marriage equality sprouting up
around the country, antigay conservative Christians went on the defensive.
North Carolina pastor Sean Harris said parents should “punch” and “crack
” the “limp wrists” of children who exhibit gender-variant behavior.
Later, a video that went viral captured another minister in the state,
Charles Worley, giving a sermon suggesting that all LGBTs be sequestered
behind an internment-style electric fence until we die off.
7. The GOP’s Presidential Homophobes
Looking to rile up the base in an election year, Republican presidential
candidates doubled down on their homophobic rhetoric. Rick Santorum said it
’s better for kids to have a father in jail than to be raised by a same-sex
couple and that as president he would invalidate existing same-sex
marriages. An indignant Rick Perry released an ad bemoaning the repeal of “
don’t ask, don’t tell.” The GOP ticket of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan fell
into lockstep on nearly every one of each other’s antigay positions: Both
opposed marriage equality, opposed the repeal of DADT, vowed to keep the
Defense of Marriage Act the law of the land, and opposed hate-crimes
legislation. Romney said laws on job discrimination were best left to the
states, and Ryan initially voted to kill the Employment Non-Discrimination
Act, though he ultimately voted in favor of the as-yet unpassed legislation.
8. Ellen Beats Out One Million Moms to Keep Her Job at JCP
When department store chain JCPenney announced that Ellen DeGeneres was its
new spokeswoman, the ultraconservative group One Million Moms called for a
boycott and demanded that DeGeneres be fired because of her lesbianism. JCP
stood up for her and kept DeGeneres on the payroll.
9. Kirk Cameron’s “Unnatural” Bigotry
Lest he fade into obscurity, former Growing Pains star Kirk Cameron
reaffirmed his antigay opinions, calling homosexuality “unnatural” in a
CNN interview. While Stephen Baldwin thought Cameron was on point, other
celebrities, including Debra Messing and Cameron’s Growing Pains costars
Tracey Gold and Alan Thicke, heartily disagreed. At an October speech at
conservative Liberty University, Cameron played the victim card, saying that
he seemed “to have blasphemed the god of political correctness, and [my
critics] tried to drag me out into the public square and crucify me.”
10. Prop. 8 and DOMA Await Supreme Hearing
Several marriage equality cases were scheduled for consideration by the
Supreme Court, including the challenge to California’s Proposition 8 and
lesbian widow Edie Windsor’s challenge to the discriminatory Defense of
Marriage Act. Despite Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s indication to students
at the University of Colorado Boulder that the Supremes would take up DOMA
in the next year, the justices declined to place any of the marriage cases
on the docket in advance of the November election. |
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