I have always thought Bad Pitt was gorgeous (he was so hot as Louis in Interview with a Vampire - see photo at left), but he's more than that based on various political positions and pro-gay statements he has made in the past. Now, he is putting his money where his mouth is and has announced that he is making a sizable donation to fight passage of California Proposition 8. Hopefully, his courage will both prompt other celebrities to make contributions and perhaps make others to think about the cruelty that Proposition 8 would inflict upon same sex couples. Here are some highlights from the Los Angeles Times:*
Brad Pitt announced Wednesday that he's donating $100,000 to fight California's Proposition 8, a November ballot initiative that would eliminate same-sex couples' right to marry."Because no one has the right to deny another their life, even though they disagree with it, because everyone has the right to live the life they so desire if it doesn't harm another and because discrimination has no place in America, my vote will be for equality and against Proposition 8," the actor said in a statement. Pitt's donation marks the largest thus far to the anti-Prop. 8 campaign by an A-list celebrity.
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Political strategist Chad Griffin, who is helping coordinate efforts in the entertainment industry to defeat the controversial initiative, said he is hopeful that the move will prompt others to get involved.
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Making a far larger contribution is Bruce Bastian, WordPerfect co-founder and a former Mormon and openly gay man, who said he, too, would be making a $1 million donation to defeat Proposition 8. Bastian said he was was prompted to make the donation by the Latter Day Saints Church a/k/a Mormon Church's heavy involvement in supporting Proposition 8. Here are some highlights from The Salt Lake Tribune:
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With the LDS Church prodding its members to give of their "means and time" to help eliminate same-sex marriage in California, many Utahns have funneled cash to the Golden State's Proposition 8 campaign. And not all of them favor the constitutional amendment.
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Orem resident and WordPerfect co-founder Bruce Bastian has trumped their efforts - almost tenfold. He gave a whopping $1 million to the Human Right Campaign's "No on Prop. 8" committee. Bastian, a former Mormon and openly gay man, said he, too, was prompted by the LDS Church to donate - but to the other side. He gave a more modest $5,000 check to the cause in May, but upped the ante in July after the church issued a formal statement, backing the ballot measure.
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"The LDS Church has no business stepping their big nose in something that's a legal matter, not a religious matter," Bastian said. "Constitutions are meant to protect minorities - not to take rights away from people."
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The Web site, Mormonsfor8.com, tracks contributions to ProtectMarriage.com . . . So far, the Web site has determined that about a third of ProtectMarriage.com's donors are LDS, with their contributions totaling close to $5 million. "If we could identify every Mormon, I think that probably 85 to 90 percent of the donors would be Mormon," said Cedar City resident Nadine Hansen, creator of Mormonsfor8.com.
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Thankfully, Pitt and Bastian understand the concept of separation of church and state envisioned by the U. S. Constitution even if the LDS Church does not. As I have said many times, anti-gay initiatives like Proposition 8 are not about "protecting marriage" but rather about punishing LGBT citizens for not knuckling under to Christianist and LDS religious beliefs.
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