The ugly backlash over Proposition 8

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 11/23/8 | John Diaz

[SmithL]

A supporter of Proposition 8, fed up with what he believed was the gay community's and "liberal media's" refusal to accept the voters' verdict, fired off a letter to the editor.

"Please show respect for democracy," he wrote, in a letter we published.

What he encountered instead was an utter lack of respect for free speech.

Within hours, the intimidation game was on. Because his real name and city were listed - a condition for publication of letters to The Chronicle - opponents of Prop. 8 used Internet search engines to find the letter writer's small business, his Web site (which included the names of his children and dog), his phone number and his clients. And they posted that information in the "Comments" section of SFGate.com - urging, in ugly language, retribution against the author's business and its identified clients.

"They're intimidating people that don't have the same beliefs as they do ... so they'll be silenced," he told me last week. "It doesn't bode well for the free-speech process. People are going to have to be pretty damn courageous to speak up about anything. Why would anyone want to go through this?"

Let the record show that I absolutely disagree with the letter writer on the substance of Prop. 8. I believe that same-sex couples should have the full rights and responsibilities of marriage. In my view, the discrimination inherent in Prop. 8 is morally and legally indefensible in a society where the concept of equal protection is supposed to safeguard the rights of the minority.

But let me also say that I am disturbed by the vicious, highly personalized attacks against the letter writer and others. Protesters have shouted insults at people headed to worship; temples and churches have been defaced. "Blacklists" of donors who contributed to Yes...

[ruination]

Here are the amounts donated, as of Oct. 27, to either side for or against Prop 8 from the four highest-contributing states, excluding California (from here):

New York, $2.2 million
Michigan, $1.5 million
Utah, $1.5 million
Connecticut, $1.4 million

Here is the pro:con ratio for donations from residents of the same states (from here):

New York, 44.8-fold against
Michigan, 7.1-fold against
Utah, 3.6-fold in favor
Connecticut, 4.4-fold against

The pro-8 protestors are obviously attacking the only people they can blame without threatening their saccharine rainbow coalition.

[bboop]

That’s what I mean. It’s one thing to disagree, another to find someone’s home, harass them, follow them, congregate on their front lawn. Those people are nuts, and they are rabid.

[Nateman]

Things are pretty bad when a bunch of fairies can intimidate us.

[Glacier Honey]

ping

[Lurker]

How can America deal with people like them?

Rule 308.

L