Jo Becker’s new high-profile book chronicling the marriage-equality movement, “Forcing the Spring,” is getting vitriolic reviews from some of the most influential LGBT writers in the country.
The Daily Dish’s Andrew Sullivan ripped the book as a “distorted and ahistorical and polemical attack on the architects of the marriage equality movement,” and called Becker a “credulous, ignorant reporter” “who knows nothing of the history of the movement.”
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“The book descends into jaw-dropping distortion,” he writes.
…There are the following bizarre consequences of her insane history. Among the heroes of her book are Joe Biden and Ken Mehlman. Now just think about that for a moment. Biden voted for the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 – by far the most damaging moment in the movement’s history. As Isaac Chotiner notes, the book’s fellatial account of Biden’s own pro-gay goodness rests on stories of his past that reveal that he had no issues with gay couples – even as he voted to rid them of any rights by voting for DOMA! This grotesque hypocrisy is glossed over in favor of letting Becker’s source spin his own past uncritically. Ditto with Obama. He was obviously bullshitting on this subject for years.
Sullivan even went as far as asking for the book to be withdrawn from bookshelves before taking back the comment later.
“Of course it should not be withdrawn; it should be engaged, debated and scorned,” he said.
Dan Savage, the acclaimed nationally syndicated sex columnist, also dumped on the book.
“You can’t write Evan Wolfson, Andrew Sullivan & Mary Bonauto out of the marriage equality mvmnt–but Jo Becker tried,” Savage tweeted. “(It’s a) bullshit “history” of marriage equality mvmnt.”
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Chad Griffin @HRC must disavow and distance himself from Jo Becker’s bullshit “history” of marriage equality mvmnt. http://t.co/rL5324tFrH
— Dan Savage (@fakedansavage) April 17, 2014
Before Sullivan’s widely disseminated screed railing against the book, others had praised Becker’s tome including CNN legal contributor Jeffrey Toobin and former NAACP president Benjamin Jealous in reviews available on her site.
“A superb behind-the-scenes account of the legal battle to bring marriage equality to the nation,” wrote Toobin.
“A must-read for anyone who wants to move our nation forward,” Jealous said.