Dec 02 2005
The Ugliness On The Right
I know it is shrinking minority, but it needs to be completely disavowed. Those who focus on sexuality generally verses documented invasive (or exposing) behavior in the public square are hurting the conservative cause by re-inforcing a favorite liberal stereo type for the right.
Schwarzenegger’s new Chief of Staff is being opposed due to her sexual preference – which shouldn’t be even known to the public or focused on
Anti-gay activists have also objected strenuously because she is a lesbian. A new website, stopsusankennedy.com, urges people to petition Schwarzenegger to rescind the appointment.
This really bothers me. I don’t want anyone’s sexual behavior forced onto me and my family in the public square. I don’t care what anyone does in the bedroom, I don’t want it in my face, taught to my kids or marched down the street. Bi or straight!
I don’t think anyone should be discriminated against because of their private situations, either. That is their business and theirs alone. There is a good reason to possibly be against the selection:
Kennedy’s appointment has raised particular ire among conservatives because she is a former Democratic Party executive director and senior member of Gray Davis’ administration.
But the topic of her sexual behavior should never come up. Conservatives let ourselves be painted with broad negative stereotypes because we allow these over the top, generalizing comments from within our ranks. And then we never challenge the gratiutous connection to these marginal voices by the leftwing media. I know the media searches out these places to tarnish anyone and everyone they disagree with politically. It the only trick the news media knows.
It is important we show the country how to tolerate diversity respectfully. That means the gay community must respect our desire not to have their sexual idiosynchrosies thrust into the public domain in detail and graphic form (which excludes holding hands in public obviously). The rest of us will defend their right to a normal, happy life with the partner of their choice. They deserve the protections of civil unions, we deserve the distinction of the classical definition of marriage. This is not hard when we simply respect those who respect us.
There is a way to do this right. Most of us pull it of every day of our lives just fine. But this irrelevant mention of this lady’s sexual orientation by the media needs to be stopped.
I find your comments very contradicting. On one hand you say that you don’t want the gay agenda in your face or taught to your kids, but on the other hand you say that we should not even know about her sexuality. This would all be fine, except the person we are talking is a Gay Activist. She has appeared on CNN, was President of the Gay Games Foundation, and is a staunch pro-choice advicate. No Republican in their right mind would hire this woman. One other thing, when you are in politics, your relationships, be they personal or public, are open for discussion and should be disclosed to avoid conflict of interest charges. The Gay Community wants to be in your face when it suits their agenda, and wants their private lives kept private, when it suits their agenda. Here is a case in point.
Center of Gay Power
Gay and Lesbian Center Buys Downtown Building to House Gay Youth
http://www.sdnewsnotes.com/ed/pdf/2005pdf/0510NN.pdf
BY ROBERT KUMPEL
The San Diego Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Center, known around Hillcrest as “The Center,†has purchased a 24 unit apartment building at 1640 Broadway for housing for what it describes as “youth 18–24 including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and HIV-positive young adults.†It will be known as the Sunburst Project and is scheduled to open in October.
In its May 16 newsletter, the Center City Development Corporation announced that its board approved financing for homeless youth housing in East Village as part of an “owner participation agreement with the San Diego Lesbian,Gay,Bisexual,Transgender Community Center to develop a homeless youth housing project.†According to the newsletter, the development corporation was to provide $2,545,000 towards its acquisition and rehabilitation of the property, to convert it into “permanent rental housing serving homeless youth between the ages of 18–24 years with mental illness, substance abuse problems, or HIV/AIDS. A total of 24 units will be reserved for very low income persons with 55-year affordability restrictions.†The board approved the financing by a 5–1 vote, with treasurer Jennifer LeSar recusing herself. (Total financing for the project was reported as $4,123,000).
A real estate developer as well as the investment manager and senior vice president at Bank of America, LeSar was appointed to the CCDC board in September 2002 by Mayor Dick Murphy and the City Council. Councilwoman Toni Atkins, currently serving as Deputy Mayor, recused herself from the vote to approve Le Sar’s appointment. It was not widely known at the time, but LeSar and Atkins are lovers. Their relationship was made public in August 2005 by iN Los Angeles a magazine aimed at homosexuals.
LeSar received the Champion of Pride award in 2005 for her “faithful leadership and compassion.†In its September 8 feature on LeSar, the Gay and Lesbian Times reported that she “helped The Center procure the 24-unit complex on Broadway, in downtown San Diego, and supervised its financing and approvals.†The award program featured a congratulatory advertisement to LeSar from several prominent supporters of The Center, including Atkins.
This is not LeSar’s only involvement with The Center. From 1999 to 2004, she served as The Center’s Chairman. Atkins,meanwhile, was elected to succeed Christine Kehoe as Third District Councilwoman in 2000.During that time, the Center has been the recipient of hundreds of thousands of dollars in city funds and grants.
LeSar is not the only Center insider benefiting from Atkins’ largesse with taxpayer money. In 2004, while LeSar was on the Center’s Board,Atkins voted in favor of the city paying the ACLU $950,000 to cover legal fees in the Balboa Park property-lease dispute with the Boy Scouts. The Center’s current Board Chair, Richard Valdez, is a member of the ACLU’s Board of Directors.Center Vice-Chair Dale Kelly Bankhead is the ACLU Public Affairs Director for San Diego and Imperial Counties.And Center board member M.E. Stephens served as cocouncil on the Boy Scout case.
Another Center Board member, Kevin Tilden, chaired Atkins campaigns for City Council.He also chaired lesbian district attorney Bonnie Dumanis’ campaign in 2002, which led one observer of the gay community to comment,“Now you can see how they’ve set this up. They’ve elected one of their own as the watchdog who should prosecute any illegalities, to insure that they will go untouched.†Atkins did not recuse herself on July 19 when the City Council voted to approve financing for the Sunburst Project. Instead, she was ebullient at the result of the vote. “I am personally pleased to have been a part of this project, and that the city of San Diego made a financial commitment to help direct the lives of these teenagers and stop the cycle of homelessness and despair.â€
The nepotistic tendencies of LeSar, Atkins and The Center’s inner circle become more apparent when examining the history of the Sunburst Project. The need for homosexual youth housing was the result of a collaborative study conducted in 2002 by the Center and other local agencies. These agencies included Walden Family Services, YMCA Youth and Family Services, and the Metropolitan Community Church. The Metropolitan Community Church has long had close ties to The Center,but the other agencies’ connections are less obvious.
The director of mental health services at Walden Family Services is Dr.Heather Berberet who also happens to be the lesbian partner of Delores Jacobs, chief executive officer of the Center. The Director of YMCA Youth and Family Services,Laura Mustari lives with her partner Jane Fantel with whom she shares three children. The result of the collaborative study was an estimate that 30 percent of all homeless youth in San Diego County are either Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual or Transgendered. One local psychiatrist, speaking on condition of anonymity called the 30 percent estimate “ridiculous.†The observer of the gay community concurred.“These people oversaw the survey collection. They could say anything they wanted. They say that they identified 400 gay or homeless youth in their study, but where’s the proof?â€
The Center is largely funded and enjoys nonprofit tax status. A copy of a 2003-2004 audit reveals that on December 7, 2001 the Center entered into an agreement with the city for a community development block grant which was expanded in March and August of 2003,for a total of $1,122,832. The primary purpose of the grant was to remodel and improve The Center’s Centre Street headquarters. For 2003 and 2004, The Center was awarded $3,046,178 in grants. The Center employs about 50 people including Jacobs, who earns a yearly salary of $122,000 plus benefits. With the city paying an average of over $2 million a year in grants and subsidies to the Center, the working taxpayer might be surprised to see how some of that money is spent.For example, on March 10–13, the Center hosted the Mr. San Diego Leather contest, in which men clad in leather — sometimes covering only their crotches — simulated sex acts and beatings with leather objects. One Center-sponsored event that took place off-site that weekend was an S&M Leather Slave Auction held at The Hole, a homosexual leather bar in Loma Portal.Upcoming events for this year include a marriage equity town hall meeting.According to Center director of public policy,A. J.Davis, this will be a forum where people can “learn about the current efforts to repeal existing domestic partnership rights and to amend the California constitution to create a permanent ban on marriage for same-sex couples in California by amending the California State Constitution.â€
On Halloween, the Center will host Nightmare on Normal Street, a homosexual Halloween party, emceed by Outrageous Nicole, the regular host of a dating game held weekly at Flicks, at which contestants win pornographic DVD’s.
SBD
You think sexual details are fair game? Do you care what position Mr and Mrs McCain, Bush, Biden or Kerry prefer? Do you want their preferred sexual acts taught in school? You make a good point that she is close to what I consider a person whose entire life is a symbol of what they do in bed, verses what they do in society.
That is my point about gays and lesbians. It is at the point where all I want to know is your qualifications for the job, not in for bedroom antics. Just like I could care less about what race or religion or nationality someone is. If they have qualifications for the job outside these factors – that is what is important.
Time to put the sex back in the bedroom and off the job application.
She was hired because of her status in the gay community, not because of her qualifications. When you represent a party that strives on rfamily values, the hiring of a gay activist will not sit well with your constituants. Are we expected to believe that there is not one Republican in the entire state of California that is qualified for this position? She was chosen by Shriver and is being used to mend the fence with the gay community for his veto of the same sex marriage bill. Guess who came out and agreed with veto. To the dismay of most of the Gay community, Susan Kennedy agreed with Arnold because he was upholding the voter approved proposition from a few years back that defined marriage as between a man and a woman.
SBD