• Replacements
• NO REGRETS: Bob Page, at his Replacements china business, has no regrets for opposing ban on same-sex marriage.

The company paid a big price in lost customers and angry reaction. It's reminiscent of nothing so much as the reaction to those who weren't sufficiently segregationist in the 1950s and 1960s.

Hostile letters and e-mails poured into the company from customers canceling their business and demanding to be removed from its e-mail list. “I understand that your company donated $250,000 or so to the effort to ban the marriage amendment,” read one. “I am very concerned that with an increased visibility and acceptance of the gay and lesbian lifestyle, one of my children, who would have grown up and been happily married to a husband, could be tempted to the lesbian lifestyle.”

The reaction went beyond the misinformed.

Mr. Spainhour said he worried about Mr. Page’s safety, and has discussed his concerns with him. He mentioned Charles C. Worley, pastor of the Providence Road Baptist Church in Maiden, N.C., not far from Greensboro, who preached on May 13 that lesbians and gays should be separated from each other and society and quarantined behind electrified fences. “In a few years, they’ll die out,” Mr. Worley said. “They can’t reproduce.” Video of the sermon circulated on the Internet.

The best part of the story comes toward the end, in a profile of the company leader, Bob Page, who is gay.

Mr. Page, 67, said he doesn’t like politics and isn’t “extreme,” or “in your face” about being gay. But, he added: “I just refuse to hide. I did that way too many years and it’s just not healthy.”

At the same time, he said: “I’m always concerned I will hurt our business. I know we have lost business. But I don’t have a board or shareholders I have to answer to. My life is not about money.”

Page grew up poor on a tobacco farm and was a faithful United Church of Christ attendee. “I prayed that God would not make me this way,” he said. He went to college, served in Vietnam and eventually made peace with who he was. He found a partner and they've provided a home to adopted twins. Most of his family was supportive when he came out, though a sister and her children "think I and my partner are going to hell."

He has no regrets about speaking out and spending money. Need some china or crystal? Try Replacements Ltd. I already had, but had no idea about this remarkable man until recently.

• CHAD GRIFFIN

The headline seemed worth noting in context of the fight of notable Arkansans to bring equality and dignity to those in the sexual minority.

Chad Griffin, the Hope, Ark., native who is incoming president of the Human Rights Campaign, will be honored in Arkansas June 11. He'll be interviewed at noon at the Clinton School by state Rep. Kathy Webb. Other events are planned, including a reception at Boswell Mourot Fine Arts.

Griffin, who works in public relations in California, was instrumental in rallying the legal effort challenging California's voter initiative to bar same-sex marriage. That case will be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Human Rights Campaign is probably the most important advocate against discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Jon Stewart did a better job than I of highlighting the rich irony implicit in Republicans saying President Obama finally endorsed marriage equality as a political move. A party that still believes gay-bashing is a can't-lose political proposition REALLY believes embracing gay rights is a good political move?

Yet, here's a CBS/New York Times poll that suggests most people believe Obama acted for political advantage. (Even as the poll shows the decision hurt him.)

Ernie Dumas explains this week why it's nuts to think this is a political winner for the president. Maybe, just maybe, he put principle above politics, something so rare in politics that few credit the possibility. Ernie's column follows.

• OPERATORS STANDING BY: Give us a call, Rep. Griffin.

Maybe, just maybe, Griffin's reluctance to immediately beat the old anti-gay drum is because he's privy to Republican insider polling and advice reported here by Andrew Sullivan. (And who wouldn't be privy to inside Republican strategy but Karl Rove's former camp follower?) It says the Republican Party risks marginalizing itself over time if it continues harsh anti-gay rhetoric.

This sentence alone from the memo is striking:

As people who promote personal responsibilities, family values, commitment and stability and emphasize freedom and limited government we have to recognize that freedom means freedom for everyone.

Shazam!

Lots of interesting comment in the memo, along with this strategic advice:

Recommendation: A statement reflecting recent developments on this issue along the following lines:

“People who believe in equality under the law as a fundamental principle, as I do, will agree that this principle extends to gay and lesbian couples; gay and lesbian couples should not face discrimination and their relationship should be protected under the law. People who disagree on the fundamental nature of marriage can agree, at the same time, that gays and lesbians should receive essential rights and protections such as hospital visitation, adoption rights, and health and death benefits."

Problem is, the base of the Republican Party — Jerry Cox's army of fundamentalists, let's call them in Arkansas — doesn't want protection for gay people. They WANT to discriminate against them in work, life, on the school yard and otherwise. Thus they fight legislation even to protect children from bullying as an "infringement" on their religious freedom to persecute the different and the weak.

Nonetheless: I'm in the book Rep. Griffin. You do represent the most populous county in Arkansas, one of only two that, as long ago as 2008, wouldn't be stampeded by religious bigots into voting to prevent gay people from adopting children. One whose legislative delegation includes a lesbian. Even in 2004, before the opinion shift began and Arkansas was voting 3-1 to amend its constitution to ban gay marriage (and also approving it, if by about 10 points less, in Pulaski), the precinct in which Rep. Griffin votes, at the Heights Fire Station, was voting DOWN the amendment 392-285. Just saying, congressman. Don't you think it's time to get on board the Freedom Train with your neighbors?

Griffin's Heights neighbor Herb Rule, Democratic candidate for Griffin's seat, minced no words yesterday. Herb Rule, I might add, was front and center before the City Board advocating for homeless and other veterans while Tim Griffin was working against their interests and trying to torpedo a move to better quarters for a clinic serving them. Herb Rule also has supported Planned Parenthood and isn't one bit ashamed of supporting family planning, health screenings and other services for women. You won't find Tim Griffin on the women's health services train either. But if you have some weapon systems to sell the U.S. government, I bet you'd get a callback. He's on board with that spending, at the expense of the poor and hungry.

PS — Mitt Romney at Liberty University today threw some Falwellian meat on marriage to the crowd. The advice mentioned above didn't take in that setting.

• FOR EQUALITY: Herb Rule

"When we pledge our allegiance as Americans, we define this country as the one that promises 'Liberty and justice for all.' Our gay and lesbian friends and neighbors are no less entitled to equal treatment in the eyes of the law. When I see the devotion and care given to the son of a same-sex couple dear to me, I know that the love they have for their son is no different than given by straight parents. I respect and will defend the rights of those who disagree on religious grounds.

I stand in support of marriage equality."

Republican U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin? A cursory search indicates he has, somewhat uncharacteristically, made little mention of this topic though he's otherwise a Stepford Republican on issues social and financial. The issues section of his campaign website doesn't address it. I've asked his office for a comment. No response was forthcoming. If you see Tiny Tim, you might ask him.

• Hendrix College
• 'CAUGHT OFF GUARD': Jay Barth.

Barth and Chuck Cliett were married recently in New York, whose law doesn't prevent people of the same sex from marrying. Their union was celebrated not long ago at a Little Rock church packed to overflowing with friends.

His brief essay follows:

• WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD: Sen. Eddie Joe Williams.

I ask for your help in nominations for worst person in the world, based on reactions to President Obama's declaration of support for same-sex marriage.

Mitt Romney, who often stumbles on such occasions, was surprisingly moderate. He commented on the sensitivity of the issue for many people. He stood by his belief that marriage is an institution for one man and one woman, but he indicated sympathy for extending certain legal protections and benefits to unmarried partners. Sometimes, a touch of decency manages to break through that icy veneer.

On the other hand, there's Sen. Eddie Joe Williams of Cabot, who is leading the sweepstakes for worst person in the world in Arkansas. He wrote on Twitter:

The president supports same sex marriage.... Question.....what's next? U fill in the blank. I can marry my_____. Makes me see RED

Does it really make Eddie Joe Williams see RED to gaze upon same sex couples in committed relationships — some married thanks to laws in more enlightened states? Does it make him see RED to see them love and raise children? Does it make him see RED to see such loving couples afforded tax, legal, estate, medical and other benefits given heterosexual couples? Does the very sight of a gay person make him see RED? Does Dick Cheney make him see RED?

It is one thing for Eddie Joe Williams to hold to his belief that marriage of two people of the same sex is contrary to his faith. It is another for him to equate loving family people with humans screwing dogs — or whatever imaginary horror he and politicians like him want you to conjure up. That such couples endure and thrive is a miracle in the face of bigotry Eddie Joe Williams couldn't imagine unless he gave himself a truly searching look in the mirror. Some might prefer a dog, come to think of it.

The polls were right. Or, actually, they underestimated a bit, the margin by which North Carolina voters would adopt Amendment One to further strengthen existing law against same-sex marriage in that state and also raise a host of troubling questions about other relationships, including non-marital heterosexual ones. Can domestic violence laws be enforced against non-marital partners, for example?

The Charlotte Observer's coverage is thorough and its lead editorial criticism of the result reflects its home turf. (Also the editorial cartoon.) The major population and academic centers in North Carolina — Charlotte, Raleigh, Asheville, Chapel Hill and so forth — heavily opposed the amendment. Rural areas voted overwhelmingly for it for a 61-39 margin. Polling there illustrated the national divide — acceptance of same-sex relationships among younger voters; resistance among older voters, particularly those who are regular churchgoers. Black precincts, even in the urban areas, voted strongly for further discrimination against a minority group, continuing a national pattern influenced by pastors of black churches. (The black pastor and Duke Divinity School grad who heads the state NAACP was a notable and eloquent exception.)

Good news in this? Not much, except the fact that the tide does really seem to be turning as those most resistant to equal rights die off and, state by state, freedom spreads. A 61 percent approval rating, though a landslide, was much less than the 70-plus numbers racked up in other Southern states, if you seek some small consolation.

PS — Talking Points Memo analyzes the result in the context of the presidential election and President Obama's continued "evolving" on the topic.

• DON'T SAY GAY: Richard Grenell's homosexuality forced him off Romney staff.

But those close to Mr. Grenell, known as Ric, insist that when he had sought forceful support from those who had entrusted him with a major role, the campaign seemed to be focused, instead, on quieting a political storm that could detract from Mr. Romney’s message and his appeal to a crucial constituency.

“It’s not that the campaign cared whether Ric Grenell was gay,” one Republican adviser said. “They believed this was a nonissue. But they didn’t want to confront the religious right.”

And the Religious Right is crowing. The head of the American Family Association, standard-bearer for homophobia in America, has made it clear that no hiring of homosexuals will be acceptable. Romney's abandonment of Grenell was a "huge win," he said. It becomes now a question for every Republican in public office, including in Arkansas. Would you hire an openly gay person as a staff member? Yes or no? Simple question. Maybe Jerry Cox will add it to his questionnaire, which aims at precisely this sort of discrimination among the people his so-called "family" group favors.

Michael Keegan of People for the American Way observes that this episode distills a core question about Mitt Romney. What won't he say or do to get elected?

“Mitt Romney is once again trying to have it both ways: claiming that he personally tolerates gays and lesbians while at the same time pandering to the anti-gay right-wing base whose intolerance is legendary. Obviously, it’s not working.

“Romney is clearly depending on Religious Right leaders to help him energize a wary base and they insist that he tow the line. But the support of those leaders comes at a price. If Romney is letting the likes of Bryan Fischer, Tony Perkins and Gary Bauer dictate all his hiring decisions, he leaves no doubt as to what kind of president he would be.

“If Romney will cave to the far-right fringe on this, is there anything he won’t give them when they ask?”

From op-ed today in New York Times on scientific research into homophobia and the periodic examples of campaigners against gay rights who turn up in same-sex encounters:

In this month’s issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, we and our fellow researchers provide empirical evidence that homophobia can result, at least in part, from the suppression of same-sex desire.

... It’s important to stress the obvious: Not all those who campaign against gay men and lesbians secretly feel same-sex attractions. But at least some who oppose homosexuality are likely to be individuals struggling against parts of themselves, having themselves been victims of oppression and lack of acceptance. The costs are great, not only for the targets of anti-gay efforts but also often for the perpetrators. We would do well to remember that all involved deserve our compassion.

Maureen Dowd, herself a Catholic, goes after the church hierarchy today for its effort to silence nuns. The nuns' advocacy for the poor and a willingness to accept President Obama's compromise on birth control pills has enraged the leadership far more than the priest sex scandals ever did.

• ARCHBISHOP PETER SARTAIN: Former Arkansas bishop rapped by columnist.

Pope Benedict, who became known as “God’s Rottweiler” when he was the cardinal conducting the office’s loyalty tests, assigned Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle to crack down on the climate of “corporate dissent” among the poor nuns.

When the nuns push for social justice, they’re put into stocks. Yet Archbishop Sartain has led a campaign in Washington to reverse the state’s newly enacted law allowing same-sex marriage, and he’s a church hero.

Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of Network, a Catholic lobbying group slapped in the Vatican report, said it scares the church hierarchy to have “educated women form thoughtful opinions and engage in dialogue.”

She told NPR that it was ironic that church leaders were mad at sisters over contraception when the nuns had committed to a celibate life with no families or babies. Given the damage done by the pedophilia scandals, she said, “the church’s obsession, at times, with the sexual relationships is a serious problem.”