The hateful aftermath of Prop H8

I'm ambivalent about boycotts. I'd broadly break down boycotts, as a political tool, into two categories. Large scale mass-movements intent to act as a means to oppose a powerful opponent - think the grape boycott of the 60s, and the anti-apartheid boycott. The second is the 'we don't like what you're saying, fellow little person, so we're gonna shut you down.'

A few years ago it was the Dixie Chicks who were ostracized by the country music industry for some comments (prescient, as it turned out) about George Bush. All of the shut up and sing kerfluffle happened during the dying gasp of Rovian politics. The Chicks survived. Hopefully, stupid hateful politics got squashed earlier this month (yea, right).

And now, a righteously enraged gay community is striking back at Prop 8 supporters. Again, the Prop 8 opponents are going after two types of supporters, institutional and individual. I think the former is fine, the latter is problematic.

I like the idea of going after the Mormon's tax exempt status. The law is pretty clear, you can't be tax exempt if you take a position on a political race. And money laundering as a means of getting corporate money into a political race is illegal as well. So, let that bit of harassment continue.

But I think an individual's support of the race shouldn't be targeted and an individual should be able to take a political position without tarnishing (or burnishing) the reputation of their employer.

Scott Eckern was a long time employee of the pre-eminent Sacramento theater organization, the California Musical Theatre. He had over 25 years of experience, working his way up to job of artistic director. He also donated $1,000 to the yes side of Prop 8. After the election that donation was highlighted and Eckern and his employer were targeted.

Now, a couple of points. Eckern donated to the cause, it wasn't his employer donating. And there was nothing anti-gay about the CMT's program. So, it didin't appear that Eckernn was using his job to attack gays.

As the resulting fuss became public, Eckern's first response was to donate a like amount to a gay rights group. That apparently didn't satisfy the offended community and Eckern then resigned his job.

I honestly feel for the guy. I think an individual should be entitled to participate in the political process without repurcussion. I thought that was true for the Dixie Chicks and I think it's true for Scott Eckern.

The No on 8 folks got beat. As I mentioned before, they got beat by a sizably smaller margin than they did 8 years ago. By all accounts they ran a lousy campaign. I encourage them to take advantage of the tools of democracy - the courts and a rematch at the ballot in two years. But leave the little guys alone.