Gather 'round, folks, we need to have a talk

[theHandpuppet]

May I direct you to this thread on GD:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024547983

I have to tell you, I am APPALLED at this information and perhaps someone more familiar with HRC than I am can explain this.

And it's not just the drone manufacturers, either. It's Coke, one of the big businesses operating in Nigeria; it's Nike, notorious for worker abuses overseas, etc. Is this the price of our advocacy? Let's discuss.

[dsc]

1. at what point to you start and stop refusing money

I honestly don't know the answer to that question. I do have a problem with doing business in Nigeria and making drones but I also understand that if the money comes without strings, it is money. Without a large scale campaign for a specific reason, I think it is hard to expect HRC to refuse money from companies. I think HRC is overly reliant on corporate funding in general and would like to see it become far less reliant but as to particular companies I think that would be a difficult road to travel down.

[theHandpuppet]

2. For me personally...

I draw the line when the company's business is making machines and weapons whose purpose is to kill. I know making decisions like this can present a slippery slope but I just can't go there.

[dsc]

3. and that is a fair point

but what if they merely make one part of the drone and that part is used on many other things? Again, I would rather see limited to no reliance on corporate funding, but I also know from serving on the board of a non profit chorus what happens when you have no corporate funding.

[theHandpuppet]

5. Well we can hope that as our society becomes more accepting...

... and the hatemongers finally end up eating their own, we'll find other sources of funding. When a company's primary income is made from killing machines, to me it's blood money. It makes me sick to think an LGBT charity is accepting monies from a company whose primary profits are earned by remote murder in wars I am totally against, with innocents too often the victims. Can't do it. Just can't. To me, if it's a "by any means necessary" type of policy we're accepting, well hell, should we vote for LCRs just because they support gay rights? Would we accept monies from Operation Rescue as long as they backed gay marriage? How about Blackwater?

As I said in another thread on GD, to me the battle for LGBT rights is but one front in a much larger battle in a war waged against women, against gays, against the poor, against labor, against unjust wars. Our enemy is the same. How could I not look like a total hypocrite for criticizing the monies the Catholic and fundamentalist churches pour into anti-woman, anti-gay causes if they insert the clause that they also help the poor and are against the death penalty? Whose cause is expendable and how do you decide whose rights or lives get thrown under the bus?

I'm really tired and am probably just rambling at this point but speaking honestly, for me the line has to be drawn somewhere. It may not be someone's else's line but it is mine.

[Behind the Aegis]

4. I find myself in ageement with dsc.

You also make some good points. Personally, I have problems with HRC that have nothing to do with finances. I broke with them years ago because, IMO, they became too PC. There was so much in-fighting it was a joke. Half the office didn't speak to the other, and the back-biting was out of control. Over the years, from what I hear, it has not improved very much.

The finances are troubling, but at some point we have to be practical. It also makes me wonder what other groups are also receiving this funds and do those groups have the same conversations we are having.

[theHandpuppet]

6. I'm sure many of us will not agree on this issue and that's okay.

I also think it's healthy to have these discussions and am glad we're having them here on LGBT where we can trust there will be a measure of civil discourse.

[Behind the Aegis]

7. Agreed. I also think it allows to explore different options.

I have issues with some of the pride parades trying to be too many things and losing sight of what the event is supposed to all about. Our groups aren't for sale, at least I don't see it. I read both articles and in some of it seemed to be allegations and other times it seemed to me to be a form of sour grapes. To me, it is similar to those who boycotted the Olympics, and those who chose not to do so, including the gay representatives sent by our country.

The thing is we have to be careful not to become our own worst enemies and turn on one another in a way that allows our enemies to sit back and let us destroy ourselves.

[theHandpuppet]

8. Yes, I think it's important to present a united front

We can have disagreements in house and still keep our eye on the eventual goal.

[Behind the Aegis]

9. Yes, I agree, whenever possible.

You would have been floored at the nastiness of the office of the HRC. This was years ago, but I was so upset, I left the office in tears. From my sources, it hasn't become much better, though certain policies are in place to keep nastiness to a low burn.

We certainly need to look at our financial donors and should never been ensnared to support something we would not normally support.

[Jesus Malverde]

11. As the barriers come down the ties that bind the front become looser.

The conformist accepted married couples vs. those who cruise etc.

The HRC has decided that it's role as a international NGO is more important than any loyalty to activists.

[Jesus Malverde]

10. HRC and the vulture fund: Making Third World poverty pay for LGBT rights

http://www.democraticunderground.com/113733540
Singer, who runs a hedge fund called Elliott Management, and Daniel S. Loeb, who runs another called Third Point LLC. They’re both conservatives and huge donors to the Republican Party. Singer underwrote last year’s GOP National Convention with $1 million of largesse. One operative called him “the big power broker in the Republican financial world.”


HRC Co-Hosts Historic Breakfast at the World Economic Forum in Davos
http://www.democraticunderground.com/113734740