On Veteran's Day, do you stand for what America stands for?

In the 50s and 60s, conscientious white Jews and Christians stood with African-Americans in their struggle. In the following decades, conscientious labor unions, the NAACP and others stood with gays in our struggle. Today, conscientious 1%-ers and unions stand with the 99% in their struggle.

These movements are very different. But they share one important commonality -- coalition. Sweeping social change can come only through coalition.

Muslim-Americans are increasingly facing withering criticism and discrimination. I believe their struggle is the next big American rights challenge. Today, Veteran's Day, in Tennessee, there is an ABSURD "Anti-Shariah Law" conference going on. A string of speakers have addressed a rabid crowd, including a former FBI officer who insists that people who choose to worship Allah "do not have a First Amendment right to do anything." 


The Tennesseean newspaper saw this coming and wrote about it in July.

On this Veteran's Day, when we memorialize American service members who laid down their lives defending the rights of free speech and religious expression, do YOU stand with the anti-Muslim fear-mongers or the freedom fighters? When it's time to build coalition and support our American Muslim brothers and sisters, where will you be?

CA Gov Brown Vetoes Westboro Funeral Protest Bill

On Wednesday, California Governor Jerry Brown vetoed SB888, a bill that would make it a crime for protesters to disrupt a funeral and keep protesters 1,000 feet back from mourners. The bill was passed almost unanimously by the CA Legislature in response to protests by the Westboro Baptist Church. The Kansas-based congregation has a history of colorful, vocal demonstrations at events they feel condone or promote homosexuality, which in their view is in direct contrast with the will of God.

Brown's office told UPI that the Governor opposes offensive actions by protesters, but acknowledges a recent 8-1 U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing Westboro's protest of the funeral of a fallen U.S. soldier, and feels SB888 violates that decision.

Westboro targets servicemembers' funerals because, in the church's view, those soldiers were fighting to defend a nation and culture steeped in homosexuality, and therefore doomed.

Another reason for such protests is they almost guarantee Westboro a slot on the evening news and in the cable news channels' daily churn. For an otherwise inconsequential group like Westboro, this media attention is lifeblood. It keeps them in the headlines, and gives them fodder for lawsuits, several of which have proven lucrative for the organization. Clearly, Westboro has found its niche.

Brown's veto is not happy news for the CA Assembly, LGBT people and our rights organizations, the families of servicemembers, and those who beg for civil discourse. It's good news for Westboro and for civil libertarians who view First Amendment free-speech as sacred.

I have repeatedly found myself in the position of decrying Westboro's vitriol while defending their right to voice and promote the message. I've learned a lot in the process, and have had a fascinating dialogue with members of Westboro even as we have publicly sparred. There are many ironies here, and I intend to explore them in a web/magazine piece I've been gradually efforting for a few months with Westboro's cooperation.

One irony? For all the hatred, profanity and denigration Westboro heaps at the feet of gays, they're often out-zinged by the antipathy and hatred gays lob back. Westboro says "God Hates Fags" and warns of an eternity in hell. Meanwhile, a number of my gay brethren actually ideate or advocate physical harm against Westboro members. "I wish you were dead" is not an uncommon thing to see directed at Westboro in a Twitter feed or a Facebook page.

Is it our role to protect society from the potentially poisonous speech of the few? In some cases, no. So says the U.S. Supreme Court in regard to Westboro, and I agree with their decision. Our First Amendment exists to protect the speech of the few from being suppressed by society. It's easier for me to embrace this when it's rights of Gays or Muslim-Americans whose voice is being silenced. It's more difficult when it's people shouting at me that I'm worthless, calling my church pastor a whore (as Westboro did) or making other inflammatory statements.

Gay kids harm themselves because they repeatedly hear statements like those of Westboro coming from the mouths of their parents, authority figures and peers. I view this as a problem. But I don't see gagging Westboro as a solution.

More in the longer piece. But I wanted to get a few thoughts out now. You are welcome to comment. If you do, your words may be referenced in the longer article.

Thanks!

GEICO VO actor fired for political speech

Here's the story, according to PRWeb:

(Los Angeles, CA) April 21, 2010 -- Los Angeles actor, D.C. Douglas, says he was dropped from the upcoming GEICO "Shocking News" campaign after a group of Tea Party members harassed him and the insurance giant over a private voicemail the actor left for FreedomWorks. Matt Kibbe, President and CEO of FreedomWorks, posted Mr. Douglas' cell phone number in a blog post on biggovernment.com, instructing readers to "Feel free to contact (him)… call his employer too. Let them know that you…are now in the market for car insurance." The next day, GEICO held auditions to replace Mr. Douglas' voice on the campaign.

"I called as a private citizen to make a complaint," explains Mr. Douglas. "Racism and homophobia are my Achilles heal, but unfortunately my message included inappropriate words and I am sorry for that. However, telling their members to harass my employer to get me fired is an egregiously disproportionate response to my actions."

For the whole article, click here.

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The Washington Post picked up the story. Here's my response on WashingtonPost.com's 'Voices' section:

I'm one of Mr. Douglas' colleagues in voice-over. We're both successful at a national level, both men with strong political sentiments and a penchant (if not talent) for articulating them.

I work as a freelance announcer for most of the major TV networks and movie studios. Sometimes they, or their parent companies, make choices with which I profoundly disagree. I'm not shy, in those instances, to voice my opinion. I do so as an individual, not as a representative or employee of those companies. To me that makes a big difference.

It's similar to a member of the Armed Services or law enforcement speaking their mind. In uniform, or while acting a representative, one must rightly pay deference to one's employer. It's improper, for instance, for an active-duty service member to call out the President, regardless of politics.

But once out of uniform and speaking as a civilian without citing rank etc., things are different -- we have this gorgeous and maddening First Amendment, crafted to indemnify us as we say our piece, even if it includes invective or non-PC word choices, as in the case of Mr. Douglas' voicemail huff.

I happen to agree with some of Douglas' sentiments on the Tea Party, if not his choice of words or level of tact. As a gay man who embraces diversity, I am unsettled by polling that points to ethnic near-uniformity among Tea Partiers, and I'm scared by a lot of the tweets and Facebook posts I read from Tea Party leadership -- i.e. "McCarthy was right!"

But it wouldn't matter to me if Mr. Douglas' ideology was polar opposite to my own, say if he were a gung ho Tea Partier himself. It'd be his American right to hold that perspective and articulate it. Those who follow my activism know I've made some strange bedfellows over the years, including my defending the gay-hating Westboro Baptist Church's right to conduct what I consider hatemongering.

Meanwhile, it's certainly GEICO's legal right to hire or not hire whomever they please for their VOs. But their releasing Mr. Douglas purely for of his political speech saddens me, and not just because a colleague is out of a gig.

It feels like a step backward for all of us.

Ben Patrick Johnson
Los Angeles, CA