The tiny town of Vicco, Kentucky has made a bit of history by passing a sweeping anti-discrimination ordinance. With a 3-1 vote from the city commission and the support of Mayor Johnny Cummings, it is now illegal in Vicco to discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Vicco is situated in the Appalachian Mountains and has a population of just 334 residents, according to the 2010 U.S. Census. Still, it is now only the fourth municipality in Kentucky with LGBT nondiscrimination protections, joining Lexington, Louisville, and Covington. Statewide protections have been proposed in the state’s General Assembly numerous times, but never been brought to debate, despite broad public support.

After accepting two Golden Globe awards for her show Girls Sunday night, Lena Dunham addressed questions about referring to her boyfriend, Jack Antonoff, as “family.” Backstage, she explained that she does not intend to marry until same-sex marriage is legal:

DUNHAM: I am not engaged. I don’t want to get married until all gay people can get married.

Dunham also said that she felt Jodie Foster’s provocative coming out speech was “mind-blowingly beautiful.”

Focus on the Family President Jim Daly

Focus on the Family President Jim Daly offered a new perspective on homosexuality this week responding to a question about how family members should respond to a gay child. He suggested that being gay is “not a super sin,” but he still advises parents and grandparents to condemn homosexual behaviors:

DALY: Well, first of all. I don’t mean this controversially but it may sound controversial. The one big thing is: homosexuality is not a super sin. It’s one of many, including adultery — other things — lying, cheating, gossiping; it’s right there in the list. So often I think in the Christian community, because of the political nature of it today, that we tend to raise it up as something worse than all the others.

I would say to that grandparent: make sure that tether of love stays attached to their grandchild who has come and said, “I’m gay.” They need you more than they realize, and really, that’s family.

And how do you do that? There’s going to be times when you may not be able to condone, obviously, what they’re doing. And you need to explain it in a heartfelt way — the difference.

Daly went on to absolve himself of responsibility for the message, blaming the Bible for its verses condemning homosexuality. Listen to it:

Daly’s comments have an ounce of hope. Family rejection has been shown to be incredibly detrimental to young people’s mental health, and his message of continuing to show love has some important validity. But loving condemnation is still problematic, and Focus on the Family promotes plenty of condemnation. The group endorses ex-gay therapy, rejects trans people as disordered and unhealthy, and claims that identifying as gay is just a “political statement.” Daly himself has suggested gays are in “pain” and at “battle… with the Creator.” It seems unlikely he would say the same of everyone who has lied, cheated, or gossiped.

The National Organization for Marriage’s Ruth Institute is once again promoting ex-gay therapy, though in a slightly coded manner. The group’s “Prayer Chain” implores supporters to pray for gay people’s “conversion” because they are “deeply wounded spiritually”:

Many of the people who appear to be our enemies, are deeply wounded spiritually. Winning political battles will not be enough! We must pray fervently that each and every person participating in sexual sin has a complete conversion of mind and heart. That is why I would like to enroll you as a member of the Ruth Institute Prayer Chain.

The Ruth Institute is currently praying for Point Loma Nazarene University’s success at blocking the formation of an LGBT student group:

WE PRAY: “That Christian colleges and universities of all denominations would boldly and lovingly teach the ancient Christian truths about marriage, family, and human sexuality, to their students, faculty, staff, and the wider community.

Though “conversion” is open to interpretation — ex-gay vs. Christian — it is more likely the former given the Ruth Institute’s propensity for promoting ex-gay therapy. Executive Director Jennifer Roback Morse has routinely endorsed the harmful treatment.

Bishop Philip Egan

In one of the biggest joint letters ever written, over 1,000 Catholic priests and other senior Catholic officials laid claim that marriage equality will have “legal consequences” for Catholics and that these concerns should supersede the rights of same-sex couples:

After centuries of persecution, Catholics have, in recent times, been able to be members of the professions and participate fully in the life of this country.

Legislation for same-sex marriage, should it be enacted, will have many legal consequences, severely restricting the ability of Catholics to teach the truth about marriage in their schools, charitable institutions or places of worship.

It is meaningless to argue that Catholics and others may still teach their beliefs about marriage in schools and other arenas if they are also expected to uphold the opposite view at the same time.

Several of its signatories went further, such as Bishop of Portsmouth Rt. Rev. Philip Egan, who called same-sex marriage “Orwellian” and suggested that Catholic leaders “could be arrested for being bigots or homophobes.” Oxford theologian Rev. Dr. Andrew Pinsent compared marriage equality to Henry VIII’s decision to launch “three centuries of great upheaval in English society” by separating from the Catholic Church so he could marry Anne Boleyn.

It seems clear that the Catholic Church has made a war against same-sex marriage its chief priority. It’s unclear what the Church could accomplish in terms of fighting poverty or making the world a better place if 1,000 priests could sign onto an effort for one of those issues.

A coalition of business leaders have endorsed marriage equality in Illinois, including Fred Eychaner (chairman of the Newsweb Corp.), Laura Ricketts (co-owner of the Chicago Cubs, and companies like Google, Orbitz Worldwide, and Groupon. In an open letter, these corporate leaders encourage lawmakers to support same-sex marriage for the benefit of company employees and the state’s economy:

Marriage equality would strengthen the workforces of Illinois employers, who know there is no substitute for employees with diverse backgrounds and experiences. Companies must understand a changing marketplace and be able to connect with their customers; having a diverse workforce is a part of that. That’s one reason many employers have adopted non-discrimination policies and offer domestic partner benefits.

Marriage equality promotes economic development, too. According to the UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute, allowing same-sex couples to marry would generate between $39 million and $72 million in revenues for Illinois businesses, creating $4.5 million to $8 million in new sales and lodging tax revenues over three years.

Religious leaders in Illinois have spoken out on both sides of the issue, and the lawmakers introduced legislation upon the start of the new session.

Several hundred thousand people rallied against marriage equality in France Sunday, but the apparent success of the protest seems to reflect the influence of American groups more than anything. Multiple news reports refer to a coalition of groups led by the Catholic Church’s hierarchy — as well as some evangelical Christian and Muslim groups — that organized the protest, but none of those groups are recognized by name. What’s clear, though, is that the U.S.-based National Organization for Marriage is playing a significant role in France’s debate on same-sex marriage.

On Friday, NOM’s Brian Brown announced he was in France for the protest, and the group spent last week pushing the “gays against gay marriage” meme featuring anti-gay French Catholics. NOM also highlighted a series of offensive French editorial cartoons that imply same-sex parents are incapable of raising happy children because the children will only care about the parent of a different gender they don’t have. Jeremy Hooper also discovered that NOM is responsible for a French “Let Us Vote” site encouraging the country to support a public vote on civil rights. Brown offered this reflection from the protest:

You see, the French people know in their bones that every child deserves a mother and father. And so they took to the streets – hundreds of thousands of them!

I am proud to be a part of this historic moment in France. [...]

They held signs that read “Une papa, une maman pour TOUS les enfants! — which means “A dad, a mom for ALL children.” Some children held signs that read “Made in papa + maman”: “Made in mom and dad.”

I have been so excited to be part of this new international solidarity movement in defense of marriage, children and family.

As Alvin McEwen notes, NOM offers no consideration for the many children who have no parents at all to raise them. The implication of their message, as it has always been, is that same-sex parenting somehow harms children, a myth with no foundation. Perhaps the organization is dismayed by its recent losses in the U.S. and is trying to bolster their own egos by exporting their message, or perhaps they feel they can only be successful in societies where public understanding and visibility of same-sex families has not advanced as much. Either way, it’s clear that NOM is betraying its own “national” mission to condemn same-sex families the world over.

“But actually…. I would have loved to have a Mom.” “You are selfish! You should be happy to know that you provided happiness to your two Dads!”