Posted on 04/25/2015 9:34:40 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The LGBT community is threatening boycotts and canceling benefits. The hidden reason is the GOP’s Israel strategy.
If you’ve ever been to Fire Island Pines, one of the leading gay utopias on the planet, you know that there isn’t much to do. There’s only one commercial center with a couple of stores, a bar, and a hotel.
And yet, in less than 24 hours, over 4,000 people have said they’re going to boycott it. The reason? It’s owned by Ian Reisner and Mati Weiderpass, the self-described “prominent NYC hotel owners” who recently hosted a “fireside chat” with Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz.
No Tea Dance at the Sip n’ Twirl? Hard to believe, but that’s LGBT politics for you.
As if that weren’t enough, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS went one step further, canceling their popular “Broadway Bares” benefit. It had been scheduled for May 10 at the Out Hotel, which Reisner and Weiderpass own. “I have never considered that all of our many supporters would ever vote monolithically,” executive director Tom Moran wrote on his Facebook page. “But when any politician publicly holds so many of us in contempt… we cannot be misunderstood as standing with him/her.”
This is Ted Cruz, after all, one of 19 members of Congress on the Human Rights Campaign’s “Hall of Shame”, the man who authored the 2014 “State Marriage Defense Act,” which would ensure that gay people get no federal protections, ever. And who recently penned a letter sent to tens of thousands of Christian pastors, asking them to pray, preach, and presumably vote for him to support “biblical marriage.”
(Biblical marriage is actually polygamy and concubinage, but I digress.)
The first question many people must be asking themselves is, what the hell were Reisner and Weiderpass thinking? In the words of gay performer and humorist Justin Sayre, who is supporting the boycott, “Of all the people in the world to invite to a gay party, Ted Cruz? What was it? His sparkling wit? His fair and balanced repartee? Do you have a thing for Canadians? Does he make a mean gin rickey?”
Not quite. In a self-serving press release, the two said they “ignited a dialogue” on the issue.
But that’s not it either. In fact, before the backlash hit, they told the New York Times the real reason for the event:
Mr. Reisner and Kalman Sporn, who advises Mr. Cruz’s Middle East team and served as the moderator for the evening, said the senator told the group that marriage should be left up to the states. The evening focused primarily on foreign policy, including a discussion of gay rights in Israel versus the rest of the Middle East, and opposition to President Obama.
In other words, this was about Israel.
Notice who the moderator was: Ted Cruz’s Jewish/Israel point man, himself a gay Jewish man and longtime Republican consultant.
Nor was this the first time Ian Reisner has hosted a Republican benefit at his home for that reason. Earlier this month, his Central Park South penthouse—where, incidentally, a 23 year old gay man was found dead of a drug overdose just a few months ago—hosted a fundraiser for Republican Senator Ron Johnson.
Shamelessly invoking the Holocaust, Reisner said at the time that his great aunt “was murdered in Auschwitz” and that “we are not too far from history to be wary of politicians who make bad decisions that threaten our lives. The deal with Iran concerns me. Anti-Semitic murder in Paris and Copenhagen concerns me. Bringing Senator Johnson to New York to discuss foreign policy and security helped educate my close friends about these very real issues.”
Reisner is hardly alone in this regard. Gay porn king Michael Lucas has been outspoken in his support of Israel’s right-wing government, going so far as to bully New York’s LGBT Center into banning a pro-Palestinian group from meeting there. (After a yearlong brouhaha, the Center banned both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian groups.)
Reisner added that he’d just hosted a “Ready for Hillary” benefit at the Out Hotel.
So, should LGBT folks cut Reisner some slack?
No.
It’s no coincidence that Reisner and Weiderpass are rich, white, cisgender men cozying up to another rich, white, cisgender man. They may be gay, but they profoundly don’t get it—the “it” being that the same privilege that oppresses gays is the privilege that oppresses people of color, immigrants, women, and the poor—precisely the groups that Cruz’s policies would hurt the most.
It’s not a coincidence that Cruz is anti-gay and also anti-social-safety net, anti-reproductive-justice, and anti-affirmative-action. What extremely fortunate white gay men like Reisner and Weiderpass don’t understand is that it’s all one big package: the classism, the religious conservatism, the social conservatism—these all go together.
“A Gays” like Reisner act as though Republicans just happen to have a blind spot when it comes to gays, but otherwise they’re just fine. They can’t understand why the LGBT Log Cabin Republicans, for example, have such a rough go of it. If only the GOP could get over this particular prejudice, then there’s no reason why gay people shouldn’t support them.
But it’s not one particular prejudice. Right-wing extremists are extremist through and through. It’s a whole package.
And that includes Israel. Hard-right conservatives are hard-right on Israel for the same reasons they’re hard-right on anti-LGBT and anti-choice politics. They’ve got one extreme conservative narrative: it’s us versus them, Americans versus the gays, Freedom Lovers versus Muslims, civilization versus barbarism. Iran, Palestinians, gay people, poor people, “illegal immigrants,” welfare queens, rowdy young black men—these are bad people. These kinds of dogmatic conservative values are clear, unmistakable, unshakeable.
To be sure, not every foreign policy hawk, Republican, or conservative thinks this way. But Ted Cruz is a moralist on Iran the same way he is a moralist on family values.
That’s why Reisner and Weiderpass don’t deserve a pass. Supporting Ted Cruz isn’t a matter of weighing his hawkish Iran views against his backward anti-gay views, because they are but two aspects of a consistent, conservative ideology that also includes climate denial, allowing the wealth gap to increase, and dismantling the social safety net. You can’t pull the one thread you like out of the tapestry; the whole thing unravels.
I have no doubt that Reisner is sincere when he says he supports LGBT equality. But the reason to do so shouldn’t be in order to win rights for a few, privileged people like him. It should be in order to question assumptions of us and them, whoever the “them” is said to be. It should be about justice.
Yeah, it was all a big misunderstanding, Jay. Idiot.
Serious question. Is homosexual sex a sin in Judaism? perhaps just certain sects?
And yes I do know some. As I said in a post yesterday these homosexuals would not be caught dead at a pride rally. They have enough sense to know that there is more to life than your sexuality.
My understanding is ‘they asked’ for this meeting with Cruz....they wanted to persuade him to soften his stance regarding gays.... All this other nonsense is just that...fodder for the press.
They have already stated to “their” concerned public they remain committed to Hillary Clinton...that this was to Persuade Cruz to lighten up on gays.
Hey. If they’re not a couple of corporatists trying to influence illegal influx of millions or uranium brokers what the heck should we care.
He’s gonna need some cash
I thought this was a Jewish site at first. & wondered why they were saying “cisgender”. I can’t believe idiots are trying to get us to say “cosgender” instead of normal, although, since in this case it refers to two homosexuals, maybe some other word should be substituted for normal. What in heck does “cis-” prefix mean?
The left is very afraid of Mr. Cruz.
I stand with Ted.
How many here at FR are not going to vote for Ted because he met with folks they don’t like????
It’s a sin in Judaism, but the Torah is only recognized as truth by Orthodox Jews.
For many reasons, I’m, glad that Ted accepted their invitation. This brought a lot of ‘issues’ to public light.
Even some gays are starting to get embarrassed (and nervous) about the intolerant behavior policing going on.
Thanks.
He’s not going to change his mind about the federal government ruling on gay marriage
He may as well tell ten to their faces their money is no good on that
I guess the press wants is to think he has a price on his principals.
The press is going to be twisting trying to figure him and his supporters out
It was not, repeat NOT, a fundraiser.
I stand with Ted. His meeting with queers does not bother me. Why? Because I trust his intelligence. That’s why I’ll vote for him.
You and I say “gender.” Ultra sophisticated liberals say cisgender. Google is your friend.
Yes it is. A big one.
When did we stop talking to those who disagree with us?
How many here at FR are not going to vote for Ted because he met with folks they don’t like????
—
Good question.
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