John has a busy fall travel schedule, including a recent debate at Notre Dame (see video here), and talks next week at Old Dominion University, Harvard Law School, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. See the full calendar here.
Upcoming Talks
Notre Dame Debate
John’s “Religious Liberty and Discrimination” debate with Ryan Anderson, which took place on September 7 at the University of Notre Dame, is now available on YouTube:
Cakes, Capes, and the Culture Wars
The fun folks at Philosophy Bakes Bread interviewed John for a recent podcast: Cakes, Capes, and the Culture Wars. You can listen to the full hour-long interview here.
John back at BookPeople
On August 17, John returned to BookPeople in Austin, Texas–which has graciously hosted events for every one of his books, including his 1997 anthology Same Sex–to talk about his new book Debating Religious Liberty and Discrimination to a packed house.
John speaks at Bay View
On July 11, John spoke at Bay View, a Chautauqua in northern Michigan. As explained in this story from the Petosky News, his presentation was the inaugural lecture in a new series entitled “Bridges: Crossing Cultural Divides.”
Profile of John in Between the Lines
Between the Lines, the Michigan LGBT paper where John got his start as a columnist in 2002, just published a nice profile of him reflecting back on his 25 years of advocacy. From the profile:
“For someone so young, John has been at it for a long time – making a patient, compelling, persuasive, clear case for the morality and common sense of gay and transgender inclusion, equality, and freedom,” said Evan Wolfson, founder of Freedom to Marry.
“John’s hallmarks are putting rational arguments in emotional and easy-to-follow terms, mixing in effective metaphors and analogies as well as humor. He is always fair, almost to a fault, in stating the positions and assuming the good faith of opponents. And with regard to those opponents, he has shown a preternatural patience in engaging with some doozies for a very long time, representing us and doing us proud on the front lines of intellectual debate and persuasion.”
Read the full article here.
Heritage Foundation Book Panel
On June 15 John met with his counterpoint authors Ryan T. Anderson and Sherif Girgis at the Heritage Foundation in Washington DC to chat about their new book. Watch the video here:
John in Costa Rica
John recently visited the Interamerican Court of Human Rights on May 17, 2017, to provide support to Central American LGBT rights activist and attorney Herman Duarte (holding John’s book in the photo). While in Costa Rica, John gave several talks, including two talks at ULACIT and one at the international law firm Dentons Muñoz.
John on the Kentucky Print Shop Case
At Slate, John explains why a recent case involving a Kentucky shop that refused to print an LGBT Pride t-shirt was rightly decided. From the piece:
[T]he legal boundaries that produce such implications are the very same ones that protect the baker who declines to write “Homosexuality is a detestable sin”; the print shop owner who declines to make “White Pride” T-shirts; the billboard designer who declines to erect an “Abortion is murder” display, and so on. Free speech includes the freedom to express wrong and even morally repugnant beliefs; it also includes the freedom for the rest of us not to assist with such expression.
Read the full piece here.
On President Trump’s Religious Liberty Executive Order
John Minchillo/AP Photo
At the Detroit Free Press, John explains why the President’s recent Executive Order on religious liberty was a big nothingburger. From the piece:
Here’s why all of this is good news: Religious conservatives have lately been using the mantle of “religious liberty” to advocate for special rights for themselves: legal exemptions that would allow them to discriminate against LGBT people, unwed mothers, and other vulnerable citizens with impunity. . . . Many feared that Thursday’s order would repeat this mistake. Thankfully, it didn’t. In fact, aside from providing a nice photo-op, it didn’t do much of anything.
Read the full article here.