Karen Ocamb Exposes LGBT Celebrity Absence in Prop 8 Fight

Openly lesbian reporter Karen Ocamb published an article in this week's IN LA Magazine called "Mega A-Gays Missing in Fight Against Prop 8" which exposes the lack of financial contributions from high profile, openly gay or lesbian celebrities to the campaign to defeat the November constitutional amendment that would eliminate the right to marry for same-sex couples in California.

Her piece is a must read, and the list of celebrities is a Who's Who list of some of the top celebrities (gay or straight) in America. She starts by talking about talk show host Ellen Degeneres very public wedding to actress Portia de Rossi but then goes on to say that:

So while their visibility as openly LGBT celebrities and entertainment power players is important, their financial absence from the specific fight to save the fundament right of same-sex couples to marry is hurting.

Also missing (as of Sept. 10) from the rolls were: Rosie O’Donnell, whose Feb. 27, 2004, marriage to Kelli Carpenter was nullified; Sir Elton John, who tied the civil partnership knot with partner David Furnish in England; rock star Melissa Etheridge, whose domestic partnership/wedding to actress Tammy Lynn Michaels Sept. 22, 2003, was celebrated in In Style magazine.

Other producers and directors not on the list include Paul Colichman (here!TV) Greg Berlanti (Brothers & Sisters), Marc Cherry (Desperate Housewives), Bryan Singer (Superman Returns), Joel Schumacher (Batman & Robin), and Gus Van Sant, though Bruce Cohen, who produced Milk, directed by Van Sant, was recently married and did contribute. Max Muchnick (Will & Grace) also contributed, as did David Geffen, partner in DreamWorks, who gave $50,000, and Bryan Lourd, managing partner of Creative Artists Agency who contributed $5,000.
Top individual donors are philanthropist David Bohnett ($600,000), David Maltz, of Cleveland ($500,000), James Hormel ($150,000) and Gene La Pietra ($100,000).

Among companies and foundations that contributed monetarily and “in-kind,” Equality California is the largest contributor at $4 million (EQCA’s annual budget is $1.5 million). The Human Rights Campaign has contributed $2 million (with a budget of $40 million); the ACLU, $1.5 million; National Center for Lesbian Rights, more than $500,000; the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, $250,000; Gill Action Fund, $350,000. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has contributed $257,000 (with a budget of $9 million), but has 90 percent of its field staff working in Southern California for the fight. (Full disclosure: IN magazine contributed $20,000.)

It will be interesting to see if Karen's article and Brad Pitt's recent donation of $100,000 will shame (and, yes, that is the right word!) others who have the financial resources to contribute monetarily (and proportionately!) to the fight to prevent Proposition 8 from being the first instance in the history if the United States of a right previously granted to a minority being eliminated by a vote of the majority.