Why the Boycott Against Ted Cruz's Gay Hosts Is Important

I suspect that gay hoteliers, Ian Reisner and Mati Weiderpass, who hosted extremely anti-gay U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), at their posh New York City apartment continue to be in shock that they have not been able to blunt the outrage at their conduct.  Indeed, after going from trying to explain their betrayal of other gays with far fetched explanations to supposed sincere apologies, Ian Reisner has attacked gays as "cheap," "entitled" and other insults.  I and others believe that it is important that privileged gays who are removed from the discrimination and lack of legal rights most of us face not be allowed to betray the larger LGBT community as they fluff their egos.  Perhaps Michelangelo says it best in a piece in Huffington Post where he condemns what he calls "victory blindness.".  Here are excerpts:

For almost two weeks a boycott has been in full force against two gay hoteliers, Ian Reisner and Mati Weiderpass, who hosted anti-gay U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), now running for the 2016 GOP nomination for the presidency, at their Central Park South apartment. One of them boasted about it on Facebook a couple of days later, seemingly oblivious to the backlash he'd face. In a matter of days, Cruz, one of the most vocally anti-gay members of the U.S. Senate, introduced two bills aimed at blunting same-sex marriage, including a constitutional amendment. Organizations such as Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and the New York City Gay Men's Chorus have canceled fundraisers at the men's hotel, Out NYC, and the Fire Island Property Owners Association is under pressure to take a stand against the men, who own businesses in the Fire Island Pines, including a nightclub, bars and a hotel. 

The most telling thing that Reisner said at the outset, quoted by The New York Times in response to the backlash, perhaps hoping the entire affair would blow over, was that marriage equality is "done -- it's just going to happen," as if it doesn't matter anymore and the men could pursue support of Cruz on other issues upon which they agree, such as his right-wing policies toward Israel. As the uproar grew, the men released a statement, changing course, saying that the evening provided "the opportunity to have a candid conversation with Senator Ted Cruz on why he should rethink his view on gay marriage," as if this was all about reaching out to the other side. When that didn't quell the outrage, and with a protest by LGBT activists soon to happen in front of their hotel on 42nd Street last week, the men offered a full-blown but insincere apology that was all about trying to save their businesses, with Reisner declaring he was "shaken to the bone." Indeed.

Reisner's first words revealed his true belief, and they've been echoed by some gay activists and some gay pundits in the media in recent days. Jamie Kirchick of The Daily Beast called those who support the boycott "illiberal" for enforcing "groupthink" and criticized Reisner and Weiderpass for apologizing.

This is what I call, in the first chapter of my new book, "victory blindness," and many LGBT people, including even many activists, often succumb to it in this heady time of big wins. In fact, every one of us can and does succumb at various moments, wanting to only see the victories and not face the deeply embedded homophobia and transphobia still pervading our culture, and slough off the decades-old political movement still organizing against us and still quite determined. 

But Ted Cruz and other anti-gay conservatives are fighting us at every turn to keep us from getting full civil rights, and every other announced or would-be GOP presidential contender publicly supports the effort. There are no federal protections for LGBT people, as we see stories every day of people thrown out of restaurants, shops, and taxis, or fired from their jobs, simply for being gay or transgender. And our enemies are now on a "religious freedom" crusade, casting themselves as victims, intent on pushing bills to create exemptions to any laws that do ban discrimination. Just looking at Texas, Cruz's home state, there more than 20 anti-gay bills that conservatives are intent on getting out of committees in the legislature in the next three weeks.

And now still others succumbing to victory blindness are doing the same thing again. In the Washington Blade Mark Lee chastised activists for "attempting to outlaw political opinion," with the headline of his opinion piece charging that many of us are really "not ready to win," because we should be embracing those who would reach out and work with Ted Cruz and should be fostering "an appropriate sense of communal celebration and circumspect congeniality."

But that is the fallacy that victory blindness promotes. It makes people believe the best strategy moving forward is to be nice and respectful -- just when we actually need to be as confrontational as ever. And that allows the backlash to organize, giving it a space to grow, allowing our enemies to use some of us as cover. This has happened to other movements, and it will happen to us if we allow it to happen.

[T]hat's why the boycott against the hoteliers is so important and really is a watershed moment. We've got to make it clear to the enemies of equality that we are a force with increasing public support, moving full speed ahead and accepting nothing less than equality.

[W]e must send a message to those among our own -- particularly those of enormous privilege -- who've succumbed to victory blindness and let them know that they too cannot support our enemies. No abject apology can undo the message that Reisner and Weiderpass have telegraphed to anti-LGBT forces in the GOP. And we have to make sure no one does it again. This is not the time for any of us to pull back.

Michelangelo, very well said.   Thanks to the husband's clientele, we often move in a wealthy Republican circles, but I never let up the advocacy and explaining why today's GOP has sold out the party's true principles and why decent, thinking people need to oppose the agenda of the far right.  Never make apologies for or hide who you are and never give up the struggle. 

Israel - The Reason Two Wealthy Gays Feted Ted Cruz

As Ian Reisner and Mati Weiderpass continue to reap a whirlwind over their recent soirée for Ted Cruz - they have now hired a PR firm in an attempt to do damage control - one cannot wonder WTF were they thinking.  As a piece in The Daily Beast explains, the reason for the ill-conceived move was Israel.  Both Reisner and Weiderpass support Cruz's extremist position on Israel which many - yours truly included - view as detrimental to America's best interests.  They conveniently ignore the fact that Cruz is wrong on all the other issues.  Here are column excerpts:

If you’ve ever been to Fire Island Pines, one of the leading gay utopias on the planet, you know that there isn’t much to do. There’s only one commercial center with a couple of stores, a bar, and a hotel.
And yet, in less than 24 hours, over 4,000 people have said they’re going to boycott it. The reason?

It’s owned by Ian Reisner and Mati Weiderpass, the self-described “prominent NYC hotel owners” who recently hosted a “fireside chat” with Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz.

As if that weren’t enough, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS went one step further, canceling their popular “Broadway Bares” benefit. It had been scheduled for May 10 at the Out Hotel, which Reisner and Weiderpass own. “I have never considered that all of our many supporters would ever vote monolithically,” executive director Tom Moran wrote on his Facebook page. “But when any politician publicly holds so many of us in contempt… we cannot be misunderstood as standing with him/her.”

This is Ted Cruz, after all, one of 19 members of Congress on the Human Rights Campaign’s “Hall of Shame”, the man who authored the 2014 “State Marriage Defense Act,” which would ensure that gay people get no federal protections, ever. And who recently penned a letter sent to tens of thousands of Christian pastors, asking them to pray, preach, and presumably vote for him to support “biblical marriage.”

The first question many people must be asking themselves is, what the hell were Reisner and Weiderpass thinking? In the words of gay performer and humorist Justin Sayre, who is supporting the boycott, “Of all the people in the world to invite to a gay party, Ted Cruz? What was it? His sparkling wit? His fair and balanced repartee? Do you have a thing for Canadians? Does he make a mean gin rickey?”

[T]his was about Israel. Notice who the moderator was: Ted Cruz’s Jewish/Israel point man, himself a gay Jewish man and longtime Republican consultant.


Nor was this the first time Ian Reisner has hosted a Republican benefit at his home for that reason. Earlier this month, his Central Park South penthouse—where, incidentally, a 23 year old gay man was found dead of a drug overdose just a few months ago—hosted a fundraiser for Republican Senator Ron Johnson.

Shamelessly invoking the Holocaust, Reisner said at the time that his great aunt “was murdered in Auschwitz” and that “we are not too far from history to be wary of politicians who make bad decisions that threaten our lives.

This is what’s known as pinkwashing, the highlighting of Israel’s excellent record on LGBT equality as a way of defending its totally unrelated policies regarding Palestine or Iran. Israel is pro-gay, therefore support Israel in all ways.

Likewise, conservatives like Cruz, who write laws preventing my partner from visiting me in the hospital, suddenly wave the rainbow flag when it comes to Iran.

In other words, what happened in that penthouse was part of a much larger pattern of gay Jewish Republicans putting LGBT civil rights aside, and putting Israel First.

Reisner added that he’d just hosted a “Ready for Hillary” benefit at the Out Hotel. So, should LGBT folks cut Reisner some slack?   No.

It’s no coincidence that Reisner and Weiderpass are rich, white, cisgender men cozying up to another rich, white, cisgender man. They may be gay, but they profoundly don’t get it—the “it” being that the same privilege that oppresses gays is the privilege that oppresses people of color, immigrants, women, and the poor—precisely the groups that Cruz’s policies would hurt the most.

It’s not a coincidence that Cruz is anti-gay and also anti-social-safety net, anti-reproductive-justice, and anti-affirmative-action. What extremely fortunate white gay men like Reisner and Weiderpass don’t understand is that it’s all one big package: the classism, the religious conservatism, the social conservatism—these all go together.

Reisner and Weiderpass don’t deserve a pass. Supporting Ted Cruz isn’t a matter of weighing his hawkish Iran views against his backward anti-gay views, because they are but two aspects of a consistent, conservative ideology that also includes climate denial, allowing the wealth gap to increase, and dismantling the social safety net. You can’t pull the one thread you like out of the tapestry; the whole thing unravels.

Well said! Let the boycotts continue.

Backlash Coninues Against Dolce & Gabbana

When one's work is in the fashion industry, it is perhaps best to avoid making commentary on hot button social issues - especially if you are gay and are giving fodder to the anti-gay hate merchants.  Just as Italian pasta maker Barilla caused itself a PR nightmare with comments about "traditional families" now fashion house Dolce & Gabbana has followed suit.  The biggest difference is the the heads of D&G are gay and were once a couple, yet they maligned gay parenting and in vitro fertilization.   While they have tried to walk back their comments, the protests continue, including a protest at D & G's flagship London store.  The London Evening Standard has details.  Here are highlights:

Gay rights protesters gathered outside a Dolce & Gabbana store in central London today after the fashion designers' "homophobic" comments about IVF babies.

Campaigners from The Out and Proud Diamond Group held placards which said "D&G Homophobia is not fashionable!" in the protest next to the shop in Bond Street.

They were joined by leading gay rights activist Peter Tatchell as they called for shoppers to boycott D &G after the duo claimed children conceived through IVF were "synthetic".

Other protest banners read "Dolce & Gabbana - put labels on clothes, not families" and "Boycott D&G over their disrespect for gay families".

Singer Elton John, who has two IVF children with husband David Furnish, waded in on the row this week, adding to calls for a boycott of the fashion brand.

The Italian designers, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, are said to be shocked by the public backlash over their comments.

HGTV Cancels Homophobes' Show

Last evening I wonder in a post that has seen an amazing number of visits WTF was HGTV thinking when it signed on to a show featuring the vitriolically anti-gay Benham brothers.  My prior post highlighted some of what Right Wing Watch had discovered about the brothers. Obviously, someone did NOT research these guys.  The backlash from viewers has apparently been off the charts and HGTV just announced on Facebook that it is cancelling the show:

HGTV has decided not to move forward with the Benham Brothers' series.

One can only hope that heads will roll at HGTV for the failure of individuals to do any kind of vetting of the Benham brothers and setting the channel up for a PR disaster.  Meanwhile, it is a safe bet that the Benhams will be held up as the latest martyrs of "homosexual intolerance."

Sultan of Brunei Owned Beverly Hills Hotel Claims It Is Being Bullied

Whining douche bag, Christopher Cowdray

As previously noted on this blog, the nation of Brunei in Southeast Asia - which is ruled by the Sultan of Brunei - has passed Sharia based laws that among other things will impose the death penalty for homosexual acts.  The Sultan of Brunei is among the most wealthy men in the world and holds far flung investments, including the Dorchester Collection which owns the Beverly Hills Hotel and other high end hotel properties.  In the wake of Brunei's barbaric legislation, boycotts have sprung up against the Beverly Hills Hotel and other Dorchester properties.  Now, taking a page from the Christian persecution myth, the manager of the Beverly Hills Hotel, Christopher Cowdray, is whining that the hotel is being subjected to bullying.   Gays are facing execution as Cowdray is whining.  Perhaps Cowdray needs to get his head out of his ass and get in touch with reality.  The Hollywood Reporter looks at Cowdray's despicable whining and the growing backlash against the hotel chain and other businesses owned by the foul Sultan of Brunei.  Here are highlights:

Amid protests against the Beverly Hills Hotel, the CEO of parent company the Dorchester Collection is saying the Hollywood hotspot doesn't deserve to be targeted despite the company being owned by the Sultan of Brunei, who has instituted a severe new penal code based on Sharia law that calls for death by stoning for homosexuals and adulterers.

Christopher Cowdray told CBS This Morning that the hotel "has done absolutely nothing wrong."

"I feel totally unfairly picked on," Cowdray said in a report that aired on Tuesday's edition of the morning show. "All they are doing is hurting a local business."

Cowdray declined to comment on Brunei's new law.

What began as a grassroots movement two weeks ago, with designers asking their Instagram and Twitter followers to boycott the Dorchester Collection of hotels, which the Beverly Hills Hotel is part of, has gained momentum, with prominent organizations dropping plans to hold dinners and fundraisers at the landmark hotel.

On Monday, the Motion Picture & Television Fund said that it would not hold its glitzy Oscar-eve fundraising party, the Night Before, at the hotel. Other events that have moved from the hotel to other locations include the Feminist Majority Foundation's Global Women's Rights Awards, the Independent School Alliance for Minority Awards and a Teen Line fundraiser honoring Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chairman Amy Pascal. The Outgiving Conference, a meeting of LGBT donors, was the first event to pull up stakes. And the Human Rights Campaign Fund has urged other groups to follow suit. 

The Hollywood Reporter has also notified the hotel that it will no longer hold its annual Women in Entertainment breakfast there.

Actions need to have consequences and just maybe a financial message - along with diplomatic ones - will be sent to Brunei.   Meanwhile, these new laws underscore my belief that fundamentalist religious of all faiths are a scourge on mankind and need to be eliminated.

HGTV Picks Anti-Gay Extremists For New Real Estate Reality TV Show

Homophobic, anti-gay Benham brothers - new HGTV stars

The husband and I watch HGTV a lot - perhaps almost more than any other channel on some days.  That may be about to change based on reports from Right Wing Watch that HGTV has hired twin brothers David and Jason Benham for a new show that has the brothers compete with each other as they help families find a fixer-upper homes that can be transformed into their dream home. The problem is that the brothers' father is a far right anti-gay extremist and the brothers have also reportedly engaged in anti-gay extremism.  It would seem that HGTV learned nothing from Mozilla's recent disaster.  Here are story excerpts from Right Wing Watch:

Last month, the HGTV network announced that it will launch a new reality TV show, “Flip it Forward,” starring David and Jason Benham. The twin brothers will “leverage their good-natured sibling rivalry to help families find a fixer-upper and transform it into the dream home they never thought they could afford.”

What the announcement didn't mention is that at least one of the Benhams is not just a real estate dealer but also a dedicated right-wing activist in the mold of his father, Flip Benham, who has headed the abortion-clinic protest group Operation Save America ever since it split from the militant anti-choice group Operation Rescue.

As leader of OSA, Benham has condemned the interfaith Sandy Hook memorial, protested in front of mosques while shouting “Jesus Hates Muslims” and blamed the Aurora shooting on the Democratic Party, which he said promotes a “culture of death.”

He has also protested LGBT pride events, interrupted church services during a sermon by “sodomite Episcopalian bishop” Gene Robinson and was found “guilty of stalking a Charlotte abortion doctor after passing out hundreds of ‘wanted’ posters with the physician's name and photo on it.”

Flip's son, David Benham, led a prayer rally — Charlotte 7:14 — outside of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina in 2012, which he told conservative radio host Janet Mefferd was needed to stop “homosexuality and its agenda that is attacking the nation” and “demonic ideologies tak[ing] our universities and our public school systems”

He told Mefferd that his brother Jason joined him in organizing the DNC prayer protest.

David also discussed his work to pass North Carolina’s Amendment One, which enshrined a ban on same-sex marriage and civil unions in the state constitution.

I already knew in my heart as most all of us Christians in America know that we are in a very desperate spiritual situation and moral situation in our country, but it really hit home during Amendment One, so much so that when Amendment One passed I realized the only three counties in North Carolina that actually voted against the amendment were Charlotte, Raleigh and Asheville, our three cities. So we had all the rural areas and all the suburban areas but we lost all the cities. So I felt like, okay, it’s time that we have a citywide church service of repentance and that’s the reason that we decided to do it right in the heart of Charlotte the night before the DNC.

He also protested at a 2009 LGBT event [PDF] in Charlotte. He serves on the board of the Coalition of Conscience [PDF], a group led by far-right anti-gay activist Michael Brown.

The ADL also profiled his anti-Muslim activism:

David Benham, Flip Benham's son and an OSA spokesman, called the Islamic center a "den of iniquity," and referred to Muslims as "the enemy attacking" America. Benham, portraying the United States as a Christian nation, also drew this distinction: "The difference between Islam and Christianity: Islam takes life and enslaves it.

In a 2012 blog post on Operation Save America’s website, David likened the fight against marriage equality to opposing Nazi Germany:

I read an excellent article this morning by a former NFL player, Ken Hutcherson, on the political correctness of many evangelical organizations in America today. I share his same sentiment when it comes to Christian organizations appeasing evil instead of resisting it. In a desperate attempt to appear attractive and not “offensive”, an overwhelming number of Christian organizations in America have adopted a politically correct policy of appeasement in the face of evil instead of standing at the mid-point of biblical tension on the social issues of our day.

He also cited the Levitical death penalty for homosexuality to warn that marriage equality will destroy society, adding that gay men will never find true love.

WTF was HGTV thinking??  Yes, the Benhams are free to hold hideous views.  But HGTV viewers are also free to let HGTV know how heinous they believe people like the Benhams are.  Better yet, they can make it clear to HGTV that they will not watch the channel as long as it provides a venue for hate merchants like the Benham brothers.  

If you want to let HGTV know how you feel, e-mail them here.  Or call them at 1- 800-840-8056.

Mozilla Struggles in Wake of CEO's Support of Gay Marriage Ban

click image to enlarge

I have argued many times that anti-gay bigotry can be bad for business.  The folks at Mozilla - the company behind Firefox - are finding this out first hand after the promotion of Brendan Eich to the position of CEO.  Eich has opposed marriage equality and contributed to the Proposition 8 campaign.  Now, the blow back has been strong and a number of programs and companies are striking back at Mozilla which is trying to convince the world that it isn't anti-gay and that it does support diversity.  A piece in the New York Times looks at the company's ongoing efforts at damage control.  Here are excerpts:

People who once debated the benefits of different web browsers are now embroiled in a heated discussion about gay marriage, and Mozilla, the maker of Firefox, is at the center of that debate.

The troubles began when Brendan Eich, a programmer and creator of the JavaScript programming language, was appointed as the new chief executive of Mozilla last week. Since then, three board members have quit the company, current employees have publicly denounced Mr. Eich, and now Firefox is being publicly criticized on another website.

On Monday, OKCupid, an online dating site, made it difficult for people using Mozilla Firefox to access its service, stating unequivocally that this decision was a result of Mr. Eich being an ”opponent of equal rights for gay couples.”

Mr. Eich first came under fire when it was revealed that he donated $1,000 in 2008 to support a ban on gay marriage called Proposition 8.

Justin O’Kelly, a media relations manager at Mozilla, did not respond to a request for comment but pointed to a blog post writen by Mr. Eich.

“I am committed to ensuring that Mozilla is, and will remain, a place that includes and supports everyone, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, age, race, ethnicity, economic status or religion,” Mr. Eich wrote in the post.
The promise of openness with employees did little to appease board members who left the company last week. Gary Kovacs and John Lilly, both former Mozilla chief executives, and Ellen Siminoff, chief executive of the education start-up Shmoop, left the Mozilla board last week.

Last week, a number of current Mozilla employees aired their frustrations in public, taking to Twitter to voice concerns about the appointment of Mr. Eich as chief executive and saying that he should step down.

The outcry stems in part from the ideals of Mozilla, a company that has prided itself on openness on the web.

It is unclear if this outcry will affect the status of Mozilla. According to Net Market Share, which tracks the use of Internet technologies, Firefox is currently used by 18 percent of the web.

 I guess Mozilla will have to hope that lots of Bible Belt Christians switch to Firefox as their preferred vehicle for viewing their Internet porn sites. 

One Million Bitches (Moms) Target Nabisco

Increasingly, Christofascist deem anything that doesn't endorse their hate and fear based religious beliefs as a form of persecution.  Indeed, these sick individuals go out of their way looking for things to take offense over.  And this quest to find persecution where it doesn't exist now includes businesses that advertise and - gasp! - acknowledge that gays exist and that we have families.  A case in point?  The ongoing spittle flecked conniption fit by One Million Bitches Moms over Nabisco's ad for Honey Maid Graham Crackers that features a gay couple with a child.  The self-congratulatory modern day Pharisees at One Million Bitches Moms are shrieking that the ad is an effort to "normalize sin."  These women are sick and pathetic.  The New Civil Rights Movement looks at these shrews and their batshitery.  Here are highlights:

One Million Moms is at it again. Usually the low-budget activist arm of the American Family Association wants to tell Americans what not to watch, but now they also want to tell Americans what not to eat.

The far-less-than one million moms today posted an attack on Nabisco over the cracker-maker’s beautiful new ad promoting “wholesome” families, via its Honey Maid graham cracker brand.

USA Today explains this is a “brand new, multicolored, multisexual world of advertising,” and described the ad and the very real families in it:

In one 30-second Honey Maid ad, viewers will see everything from a same-sex couple bottle-feeding their son to an interracial couple and their three kids holding hands. The ad also features a Hispanic mother and an African-American father with their three mixed-race children. And there’s even a father covered in body tattoos. This is not some shockvertisement for Benetton. It’s an ad for one of America’s oldest and most familiar brands. The people in it are not actors, but real families. The message of the ad: These are wholesome families enjoying wholesome snacks.

Alas, the Christian group, which exists to annoy major corporations and to cull email addresses for its multi-million dollar parent — an anti-gay hate group — sees the ad a tad differently.

Claiming “One Million Moms stands up for Biblical truth which is very clear in Romans 1:26-27 about this particular type of sexual perversion,” they attack:

Nabisco should be ashamed of themselves for their latest Honey Maid and Teddy Graham cracker commercial where they attempt to normalize sin. Right away it shows two men with a baby, followed by other families, and ends with different families pictured including the one with two dads. This commercial not only promotes homosexuality, but then calls the scene in the advertisement wholesome. The ad states, “Everyday wholesome snacks for every wholesome family. This is wholesome.”

So, the far-less than one million moms are committing to boycotting:

100 Calorie Packs (Thinsations in Canada)
Arrowroot
Better Cheddars
Cameo
Captain Table
Chips Ahoy!
Chocolate Wafers
Dad’s Cookie (c. 1929 Canada)
Doo Dads
Honey Maid
Fudgee-O Cookies
Team Flakes
Trakinas
Triscuit
Wheat Squares
Bacon Dippers
In A Biskit
Lorna Doone
Orchard Crisps
Mallomars
Fig Newtons
Nutter Butter
Nilla
Oreo
Oreo Cakesters
Premium Saltines
Premium Plus
Ritz
Teddy Grahams
Toasted Chips
Toastettes
Wheat Thins
Rice Thins
SnackWells
Trakinas
Nabisco Classics
Club Social
Kraker Bran
Oro Saiwa
Frollini de Oro Saiwa
Sportz
Kool Stuf
Pecanz
Zu Zu Ginger Snaps

One would think that constantly looking for things to be outraged over would be exhausting.  However, since these folks make their living peddling hatred and shaking down the ignorant and gullible, this kind of batshitery isn't going to end any time soon.  It's truly enough to make one long for the day when conservative Christianity becomes a dead religion.