1798
(7 votes, average 4.43 out of 5)
Nov 3, 2010
In late October, a committee of the Green Bay City Council voted to authorize the city to join forces with Wisconsin Family Action in a lawsuit to overturn the state’s domestic partner registry. No other municipality in the state has considered such an action.
Observers are convinced this attack on LGBT people came in response to a city worker’s request that the council consider domestic partner benefits for its gay and lesbian employees. They also believe the action was ordered by WFA chief Julaine Appling, who’s notorious for such retaliatory behavior.
Appling has made fighting LGBT rights her life’s work. She was the driving force behind the constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and civil unions in the state, and now she’s leading the charge to overturn the partner registry.
Appling even lobbied the General Assembly against a law to address anti-gay bullying in Wisconsin schools.
Why is Appling so obsessed with hurting LGBT people? Ironically, she’s precisely the sort of person anti-bullying laws seek to protect. Although she frequently claims to be straight, so are many of the kids being bullied into suicide. They’re persecuted simply because they are perceived to be gay – just as Appling is.
The rumors about Appling have been rampant for years. Masculine in looks and mannerisms, Appling has never married. Neither has Diane Westphall, with whom she shares the home they have owned together in Watertown for years. They also work together at WFA. When Westphall’s father died, his obituary listed Appling as one of his daughters.
Only Appling and Westphall know the intimate details of their relationship, but no one would argue they appear to be a lesbian couple.
As the world has seen repeatedly in headlines about evangelical leaders outed under embarrassing circumstances, self-loathing is a powerful motivator for anti-gay fervency. Whether Appling is driven by self-hatred or some other form of misplaced anger, we might never know.
But we do know that Appling’s twisted crusade helps fuel shame in LGBT youth and violence against them. We know that she is a vicious bully with bloody fists and a sick, angry soul.
