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Cinemark protest set for Dec. 12 (and it’s sure nice to know about it ahead of time)
December 2nd, 2008Gay Dallas filmmaker Israel Luna is moving forward with plans for a protest outside the Cinemark Legacy in Plano on Dec. 12, the same day the theater is scheduled to begin showing “Milk.” Luna says he’s already obtained the backing of Valiente, the LGBT Latino group, as well as Sam Fulcher, who organized recent protests outside First Baptist Church of Dallas. An organizational meeting for the Cinemark protest is scheduled for noon Saturday at Buli Cafe, Luna said. For more, check Friday’s Dallas Voice. And see there, this is what we typically do when we know about a protest in advance!
December 2nd, 2008 at 2:42 pm
wow john, seems like you are still bitter that you got called out on your bs. i figured you’d actually be happy that people were commenting on instant tea, for once.
December 2nd, 2008 at 2:47 pm
I heard Joe Blair is going in costume as Jerry Faldwell
December 2nd, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Brian:
Actually it sounds like you are bitter that someone actually knows how to plan and coordinate a protest. One more thing before I move on to more important matters: I think my characterization of Blake’s style as “abrasive” is backed up by what his associates have said on this blog over the last few days. Attacking the local LGBT newspaper for not covering something because you failed to let them know about is not only “abrasive,” it’s just plain stupid.
December 2nd, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Ok, I have been hesitant to get involved in this. The only comment I have made affirmed that I did indeed send out a press release. As a matter of fact I called the Dallas Voice prior to sending it out to confirm that the e-mail address I had was where I needed to send something of that nature.
Readers can be the judge of wether or not my one comment on here was abrasive or not. I honestly don’t understand what Wright’s beef is against me. Every single time that he has mentioned my name in the press it has been in a pretty crummy context. I took Tammye’s e-mail this afternoon offering to put a story in Friday’s edition as an olive branch.
I thought we could finally put this to rest but Mr Wright insists on maintaining his grudge against me for whatever reason. In this post he adds “just plain stupid” to “militant”, “in your face” and “abrasive” as his chosen adjectives to describe me. Mr Wright might want to adhere to a fundamental principle of journalism, fact checking. I never attacked the Dallas Voice. I didn’t even encourage anyone to leave comments. The attacks, which now seem justified to me, were all left by individuals who took it upon themselves to leave comments for whatever reason. I know some of those that left comments and some of those I don’t know.
Mr Wright has stepped over the line. One would think that the news editor of the Dallas Voice should remain impartial and try to work with local activists. He has chosen to do otherwise by not being professional and playing childish games.
I am recently returning to Dallas. I don’t have all the media contacts. I thought I was playing by the rules by calling to confirm that I had the right e-mail address and sending it out almost a week in advance. After all the comments that were left, Tammye e-mailed me offering to do a story for this weeks paper. I gladly accepted. But no where in any communication I have had with the Voice have they said anything to the effect of “sorry for the misunderstanding”. I think something might be in order from Mr Wright.
December 2nd, 2008 at 4:08 pm
John,
It seems that you are getting more and more defensive; it is obvious to me that you are not going to own up to the mistake the Voice made when it did not cover the protest. I have not yet read or posted a stupid comment; I am very surprised at the childish nature of your last comment. Beyond this, I find your comment to Brain strange as the protest was well planned and coordinated. Similarly, I am confused about your comment concerning Blake’s style as I have found him to be quite charming and concerned for the community. Abrasive is not a word I would use to characterize this courageous intelligent young leader. I am sorry that you have found comments to be abrasive. As a participant in the protest, I am hurt that you made such small issue out of something I dedicated a lot of time too; I do not have much time at my disposal as I work and go to school full time. In fact I should be working rather than writing on this blog; however, I am happy to burn the midnight oil at work to finish my duties to continue this important conversation. I do wish the Voice would have attended this important event; however, this does not bother nearly as much as your attempts to minimize the importance of the protest and attack Blake. You are missing out on a wonderful opportunity to support this rising leader and his future projects. I hope your words do not scare other members of the community away from getting involved with this leader. Many of my comments are an attempt to provide another view of the protest and this leader to the gay community. You may know about Blake from his associates; however, I have had extensive conversation with him and would like to provide the readers with a more firsthand account of the experience of this young leader.
December 2nd, 2008 at 4:36 pm
I rest my case. Period.
December 2nd, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Can’t we all just get along? Fighting amongst ourselves is just counter productive. We all make mistakes, and sometimes it is best just to move forward. There is much to be done about the inequalities that exist and if we spend time bitching back and fourth at each other this is just a waste of time.
December 2nd, 2008 at 5:41 pm
john, if you know how to plan a protest so well why aren’t you out there doing it? and i will be at the protest against cinemark, too. supporting our cause. also, you might want to take note that i’m not one of the organizers of this or any other protest (although maybe i should organize a protest of the offices of the dallas voice). i’m just a pissed off gay man that’s had enough of other people dictating what is moral or right.
i would think we would be on the same side of this issue but it seems we are not. if you will remember this whole thread started when you took it upon yourself to characterize someone as abrasive. i merely stated that it seemed like you had an axe to grind and then you decided to call me out for it. that’s fine, i thought a dialog is what was supposed to go on here. if you feel that calling attention to your article was an attack then perhaps you would be more comfortable writing for your neighborhood association’s newsletter. you don’t see robert wilonsky go running home crying to mama everytime i disagree with him.
i will second what kyle said in the post above that “i hope your words do not scare other members of the community away from getting involved”. your entry characterizing blake as some sort of loose cannon almost caused me to reconsider my involvement on saturday but then i thought i’d check it out for myself and not trust one man’s opinion. i’m glad i chose to go because blake seems to have a good head on his shoulders and sincerely cares about our rights and our community.
this whole issue could have died down earlier than this john but you had to be a snarky in your post about the other protest today. you seem to believe that people defending the character of someone that you personally maligned in a story is backing up what you had to say in the first place. i have to call bs on this one.
and as for your comment of what is “just plain stupid”, let’s try this on for size…you seem to be addressing me personally in that comment yet i am not one of the organizers of this event. i didn’t send you a press release because i wasn’t involved in the planning of the event. i wouldn’t know the first thing about organizing an event like this. what i do know is your tone in today’s post was rude and i’m going to continue to call you out on this kind of behavior. ball’s in your court john.
December 2nd, 2008 at 8:06 pm
Brian or Blake
Let’s figure out a time that you can phone the radio show on Saturday or Sunday between 1pm and 3pm so we can chat about it on the air.
We could probably fit it in prior the the Peaches and Herb interview and we could lead in with
Shake Your Groove Thang.
December 2nd, 2008 at 8:41 pm
John Wright has a weird knack for picking fights with people in the Dallas LGBT community. I don’t know why the organizers of last weekends protest are suprised by his actions in this case.
John Wright only knows how to bicker like a queen, he possess no known diplomatic skills. He is immature and has a chip on his shoulder. And, he is a pain to deal with. I found that out during the primaries.
December 2nd, 2008 at 9:02 pm
X has a lot of balls to talk shit without identifying himself.
And Jack, I had never heard of Peaches and Herb before, but according to Wikipedia, “Herb has remained a constant in ‘Peaches & Herb’ since its creation in 1967, while five different women have filled the role of Peaches.’” Who the fuck knew?
December 2nd, 2008 at 9:57 pm
“X has a lot of balls to talk shit without identifying himself. ”
The above remark is a prime example of the difficult attitude which John Wright possesses.
He is not aware that one catches more flies with honey than with vinegar. He has not yet learned that lesson.
I would explain to John that many LGBT people remain closeted for a variety of reasons. I do, because I will loose my job if I reveal that I am gay. That is why I choose the online name X. John Wright is too isolated in his elite, online, LGBT ‘media’ world to understand the plight of those who live and work in the real world.
Every time that I have met or dealt with John Wright, it has been an unpleasant experience. He is passive aggressive with anger management issues. And I do not care for him. He knows little about Dallas, and the fact that he has never heard of Peaches and Herb makes me greatly question his credentials even more.
A word of advice for John Wright. It is better to remain silent and have every one think that you are a fool, than to open you mouth and confirm that you are.
December 3rd, 2008 at 3:21 am
Jack e, maybe Blake and I could do ” reunited” as a duet!
December 3rd, 2008 at 7:12 am
I cannot believe a news editor from the Dallas Voice would be “this plain stupid” and continue the name calling. He’s “stirring the pot” and takes no responsibility or accountability for the “slight possibility” that just maybe…..he fucked up.
Which he did and everybody knows it.
Wright you should take a Xanax and chill a while because you are acting like a bitter queen right now. And there’s nothing worse than a bitter queen!
December 3rd, 2008 at 9:44 am
Great post Wright. Came to get more information on Milk and then started reading – oh boi, what does all this have to do with Milk? I am taking up a collection for a crown and large bottle of Xanax to get you through this stupid onslaught. We support you dude.
To the rest, grow up.
Now can we talk about Milk?
December 3rd, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Amen, Chris.
So let me see if I’ve got this right. People will be protesting in a predominantly straight suburb to discourage other people from seeing a movie about a gay hero? What’s up with that? I think we would want as many people as possible to know about Harvey Milk.
I could understand this boycott if we were talking about a company that was rabidly homophobic like Exxon-Mobil. From what I can tell, Cinemark is actually pretty gay-friendly – not perfect, but certainly not anti-gay. They don’t control who their employees give money to; no corporation does, or should, for that matter. What does our community say when the right wing wackjobs boycott a company that is pro-gay? I think we’re going down a very slippery slope here, and one that might wind up doing more harm than good.
December 5th, 2008 at 11:17 am
To counter Blake’s assertion that he makes no abrasive comments.
This is just a glimpse into what happens if you do not agree with 100% of what Mr. Wilkinson does: Found at: http://lgbtliberaction.blogspot.com/ Thanks Blake, who wrote this: “The Elephant in the Room” , copied below in its entirity. Rest assured, Wright and just about anyone else in the Dallas LGBT community is mentioned somewhere on any of many blogs that have been written…either by name or implication. I haven’t even read all of them yet.
As truly a new voice in the choir, I believe actually more so than yourself- since you have made assertions over and over that you have been an activist for many years, and cited in Chicago and elsewhere to that end – please keep in mind we are all out for the same goal. You are not going to bully me into making me agree with your approach if I do not agree with the principles of it nor the approach.
Stay tuned for the list of “no ones” who saw the Dallas Join The Impact Rally on November 15th. It might need another page of its own.
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viernes 21 de noviembre de 2008
The Elephant in the Room
It should come as no surprise to anyone that while Etta Zamboni and I were both lead organizers for the November 15 demonstration against Prop 8 she was put on a pedestal and applauded by many in the community. I on the other hand I was sidelined and shut up. It’s amazing what happens when you are a new voice in the choir.
Zamboni’s assimilationist, apologetic and poorly thought through politics mirror those of the people that have put her on a platform. Unlike last week’s Voice article, which can be found here, The Edge ran an article this week which does a much better job in hearing from both sides and exploring the issues in greater depth. You can find the Edge article here.
Let’s take a moment to review a few of Zamboni’s better remarks. She states that “protest directed at any religious organization is not going to be beneficial” but fails to explain why. She continues to say that “their participation has already been brought out publicly”. Is she suggesting that it has already been done thus there is no need to call them out again?
In fact LGBT groups that did not take a “let’s be friends with our oppressors” stance were the ones that got Dr. Laura Schlessinger’s rights to the airwaves taken away in Canada and had her radio show dropped from dozens of radio stations in the US for propagating hate speech against LGBT people. This was done by confronting the issue and publicly labeling her as a hate monger which caused her popularity to dive.
Zamboni says that “we are trying to win [the public] over…and going out in front of a Mormon Church serves no benefit”. She is correct that we are trying to win over the public. One side of the coin is getting our message out there that our love is just as valid as straight love and it deserves all the rights that go along with it. I believe Zamboni would agree with this but she is ignoring the other side of the coin. And that is that while we positively assert our right to equal rights we must be prepared to defend and stand up for ourselves when we come under attack. If organizations like the Mormon Church got behind rolling back civil rights of African Americans could you imagine the NAACP staying silent on the issue and not confronting those actively implicated in beating back their rights?
Both sides of the coin are necessary. Disgracefully, our “leaders” are more afraid of stepping on toes, even if they are the toes of homophobic religious extremists.
Lastly, Zamboni suggests that standing up to an organization that stripped us of our rights is only going to “further divide us as a country”. From a psychological point of view I can understand that everyone has a need to be accepted by the larger society, but rights have never been won by holding hands with those that are making sure you are second class.
The politics that Zamboni has been propped up to support during the past week have come in and out of fashion in the LGBT movement. It’s no surprise that progress falls on the heels of independent unapologetic activism. On the other hand its no surprise that after 15 or so years of Ms Zamboni’s politics we now have 30 states with constitutional amendments, others with bans on gay adoption, no federal protections, DOMA, etc… Constitutional amendments have passed in each and every state where they have been put to ballot.
Let’s not ignore the elephant in the room any longer.
Publicado por lgbtliberaction en 15:17 0 comentarios