POZ/Staley:
HRC, Defend the Mob of Gays
My buddy Peter Staley has posted a gloriously nice, but spot-on provocative, entry on his blog about the anti-gay ad that appeared last week in the Gray Lady and the tepid response from the leaders at HRC.
From Staley's blog at the POZ magazine site:
On Friday, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty ran a full page ad in The New York Times accusing those who protested against the Prop 8 result -- gay and lesbian Americans -- of mob violence. Both HRC and GLAAD issued press releases asking us to respond by sending letters to the Times. Yawn.What say you? Should HRC spend some of its millions on a full-page NYT ad?I've got a better idea. HRC has been taking a beating lately in the gay press and blogoshere for ineffectively fighting prop 8, and for staring at its toes while the gay masses rallied like never before after our temporary election day defeat. They remind me of that scene in MILK, where the gay bigwigs (the owner of The Advocate and his boyfriend) try to join the post-Prop 6 celebration in Milk's Castro Street shop, and no one lets them in -- a very "sorry guys, we don't need you anymore" moment.
Well, here's an easy way for HRC to buy its way into our party. Why not run a counter-ad? Let's face it, very few groups have the bucks to talk for us in the Times. HRC does.
The very fact that the Mormon leadership and their new-found friends (Catholic and evangelical leaders) felt the need to respond so publicly to our remarkable outpouring this past month is a huge victory for us. They helped keep this story alive. We should respond in kind.
HRC, defend us.
Should HRC spend some of it's millions?
ReplyDeleteHell no. HRC should spend all of its millions repudiating the lies about us.
Or give it all back to us.
I agree; a full-page ad like that MUST be met full-on, or else the "aim" of the anti-gay ad's sponsors will be won, which is to sway public opinion. A big part of why Prop 8 passed is because LIES about the entire LGBT community were allowed to stand without being sufficiently challenged. Hell, people still think being gay is a CHOICE and that gay teachers molest children. We have to EDUCATE the public about the most BASIC points of the gay issues! Still, to this day! Granted, many of the most anti-gay ignorant people don't read the New York Times, but these things have a way of circulating around in the media once they are in the NYT. So, yes, HRC should be meeting the anti-gay attacks with EQUAL and GREATER counter-force!
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