How To Blacklist Your Neighbor (Who Supported Prop 8)

The recent efforts to destroy the career of Scott Eckern were so successful that if is worth considering the tactics:

1) Identify a target.
Per the Sac Bee Wednesday story:

The composer, who is openly gay, said he read about Eckern's contribution to the campaign on the Web site www.datalounge.com, and he felt he had to do something.

Per the Sac Bee Tuesday story:
Potential targets can be easily found on the websites provided by gay activists.

Links to Eckern's official donation information began appearing Thursday on sites such as the gay political activism site www.goodasyou.org and the more informal conversational forum www.datalounge.

You can use the official "Anti Gay Blacklist".
Or you can always use the nifty site provided by the San Francisco Chronicle to find anyone in a zipcode or city who contributed to support Prop 8.

2) Start the blacklist boycott by emailing all your friends and colleagues to let them know you will not longer work with this person:
Per the Los Angeles Times:

Shaiman said Tuesday that he phoned Eckern on Friday to protest, then e-mailed more than 1,000 contacts to alert them about the donation.

Per the Sac Bee

Shaiman sent an e-mail which has reverberated through the national theater community and backed the CMT's leaders into the unusual position of doing damage control. He wrote he wouldn't allow his work to be done at California Musical Theatre, and theater workers around the country have followed his lead."No one should be surprised in 2008 at how fast information can be spread, and that's of course a doubled-edged sword," Shaiman said.

Susan Egan, star of "Thoroughly Modern Millie" and "Cabaret," followed with a similar e-mail.

Theater professionals flooded CMT's offices over the weekend with phone calls and e-mails decrying Eckern's actions.

And from Jeff Whitty, whose "Avenue Q" is scheduled to play the Sacramento theater in March, was among those alerted by Shaiman's e-mail, and wrote on his blog:

I'll work to prevent CMT from producing any of my future shows with Mr. Eckern at the helm. To me, he's one of those hypocrites who profits from the contributions of gays, whose soul is fed by us and pockets lined by us, but thinks of us as ultimately damned. And I support anyone who’s moved to cancel subscriptions and tickets and write letters and express their feelings about Mr. Eckern’s actions.

3) Be careful with your wording. You are not asking that he be fired, merely refusing to work with him.
See how cleverly Andrew Sullivan put it in his Atlantic Monthly blog post:

The artistic director of Sacramento's Musical Theatre donated to Yes On 8. He should not be fired, in my view. But I can't see how he can work with any gays any longer. Which might limit his professional options.

4) Know when to let it go.
See how gracefully Jeff Whitty backpedaled as the boycott gained momentum and a real career was at stake:

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

My thoughts on the Scott Eckern situation are below. Well, they're yesterday's thoughts, anyway.

Yesterday Scott made an apology that I find convincing and sincere. He backed it up with a donation to HRC. During our phone call, I sensed that there was some real ambivalence, even regret, over this issue, not necessarily related to his future at California Musical Theatre. While my activist side is saying, "Make an example of somebody!", I also would rather hold an unrepentant bigot's feet to the fire. Scott Eckern isn't that.

Scott has been taking calls and exchanging/enduring dialogue at a time when I think most people would have keep their heads firmly planted in the sand. I applaud him for not shutting down, and instead keeping himself open to an overwhelming degree of criticism. He has engaged in dialogue with some of his angriest critics, which speaks volumes.

I look forward to working with the California Musical Theatre in the future. While I think their artistic director made a grave mistake, it was a mistake he then addressed in an honest and human way.

That's all from me.

5) Or you can just be a jerk and babble incoherent spin as your ugly game is exposed to the world.
Per the Sac Bee

Shaiman hopes the episode leads to better understanding of gay people.

"I love God. And this is how God made me," he said. "How people can say this is a choice? Unless you are – you don't know."