Story link is behind the picture, for those looking for it. Or just click here.
Itâs like people shouldnât even get outraged anymore without taking a sober look at the facts of a matter! What has the world come to?
You had me at âsnopes scopesâ.
43K can buy a lot of gaycoration, I reckon.
OK, Bakerâs story is starting to smell pretty fishy. But is it normal for a detective to share information about an investigation like that? I didnât realize you could just call a police station to ask what evidence theyâve been able to collect or what other people told them.
I donât necessarily believe this story, but I donât think anything in this snopes âinvestigationâ suggests itâs fishy either, and there certainly isnât anything criminal about it. And the fact is that her yard is relentlessly gay, and after reading about her and her family I have no doubt that she will absolutey moarghey it up with all that cash. Itâs not like sheâs faking an illness or something. If someone wants to give her money to paint her house in rainbow colors, more power to 'em, and to her.
As a person that is definitely left of center, I have to say I get outraged when some fraudster on the right tries uses fake persecution as an excuse to grift money online.
What makes me different from the right is that I am equally as offended when someone on the âleftâ does it.
What a jerk. Thatâs all I can sayâŚ
Huh. When itâs someone on the ârightâ, I wait for the jury to decide.
And when itâs someone on the âleftâ, you might too. @Dave_LeFevre.
I guess thatâs what makes me different from⌠whatever strawman youâre erecting here.
And, again, and this is important, thatâs a shitton of money thatâs not actually going to help LGBT people.
Itâs really super telling how much people want to act like theyâre doing good, when theyâre not. Giving money to someone to piss a bigot off doesnât do jack shit for the people who need it.
The whole thing is a shameful mess.
If Baker did fake the letter then she just did a huge disservice to anyone who fights for LGBT acceptance and equality.
Claims of discrimination are often dismissed by people who donât want to face the reality that huge segments of the population have to deal with hate, harassment, name-calling and violence on a regular basis. Now those deniers have a well-publicized example to point to when they say âthose liberals are just a bunch of crybaby wannabe victims who are making this stuff up.â
Her yard might be gay, but she isnât. I donât see much of a moral difference between a healthy person faking illness vs a straight person faking homophobia.
Itâs still legal to fire and evict LGBT people in several states. If people want to give money to fight homophobia, maybe they should consider spending it to add LGBT people to the Civil rights Act. Or anything that actually benefits LGBT people.
Iâm sure her yard is lovely and can only become more lovely, but this would be dubious even if it werenât fishy. But, hey, itâs a great way for straight people to feel like theyâve done something about homophobia without actually doing anything at all about homophobia.
I think she was clear enough on her fundraiser - not a gay person, fundraising for lawn ornaments.
Hey, if thatâs how you like spending your money, go for it. However, me, myself, and I - putting money to the HRC which seems to have done a phenomenal job.
And I put money to Scouts for Equality which one of my old classmates is a leader in.
The HRC is pretty damn awful when it comes to transgender rights, and suffers from some pretty bad racism. They are not a great organization to support.
But she never said she was gay - in fact she was pretty clear that she didnât consider herself gay. Sheâs not pretending to be anything but herself, which seems to me to be on the queer side of straightish, but thatâs really for her to decide.
People know what theyâre giving money for, and they could just as easily donate to a gay rights organization. Maybe that would be a better use of their money, but thatâs their choice. Personally, as I suggested in the previous thread, set up a new charity called needsmoarghey.org (or theglitterfactory.org - whatever) to bring more relentlessly gay decorations to more places, but hey, thatâs why I didnât donate to her. Letâs not vilify her for something when she hasnât done anything wrong.
Is that true? What other organizations would you recommend?
Yes, exactly. I rather like this variation on the theme:
Still has that fun outdoor decorations theme going, but also counteracting some nasty hate.
They have constantly promised to support protection for transgender people, and then later âchanged their mindâ and told people too bad.
[quote]Instead Frank used that whip count excuse to split the inclusive HR 2015 into two separate bills that had the effect of throwing the trans community under the ENDA civil rights bus. HR 3685, the gay-only bill the Democratic majority began legislatively moving forward at his behest, triggered the nuclear explosion of anger from the trans community which, in turn, was backed up by our allies. The only group in favor of Frankâs action? You guessed it- HRC.
The betrayal triggered an unprecedented reaction in the trans community. Donna Rose, the first trans person on the HRC Board of Directors resigned from it on October 8, 2007. She was replaced by Meghan Stabler in 2008. In addition to the formation of a progressive coalition of over 300 LGBT organizations entitled United ENDA calling on the Democratic congressional majority to pass the inclusive HR 2015, the trans community resumed an old strategy of picketing HRC leaders and dinners around the nation, starting with their October 2007 one in Washington DC. The HRC dinner pickets continued well into 2008.
The lone organization that wasnât part of United ENDA? Can you say HRC? I knew you could.[/quote]
Unfortunately, I donât have any better suggestions, as I donât really have enough money to make donations of any substance myself, but the HRC is⌠unpopular, to say the least, in the LGBT community at large. Itâs basically come to stand for the cis, white, well-off members who have hijacked the movement.
Thanks for sharing the information.
Iâd really like to continue to support marriage equality and if the HRC is not the best organization, I suppose that for me the Southern Poverty Law Center is another good one. I have a personal interest in counteracting the hate groups in the South.
We are cisgendered white people but I realized that getting on the equality bandwagon was important. People need to know I support their rights. My daughter has friend who are gay and transgendered and I try to put it out there just in case they ever need someone to turn to: safe people. I didnât realize when I was a teen that I needed to do this, but now as an adult I know itâs not enough to silently be pro-gay rights.
Yeah, sorry I canât be of more help. Iâm sure thereâs somebody somewhere whoâs done some analysis of charities, I just donât want to recommend one without knowing the full background on it.
One thing to also consider is looking for individual cases - it might not feel as wide reaching or effective, but thereâs a constant stream of people who need help to get out of abusive situations, pay rent, or medical bills, that turn to crowdfunding websites for help. They might seem harder to verify, but usually you can google the people involved pretty easy and find the communities theyâre a part of, their friends, etc, just to check that itâs legit. Stuff like that is one of the reason this rubs people the wrong way - after seeing day after day of âIf I just had $500, I could get out of this shitty situation and maybe improve my lifeâ be basically ignored by those who might be able to donate, seeing $43k pissed away just to piss off homophobes and not actually help anyone is⌠well, it shows where peopleâs priorities are.
Serious and quite possibly naive question: what work is left to be done on marriage equality?
Even if it were real, it was a pretty crappy thing to ask for money in the first place. A neighbor calling your style gay is pretty ridiculous, but itâs hardly a human rights violation. We shouldnât be encouraging people to start crowdfunding campaigns for every tiny slight they experience in life.
