The gall to bash Gill: Why rich, active groups are scared of one rich, active man

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03/16/2009

by Jeremy Hooper

On "Scooby Doo," it was always those meddling kids at whom the captured villains would shake a frustrated fist. Mr. Wilson had Dennis the Menace. For Fred Flinstone, it was both the rack of ribs that was heavy enough to turn over his foot-powered car, as well as a house kitty big enough to carry him out of the house and lock the door behind him. But all are connected by the simple fact that cartoon characters need comic foils -- a truism that more than applies to the cartoony "pro-family" movement.

This snippet from One News Now:

The [Iowa marriage equality bill] is sponsored in the Senate by openly homosexual member Matt McCoy, but Chuck Hurley of the Iowa Family Policy Center says the person really responsible is wealthy homosexual activist Tim Gill.

"In most states this would be laughable," Hurley contends. "[But] in the states where Tim Gill has been very successful in buying off politicians through campaign contributions, these bills have to be taken seriously."
...
"They have turned down the opportunity for a marriage amendment now several times, and they have taken hundreds of thousands -- probably in excess of a million dollars now -- from Tim Gill and his friends," he adds.

Yes, it's Coloradoan billionaire Tim Gill who serves as the Road Runner to the anti-gay side's Wile E. Coyote. To that movement, Mr. Gill is working independently of the societal progress, and is instead manipulating various locales to bend Tim-Gill to that pesky homosexual agenda. They refuse to see Mr. Gill or his organizations as cultivators who are tending to the advancements that are organically sprouting up all over this nation. No, no -- they have conveniently cast Gill as a cold, calculating cash flow who will stop at nothing to cast out their socially conservative "values."

The above is just one tiny example that we happened to come across this morning. You don't have to go far to find any of the usual professional "protect marriage" speakers using Mr. Gill. Focus on the Family is simply obsessed with the dude, creating multiple pieces, images, and videos addressing him. Other conserva-outlets like CBN have done the same. In fact, over the past few years, anti-Gill has become synonymous with anti-gay.

So why are these groups so intimidated and determined to "expose" this man's work, when they themselves are contributing craploads of moolah to their own "culture war" battles? Well, for one, Mr. Gill truly is committed to the cause of equality. So in that sense, the anti-equality side is right to fear his efforts. He was clearly smart and savvy enough to make a bank of bills, so they're surely scared that he'll also be able to cash in on his desires to marry a pair of Bills.

But more than that, our opposition has honed on to Gill because they are a movement forever in search of an easy scapegoat. They need a figurehead. A bogeyman. Someone who they can paint as a behind-the-scenses manipulator, so they can foster the false impression that gay rights would have zero chance of success if not for underhanded machinations. Since they have positioned their side as the inarguably righteous one, they can't allow for the idea that growing enlightenment leads to a rejection of their "values" -- they need a pro-gay puppetmaster to decry. And Gill, being rich, gay, and politically active, fits their casting notice to a tee.

Getting back to the above Iowa quips and the money game in general: Chuck Hurley may be right that Mr. Gill and his organizations have funneled some flow into the Hawkeye State. But guess what? EVEN WITH GILL, THEIR SIDE'S ORGANIZED COFFERS MAKE OURS LOOK LIKE A CHILD'S PIGGY BANK! The money that comes from our side is largely used to counterbalance the cash that the "pro-family" team is constantly putting towards combatting gay lives and loves. And not only that, our funds also have to overcome the decades of misinformation and harmful stereotypes that groups like Focus on the Family (the parent organization of Hurley's Iowa Family Policy Center) have kept alive and unwell. So when their side whines about the big bad Gill man and his bags of dough, they may want folks to think that they are impoverished innocents who are giving all their excess cash to soup kitchens. But the reality is that their movement is frickin' loaded and willing to fork it all over for the cause of "family protection." Pro-gay Gill is simply sticking his finger in the homo-hostile dyke, doing whatever he can to stop the hurtful anti-gay sludge from causing further contamination!

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