In a major blow to Dallas Morning News columnist Rod Dreher, a federal judge has denied a request to keep Prop 8 donors’ names secret, The Associated Press reports. Dreher has taken issue of late with EightMaps.com, a Web site that maps the addresses of Prop 8 donors (but doesn’t include Dallas).
To me, the motivation behind this lawsuit is a good sign: Bigots increasingly want to conduct their anti-gay business anonymously. After all, I don’t think the local chapter of the KKK would want the general public to know the locations of their meetings, for example.
I honestly think putting everyone’s address on a Google map is a little extreme (instead of a map to the stars, we’re doing a map to the bigots?). But names should be public, especially if you’re a business owner. People should know what businesses to support and not support. After all, boycotts were an essential tactic of the civil rights movement and it should be in this battle as well.
John, Eightmaps.com is unnecessary and beneficial only those who want to harass in the same manner they feel they are being/have been harassed. What if you did know where the KKK meetings where? What would you do? Put yourself at risk for hate crime?
To me, it’s like making a map of all the Christian churches in Dallas who don’t believe you can be gay and Christian. I just see it’s energy misspent from the main No of Prop 8 organizers who fell down on the job in the first place and have been organizing on misinformation and knee-jerk reactions every since.
We should be aware of any business that gives money to further hatred to the GLBTQ community. Dreher still thinks being gay is a choice.
On a side note, Rod Dreher called me a “Troll” on his Christian Compassionate blog…beliefnet.
I think it is one of the highest honors a gay man in Dallas can have.
How well I remember some of these very churches showing up at the bedside of patients who were on their deathbed from AIDS. Thesee so called “xtions” would try to convince the family their son/daughter was going to hell if they couldn’t get them to buy into their evangelical crap.
I also remember some of these very churches showing up at gay and lesbian clubs to
try and convert people..
GAYS BASH BACK. Fight fire with fire and hate with hate.
The high road leads to another high road….
which leads us back to the same spot we are in.
If you saw Haggard on Larry King last night, you saw a good example on how well the church deals with issues…….with hush money, a cover up, hypocrisy, denial, lies, and abuse.
Tell me again why we should have any respect for them?
Obviously Dreher is a bigotted idiot, but even bigotted idiots can be right about some things. I agree that political donor home addresses shouldn’t be public record. In the age of google mapping, it’s just too easy for misguided people to do bad things.
What if somebody on the other side creates a website showing addresses of people who made donations AGAINST Prop 8? That just creates a list of targets for gay-bashers.
And guess what, if some gay kid uses eightmaps.com to get addresses and then goes out and rolls the yards of a bunch of those folks then that kid is guilty of not only vandalism, but a HATE CRIME because (and prosecuter could easily argue) that kid acted to “send a message” to a certain group of people. Hate crimes work both ways, folks.
On a side note… it’s also hilarious when people on the right run to the courts on these kinds of issues. Obviously the law clearly states that addresses must be disclosed. If Dreher and his buddies don’t want that to be the case, then they’re going to have to work to get the law amended. Instead, they tried to rely on “judicial activism” to get their way. Ironic. And Typical.
Also, I think that Rod conveniently left a small detail in one of his examples that makes a big difference. If memory serves, Margie Chrisstoferson didn’t work for just any restaurant. She worked for a restaurant that was very popular within LA’s gay community.
The fact that she makes her living due to a largely gay clientele, but then donates money to a cause that would strip those very customers of their rights, is a very good reason for gays to be upset. She wasn’t “targeted” just because she gave $100.
She was targeted for the hypocrisy of making her living off of gay people, then slapping them in the face with that same money.
For those who think the donors should be hidden because they ‘might’ be harassed for what they did – … uh, hello. That’s illegal. And anyone who harasses you should get prosecuted. Welcome to what gays have to deal with every day of their lives. The what-if-a-looney-wants-to-bash-me fears. Trying to violate disclosure laws is not the way to protect yourself. That’s just a horrible can of worms. We have disclosure laws for a reason. If you donate, it needs to show. If you donated less than $100, it doesn’t have to be disclosed (legally). Unhappy with having your name listed for the things you do with your money? Don’t donate, or donate less than a hundred. But we gotta make sure that the money in these things is clean and not violating laws.
And I’ll second the fact that people should be allowed to boycott places and boycott associating with people who decide to put their money towards discriminating.
This is a non-issue. Political contributions have always been a matter of public record, or at least for the past few decades. You can find out who contributes to who easily using one of several web tools so this is no surprise. If you don’t want to be seen as a bigot, don’t contribute to these political causes.
Besides, if you really believe in an issue, shouldn’t you be unafraid to let folks know? If you don’t, you are merely an interested bystander. So get over it and come out all you homophobes, it will set you free and free the LGBT community of having to support your agenda.