Supreme Court Rejects Christofascist Effort to Hides of Anti-Gay Donors

For a second time the United States Supreme Court has rejected efforts on the part of Christofascists to keep the names of anti-gay donors hidden from the public.  State law requires that the names of financial donors of $100  during or after a campaign be listed, along with the donor's address, occupation and employer.  The Supreme Court upheld the state law requirement and ProtectMarriage.com, the National Organization for Marriage and other supporters of Proposition 8 will need to be disclosed.  Here are highlights from Talking Points Memo:

The Supreme Court has turned away an appeal from same-sex marriage opponents in California who want to keep the identities of their campaign donors secret.

The justices on Monday let stand a lower court ruling against ProtectMarriage.com, the National Organization for Marriage and other supporters of a 2008 ballot initiative that outlawed same-sex marriages in California until the ban was overturned five years later.

The groups sought to conceal their past and future campaign finance records because they feared harassment of donors. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against them in part because the names have been publicly available for five years.

State law requires political committees to identify those who contribute more than $100 during or after a campaign, along with the donor's address, occupation and employer.

While the Christofascist groups claim their donors will face possible harassment, the real issues are twofold: (i) their donors don't want their friends and neighbors to know what bigoted assholes/hypocrites they are and (ii) the organizations don't want the public to know that they are largely bankrolled by a small handful of extremist donors.  In a previous ruling, even Justice Scalia supported public disclosure of donors.

I for one have no use for those who are too cowardly to attach their names to their actions - hence why I do not publish anonymous comments, most of which seem to come from spittle flecked "godly Christian" types.  In my view, if you are going to take political and social positions, you'd damn well better be willing to stand up and be identified by name.  The husband and I never cower from having our names attached to issues we support.  

Aggressive Grassroots Activism is Needed

John Aravosis at America Blog has a great post that examines what the LGBT community needs to do to combat anti-gay elements who disingenuously spread fear and hatred against gays. He starts out talking about Perez Hilton's intent to not going to Sundance this year because of Prop 8. On his website, Perez states: You will support the Mormons if you go. You WILL support the taking away of equal rights for gays!

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Many will whine that boycotts do not work or that not all Mormons or all Utah residents supported Proposition 8, etc., and as a result those who work against equality get a free pass and are emboldened to seek to pass even more anti-gay laws and constitutional amendments. Only when the fear of economic reprisals and lost business become a very real concern will many businesses and decision makers avoid supporting anti-gay efforts. Our enemies will not back down for the right reason, so we need make them cease gay oppression out of the impact it has on their wallets. Here are highlights from John's thoughts:

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Go through the Prop 8 donor database, down individual donors and expose them to the light of day. Hold companies accountable for their support of bigotry. I was contacted yesterday by a Web site called BigThink that decided to partner up with the John Templeton Foundation. BigThink wanted me to promote some new thing they were doing with Templeton. Templeton gave $1 million to Prop 8. I told BigThink to stuff it . . . . then I e-mailed other top blogs to let them know not to publicize BigThink's embrace of hate. Activism should be about affecting change. I suspect BigThink, if enough of us let them know how they feel, may avoid Templeton in the future. We advance the cause of making Prop 8 donors a pariah. I'd like to see organizing in the wake of Prop 8 that specifically comes up with ways the grassroots can do things that have a practical real impact.

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We know the Mormons like to parachute into other states and drop a ton of bucks in order to take away the civil rights of gays and lesbians. But we also know the Mormons hate being the focus of attention. They hate having the public discuss, be made aware of, some of their more unconventional beliefs, such as Jesus being the brother of the devil, Jesus having had 3 wives including his mother, Native Americans being red and Africans being black because they're bad people, and so on. . . . . Why expose this? Because the Mormons fear this kind of exposure and will learn that there's a price to paid for their anti-gay activism. Perhaps in the long-run they'll decide that the price isn't worth it.

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Prop 8 donors and businesses, for example, and/or boycotting Utah or Sundance, if done right, keeps the story in the news and puts real pressure on those who are subsidizing this hate. It teaches Prop 8 donors not to make the same mistake twice.

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Local activists are trying to fill a void. No one is taking the lead on Prop 8 activism at a nation level. . . . Local activists have no choice but to assume leadership. And they have, and that's admirable. But they need to move beyond "cute." This is a war we're fighting. So fight it.