Free Republic

A supporter of Proposition 8, fed up with what he believed was the gay community's and "liberal media's" refusal to accept the voters' verdict, fired off a letter to the editor. "Please show respect for democracy," he wrote, in a letter we published. What he encountered instead was an utter lack of respect for free speech. Within hours, the intimidation game was on. Because his real name and city were listed - a condition for publication of letters to The Chronicle - opponents of Prop. 8 used Internet search engines to find the letter writer's small business, his Web site...

While acknowledging that he is a Mormon, Bill Marriott said this week that neither he nor his company, Marriott International, contributed to the campaign to pass Proposition 8, a California ballot measure that would define marriage as solely between a man and a woman. Gay-rights activists urged their supporters to boycott Marriott hotels around the world because of Marriott's membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which raised about $22 million for the initiative that passed Nov. 4. For the past 20 years, Marriott International has had domestic-partner benefits and has earned a perfect score on the...

The Prop 8 fallout continues. The Los Angeles Times reports that Theater Director Scott Eckern's donation in support of California's Prop. 8 defining marriage as between one man and one woman "turned into a lightning rod in the debate over gay rights." The L.A. Times says that Eckern resigned Wednesday claiming he he wanted to protect the California Musical Theatre from controversy. The Theatre has been Eckern's "artistic home since 1984," says the Times. He has also been the nonprofit stage company's artistic director since 2003. Eckern's $1,000 donation had to be publicly reported under California election law. After this...