how to stop gays from being scapegoated

[pineywoods]

i see nationaly politicians from all over are using gay issues to get and stay in office. they get alot of contributions from very powerfull people/businesses. i wonder why our leaders/clergy don't call for national,state,and local boycotts against their contributors to help them understand discrimination has a high cost. i really don't understand why gay people don't understand that some products we putting in their shopping carts are killing and discriminating our own people-----jeff

[keltic63]

unless those businesses rely heavily on the lgbt community for their incomes, a boycott buy the lgbt community wouldn't affect them much. this is one reason that allies are so important to us. it's tough to keep track of those companies although the HRC website has a good chart that rates lgbt friendly companies.
I was upset with an apparently homophobic ad by miller a week or so ago, only to discover that the company also does good things for our community. I don't regret sending them an email (they did respond citing their company support for lgbt issues). it takes a lot of research to know which companies are doing good things.
should we put a bit more pressure on our allies to become more active? should we be satisfied to have allies, and be grateful for their help, even if it seems small?

I've recently learned of a trend in which pastors are refusing to act as agents of the state. they are refusing to sign marriage licenses. if a straight couple wants to get married, they must go to a justice of the peace for the civil contract, then they may come to the church for the religious ceremony. I think this is a great way for ministers to make a statement. My pastor is very supportive, but I don't know that she would be willing to do this, at least at this point.

[pineywoods]

we need the support of friends/family/and other tolerant faiths. most large corps. make their profit on the last 3-4% and whether effective in the larger scope, is not the issue the issue is not to purchase the bullets anymore---jeff

[Zerbie]

should we put a bit more pressure on our allies to become more active? should we be satisfied to have allies, and be grateful for their help, even if it seems small?

I've recently learned of a trend in which pastors are refusing to act as agents of the state. they are refusing to sign marriage licenses. if a straight couple wants to get married, they must go to a justice of the peace for the civil contract, then they may come to the church for the religious ceremony. I think this is a great way for ministers to make a statement. My pastor is very supportive, but I don't know that she would be willing to do this, at least at this point.[/QUOTE]

We should definitely be grateful for whatever allies we have and any support they give us. It's desperately needed. We also need to be unafraid to approach allies and ask for more support. I think on an individual basis, we often are afraid to ask for it.

Keltic: I have very conflicted feelings about the pastor refusing to sign marriage licenses. It may be just the kind of statement that is needed, but otoh I think, what if that were my pastor and I was about to be married. Wouldn't I want him to be the one to endorse it? I don't know if withdrawing support from other couples is the way to go about it. When my husband and I planned our wedding, since neither of us attends a church, we had to go on quite a search to find someone to officiate at the wedding. We both knew we wanted someone from a spiritual tradition to do it. I made it a rule that whoever it was HAD to also be an advocate for marriage equality. As it turned out, the FIRST guy we talked to was a (straight, married) unitarian universalist who has been a longtime advocate of the gay community and marriage rights. We were very happy to have him, and very proud that he both signed the license and officiated at the ceremony. I wouldn't have accepted that endorsement from anyone who did NOT support the gay community. So, that's why it upsets me to imagine what if all clergy who supported gay marriage refused to sign or officiate at all weddings? That would leave ONLY those clergy who don't support the gay community, and I would have refused to be married by such a person.

To answer piney's original question, well I don't have a real suggestion for you. As long as politicians can afford to sell us out, they will. See my thread about senator McCain. We can call them on it, and if we all would do so, maybe it would start to amount to something. But even then, our numbers are small without allies. I think our answer is in building relationships with allied individuals and groups until we reach numbers such that the gay community as a whole cannot be sold out anymore.

[keltic63]

Jeff,
what companies or businesses do you boycott? which do you support? and how do you make that decision?

for instance, I refuse to drink Coors beer. Pete Coors (CO) ran for the senate in 2004. the Coors brewing company markets to the LGBT market, but Pete Coors took an anti-gay stance by saying that he was against same-sex marriage and was in favor of a constitutional amendment to ban it. at the same time, the Coors company offers benefits to the partners of its gay and lesbian employees. I choose to take my business elsewhere because this is a hypocritical situation. But one might easily argue that the company treats its gay and lesbian employees fairly, markets to our community, and deserves our business. These are tough decisions. what helps you make them?

[keltic63]

what if all clergy who supported gay marriage refused to sign or officiate at all weddings? That would leave ONLY those clergy who don't support the gay community, and I would have refused to be married by such a person.

Zerbie,

these pastors aren't refusing to perform the religious ceremony of marriage. they are only refusing to sign the marriage license. The signature is what makes the marriage legal, the ceremony doesn't even have to take place. These pastors are saying that they will not be an agent of the state because of the civil nature of marriage, and the inequality of that civil contract being denied to us. Those straight couples must find a civil agent to sign the marriage license (Justice of the Peace, Judge, etc.) Pastors then perform the religious rite of marriage for those couples.

[pineywoods]

you can do goggle search for rep or dem campaign contributors some sights by zip code i was shocked a some of the companies i found like ATT . some companies give the same amounts to both sides i consider them nuetral. coors is a strange one while sponsoring some glbt events they still fund the RNC heavily they do the sponsoring to cover themselves from the last 2 boycotts of which they paid dearly----jeff

[NonLemming]

Cracker Barrel finally changed its tune in 2003 after firing 11 employees for being gay. I emailed them immediately after their "awakening" and let them know that I would patronize their establishment 11 years after coming to their sense, one year for each employee fired. Each has to find their own way to protest and has to be sure to tell the company why. See you in 2014, Cracker Barrel. You obviously don't want my money, and I don't want your food.

"I don't want to take what you can't give; I would rather starve than eat your bread." - Pearl Jam

[Vanessa White]

I think that makes an excellent point. And, it hits them in terms of word of mouth as well as loss in dollars. I like the impact of that.

[keltic63]

I think that makes an excellent point. And, it hits them in terms of word of mouth as well as loss in dollars. I like the impact of that.

it also lets companies know that we are talking about it with each other. I have sent emails to several companies to let them know that I did or did not appreciate their actions. Most often I have received positive responses; even when I jumped the gun with Miller and their cowboy ad, I received a response that recited their positive history with the lgbt community. I stand by my opinion, and even if that wasn't the intent of the ad, the Miller brewing company knows that we are paying attention.

[Emproph]

www.hrc.org/buyersguide {I tried to find it twice without the direct link}

It's free and a simple form, you can read it on line too. They rate them from (100=Best) 100 points down. A few Big ones were, Best Buy 100 vs Circuit City 43, Pepsi 100 vs Coke 71, pet food-Iams 86 vs Purina 29.

It's a good idea because as keltic said, it rates the companies by friendliness as opposed to focusing on the negativity of boycotting (and I'm :mad: enough already..). They should sell them and have 'packets of seeds' postcards like Mel's Soulforce booklet on "what the Bible says.." $25 for 200 cards that people can send in to get a free booklet. (-I gotta write a letter to suggest that.)

We should have a website with one big "Gay Friendly" list of everything 'they' boycott, Pamphlet, 'packet of seeds' to order, etc. Then Promote every major 'gay' event to utilize as many religiously right boycotted products as possible, FOR LIFE. The promise of a never ending boycott to the boycotts! That would generate more sponsors, which would in turn generate more boycotts, which would always be a lifetime boon for them, to the extent they remain supportive. They'd get so sick of boycotting they either wouldn't bother anymore or they wouldn't have anything left to buy, which ever hurt more first. Lifetime promotion of companies that support us, to all the other 'non-company' organizations that also support. Like the 100/43-Best Buy/Circuit City at the top, easy to remember and usually right across the street.

I thought about this after seeing Joyce Meyer's (website) call for a boycott of Kraft Mac 'N Cheese for sponsoring the Gay Games. Apparently preventing sports is more important to God than preventing hunger. (Sounds like an appealing God to me, why would anyone not want to spend an eternity with it?)

P.S. We need to reclaim our super humor powers. As long as they actually think we are a threat, that's one skill they'll NEVER have.

Humor can be a piercing tool of priceless promotion (eg., Daily Show). The intensity of immediately available entertainment automatically disarms and cements the memory of the message.

[Zerbie]

;)

You're smart, I like it!

My only problem with the HRC "scorecard" was that it didn't print well and we have a laser color printer, so I have no way of remembering which products rated how. Else I would keep track.

The trouble with boycotting is it can become so overwhelming that you can't remember what COs you're boycotting and why. At some point during college I was boycotting Dominos Pizza, Wendys, and something else too, probably Cracker Barrel, and I finally couldn't keep it together anymore. Gave up. Maybe "they" will too! There's a point at which things become ridiculous.

[Emproph]

We should take over the gay section of wikipedia, AND EVERYTHING ELSE GLBT RELATED.

Anyone can edit almost any page, including the pages describing how to and not to edit. The practicing theory in maintaining consistent quality and accuracy of content, is that there are so many safeguards and watchdog sincere users that eventually it will be corrected.

I'm not versed in encyclopedic writing, but my thought is that, for example, if we put the studies up that the religious right constantly skews, manipulates etc., the remaining truth would far outweigh any attempts to skew it. All the lies they wrote would not be tolerated there. All the truth they undid, skewed, manipulated etc., would also not be tolerated and would be consistently, legitimately undone. Only the truth would remain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
Genesis: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Home

More ideas.
This page is for ideas (including wikis) for the promotion of this particular site, but most if not all of them work for any site or cause. The portion listing the “Wiki’s” section is about a third of the way down.
http://www.spaceandmotion.com/how-to-help-the-wave-structure-of-matter.htm

Any recruits?

[Emproph]

This is from Citizen Link, a division of Focus on the Family. I just received this in my e-mail and have responded to one of them. At least in this case you can write what you want and they go directly to the recipient as I have already received one (auto) response from one of the board members.

In a flood of condemnatory e-mails, I’m sure they’d appreciate our support.

http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/issues/?style=D

(P.S. I also posted this on Nathan’s thread: “The AFA is running to Dobson’s defense...
http://www.soulforce.org/forums/showthread.php?t=322)