The reaction to Michelle Shocked's hate speech is a gauge of how far attitudes toward the LGBTQ community have come over the last few decades. It was an anti-bigot reaction, not an anti-queer reaction. The reaction was a litmus test of American attitudes toward homophobia.

The granddaughter of Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps sounds off on why she left the controversial church, which is known for its extreme v...

There will always be people like Fred Phelps who use religion to justify their bigotry and hate, and sadly, there will always be those like Michelle Shocked who internalize the twisted message and lash out as a bizarre defense mechanism. I feel sorry for them, because hate only breeds hate.

Hatred and homophobia can never be underestimated. And the effect of someone saying "God hates fags" can never be underestimated either. It's a license to kill. It's a death sentence. It's not funny. It's not OK. It's not something I can let go easily, because I know what it truly means.

In an unsurprising yet nonetheless troubling move, a prominent Westboro Baptist Church member has said on the record that he feels homosexuals should ...

Rep. Andy Gipson is likely a good man. In this instance he just said some really thoughtless, hurtful things. I realize again that so often it isn't the person so much as the ideas that we need to reject in our society. To wish harm on this man is to repeat the mistake he made.