Jennifer Roback Morse, president of the National Organization for Marriage’s Ruth Institute, is the latest conservatives to object to California’s new law banning ex-gay therapy for minors. Yesterday on Lutheran Public Radio’s Issues, Etc., Morse claimed to have met people who have changed their orientation and argued that therapy can, in her words, lessen the “cravings” and provide “relief from some of the symptoms” of homosexuality:

MORSE: And there are, in fact, documented cases of people who seek therapy, who seek help for changing their sexual orientation who have received some benefit from that therapy as they define it – who have received a lessening of the cravings, who have received a release from some of the more compulsive aspects of their behavior and so on. So I think we know that it is possible to have some relief from some of the symptoms, even if we don’t fully understand how it works and even if it doesn’t work for everyone, so on and so forth.

Listen to it, via Equality Matters:

Morse’s comments confirm that NOM still has a pre-1973 conception of sexual orientation, treating homosexuality as a chosen set of disordered behaviors instead of a healthy, innate identity. As always, the campaign against marriage equality is driven by misinformation and stigmatization against gays and lesbians, not any justifiable concern for “traditional marriage” or children.

Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy

Chick-fil-a President and COO Dan Cathy is largely responsible for the backlash against the company this summer. Though its anti-gay donations were already well documented, it was Cathy’s various public comments that spurred reaction. In addition to admitting Chick-fil-A was “guilty as charged” for opposing marriage equality, he also prayed for God’s mercy on “arrogant” LGBT activists and described homosexuality as “tragic,” “twisted up,” and resulting from a “deprived mind.” (The latter comments continue to remain under-reported.) However, Cathy was silent throughout the audacious Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day and even in last month’s dust-up in which it seemed Chick-fil-A was backing away from its positions — it wasn’t. Today, though, he spoke out for the first time since the controversy erupted to 11 Alive in Georgia, confirming that the chain’s “family values” still only apply to “Biblical families”:

CATHY: Chick-fil-A is focused on families. We’ve always been that way. We’re a family-owned business, we’re led by a family, and our restaurants are operated by families, and we serve millions of families everyday at Chick-fil-A, so we’re focused on the family. [...] Families are very important to our country. They’re very important, I think, to all of us that are concerned about being able to hang on to the heritage that we have and we’re supporting Biblical families. We’ve always been a part of that.

Watch it:

Note: This report incorrectly states that Chick-fil-A and Chicago Alderman Joe Moreno resolved their dispute, when in fact, just the opposite occurred. Cathy has clearly not backed away from any of his positions, let alone apologize for the more offensive comments he made disparaging LGBT people and their families.

In September, travel site Expedia announced its support for a same-sex marriage ballot initiative in Washington State. Now, the company is going a step further and promoting marriage equality in a new emotional video called “Find Your Understanding.” In the clip, a retired businessman named Artie Goldstein talks candidly about his struggle and eventual acceptance of his daughter’s marriage to a woman:

My expectations of what Jill’s life was going to be included a husband. So when Nikki came to ask permission to marry our little girl, that startled me. I told her, ‘This is not the dream I had for my daughter.’ I didn’t say yes, I didn’t say no. Coming out to the wedding from back east, I had some real apprehensions about it. What’s this going to look like, two girls getting married? You have to make a decision. Are you going to have a daughter that you are going to maintain a very wonderful relationship with for the rest of your life? Or are you going to lose that child? Once we got out to California and we saw how happy they were, all that trepidation just seemed to go away.

Watch it:

Expedia included this video in its “Find Yours” series, which highlights the personal significance of travel. The married couple told the Huffington Post, “We are extremely proud of our father and his personal journey that has led him to his understanding.” Washington voters, of which a growing majority support marriage equality, seem poised to legalize gay marriage in the state in November.

Former NFL player Matt Willig has been retired from football since 2005, having won two NFC Championships and a Super Bowl ring with the St. Louis Rams. Willig is now an actor, and he has also come out for marriage equality. He spoke with OutSports about negotiating his support for LGBT rights with his Catholic beliefs:

WILLIG: When you grow up in a Catholic upbringing, and the conservativeness of that, and I’m still a practicing Catholic, I struggled with how the Church stood on that. I also see the complete hypocrisy that goes on with the Church, and their stance on gays, and the things that go on with the Church. That was the struggle I dealt with.

I didn’t want to come out here and say, ‘Yeah, this is something I’ve always been for.’ I wanted to be honest. I am the evolution of middle America. People are struggling with how they grew up and how their parents have seen things. And I wanted to talk about my experiences, and that I evolved into feeling that equality and treating everyone the same is the utmost important thing.

Willig is sure that there are gay NFL players, and with allies like Brendan Ayanbadejo and Chris Kluwe, he’s pleased that homophobia in the sport “has eroded and gone away.”

Oreo is also recognizing National Bullying Prevention Month.

Recently, a viewer of WKBT news in Lacrosse, Wisconsin took it upon himself to write a letter to anchor Jennifer Livingston criticizing her weight, accusing her of being a poor role model for young people overwhelmed with obesity. She responded on air, pointing out to viewers that children learn such bullying at home, and that it has to stop:

LIVINGSTON: If you didn’t already know, October is National Anti-Bullying Month, and this is a problem that is growing everyday in our schools and on the internet. It is a major issue in the lives of young people today, and as the mother of three young girls, it scares me to death. Now I am a grown woman, and luckily for me, I have a very tick skin — literally, as that email pointed out — and otherwise, and that man’s words mean nothing to me.

But what really angers me about this is there are children who don’t know better, who get emails as critical as the one I received, or in many cases even worse, each and every day. The internet has become a weapon, our schools have become a battleground, and this behavior is learned. It is passed down from people like the man who wrote me this email. If you were at home and you were talking about the “fat newslady,” guess what? Your children are probably going to go to school and call someone fat. We need to teach our kids how to be kind, not critical, and we need to do that by example. [...]

I leave you with this: To all of the children out there who feel lost, who are struggling with your weight, with the color of your skin, your sexual preference, your disability, even the acne on your face, listen to me right now. Do not let your self-worth be defined by bullies. Learn from my experience that the cruel words of one are nothing compared to the shouts of many.

Watch it: