{"id":2602547,"date":"2026-05-14T08:06:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T12:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/in-its-hit-piece-on-me-the-seattle-times-proves-im-right-about-obergefell\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T08:12:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T12:12:53","slug":"in-its-hit-piece-on-me-the-seattle-times-proves-im-right-about-obergefell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/in-its-hit-piece-on-me-the-seattle-times-proves-im-right-about-obergefell\/","title":{"rendered":"In Hit Piece, Seattle Times Proves I\u2019m Right About Obergefell"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fin-its-hit-piece-on-me-the-seattle-times-proves-im-right-about-obergefell%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2602547&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Katy Faust argues that a front-page Seattle Times article on Mother\u2019s Day was not genuine journalism but an ideological hit piece. She says the reporter, Jim Brunner, identified her family, neighborhood, church, salary, and upcoming speaking plans-and even pursued data while her husband was deployed-leading to online scrutiny and calls for more <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-twitter-contributed-to-david-frenchs-destruction-of-his-own-character\/\" title=\"How Twitter Contributed To David French\u2019s Destruction Of His Own Character\">identifying details<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Faust contends the article misrepresented her views by discussing her as a dissenter while avoiding engagement with the substance of her argument and the sources that support it. She claims Brunner focused on selective quotes and framed her as both an extremist threat and a fringe figure, while omitting local and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/court-officially-confirms-details-for-first-hearing-in-trump-criminal-case\/\" title=\"Court Officially Confirms Details for First Hearing in Trump Criminal Case\">legal details<\/a> she says connect changes in Washington\u2019s parentage law (including the Uniform Parentage Act) to the legalization of same-sex marriage.<\/p>\n<p>She also criticizes the article for using \u201cThe Science\u201d in a way she believes is misleading or incomplete, relying on studies that she says do not adequately address outcomes for children. she argues the piece used insinuations about finances and credibility to stigmatize her rather than fairly address her position, and she says she declined to comment as <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >newer conservative media ecosystems reduce<\/a> the ability of legacy outlets to control the narrative.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>On Mother\u2019s Day, The Seattle Times published a front-page <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Katy_Faust\/status\/2053510424222671115?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">article<\/a> warning readers about me \u2014 a Seattle mother of four whose central heresy is believing children have a right to their mother and father and should not be bought and sold.<\/p>\n<p>Reporter Jim Brunner identified my neighborhood, church, salary, family history, and upcoming speaking event. He contacted former employees, our board chair, and even my husband while he was deployed in the Pacific.<\/p>\n<p>Had my husband replied to the inquiry, I wonder whether Brunner would have thanked him for defending the reporter\u2019s First Amendment rights \u2014 rights Brunner would later exercise by doxxing the time and location of his wife\u2019s upcoming speaking event in the pages of the state\u2019s largest newspaper.<\/p>\n<p>This was not journalism. It was a hit piece. The Seattle Times knew exactly what it was doing. Left-wing outlets routinely lecture conservatives about \u201cdog whistles,\u201d \u201cstochastic violence,\u201d and the dangers of politically charged rhetoric. Yet they seemed remarkably comfortable publishing granular personal details about an ideological dissenter to a readership where, according to a recent YouGov poll, <a href=\"https:\/\/yougov.com\/en-us\/articles\/52960-charlie-kirk-americans-political-violence-poll\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">1 in 4<\/a> believes political violence can be justified to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sec-eyes-forcing-companies-to-disclose-data-on-social-issues-sparking-politicization-concerns\/\" title=\"SEC Eyes Forcing Companies To Disclose Data On \u2018Social\u2019 Issues, Sparking \u2018Politicization\u2019 Concerns\">achieve political goals<\/a>. Ask President Trump, Russ Vought, Brett Kavanaugh, and Erika Kirk whether leftist violence is a legitimate concern for those who reject left-wing orthodoxies.<\/p>\n<p>Within 48 hours, online local forums were already swarming for additional identifying details about my family, community, church, and home.<\/p>\n<p>Yet the most revealing aspect of the article was not what it included. It\u2019s what it carefully avoided. Brunner spent thousands of words examining the <em>dissenter<\/em> while refusing to examine the <em>dissent<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Brunner referenced selective fragments of my speeches and articles but never linked to my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=HBlIrv8NwgY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">National Conservatism<\/a> speech, the <a href=\"https:\/\/greaterthancampaign.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Greater Than website<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=OKXFQNeb_EQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">campaign trailer<\/a>, nor the <a href=\"https:\/\/firstthings.com\/the-end-of-natural-parenthood\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">detailed critiques<\/a> underlying our position.\u00a0Why? Because once readers encounter the actual argument instead of the paper\u2019s caricature of it, the caricature starts to collapse. <\/p>\n<p>Instead, Seattleites were offered selective quotes like how I am \u201cdisabusing pastors of \u2018the lie\u2019 that their highest calling is to be \u2018welcoming and affirming\u2019\u201d (true) and dangerous advice to women like, \u201cIf you can, get married early and have children\u201d before making \u201cpartner in the law firm.\u201d Did I blame the \u201cblack hole of marriage equality\u201d for a \u201chost of ills?\u201d Yes, I did. Not because I\u2019m some pearl-clutching religious Karen. But because we now have 11 years of receipts of how adult \u201cequality\u201d produced inequality for children.<\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s the story Brunner didn\u2019t bother to tell. The one he contorted himself to avoid like a Virginia congressional map. There has been a systematic deconstruction of children\u2019s rights since gay marriage was nationally mandated 11 years ago. As predicted in the SCOTUS <a href=\"https:\/\/sblog.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/14-556_Heather_Barwick_and_Katy_Faust.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">amicus brief<\/a> I filed in <em>Obergefell<\/em>, making husbands and wives optional in marriage made mothers and fathers optional in parenthood. Brunner could easily fact-check that claim in his own state capital. <\/p>\n<p>In 2018, Democrat darling state Sen. Jamie Pedersen \u2014 a gay \u201cmarried\u201d father of four surrogate-born boys \u2014 sponsored and helped pass Washington\u2019s Uniform Parentage Act. It was a total rewrite of parentage law, which simultaneously legalized commercial surrogacy in the state.<\/p>\n<p>His overhaul scrubbed the words \u201cmother\u201d and \u201cfather\u201d from Washington parenthood statutes, created new pathways for unrelated adults to acquire children without background checks, and explicitly permitted payments from intended parents to birth or genetic parents. In any other context, the exchange of money for parental rights is regarded as trafficking. <\/p>\n<p>By <a href=\"https:\/\/thembeforeus.com\/thanks-gay-marriage-recognizing-mothers-fathers-unconstitutional\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">his own admission<\/a>, Pedersen acknowledged that all of these changes flowed directly from the legalization of gay marriage. It\u2019s as if the title of my \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=HBlIrv8NwgY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How Obergefell Commodified Children<\/a>\u201d speech was a dead ringer.<\/p>\n<p>But Brunner could not be bothered by such detailed, relevant, local effects. Instead, his article simultaneously portrayed me as a looming extremist threat to a major civil-rights victory and as a fringe activist leading an unserious movement with a tiny budget and a <a href=\"https:\/\/greaterthancampaign.com\/about-us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">coalition<\/a> the paper undercounted by 25 percent.<\/p>\n<p>Big threat, little threat \u2014 no need to choose. Because the actual goal was for the state\u2019s largest newspaper to deploy the Eye of Sauron onto a military wife of a small (but mighty) nonprofit and an outdated (but stubbornly biologically factual) belief about children, marriage, and parenthood.<\/p>\n<p>Props to Brunner. He did attempt to add a little bit of \u201cThe Science\u201d to his reporting.\u00a0He briefly cited a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rand.org\/pubs\/research_reports\/RRA2912-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">UCLA\/RAND<\/a> review claiming there is \u201cno reliable evidence\u201d that same-sex marriage harms children. But the review primarily measured legal and social outcomes for adults after same<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/indias-top-court-shoots-down-legalizing-same-sex-marriage-saying-it-is-up-to-parliament\/\" title=\"India&#039;s highest court rejects same... ..., deferring decision to Parliament.\">-sex marriage legalization<\/a>, not whether children do best with their mother and father or whether restructuring parenthood carries costs for children. If you are curious about the actual data on children with same-sex parents, we have broken it down <a href=\"https:\/\/thembeforeus.substack.com\/p\/75-to-1-how-we-exposed-the-rigged\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>The article also sent mixed signals about public support for gay marriage. Early in the piece, Brunner linked readers to Gallup polling showing Republican support for same-sex marriage had fallen to 41 percent \u2014 a remarkable collapse from prior highs and a sign that the issue is far less culturally \u201csettled\u201d than legacy media prefer to suggest. But later, when a more favorable number was rhetorically useful, the article pivoted to a different and far less established poll claiming Republican support remained at 56 percent.<\/p>\n<p>Again, Brunner could not decide what story to tell. Gay marriage is supposedly so universally accepted that opposition is irrational and socially unacceptable. Yet readers were simultaneously warned, \u201cThere is no guarantee that Obergefell is going to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But clarity was not the point. Creating a political target was. The article was designed to frame dissent not as an argument to engage but as a threat to be stigmatized.<\/p>\n<p>That framing explains why the piece devoted so much energy to insinuation, associations, and financial suspicion. For example, the article highlighted my $135,000 salary (not far from the Seattle salaried median) and our nonprofit\u2019s supposedly threatening $1 million annual revenue.<\/p>\n<p>But when quoting Lambda Legal as a credible opposing voice, the paper omitted that publicly available nonprofit filings list its CEO\u2019s compensation at <a href=\"https:\/\/lambdalegal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Lambda-Legal-Form-990-Public-Disclosure-Copy-2024-Signed.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">roughly $800,000<\/a>, while Lambda Legal itself operates with more than <a href=\"https:\/\/projects.propublica.org\/nonprofits\/organizations\/237395681\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">$58 million<\/a> in annual revenue and announced a <a href=\"https:\/\/lambdalegal.org\/unstoppablefuture\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">$285 million<\/a> capital campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Some friends asked why I declined Brunner\u2019s request for comment. Answer: because this isn\u2019t 2015. Legacy outlets no longer get to publicly profile dissenters, caricature their arguments, and expect to control the narrative uncontested. Neither I nor any other conservative has to rely on or hope for fair representation on NPR or in the pages of The Seattle Times. The right has built its own platforms and channels, such as The Federalist, often with readership and downloads that far exceed MSNBC or CNN. Now, a \u201clittle-known\u201d Seattle woman can <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Katy_Faust\/status\/2053510424222671115?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">easily ratio<\/a> the state\u2019s largest news platform from her couch.<\/p>\n<p>Institutional intimidation only works when institutions still control access to the public. They don\u2019t anymore.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Katy Faust is the founder and president of <a href=\"https:\/\/thembeforeus.com\/\">Them Before Us<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Mother\u2019s Day, Seattle Times ran a front-page warning about her-sharing her neighborhood, church, salary, and speaking event<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1931,"featured_media":2602548,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Family-Holding-Hands-on-Boardwalk.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[32208,34794,56516,27702,79650],"class_list":["post-2602547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-court-rulings","tag-hit-piece","tag-lgbtq-rights-2","tag-obergefell","tag-seattle-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Family-Holding-Hands-on-Boardwalk.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2602547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1931"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2602547"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2602547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2602551,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2602547\/revisions\/2602551"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2602548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2602547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2602547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2602547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}