Hate-Filled Backlash After Paper Reports on Mississippi Gay Couple Who Married Despite Brain Cance
The staff of the Laurel Leader-Call were met with a "hate-filled" backlash in which 15 people cancelled their subscriptions after the century-old newspaper dared to report on an historic event: The first known gay wedding ceremony in Laurel, Mississippi.
On February 7th, the Leader-Call ran on its front page the moving story of Jessica Powell and Crystal Craven, a Laurel couple who married the Saturday before. One year ago, Crystal was diagnosed with stage four brain cancer. Since, she has had three surgeries, and neither she nor Jessica are certain what the future holds.
But in in October, Crystal got down on one knee and proposed to Jessica.
The wedding was much like any other wedding you've ever heard of. Jessica had a dress from David's Bridal. The wedding included a maid of honor and a best man. There was a cake-cutting and punch at the reception. There was a flower girl and there were ring bearers. But Jessica was given away by her son, 6-year-old Aden.
[...]
That story should move anyone. Anyone who was moved by the movie A Walk to Remember – in which Landon Carter (played by Shane West) proposes to and marries Jamie Sullivan (played by Mandy Moore) after learning she has leukemia – should be just as moved by this story and fervently hope it has a much happier resolution. As Jessica Powell said in the article, "Love is love, it knows no gender." In other words, there exists no difference between the Jamie & Landon shared and the love Jessica & Crystal share. Except, of course, Jessica & Crystal actually exist.
But it was obvious that not everyone in Laurel felt that way. After the publication of the Saturday paper, the Laurel Leader-Call was inundated with angry phone calls – over 50, according to editor Jim Cegieklski. The newspaper's Facebook page was also hit by a string of angry comments, some directed at Cassidi Bush, who reported the story. She's been accused of promoting the "liberal agenda" because of her reporting. For the record, Cassidi identifies as a conservative.
One commenter wrote, "This is what we have to put up with on the world news every night. Never thought I would open my local paper and see such. Insulting!!!"
"It's a sad day for traditional family values when this is printed on the front of a newspaper," another wrote.
Betsy wrote, "I don't see 'hatred' in any of these comments. I personally believe that gay 'marriage' is wrong in the eyes of God." It's obvious: Betsy's opinion is pretty much the same as God's opinion, generally, and she is the barometer by which we should all measure how well our opinion aligns with the Big Guy's. Just so you know.
http://www.deepsouthprogressive.com/2013/02/hate-filled-backlash-after-laurel-paper.html
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What a sad state of affairs.
Good luck to these lovely women.
Tend to lack them completely. This is truly disgusting beyond words. 