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Events
Community Meetings and Events
The Canton Flea Market is Thursday, May 8 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Historic Canton Square.
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South Korea Changing Maritime Rules After Sinking
The South Korean government is scrambling to fix what the prime minister calls the "deep-rooted evils" that contributed to last month's ferry sinking, which left more than 300 people dead …
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City & County
Hendrix, Amos Among Ward 6 Possibles
With Tony Yarber becoming Jackson's fourth mayor in a year's time, a special election will be required to fill his old Ward 6 seat.
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Botched Execution Could Renew 'Cruel' Challenges
The botched execution of an Oklahoma inmate is certain to fire up the debate over what constitutes cruel and unusual punishment—the phrase written into the U.S. Constitution and defined by …
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Entry
The Back Story on the Anti-Gay Alliance Attacking Mississippi's "If You're Buying" Campaign
By Donna LaddThis falls in the can't-make-it-up column.
Most of you know that Mitchell Moore of Campbell's Bakery, who is straight, and Eddie Outlaw of William Wallace Salon, who is gay, and others started the amazing "If You're Buying, We're Selling" campaign. They want Mississippi business owners to put stickers in their windows to indicate that they don't discriminate, in response to SB 2681, Mississippi's version of the "Religious Freedom Restoration Act." (See lots of business owners with the icon in their ads in this week's JFP, too.)
So, the religious right is apparently not happy with the international media coverage the campaign is getting -- and from Mississippi, which is supposed to be their wheelhouse, you know. They really didn't like it when Emily Pettus of the AP (the JFP's next-door neighbors) did a story about this that was picked up by many outlets.
In response, they went on a PR tear to take back the messaging. Greg Scott, who tweets at @adfmedia, led the way, tweeting this week in response to the AP story: "Sticker folks protest imaginary law .@AP bows false narrative, RFRA not "vaguely written," no threat to "=treatment" http://bit.ly/QEU2El
Curious, I did some research. Turns out, Scott is the VP for media communications for Alliance Defending Freedom (formerly Alliance Defense Fund), a nonprofit group founded in 1994 by extreme-right and vocally anti-gay leaders including James Dobson of Focus on the Family and Donald Wildmon of the American Family Association. (Interestingly, Mississippi's Judge Charles Pickering is also on the board.)
Not to be outdone, the American Family Association, an alliance co-founder, also blasted the sticker campaign on a Christian "news" site, which is part of the American Family News Network, which is part of the ... American Family Association. "It's not really a buying campaign, but it's a bully campaign," said Buddy Smith, executive vice president of Tupelo-based American Family Association, "and it's being carried out by radical homosexual activists who intend to trample the freedom of Christians to live according to the dictates of scripture."
The Southern Poverty Law Center includes the alliance (and AFA) on its list of a dozen groups that drive the "religious right's anti-gay crusade." On its website, it brags that its "attorneys have successfully defended marriage as the union between one man and one woman in over 40 cases nationwide."
SPLC indicates that the alliance was established in the early 1990s in response to gay-rights battles in the courts—which it clearly believes is the "principal" threat to religious freedom. ADF President Alan Sears and Vice President Craig Osten wrote " The Homosexual Agenda: Exposing the Principal Threat to Religious Freedom," which ties homosexuality to pedophilia and other "disordered sexual behavior."
SPLC states: "The ADF has also mounted legal challenges to gay military service, marriage, adoption and foster-parenting, as well as to domestic partner benefits around the nation. It trains other attorneys 'to battle the radical homosexual …
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Food
Feed Your Fancy at La Brioche
There's a new bakery in town, and it's all about luxurious sweets. Meet La Brioche Patisserie.
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Cover
Lance Bass on God, Being Gay and Loving His Sweet Mama
Two years after I graduated from high school in 2004, Lance Bass came out of the closet on the cover of People Magazine. His revelation struck a chord for me …
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City & County
And LGBTQ Rights March On: The Who, What, How in Mississippi
Although there is growing support for equal rights in both Jackson and the state, legislation like SB 2681 has the potential to encourage and legalize discrimination, harking back to Jim …
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City & County
Building Jackson Strong, One Person at a Time
Shoppers looking for organic and locally sourced food are familiar with the unassuming little grocery on Old Canton Road in Fondren. Mostly, they just call it Rainbow.
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Editor's Note
Discrimination Isn’t ‘Religious Freedom’
You do not have religious freedom if every single American doesn't have it, too, including those you believe are heathens and sinners.
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Art
Décor and Class
Sometimes, white walls can be a person's biggest inspiration. For Hunter Davenport, the blank walls in his apartment—along with the lack of monetary funds to decorate them to his content—stirred …
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Iraqis Brave Threat of Violence to Cast Ballots
Iraqis braved the threat of bombs and attacks to vote Wednesday in key elections for a new parliament amid a massive security operation as the country slides deeper into sectarian …
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Shadowy Commander is Face of Insurgency in Ukraine
When shadowy commander Igor Strelkov appeared before the cameras recently in green combat fatigues and a clipped mustache, he did more than reveal the face of the insurgency rocking eastern …
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Justices Wary of Unlimited Cellphone Searches
The Supreme Court seemed wary Tuesday of allowing police unbridled freedom to search through cellphones of people they arrest, taking on a new issue of privacy in the face of …
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State
From the Eye of the Storm
This account was taken during the storm event that swept across Mississippi, Alabama and the southern U.S. on April 28.
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EU Names 15 New Targets for Sanctions
The European Union on Tuesday released the names of 15 new people it is targeting for sanctions because of their roles in the Ukraine crisis.
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New U.S. Sanctions on Russian Officials, Companies
The United States levied new sanctions Monday on seven Russian government officials, as well as 17 companies with links to Vladimir Putin's close associates, as the Obama administration seeks to …
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Business
Mississippi Business Owners Push Back on 'Religious Freedom' Law
In conservative Mississippi, some business owners who support equal treatment for gays and lesbians are pushing back against a new law that bans government from limiting the free practice of …
