(Community Matters) I completely understand the protests in California and against the Mormon Church as a result of the defeat of Proposition 8. The Mormon Church mobilized funding from around the country to overturn gay equality, which appears to violate charitable activities restrictions. There should be investigations into the charitable tax status of the Church to confirm they didn’t violate bans on political advocacy and endorsement and that their extensive business holdings don’t do similarly. Perhaps open Congressional hearings on business and political activities.
Below an email I just received from a protester in LA last night
Tonight my perspective changed. I have always intellectually known how much some groups hate us as LGBT people but I never truly felt it in my heart and soul.
Tonight after several hours of partaking loud but peaceful protests with tens of thousands of gay, straight, black, white, old and young people spanning several miles of Los Angeles, I was finally leaving the protest at the Mormon Temple at 9pm or so. My friends had long left and the march had moved on to take over more intersections and block more traffic. We had pretty much brought West LA to a halt during rush hour.
After going to my car I heard much louder noise coming from the Temple again, 3 blocks away. I grabbed my No on 8 sign, shut the door and started walking back to see what was going on. I met up with a 20 year old woman along the way and we walked together.
Shortly after we were approached by a man who told us not to proceed if we “knew what was good for us”. Having been there all day we hadn’t given it much thought. Long story short. The 20 year old woman, Amy, and I continued walking and were quickly jumped from behind by three men screaming at us that we had no business being outside THEIR temple. They knocked us on the ground and kicked us a couple times til the police ran over. Of course, the cowards ran away. The officer offered to help us up. Amy and I looked at each other, said no thank you, pulled ourselves us and brushed ourselves off.
We did choose not to go to the protest as we were both hurt and couldn’t walk so well. We figured we were safe. We got to my car, turned up the side street and there were 20 more of them who tried to attack us in the car. They tried to smash my windows, while blocking the road. I frankly closed my eyes and hit the gas.and left the incident only with a dent in the side of my car.
I know this is long, so what’s my point? Not for sympathy, I dont want any. Protesting comes with inherent risk. I share this because I am one story of the tens of thousands who took to the streets of Los Angeles tonight to demand our equality and show the general public and our opposition we are not going away. Others are far more hurt than I am tonight. People were arrested on both sides. It got ugly despite our attempts to keep it peaceful.
Is it the silver lining (if thats possible) to the passage of Prop 8 that the LGBT community has rediscovered it’s voice? If you could witness what I did today, you might agree so. I HOPE SO. Our community had grown complacent in our liberal bubbles of NY, LA, SF, etc. We cannot be complacent.
I’m bruised, I’m scraped, I’m tired, I’m sad and I am emboldened like never before.
As my facebook status says as I hit send on this and head to bed….
To the bigots who confronted me tonight, “You knocked me down. You kicked me while I was down. You damaged my car. I might be physically sore but my spirit is strong. I shall not go away. Tomorrow is another day and we shall prevail.”
Yours in solitude,
Darrell Tucci
It surprises me evangelicals and fundamentalists are willing to ignore substantial theological differences for the sake of forming alliances of prejudice.
There appears to be substantial momentum for a boycott of Mormon Church enterprises and businesses run by those who donated to the Prop 8 campaign. Two standouts in Austin, developer Mark Palmer’s Gateway retail center and the Marriott Hotels, especially the proposed Marriott on Congress if we confirm the Mormon Church has an interest in the company or White Lodging.
Interesting, I was thinking yesterday how the gay community would be forced to once again find its voice and that further attacks on our civil liberties would bring the community back together.
(Community Matters) Wayport’s acquisition by AT&T bodes well for Austin nonprofits. The company established a donor-advised fund at the Entrepreneurs Foundation through the donation of equity last year. Once AT&T pays shareholders, they’ll have monies to designate to nonprofits. The company has a rich history of community involvement, especially in elementary education. Congrats to Dave Vucina and his team at the company as well as John Long at Trellis and all their investors.
Community Matters 