The anti-gay Christianist crowd regularly sheds crocodile tears about the big, bag, wealth gay activist lobby, yet in reality the collective financial horsepower of our enemies drwarfs the resources of all gay rights organizations combined. 365gay.com has a good article that looks at the anti-gay funding net work and also has coverage on the newly released donor information coming out of California about Proposition 8. One of the queens of the anti-gay set is Elsa Prince Broekhuizen (pictured at left), the mother of Erik Prince, the founder and CEO of the mercenary entity, Blackwater USA. Sadly, Prince Broekhuizen is but one of many individuals who use their immense wealth to back discrimination against LGBT citizens. Another evil force in addition to the Mormon Church is the simpering Knights of Columbus which will kiss the ass of any bishop or cardinal - or Pope - no matter how much they helped cover up the sexual abuse of children. Here are some story highlights:*
Social networkers searching Facebook may not find “Elsa Prince Broekhuizen,” but Prince Broekhuizen is part of an influential network, a friends-and-family association of wealthy, powerful people allied to push anti-gay initiatives in a number of states and at the national level.
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And her social network of friends and associates would include Howard Ahmanson Jr., John Templeton Jr., Maggie Gallagher, Richard DeVos, James and Shirley Dobson, Phyllis Schlafly, Donald Wildmon, Gary Bauer and Tony Perkins. Some in this network get headlines and column inches. Some advise presidents. Some run campaigns. And some, somewhat quietly, organize behind the scenes and write the checks that finance anti-gay ballot measures.
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The earliest reports broadly identified the largest funder as the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-Day Saints, which has heavily financed the anti-gay marriage fight for more than a decade. The church and its members provided an estimated 70 percent of the Prop 8 money. Closer scrutiny revealed another big funder — the Knights of Columbus headquarters in New Haven, Conn., and its California chapter donated $1.4 million to the Proposition 8 campaign.
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Other sizeable donations to the Prop 8 campaign included $500,000 from the American Family Association of Tupelo, Miss., $409,000 from Concerned Women for America of Washington, D.C., $200,000 from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops of Washington, D.C., and $160,000 from the Vineyard Group of Mesa, Ariz.
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Prince Broekhuizen’s late husband Edgar Price helped start the Family Research Council, and, either independently or through the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation, Prince Broekhuizen has supported the Alliance Defense Fund, Focus on the Family, the Promise Keepers, the Eagle Forum, Concerned Women for America and the Council for National Policy.
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On a related note, here’s what many of us been waiting for - a full list of those who gave money to support Prop 8. I encourage readers to look over the lists of contributors and then make sure you do not give your hard earned dollars to these folks and/or their companies. Better yet, if you find someone on the list and move your business elsewhere, make a point of telling them why they have lost your business. Many, many Christianists worship the almighty dollar more than they worship God and can perhaps be educated as to why they should shun anti-gay initiatives in the future.
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