When you’re out of a job, it appears that the lives of the gays and lesbians next door are a lot less scary – or even much of your concern. That’s the dynamic that has hit the bottom line of at least one anti-gay religious right organization.
CitizenLink – a political action arm of Focus on the Family – has sent out a dire fundraising letter to its supporters.
“CitizenLink’s gift income is down dramatically. In the next 30 days, I need to raise $2.3 million to help close the gap, or our ability to act on your behalf will be severly (sic), and perhaps irreparably, hurt,” writes CitizenLink Executive Director Tom Minnery.
CitizenLink has spent the millions of dollars it has raised over the years to fight against the rights of gays and lesbians. Their pet project is “True Tolerance” which advocates for the rights of bullies in schools. Okay, that’s not exactly a fair characterization. They are against bullying in schools, but they believe that bullies don’t need to be taught that gay and lesbian kids are just human beings like the rest of us. They believe a general anti-bullying policy will do when research has repeatedly shown that to make a difference, bullying policies need to be specific – especially in the area of LGBT people.
As Eliza Byard, executive director of the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network, made it clear last year, “when school level policies actually mention sexual orientation and gender identity, rates of bullying and harassment go down, and this is for all students.”
Crooks and Liars blogger “karoli” did a quick search of how CitizenLink has used the money it has raised in the past, spending $700,000 to help the California Family Council Foundation fight for Proposition 8. They are also using their donations to fund “a ballot initiative to add a ‘religious liberty amendment’ to the Colorado state constitution, similar to other amendments they’re promoting in Florida and North Dakota, among others.”
Also, according to karoli’s math, it would appear that CitizenLink funding for the year has dropped by about 50%. Ouch.
A perfect storm, of sorts, may be to blame for the drop as the economy wanes and acceptance of gays and lesbians in both church and society continues to grow.
Stewart Hoover, director of the Center for Media, Religion and Culture at the University of Colorado at Boulder, said the economic downturn has hit most nonprofit groups hard. The economy and joblessness, not family-value issues such as gay marriage and abortion that these groups focus on, are what people are concerned about these days, he said.
A cultural shift among American conservatives also may have contributed to CitizenLink’s shortfall, Hoover said. The Tea Party, which upholds the conservative Republican views of small government and no new taxes, appears to be siphoning off donations that otherwise would go to more explicitly faith-based conservative groups.
If this trend continues, I predict outfits like CitizenLink will simply follow the money and change their focus away from the less-profitable pursuits of denying equality to gays and lesbians. Minnery has promised as much.
Minnery said that if the budget is not met by Sept. 30, none of his 46 staffers will be laid off. Instead, CitizenLink will cut back on its projects.
That would certainly qualify as an answered prayer.
