A message to Chuck Bowen, Executive Director of Georgia Equality. - Call off the Saturday, March 12, saturation of the GOP's "family day" event.
A 8-26-04 post entitled "I won't participate -- A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still -- Cyber messing with Sen. Miller's website," discussed an article advocating cyber messing with Sen. Miller's website.
The post noted:
"There is a right way, and there is a wrong way to express one's feelings.
"Such cyber messing is sabotage. I will not participate."
_______________
Today's PI has the following captioned article:
We hear that SpongeBob SquarePants has RSVP'd as well
Here's a party that just got more interesting: You know that Republican leaders have designated March 12 for a special Saturday session of the Legislature — a "family day" complete with a picnic on the Capitol grounds.
On Tuesday, a group representing Georgia homosexuals said it intends to saturate the event with gay and lesbian families, too. "We will not be asking for anything. This is simply a terrific opportunity for the members of the Legislature to meet our families," said Chuck Bowen, executive director of Georgia Equality.
_______________
As noted in my 11-26-04 post, Georgia Equality claims about 15,000 members statewide.
And as noted in my 11-28-04 post, Executive Director Chuck Bowen is a Republican from South Carolina who considers former President Nixon his personal hero.
Mr. Bowen, crashing someone else's party -- whether you are Garth Brooks or Chuck Bowen, and whether such party is for gays, straights, Philistines or otherwise -- on a special day hardy seems an appropriate way to advocate one's interest with the public.
Maybe this is the South Carolina way; maybe this is Tricky Dick's way; but it is not Georgia's way.
As noted in the previous link, your political background was one of the major reasons Georgia Equality's board of directors chose you from a field of 11 candidates.
"We've got new political realities to deal with in Georgia," said Sharon Semmens, Georgia Equality board chairwoman. "(Chuck) is familiar with how state legislatures work, and so I think that will serve him well."
The previous link concluded as follows:
"If the [just quoted statements by Ms. Semmens] reflect experience and a sense of realism, will someone please tell the Georgia Equality and its new executive director to put their leadership where their mouth is.
"The title [of the 11-28-04 post] asks where do we go from here. Could it be that Georgia Equality wants us to play into the hands of the GOP? From reading the above about Mr. Bowen, I would not think he would want to be at the helm of an organization that kept its head in the sand, ignoring reality all around it.
"If this is the case, I sure would appreciate learning the logic of how maintaining the current course does not do just that, play into the GOP's hand at election time in 2006."
_______________
This is a second open letter to Mr. Bowen. The first was in a 12-10-04 post entitled "November 2 was a wake-up call. Groups across U.S. Debate Slower Strategy on Gay Rights. – But don’t expect anyone in Georgia to listen to reason."
The subject of that post was a New York Times article that reported:
"Leaders of the gay rights movement are embroiled in a bitter and increasingly public debate over whether they should moderate their goals in the wake of bruising losses in November when 11 states approved constitutional amendments prohibiting same-sex marriages.
"In the past week alone, the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay and lesbian advocacy group, has accepted the resignation of its executive director, appointed its first non-gay board co-chairman and adopted a new, more moderate strategy, with less emphasis on legalizing same-sex marriages and more on strengthening personal relationships.
"The leadership of the Human Rights Campaign, at a meeting last weekend in Las Vegas, concluded that the group must bow to political reality and moderate its message and its goals."
"Some gay rights activists, including the leadership of the Human Rights Campaign, said they believed that aggressively pursuing same-sex marriage only played into the hand of Republicans and religious conservatives, who skillfully used the issue this fall to energize their voters."
"'When you put a face to our issues, that's when we get support,' [Steven Fisher, the campaign's communications director] said. 'We're not going to win at the ballot box until we start winning at the water cooler and in the church pews.'
"Lawyers representing some gay groups have concluded that challenging antimarriage amendments in individual states is a losing proposition even if they win in some courts because American society is not yet ready to accept the idea of same-sex partners sharing the same rights as heterosexual couples."
After the New York Times article came my first open letter to Mr. Bowen:
"Hello Chuck Bowen, the new executive director of the statewide gay-advocacy group Georgia Equality. Did you miss the wake-up call with regard to the timing of the lawsuit and 2006? Did you not go to Las Vegas last weekend? Have you even considered the pleas of reasons to please drop the lawsuit [the one filed post-November 2, 2004 challenging the November 2 vote on constitutional amendment no. 2]?
"Or do you not care that if this shortsighted and selfish challenge (because of the timing issue of 2006) goes forward, and you win, you will have nothing more to show than a fleeting and Pyrrhic victory that will be lost in Nov. 2006 at great expense to our Party as it seeks regroups? And does it not bother you that other than such Pyrrhic victory, the only winner if the challenge is successful at this time is a law firm that takes great pride in winning regardless of the price that will be paid?
"If the suit is not dropped and you are successful, I predict that having ignored the expressed wishes and pleas of many of us in the non-gay community who have stood by and with you in the past, during the next election season many Democrats will let it be known that – as alluded in The New York Times article – they too firmly believe in the wisdom and legality of conventional wedlock. (See 11-28-04 post and posts linked therein for background to this post.)"
_______________
Mr. Bowen, for the same reason that you will not drop the lawsuit (and file it after the November 2006 election), I do not expect you will heed this request that you reconsider your plan to ruin the Philistines' day on the Capitol grounds by your saturation strategy (saturating the event with gay and lesbian families).
I assume you think it will be good for all of the Republican legislators' children to see the gay and lesbian couples. Do you also believe it will be good for such children to hear the remarks that no doubt will be made by their parents about such couples?
Were it just your cause that you are somehow trying to further, this would be your call, and your call alone.
But because the Democratic Party has stood with your organization's cause in the past, it will be impacted also, something I feel should concern you, but I do not believe does.
The post noted:
"There is a right way, and there is a wrong way to express one's feelings.
"Such cyber messing is sabotage. I will not participate."
_______________
Today's PI has the following captioned article:
We hear that SpongeBob SquarePants has RSVP'd as well
Here's a party that just got more interesting: You know that Republican leaders have designated March 12 for a special Saturday session of the Legislature — a "family day" complete with a picnic on the Capitol grounds.
On Tuesday, a group representing Georgia homosexuals said it intends to saturate the event with gay and lesbian families, too. "We will not be asking for anything. This is simply a terrific opportunity for the members of the Legislature to meet our families," said Chuck Bowen, executive director of Georgia Equality.
_______________
As noted in my 11-26-04 post, Georgia Equality claims about 15,000 members statewide.
And as noted in my 11-28-04 post, Executive Director Chuck Bowen is a Republican from South Carolina who considers former President Nixon his personal hero.
Mr. Bowen, crashing someone else's party -- whether you are Garth Brooks or Chuck Bowen, and whether such party is for gays, straights, Philistines or otherwise -- on a special day hardy seems an appropriate way to advocate one's interest with the public.
Maybe this is the South Carolina way; maybe this is Tricky Dick's way; but it is not Georgia's way.
As noted in the previous link, your political background was one of the major reasons Georgia Equality's board of directors chose you from a field of 11 candidates.
"We've got new political realities to deal with in Georgia," said Sharon Semmens, Georgia Equality board chairwoman. "(Chuck) is familiar with how state legislatures work, and so I think that will serve him well."
The previous link concluded as follows:
"If the [just quoted statements by Ms. Semmens] reflect experience and a sense of realism, will someone please tell the Georgia Equality and its new executive director to put their leadership where their mouth is.
"The title [of the 11-28-04 post] asks where do we go from here. Could it be that Georgia Equality wants us to play into the hands of the GOP? From reading the above about Mr. Bowen, I would not think he would want to be at the helm of an organization that kept its head in the sand, ignoring reality all around it.
"If this is the case, I sure would appreciate learning the logic of how maintaining the current course does not do just that, play into the GOP's hand at election time in 2006."
_______________
This is a second open letter to Mr. Bowen. The first was in a 12-10-04 post entitled "November 2 was a wake-up call. Groups across U.S. Debate Slower Strategy on Gay Rights. – But don’t expect anyone in Georgia to listen to reason."
The subject of that post was a New York Times article that reported:
"Leaders of the gay rights movement are embroiled in a bitter and increasingly public debate over whether they should moderate their goals in the wake of bruising losses in November when 11 states approved constitutional amendments prohibiting same-sex marriages.
"In the past week alone, the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay and lesbian advocacy group, has accepted the resignation of its executive director, appointed its first non-gay board co-chairman and adopted a new, more moderate strategy, with less emphasis on legalizing same-sex marriages and more on strengthening personal relationships.
"The leadership of the Human Rights Campaign, at a meeting last weekend in Las Vegas, concluded that the group must bow to political reality and moderate its message and its goals."
"Some gay rights activists, including the leadership of the Human Rights Campaign, said they believed that aggressively pursuing same-sex marriage only played into the hand of Republicans and religious conservatives, who skillfully used the issue this fall to energize their voters."
"'When you put a face to our issues, that's when we get support,' [Steven Fisher, the campaign's communications director] said. 'We're not going to win at the ballot box until we start winning at the water cooler and in the church pews.'
"Lawyers representing some gay groups have concluded that challenging antimarriage amendments in individual states is a losing proposition even if they win in some courts because American society is not yet ready to accept the idea of same-sex partners sharing the same rights as heterosexual couples."
After the New York Times article came my first open letter to Mr. Bowen:
"Hello Chuck Bowen, the new executive director of the statewide gay-advocacy group Georgia Equality. Did you miss the wake-up call with regard to the timing of the lawsuit and 2006? Did you not go to Las Vegas last weekend? Have you even considered the pleas of reasons to please drop the lawsuit [the one filed post-November 2, 2004 challenging the November 2 vote on constitutional amendment no. 2]?
"Or do you not care that if this shortsighted and selfish challenge (because of the timing issue of 2006) goes forward, and you win, you will have nothing more to show than a fleeting and Pyrrhic victory that will be lost in Nov. 2006 at great expense to our Party as it seeks regroups? And does it not bother you that other than such Pyrrhic victory, the only winner if the challenge is successful at this time is a law firm that takes great pride in winning regardless of the price that will be paid?
"If the suit is not dropped and you are successful, I predict that having ignored the expressed wishes and pleas of many of us in the non-gay community who have stood by and with you in the past, during the next election season many Democrats will let it be known that – as alluded in The New York Times article – they too firmly believe in the wisdom and legality of conventional wedlock. (See 11-28-04 post and posts linked therein for background to this post.)"
_______________
Mr. Bowen, for the same reason that you will not drop the lawsuit (and file it after the November 2006 election), I do not expect you will heed this request that you reconsider your plan to ruin the Philistines' day on the Capitol grounds by your saturation strategy (saturating the event with gay and lesbian families).
I assume you think it will be good for all of the Republican legislators' children to see the gay and lesbian couples. Do you also believe it will be good for such children to hear the remarks that no doubt will be made by their parents about such couples?
Were it just your cause that you are somehow trying to further, this would be your call, and your call alone.
But because the Democratic Party has stood with your organization's cause in the past, it will be impacted also, something I feel should concern you, but I do not believe does.
posted by Sid Cottingham | 6:30 AM
2 Comments:
I could not disagree with you more Sid! See my post at http://atlantapublicaffairs.blogspot.com/2005/03/family-day-at-capitol.html for my complete comments.
http://distanceblog.blogspot.com/2005/03/georgia-georgia-equality.html
Big Mouth weighs in.
Post a Comment
<< Home