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PolitiFact, you won’t like MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow when she’s angry. And Rachel Maddow is definitely angry.
Why?
After Jason Collins became the first active male athlete in one of America’s four major sports leagues to come out of the closet, conservatives decided to minimize the effect by claiming that it was no big deal. Collins wasn’t a hero or a modern-day Jackie Robinson. Basically they were like, “OMG, TMI.” (Breitbart‘s Ben Shapiro said Collins coming out was no braver than Shapiro wearing a kippah on national TV. He didn’t not offer statistics about how many kids are kicked out of their homes for wearing kippahs.)
Martina Navratilova — who courageously revealed she was a lesbian against the wishes of the Women’s Tennis Association in 1981 — corrected that perception by pointing out that an employer can fire a person in 29 U.S. states for being gay.
PolitiFact — arguably America’s best-known and least-respected “fact-checking” site rated the tennis star’s comment as only “half true.”
“If you frame this statement in the context of blanket protections by states, she’s correct,” they wrote. And they went on to explain that some workers have protections, which in no way changes the fact that YOU CAN BE FIRED IN 29 U.S. STATES FOR BEING GAY.
You’ve got to see this epic Maddow rant that ends with the words, “You are truly terrible. Fact-checking has to stand for something. And, PolitiFact, you are ruining it for everyone.”
