Morning Sweep

James Kirchick writes a column in USA Today about the significance of The Advocate's decision to allow subscribers to choose whether or not to receive the magazine in a privacy wrapper, in which it had been delivered since the magazine's inception in 1967.

This column called "An Obsession Over Rights," written by a former member of the Denver Post's editorial page staff, is kind of trite. At best it's an attempt to divert attention away from truly acknowledging why there is a struggle for gay rights in this country and to focus more on semantics and definitions--a strategy that works perfectly for slowing any civil rights movement. "What does 'gay rights' mean?" he asks. "Still, it is worth reflecting that unqualified support for 'gay rights' means implicit endorsement of a laundry list of rights." Exactly! See, he does get it, he just doesn't want to. We want equal treatment in every area of the law, whether it pertains to military service, employment, taxation or immigration. Call us crazy, but it's not so hard to understand. Unless you're trying very hard not to.

Seems like radical Christian groups can't find a candidate that is quite hateful enough. Even Fred Thompson's "position" on a federal marriage amendment is not quite strong enough for this group. It's kind of funny/scary to see how panicked these people are over the possibility of DOMA being overturned.

A letter to the editor in the Elmira Star-Gazette reminds people that there are many gay Christians, too...and that many Christian congregations support their gay members.

An Oregon group is threatening to aggressively publicize the names of every person who signs a petition that would put two major gay rights bills that have already been passed by the state legislature up for a referendum. The group's name: Know Thy Neighbor. Fierce. (via Queerty)