No doubt the Christianists will be shrieking and all a twitter over the new Time article that looks at the efforts of a group of extremely wealthy gays who are putting it where it can do the most good to help defeat gay hating and gay-baiting politicians. The loonies of the far right have no qualms about trying to inflict their religious views on all citizens and making huge monetary donations - e.g., the money flowing into California to support "Yes on 8" - but God forbid that gays act similarly. Personally, I applaud the efforts of the "Cabinet" as they are called in the article. Would that more LGBT citizens would do more in the struggle for full legal equality . As one gay blogger noted about the battle to defeat Proposition 8 in California:*
Memo to the gays: wake up. The most depressing aspect in the gay community has been the apathy of so many, as well as the energy and determination of so few. So many straight people seem to be doing more for this issue than many gay people. That's unacceptable. It's perfectly legitimate to expose the LDS campaign against civil rights; but the Mormons are working the system. The right response is to work it back. Donate here. But better still: call your family and friends in California and tell them why this matters. If you live there, get organized. Canvass; campaign; volunteer; spread the word on the web. This is our Gettysburg. And we're losing it.
*
Here in the Hampton Roads area, there are many gays who could do far more for gay equality and lending support for the passage of legislation that would afford employment non-discrimination protections and other laws that would allow gays to have the full rights and protections of other citizens. Instead, they whine about being victims or are fearful of taking on any personal risk totally mindless of the fact that often bad things happen because good people allow them to. The excuses that "I don't want to get involved" or "I'm in the closet to my family" don't cut it at the end of the day. Positive change often requires some personal risk and discomfort. The "Cabinet" as the group in the article are called may be able to help in the financial battle to support gay friendly candidates, but foot soldiers are still needed. Moreover, the strongest testimony one can make is to live "out and proud" and dispel the lies disseminated about us by our enemies. Sorry, I digress. Here are some highlights from the Time story:
*
A few weeks before Virginia's legislative elections in 2005, a researcher working on behalf of a clandestine group of wealthy, gay political donors telephoned a Virginia legislator named Adam Ebbin. Then, as now, Ebbin was the only openly gay member of the state's general assembly. The researcher wanted Ebbin's advice on how the men he represented could spend their considerable funds to help defeat anti-gay Virginia politicians.
*
Using Ebbin's expertise, the gay donors — none of whom live in Virginia — began contributing to certain candidates in the state. There were five benefactors: David Bohnett of Beverly Hills, Calif., who in 1999 sold the company he had co-founded, Geo-Cities, to Yahoo! in a deal worth $5 billion on the day it was announced; Timothy Gill of Denver, another tech multimillionaire; James Hormel of San Francisco, grandson of George, who founded the famous meat company; Jon Stryker of Kalamazoo, Mich., the billionaire grandson of the founder of medical-technology giant Stryker Corp.; and Henry van Ameringen, whose father Arnold Louis van Ameringen started a Manhattan-based import company that later became the mammoth International Flavors & Fragrances. The five men spent $138,000 in Virginia that autumn, according to state records compiled by the nonprofit Virginia Public Access Project.
*
On Election Day that year, the Virginia legislature stayed solidly in Republican hands; the Democratic Party netted just one seat. But that larger outcome masked an intriguing development: anti-gay conservatives had suffered considerably. . . . other candidates critical of gays were also defeated, including delegate Richard Black, who had long opposed gay equality in Richmond.
*
The group that donated the money to use against Black and the others is known as the Cabinet, although you won't find that name on a letterhead or even on the Internet. Aside from Bohnett, 52; Gill, 55; Hormel, 75; Stryker, 50; and Van Ameringen, 78, the other members of the Cabinet are Jonathan Lewis (49-year-old grandson of Joseph, co-founder of Progressive Insurance) and Linda Ketner, 58, heiress to the Food Lion fortune, who is running for Congress against GOP Representative Henry Brown Jr. of South Carolina.
*
Among gay activists, the Cabinet is revered as a kind of secret gay Super Friends, a homosexual justice league that can quietly swoop in wherever anti-gay candidates are threatening and finance victories for the good guys. Rumors abound in gay political circles about the group's recondite influence; some of the rumors are even true.
*
Cabinet spending shows up in races all over the country where pro-gay candidates have a good shot. For instance, Bohnett, Gill and Van Ameringen have given $143,000 this year to New York Democrats, who are within two seats of controlling the state senate. A Democratic New York legislature would likely approve equal marriage rights. The Cabinet's Gill and Stryker have seen their money achieve remarkable results in their respective states, Colorado and Michigan.
*
There's nothing illegal about the Cabinet's coordination of its members' giving, according to Lawrence Noble, campaign-finance expert with the Washington-based firm Skadden, Arps. . . . it's hard to argue that the left in general and gays in particular should sit on their hands while foes outspend them. . . . For its part, the Cabinet seems poised to prod the gay movement into being sleeker, faster, more tactical.
No comments:
Post a Comment