As Fosco noted in (the depths of) his Prop 8 Omnibus, you can track donors to both sides of the Prop 8 battle using this database (always with the caveat: donations under $100 do not seem to appear in the database, which leaves Fosco out in the cold...).
It seems lots of smart and angry gays have been using this information to drive boycotts. That's fine with Fosco: political decisions (including donations) should have consequences. Don't expect Fosco to slip you his hard-earned(?) cash if you want to deprive Fosco of basic civil rights.
This information is also useful for another purpose, as described by Gloria Nieto in the same article:
"I prefer a buycott to a boycott. Yahoo, Apple, Google all opposed Prop. 8," she said, and people should buy from companies that support gay rights.A buycott is a delightful idea (although I don't have to give Todd another reason to buy things from Apple...), but we could even expand the buycott idea a bit to include support for the cultural productions of individual donors (such as actors, etc.)
With that idea in mind, Fosco has done a bit of due diligence and come up with a list of some cultural producers who donated money to fight Prop 8. While you can do this search for any town or state, Fosco has done the dirty work already for everyone's favorite world city: New York! After combing through the records of the 1200 donors NYC donors, Fosco has identified these heroes as worthy of your support (Fosco also lists the amount of their donations):
- Alan Alda, actor, $5,000
- Anne Hathaway, actor, $10,000
- Eve Ensler, playwright (The Vagina Monologues!), $200
- Jonathan Adler, interior designer (and "Top Design" judge), $500
- Mark Doty, poet, $100
- Michael Ausiello, TV critic, $100
- Mike Signorile, gay radio host, $100
- Robert Gober, artist, $5,000
- Robin Quivers, Howard Stern co-host, $1,000
- T.R. Knight, actor ("Grey's Anatomy"), $100,000. That's right: A HUNDRED FUCKING GRAND.
- Tony Kushner, playwright (Angels in America), $15,000
- Wanda Sykes, actress, $19,500
May Fosco recommend the purchase of Alan Alda's newest book?
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8 comments:
Squeeee! I knew there was a reason I had a crush on Alan Alda :)
Speaking as a highly educated (well, educated anyway) public relations major, if you want to change the hearts and minds of voters on this issue, signs saying "God is Queer" and "Fuck the Mormons" is probably not the way to go.
The Beeman
Well, ok, but 'fuck the mormons' is a sentiment predicated in truth, like facts of science.
What made the 'Fuck the Mormons' sign was the placement of the second M.
Good discussion, folks.
Maybe "God Is Queer" is a little alienating. But when you think about it, what does "God Is Queer" actually mean? It's pretty much a sentence without content, right? I mean, it's not like God is straight either. Sexuality doesn't really apply to God, does it? This reminds me of a joke attributed to Shakespeare scholar Peter Stallybrass:
Q: What's a gay poem?
A: A poem that fancies other poems.
As for "Fuck Mormons," I'm not sure Mormon hearts and minds are really the targets of our protests. I think the Mormons have already had their minds made up for them.
In all honesty, I would say that this struggle isn't really about hearts and minds any more anyway.
The way I see it, these protests are mainly to show the CA Supreme Court that Prop H8 has affected millions of people and that there is real anger over the revocation of civil rights of a victimized minority. The road to marriage equality in CA is NOT through the ballot box, but through the courts (just as the battle for Black civil rights in the 1960s was not fought through majority voting).
That's just my thinkin'...
...truthfully, I'm a lil over it... yeah the "God is Queer" sign was brilliant, just brilliant (I oh, so hate that word... no not the G word and please note my sarcasm).
The other sign... I much agree with Todd and would like to add that the way it was written, the font and positioning, made me feel the anger... although I don't totally agree with the sentiment.
Big ups to Mr. Knight...
Oz would like to add... the sign should have used a carrot for the second "M", making the term "Morons" more apparent. Ya know, for those of us that think "Begga, clothes are wet."
It depends upon the point of the protest. (I'm assuming there is a point to protesting but not having had the experience I don't really know)
If you are protesting just to feel good, then by all means fuck the mormons and their queer god.
If you'd rather fuck the electorate, I'd highly recommend the ninth circuit court of appeals; they pretty much negate anything the filthy voters decide. Fuck democracy!
The Beemaster
(I changed my handle so nobody thought I was Justin Beeman)
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