Thursday, August 26, 2010

About the Architect of the most Virulent Anti-Gay Campaign in History

How does one forgive Ken Melhman?
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I know, I know. I know he is backing the efforts to turning over Prop 8 now. But in 2004, as the chair of George Bush’s re-election campaign (and working with the RNC) he got Gay Marriage put on the ballots –knowing it would lose but would whip up bad information and increase turnout positive to George Bush – in:
Oklahoma
Utah
Michigan
Ohio
Mississippi
Georgia
Kentucky
Montana
North Dakota
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And in Ohio, it was money well spent. Ohio turned on a total of 7,000 votes and pushed Bush to a decisive win.
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But lost in that political win is the hate that was engendered against gay people – thrown at the youth of America. I know that not everyone who votes against gay marriage hates or even disapproves of gay people. I totally realize that people may vote against gay marriage for any number of reasons.
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But a lot of the advertising speaks of deviant lifestyles and encourages half truths about it. This gets to teens and teen’s parents. It is designed to engender fear and anger and get people to the polls. That is the whole purpose of the advertising!
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Since 2005 (and the anger whipped up at gay people) Ed and I have been driven to support the Trevor Project. The Trevor Project is a Gay Suicide Hotline. Set up and working to young people who have been attacked, threatened or kicked out of their house for being gay. I have seen and witnessed what mis-information does to these kids and their families.
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So for me, the Ken Melhman question is not abstract about forgiveness. It is very real, very practical and formed around youngsters that have been stopped from killing themselves, and the ones that succeeded. For me it boils down to a simple question.
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Question: How much of hate, anger and misinformation was whipped up by Ken Melhmen to reelect George Bush and how did it effect gay youth at risk? What was the political calculation that lead Mr. Mehlmen to find this acceptable?

Long Answer from a Study:
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth are up to four times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers, according to the Massachusetts 2006 Youth Risk Survey. A 2009 study, "Family Rejection as a Predictor of Negative Health Outcomes" led by Dr. Caitlin Ryan and conducted as part of the Family Acceptance Project at San Francisco State University, shows that adolescence who were rejected by their families for being LGBT were 8.4 times more likely to report having attempted suicide. And for every completed suicide by a young person, it is estimated that 100 to 200 attempts are made (2003 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey).
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Short Answer More than I can forget.