Comments on: Boycotts – Lez Do It Right

By: Steve Krotz

Steve Krotz — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 21:00:00 +0000

I'm one of those "older gays" who was deeply involved in the radical gay activist movement in the early 70's.

First, I appreciate Pormike's recognition of the work we did to lay the groundwork for today's worldwide GLBT community.

That being said - although I totally understand the emotional reaction over the El Coyote employee's donation and understand that it certainly felt like a betrayal, especially to those who had gotten to know her personally, I do wholeheartedly agree that boycotts should only be called for when there is clear evidence that the business and/or the business's owner is actually the perpetrator of the homophobia. Otherwise, our boycotts run the risk of becoming overused and irrelevant.

In this case, the restaurant itself had a long standing reputation of being supportive and welcoming to the GLBT community. And, even though the offending employee was a member of the family that owned the business, her donation was insignificant and she was probably pressured into it by her mormon precinct leaders. More importantly, I've heard nothing through all of this that indicated that any of the other family owners donated anything at all. If they had then this action certainly would have been justified. But without that, I think this was a huge overreaction and has ended up hurting the other employees - many of whom are gay themselves.

We need to be selective in what we chose to make issues out of.

By: Lezzymom

Lezzymom — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 17:14:00 +0000

Pormike,
I disagree. I think Jeff isn’t backing away at all. He says “everyone had to have a civil union.” That means the straights need to turn in their marriage licenses. It violates the church and state separation anyway if that is the main reason people are objecting to it. So now we are fighting the government to change all the tax codes and all the paperwork to say partner instead of husband and wife and civil union instead of marriage. The point is that every American that wants their relationship recognized does it under the same name. That is what we have been fighting for isn’t it?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 05:59:00 +0000

I am willing to bet that both Jeff and Julie are young gays and lesbians that have no idea of the hard work and struggle that many, many older gay men and lesbians went through at the beginning of the gay rights struggle … slavery and interracial marriage were also very divisive issues … guess we should have just backed off those struggles too as we wouldn’t want to ruffle the feathers of most Americans about something so silly as civil rights. Pormike

By: Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 05:00:00 +0000

well honestly the right thing would be to go for civil unions which Obama the Clintons and many others support. If we go after that and then get the ok federally from the Obama administration we will get the rights we want for our relationships.

Marriage is a very divisive issue and many if not most Americans do not support us getting married. But if everyone had to have a civil union then the support for us would be much more vocal and upfront and we would get the federal and state benefits we so desire. Lets not just protest right lets battle right to get true equal rights.

By: ~Julie Phineas~

~Julie Phineas~ — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 03:48:00 +0000

very well said! i agree… lez do it right!