Associated Press links same-sex marriage to employment protection laws

This little nugget was filed by the Associated Press yesterday, and it's got me in a bit of a huff. . .it's about the Maine initiative to repeal the law protecting people in jobs, housing, credit and public accommodations on the basis of sexual orientation. Sounds clear enough, doesn't it. . .but not to the AP, especially when they wrote in their story in the SECOND paragraph that the ballot initiative "sets into motion what will be the latest in a series of battles at the ballot box over gay marriage around the country."

Huh? How ironic is this, when the measure in question specifically says that these protections will not be construed to provide marriage rights?

It does get even more interesting - just read the THIRD paragraph, which suddenly defines proponents of the repeal as Christian leaders, as if there are no christian leaders opposing the repeal. But then hey, if "christians" can self-identify themselves for the AP, one wonders why the state legislature of MAINE can't identify an actual LAW without the AP editorially intervening and connecting it to marriage.

You can view a copy of this story at:

http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MAINE_GAY_RIGHTS?SITE=NMSAN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

So WTF is going on here?

Whoulda thunk it? ;)

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What's going on? AP sucks. AP has always sucked. It's a . . . very poor source of news. I say this because AP has lousy writers who are not trained to write correctly and factually. Typically, their short, clipped stories contain twists and turns that make it difficult if not impossible for their audience - the reader - to understand what it is that AP is writing about.

Here, the AP writer makes leaps of logic that are not legally relevant to the issue. One of the sorest spots of so-called "journalism" as written by AP is the law. They truly suck at it. It could be said that this AP article was written by someone who truly has not a clue as to the subject matter. Again, this is not unusual coming from AP.

Whether you or others want to believe that AP and/or this AP writer has a "hidden agenda" against gays is up to you. I'll simply write it off as the lousy "journalism" that AP typically does. However, discrimination against gays as "journalism" should not exist.



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edited to add: And welcome to DU, kbm8795

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