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This type of campaign feels right, as it did a few years ago in Colorado...but I wonder if it really bears fruit (so to speak...) Any thoughts?
Fri Jun 11, 7:36 PM ET
Patrick Letellier, PlanetOut Network
SUMMARY: Activists Thursday called for a boycott of Virginia in response to anti-gay legislation prohibiting recognition of gay marriage, civil unions, and domestic partner policies.
"Virginia is for lovers," according to the state's tourism slogan, but not if those lovers happen to be same-sex couples.
Gay activists on Thursday called for a boycott of Virginia in response to anti-gay legislation recently passed in the state prohibiting any recognition of gay marriage, civil unions, and domestic partner policies.
The new law, called the Marriage Affirmation Act, is so broad experts say it may even affect individual couples' wills, powers of attorney and other legal documents.
"We're here to prove that when a U.S. state attacks the fundamental legal rights of gays and lesbians, gays and lesbians know how to fight back," says a Web site promoting the boycott, VirginiaIsForHaters.org. The site's creators, Jay Porter and David Smith, a Seattle gay couple, are urging gay rights supporters to avoid traveling to Virginia and to boycott companies with headquarters in the state, including clothing retailer J. Crew.
"This is a national issue," Porter told the Associated Press. "Someone came up with this really punitive legislation and got it through the state legislature, and in my mind, that could happen just about anywhere in the U.S."
Passed in April, the new law has been soundly criticized not only by gay activists and legal scholars, who say it will be found unconstitutional, but also by the mainstream media. An editorial in the Washington Post called the law "jaw dropping."
"It so flagrantly violates norms of basic fairness and decency that federal courts are likely to balk," the Post said, concluding that the legislators' intent was to send this message: "Gays and lesbians aren't welcome in Virginia."
"I think it's a good idea for a boycott like this," said David Paisley, production manager for Community Marketing and Travel Alternatives Group, a national company which sponsors gay travel expos.
"There needs to be some consequences" to anti-gay legislation, Paisley told the PlanetOut Network. The travel boycott will help, Paisley said, but targeting the state's corporations is a more effective strategy.
"Though it's not universal, corporate America is pretty gay friendly," he said. "But they're not turning to their local elected officials and saying, 'Hey, you're not reflecting the values of corporations in this state.' And that needs to happen."
Porter and others promoting the boycott hope to sway companies into taking a pro-active stance against such anti-gay legislation, or, at the very least, they will feel the pinch of gay dollars being spent elsewhere. "We aim to make being based in Virginia just as difficult for companies as it is for gay and lesbian couples," Porter said.
"Always forgive your enemies...nothing annoys them quite so much." Oscar Wilde
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"Good luck making the average American even aware of the existence of this legislation, much less act on it in the form of joining in on a boycott."
How would anyone know if a company headquarter is in Virginia anyway? And, when Americans in general don't seem to remember anymore which nation their country fought on D-day, I somehow feel this is going to be difficult to get through to them. Interest span doesn't seem high enough to encompass these sort of things... 
Sorry, don't mean to bash you guys, but this law wouldn't have gotten passed in the first place if people gave a damn about what's happening in their state.
Was it the (R) guys who got this bill approved?
(Thanks for the heads-up anyway.)
"But he that hath the steerage of my course,
direct my sail."
-William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act One, Scene IV
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sparks
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Toe is in the water |
Registered: January 1970
Messages: 57
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many americans DO remember and because so many americans died during those terrible years,the words here are in english and not german or russian. sparks;-) 
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sparks
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Toe is in the water |
Registered: January 1970
Messages: 57
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Another good idea would be for Americans to boycott all religious services and not support churches for a lonnnnnnnnnnng period of time. sparks:-P
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Unfortunately, Virginia is one of 39 states in the U.S. that prohibits same sex marriage. Many of these same states are now trying to add this "marriage ban" into their constitutions. Here is a link to a map showing where these states are:
http://www.thetaskforce.org/downloads/marriagemap.pdf
Many people ARE actively fighting this movement, but most don't care because it doesn't impact them directly....yet.
(\\__/) And if you don't believe The sun will rise
(='.'=) Stand alone and greet The coming night
(")_(") In the last remaining light. (C. Cornell)
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it's cool to call for a boycott and stuff..but a boycott of the entire state and all the companies based there is kinda silly. it's too broadbased...the point made by a previous writer is spot on--how the hell should everyone know what's based in virginia and what isn't?
KISS is the phrase of the day. make it a simple idea, easy to remember...like boycotting a popular product of virginia, or simply not vacationing there...or asking companies to not hold their corporate events there...
Boycott is a tool that is easily diluted into a meaningless threat if it's used too much. it has to be carefully focussed and widely disseminated.
"I promise not to try not to fuck with your mind/ I promise not to mind if you go your way and i go mine/promise not to lie if i'm looking you right in your eye/promise not to try not to let you down."
--Eve6
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Thoughts Please 
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Re: Thoughts Please 
