Yes, Virgina some gay people have money
March 9, 2007 3:51 AM   Subscribe

They Won’t Know What Hit Them. How a network of gay political donors is stealthily fighting sexual discrimination and reshaping American politics.
posted by Brandon Blatcher (32 comments total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
“The only way you find new tools is to take one out and try it, and I’m perfectly happy to be in this for the long haul.”

Interesting article, thanks for posting it.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:08 AM on March 9, 2007


I always thought the “homosexual agenda” was just paranoid conspiracy imagined by fundamentalist conservatives. Guess I was wrong. Oh well, good luck to them.
posted by Colloquial Collision at 4:11 AM on March 9, 2007


The iPod and the iPhone are only the first steps.
posted by DU at 4:17 AM on March 9, 2007 [1 favorite]


It might be a "conspiracy" in the same way that Karl Rove's grassroots fundraising in the 70s and 80s conspired to build the strong bedrock of right-wing, religious and political extremism which we see today.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:19 AM on March 9, 2007


I thought the story was amazing when I first read it and seemed a sensible approach to the insanity of trying to prevent gays from marrying. And there was just something in the thought process that was appealing: "Once they get on the national stage, they're good and crazy, so lets just nip this in the bud." It'll be interesting to see how this strategy will be combatted.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:27 AM on March 9, 2007


Related: Another straight, Republican pol in Wyoming speaks out for gay equality -- ...After the amazing support by Rep. Dan Zwonitzer, who took a stand (here and here) voting to defeat a bill that would have allowed the state to ban recognition of legal same-sex unions, Wyoming State Representative Pat Childers, a self-described “straight, happily married for 44 years, three children (one gay), two granddaughters and a Republican,” shares his recollection of what he said in favor of equality. ...
posted by amberglow at 4:35 AM on March 9, 2007


Read that on the train a while back. Is it really working that well, though, I mean dollar for dollar? The more they went into detail about the direct impact that could be traced back to Gill's group, the less an impact it looked like they were making, to me. Maybe I was missing something.

A fantastic experiment for those who happen to be both gay and up to their eyeballs in disposable income.
posted by The Straightener at 4:50 AM on March 9, 2007


Slightly off topic, but what is it with the Republicans and ex-military, gay prostitutes? Is it a love/hate thing or just a love/lust thing?
posted by bashos_frog at 5:27 AM on March 9, 2007


If you are a closeted homosexual who also fetishizes the military, what do you expect? I'm surprised there aren't more Republicans caught in bed with tax cuts.
posted by DU at 5:50 AM on March 9, 2007


The more they went into detail about the direct impact that could be traced back to Gill's group, the less an impact it looked like they were making, to me.

Races where you can trace the result back to one group's influence are few and far between. You might as well ask for the name of the donor who got Bush elected, or who finally beat Santorum.

Besides, most of the gay-rights struggle these days is going on on a state or local level. Marriage laws are state by state, of course, and so are workplace anti-discrimination laws. Given that, it makes perfect sense to be focusing on state legislatures. It sounds to me like this guy's got the right idea, even if it hasn't been a decisive success yet.
posted by nebulawindphone at 5:51 AM on March 9, 2007


Metafilter: A fantastic experiment for those who happen to be both gay and up to their eyeballs in disposable income.
posted by CautionToTheWind at 6:10 AM on March 9, 2007


This was really nice to read about until page 2 when my face fell when I found out he ran Quark. Man I hate that company.
posted by Brainy at 6:14 AM on March 9, 2007


I'm surprised there aren't more Republicans caught in bed with tax cuts.

You see, they try to not bleed on the sheets when they can help it.
posted by Alt F4 at 6:27 AM on March 9, 2007


“Just because you’re conservative doesn’t mean you’re antigay.”

Hey, stud, is that a "big tent" or are you just happy to meet me?
posted by Robert Angelo at 7:07 AM on March 9, 2007 [1 favorite]


The bit about Ted Haggard's outing hurting their cause was pretty interesting.
posted by me & my monkey at 7:31 AM on March 9, 2007


As Trimpa later characterized the rationale for such an approach: “We live in a post–Will & Grace society. Americans believe and understand that gay people are everywhere, and most view them in a mainstream context. But this is a recent development, and the political world has not yet caught up—it’s lagging behind. The day will come when all of this is aligned, but we’re not there yet.”

That sounds about right to me.
posted by caddis at 7:31 AM on March 9, 2007


I knew Quark was gay! InDesign is a lipstick lesbian.
posted by Mister_A at 7:56 AM on March 9, 2007


In that case, I guess everyone really does have a gay uncle; even Nog.
posted by CaptApollo at 8:11 AM on March 9, 2007


I'd just like to say that Colloquial Collision beat me to it.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 8:17 AM on March 9, 2007


Quark is a blight on the land. Gill is yet another software mogul who wants to be remembered for how he spends his money, rather than how he made it.
posted by Scoo at 8:24 AM on March 9, 2007


Way to go, homos! This pragmatic approach will both help you and the broader liberal "agenda," and ideally move this country a little bit back toward progress and the future.
posted by klangklangston at 8:24 AM on March 9, 2007


Thanks - good article.
posted by serazin at 8:27 AM on March 9, 2007


I had my way with a tax cut last night, such a dirty little tramp.
posted by Mick at 8:38 AM on March 9, 2007


It's a good thing that Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King didn't need to be CEOs of software companies in order to win civil rights for black Americans.
posted by three blind mice at 8:41 AM on March 9, 2007


I really liked the part where the reporter called up the defeated anti-gay politician and went through the opposition's campaign finance disclosures to convince him he'd been beaten by a conspiracy.

"A donation from San Francisco! By God, you're right!"
posted by grobstein at 8:56 AM on March 9, 2007


three blind mice writes "It's a good thing that Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King didn't need to be CEOs of software companies in order to win civil rights for black Americans."

It wouldn't have hurt, though.
posted by mr_roboto at 9:03 AM on March 9, 2007 [1 favorite]


This is the best way to play the politics game, and to some extent I'm glad to see folks in this particular movement have realized that.

But you do have to take into consideration that at its root, this method is the exemplar of why our state of politics is so deplorable.
posted by pokermonk at 9:19 AM on March 9, 2007


But you do have to take into consideration that at its root, this method is the exemplar of why our state of politics is so deplorable.

Yeah. I'm glad it's being used to fight for gay rights, but like anything it can be perverted.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 9:37 AM on March 9, 2007


Yeah. I'm glad it's being used to fight for gay rights, but like anything it can be perverted.

Can be? I think the whole point is that for twenty years, this was the major right wing fundie strategy. The wealthy gay set is just starting to catch on that two (or more) can play that game.
posted by bashos_frog at 10:06 AM on March 9, 2007


The "state" in "state politics" has long-since left the building.

During the fallout of the 2003 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's ruling that allowed for equal marriage, the opposition forces pushed for a state Constitution amendment to basically undo the SJC ruling. Barring that, come as close to undoing the ruling as they possibly could.

When the Constitutional Convention happened in February 2004, there were tens of thousands of protesters lined up at the State House. I was one of them. On one side of the street there were thousands and thousands of pro-equal marriage supporters. On the other side were a couple of thousand people who opposed this.

At one point, I crossed the street. I told a police officer what I was going to do, so he would keep an eye on me. I walked up and down the street and asked one simple question: "Where are you from?" NO ONE would answer. I then started asking if they were even from the state at all. I held up a $20 bill saying that I will pay $20 to support the cause against me if a single person could prove they were from Massachusetts -- they could even cover most of their license, just let me see the part at the top that says "Commonwealth of Massachusetts." Of the easily 500 people within earshot, exactly two people took me up on it.

Point made.

We wanted to record people going back to buses that were parked a half mile away, but the security people mentioned that it might not be the best idea. *sigh*
posted by andreaazure at 12:10 PM on March 9, 2007 [7 favorites]


@Brainy & Scoo:

I don't think the sorry state of Quark XPress (and I hate it even more deeply than the typical user as I had to write many thousands of lines of constantly crashing applescript automation code) is Tim Gill's fault.

Quark XPress was a pretty amazing piece of software when it came out. Gill cashed out in 2000. Although Quark had begun it's descent into arrogant disregard for its user base by then, it was probably more the fault of all the middle manager types (people like a certain other Gil) who were hired to run the company.
posted by lastobelus at 6:09 PM on March 9, 2007


I'd lay odds that significant chunks of money went to this man.
posted by ikahime at 2:19 PM on March 23, 2007


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