MSM Picks Up Boycott Threat

UPDATED: John Aravosis is looking for help on the Mormon/Utah boycott. Here's a link to his request. We truly need to pull this off and make the Mormon Church pay for destroying the rights of same-sex couples in California.

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The Christianists and Mormons do not have a second thought about undermining LGBT families and denigrating our relationships. As a consequence, we need to take the fight into their homes and there's no better way than to hurt them financially - and I mean REALLY hurt them. A number of people locally were talking today about the concept and the need to start seriously using our buying power to punish non-gay friendly businesses or at least avoid giving them any of our hard earned dollars. This needs to be done nationally and locally. The first task is to take our pain to those who have harmed us.

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Perhaps the easiest targets are Mormon owned business (as I previously posted, very good records exist as to who gave money to the Yes on 8 campaign) and as a practical matter, the entire state of Utah, home of the Mormon hierarchy that sent out the anti-gay fatwah to the LDS sheeple who funnelled money into California and Arizona. I agree with John Aravosis of America Blog who advocates for a boycott - Utah has to be labeled a hate state and made to pay. True, some non-Mormons will suffer, but hopefully that will only add to the LDS's political problems.

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The second effort is to create a far more comprehensive data base of anti-gay companies (determined by their policies or who controls them) in localities all around the country in order that they and their products can be avoided like the plague. Perhaps some of the local HRC affiliates and other organizations could get to work on this effort. It would certainly be more productive than playing nice with those who hate us. Perhaps an organization could be set up where local groups and activists could upload data to identify unfriendly companies. Here are some highlights from the San Jose Mercury on the boycott issue:

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Utah's growing tourism industry and the star-studded Sundance Film Festival are being targeted for a boycott by bloggers, gay rights activists and others seeking to punish the Mormon church for its aggressive promotion of California's ban on gay marriage. It could be a heavy price to pay. Tourism brings in $6 billion a year to Utah, with world-class skiing, the spectacular red rock country and the film festival founded by Robert Redford among the state's popular tourist draws.

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"At a fundamental level, the Utah Mormons crossed the line on this one," said gay rights activist John Aravosis, an influential Washington, D.C-based blogger. "They just took marriage away from 20,000 couples and made their children bastards. You don't do that and get away with it." Salt Lake City is the world headquarters for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which counts about 62 percent of Utah residents as members.

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The backlash against the church — and by extension Utah — has been immediate. Protests erupted outside Mormon temples, Facebook groups formed telling people to boycott Utah and Web sites such as mormonsstoleourrights.com began popping up, calling for an end to the church's tax-exempt status.

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Aravosis is the editor of the popular political blog, americablog.com, which has about 900,000 unique monthly visitors. He's calling for skiers to choose any state but Utah and for Hollywood actors and directors to pull out of the Sundance Film Festival. Other bloggers and readers have responded to his call. "There's a movement afoot and large donors are involved who are very interested in organizing a campaign, because I do not believe in frivolous boycotts," said Aravosis, who has helped organize boycotts against Dr. Laura's television show, Microsoft and Ford over gay rights issues. "The main focus is going to be going after the Utah brand. At this point, honestly, we're going to destroy the Utah brand. It is a hate state."