With several groups and websites like “Californians Against Hate” and others listing the names and addresses of people who contributed to the Proposition 8 campaign, death threats and intimidation tactics are commonplace enough to inspire one man to file a class action lawsuit seeking protection from the government.
According to the Washington Times:
After giving $10,000 to California’s Proposition 8 campaign last year, Charles LiMandri began receiving some unexpected correspondence.
“I got about two dozen e-mails and hate phone calls,” said Mr. LiMandri, who lives in San Diego. “They were calling me Nazi, homophobe, bigot. I tried to engage people once or twice – I said that Proposition 8 had nothing to do with being bigoted, it was about preserving marriage – but people don’t want to engage on the issue.”
As a lawyer, however, Mr. LiMandri knew what to do with the e-mails.
“I collected them and turned them in to the lawsuit,” he said.
Those e-mails are now among hundreds of exhibits in a landmark case challenging California’s campaign-finance reporting rules, which require the release of the names, addresses and employers of those who contribute $100 or more to ballot-measure committees.
The lawsuit argues that those who contribute to traditional-marriage initiatives should be exempt from having their names disclosed, citing the widespread harassment and intimidation of donors to the Proposition 8 campaign.
Lest you think this is just a bunch of people being wimpy, intimidation tactics have come in the form of letters and e-mails to death threats, proponents say. One man, a Sacramento theater director, was fired after opponents of the initiative publicized his Proposition 8 campaign contributions.
“Anybody who’s in California knows that it’s very widespread,” said Brian Brown, executive director of the National Organization for Marriage, one of the biggest contributors to Proposition 8 and a joint plaintiff in the lawsuit. “Every donor has a story. I talked to a $100 donor the other day who had a note in his mailbox that said, ‘I know where you live and you’re going to pay.’
“These are just hardworking people who believe marriage is a union of a man and a woman and who never expected to be threatened in their homes,” Mr. Brown said.
Now, I don’t think this lawsuit will pass and in fact, I believe it would likely be dangerous if it were to pass because the more sunshine we have in our political system the better. But don’t you just think that in America today if the opposite thing were occurring with homosexuals seeking protection from death threats from Prop 8 proponents, that it would be a heckuva lot more likely to pass?
It would be a national emergency. We’d be subject to nightly news programs leading off with reports of weeping victims waving bloody notes. President Obama would call it “uhhh..uhhh…disgraceful and uhmmmm…uh…reprehensible” and hold a press conference right during my favorite show to announce legislation to protect these people. There’d be a Lifetime movie of the week starring Nancy Mckeon as a beleaguered woman who receives threatening notes in her mailbox. Tom Berenger could play the creepy Mormon neighbor. There’d be task forces and Senate hearings.
But now the shoe is on the other foot. So let’s all just ignore it.
March 24, 2009 at 2:10 pm
We have people being driven out of the jobs that they’ve held competently for decades by this LGBT possey.
There is vandalism against homes, cars and businesses. We are dealing with foaming Christophobes who are still working through their Oedipus complexes and are scared of anyone even thinking that what they are doing is wrong.
The LGBT lobby’s reaction has been severe and I don’t think the lawsuit is frivilous.
March 24, 2009 at 2:13 pm
You’re absolutely right about how this situation would receive astronomically more attention if the shoe were on the other foot. And I love the fictional (but very believable) Obama quote! 🙂
I’m on the list of “Yes on 8” donors myself. Thankfully I haven’t received any attention (bad or good) as a result. It probably helps that I’m in a small town which is not anywhere near California, and where the “No on 8” position would probably not be popular anyway.
March 24, 2009 at 5:55 pm
the quote you use from Cardinal Ratzinger contains the words “being at the service of humankind at large”, meaning ALL of humankind. yet you speak words of divisiveness and separate yourself from “those people”. when will humankind learn that every single thought, every single word against any other person, whether you like them or not, whether you agree with them or not, is another barrier to realizing the “home worthy the king”. love all humanity as you love yourself.
March 24, 2009 at 6:02 pm
There was a palpable chill on our street after the neighbors saw our Yes on 4 (parental notification) and Yes on 8 signs (one of which was stolen on Halloween night). I suppose they decided we’re uncouth, mouth-breathing bigots. It would be hard to square that conclusion with their priors, however: because before the signs, they knew full well that my wife and I went to a “top 5” univeristy, hold graduate degrees, and have worked as professionals for years. My secret hope was that the signs would challenge them to question their ill-conceived beliefs: “I never thought someone from our peer group could be one of *those* people!” How the gears must’ve been spinning!
March 24, 2009 at 6:54 pm
Angry losers are the most dangerous radicals. These angry queers are a serious threat.
How would you like to have your name and location on this webpage?
http://www.eightmaps.com/
March 24, 2009 at 9:10 pm
How would you like to have your name and location on this webpage?
http://www.eightmaps.com/
Mine is. I’m not happy about it. But I was happy to see the huge number of people in San Francisco on that map. Perhaps we shouldn’t completely give up on San Francisco. 🙂
March 24, 2009 at 9:13 pm
Paul,
I’m busy enough here in Philly. I couldn’t even imagine San Fran.
March 24, 2009 at 9:19 pm
Prop 8 Repeal Bid Begins
http://www.365gay.com/news/prop-8-repeal-bid-begins/
This is why sodomy should be eliminate, gay legals disbarred, gay nonprofit charters revoked, CA legislature should be one house (Senate) per little Hoover commission, legislators should be part time as in FL, legislature should meet/vote electronically from their HOME/OFFICE WITHOUT STAFF, a state constitutional convention to reorganize the US into a loose confederacy so other states do not have recognize other state gay marriages, and CA should seek closer ties to China/Russia/Islamic nations vs the EU. Register American Independent Party.