My good friend Mark Kleinschmidt is an anti-death penalty attorney and a twice-elected member of the Chapel Hill Town Council. He is also gay. This last fact qualified him for membership on a list that is making the rounds on hate sites called the “National List Of Openly-Homosexual Public Officials.” (And no I am not going to link to these fools, you can probably Google it.)
Mark discovered this list and posted about it on his blog: Anti-gay hate sites target gay elected officials. Since Mark linked to a couple of the sites hosting the lists, they found him and linked back, sending readers over to Mark’s blog where they are posting hateful comments and generally exposing themselves as the ignorant trolls they are.
I have a great idea about how to counter this. I have pledged to donate $5 to Mark’s re-election campaign* every single time someone posts a hateful or derogatory comment on or link to Mark’s blog. That means these creeps have already raised $25 to keep this gay man in elected office. Let’s see how much more they can raise!
Won’t you join in this campaign? You can pledge any amount you like. Just post a comment on Mark’s blog that you are taking up Ruby’s Challenge to let others know what impact they are having.
* If Mark chooses not to run for Town Council again in 2009, he can keep this money for a future campaign. I’m sure there will be one in his future. 🙂
Update: You can now donate right here or on Mark’s blog (As I did).