The idea that there has been a growing wave of anti-gay sentiment in the country (in fact, public opinion has been swinging the other way) that crested in this horrific attack by an Islamic terrorist is completely absurd, but it’s apparently what Jim Obergefell thinks:
“I’m struggling to find the words,” says Jim Obergefell, the Ohio plaintiff whose name became the symbol for gay rights when the validity of his own marriage was upheld by the highest court in the land. “To know that a mass shooting — to know it happened in a place where we as a community go to feel comfortable and be ourselves? I knew there would be a backlash against the strides we’ve made. There’s so much hatred directed toward our community, from candidates, from religious fanatics. I’m not surprised something horrible has happened, but I’m surprised at how horrible it is.”