Gay rights hero Edie Windsor placed third in Time magazine’s Person of the Year ranking. Pope Francis was given the honor. Edward Snowden was listed as No. 2.
During the past year, the new pope has tried to dial down the anti-gay rhetoric.
He said the church has become “obsessed” with abortion, gay marriage and contraception. He has tried to shift the church’s focus to the poor and oppressed.
“If a homosexual person is of good will and is in search of God, I am no one to judge,” the Pope said.
His position on same-sex marriage, however, didn’t change the church’s stance.
“The teaching of the church … is clear,” he said.
In it’s announcement, Time called Windsor “the unlikely activist.”
“In her ninth decade, she started a judicial odyssey, fighting a battle she never expected to wage — let alone win,” Time wrote. “Now she’s the matriarch of the gay-rights movement.”
For many in the LGBT community, however, Windsor has had a more immediate and personal affect.
Anti-gay Sen. Ted Cruz came in at No. 5 as “the barn burner.”
