Comments on: New York Times: Privacy Looms Over Gay Rights Vote http://www.privacylives.com/new-york-times-privacy-looms-over-gay-rights-vote/2009/11/02/ monitoring the pulse of privacy Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:09:32 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Philip Chandler http://www.privacylives.com/new-york-times-privacy-looms-over-gay-rights-vote/2009/11/02/comment-page-1/#comment-48845 Philip Chandler Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:21:44 +0000 http://www.privacylives.com/?p=4645#comment-48845 As an openly gay man, I want to know just who votes in favour of stripping me of rights so basic and so fundamental that the overwhelming majority of heterosexuals don't give them as much as a second thought. I want to know whether the local store at which I purchase groceries, or the state representative who is supposed to support my interests, or the political figure running for office, or the author of the most recent best-selling novel, has cast a vote to deprive me of a fundamental right. I have every right, as a consumer and as a voter, to boycott those business establishments and individuals who have contributed towards the passage of measures intended to relegate me to second-class status. Furthermore, the Washington referendum process has been protected by disclosure rules since the early 1970s; it is amazing to see how the very conservatives who have traditionally complained about the need for openness and transparency (so as to identify "special interest" groups and their contributions to such measures) now turn coat and seek to hide behind the veil of anonymity. Perhaps these men and women are experiencing a taste of the venomous abuse, hatred, and ugliness that they have directed towards members of the gay and lesbian community. It is not so pleasant when the boot is on the other foot, is it? PHILIP CHANDLER As an openly gay man, I want to know just who votes in favour of stripping me of rights so basic and so fundamental that the overwhelming majority of heterosexuals don’t give them as much as a second thought. I want to know whether the local store at which I purchase groceries, or the state representative who is supposed to support my interests, or the political figure running for office, or the author of the most recent best-selling novel, has cast a vote to deprive me of a fundamental right. I have every right, as a consumer and as a voter, to boycott those business establishments and individuals who have contributed towards the passage of measures intended to relegate me to second-class status. Furthermore, the Washington referendum process has been protected by disclosure rules since the early 1970s; it is amazing to see how the very conservatives who have traditionally complained about the need for openness and transparency (so as to identify “special interest” groups and their contributions to such measures) now turn coat and seek to hide behind the veil of anonymity.

Perhaps these men and women are experiencing a taste of the venomous abuse, hatred, and ugliness that they have directed towards members of the gay and lesbian community.

It is not so pleasant when the boot is on the other foot, is it?

PHILIP CHANDLER

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