Well, as you can imagine, they are none too happy about Governor Huntsman’s support of civil unions. In response someone from the Facebook page (I don’t know if is an official representative or not) sent out the following message:
On Monday, February 9, 2009, the Salt Lake Tribune reported that Governor Huntsman, through his spokesperson, had expressed his support for the “Common Ground Initiative” and said he was in favor of civil unions for same-sex couples.In response, Sutherland Institute issued the following statement: “We’re not surprised. Public relations, not policy, is his strong suit. He had to be dragged to the altar of Amendment 3, and everyone has known, since then, that Governor Huntsman would rather be nice than right.”
Responsible citizens wishing to express their disappointment to the Governor’s position on this issue may contact his office at 801-538-1000 or you can simply leave a comment for him at http://governor.utah.gov/goca/form_comment.html.
The Governor needs to know it’s important to be right on this issue, not nice.
Sincerely,
Your Friends at
Sutherland Institute
Now, I understand that the SI is using rhetoric to frame this as an issue of right or wrong, but I find it interesting that they call Governor Huntsman “nice” for supporting civil unions. By this logic SI is being mean or, dare I say, malicious in its opposition to any sort of gay marriage. Furthermore by using the phrase “important to be right,” SI suggests that any sort of GLBT bill is wrong.
So now we are diving into the psyche of the Sutherland Institute – they think that pro-GLBT issues are wrong and that they need to be as mean and nasty as possible to anyone who supports that. This is supported by my earlier post regarding Eric Ethington’s blog post wherein the people running the show were very close minded and one sided in their discussion of GLBT issues.
Paul Mero, President of the Sutherland Institute, may be right when he says he does not know anyone who would act so harshly an cruelly as described in Ethington’s post; this message, however, shows that there is a culture of hate and hostility that is frankly disturbing for any sort of political discussion. Even if this message did not come from an official representative, it shows that its members clearly think and feel in a way that is down right nasty.
So, please do contact the Governor, but tell him that you support him taking a strong stance on a politically volatile issue such as this.
Interesting how you pass such hasty judgment based on a couple of words from a couple of sources.
Making unsupported accusations is truly what creates “a culture of hate and hostility.” I’m not saying you might not be right, but I am saying that to make a statement like you have here based on this little evidence, and using your own, seemingly uninformed interpretation, is unfair. This adds nothing to debate, it only stifles it, just like you’re claiming Sutherland is doing.
Anon,
I believe that there is value in evaluating the words associated with a press release (as opposed to simple off the cuff speaking).
Perhaps my evaluation is completely wrong – and I will fully admit that it could be. But I do find it interesting to look into what people say and how they say it.
I often wonder myself why the gay community continues to attempt dialogue with an organization like the Sutherland Institute, that has consistently made clear, their unwillingness to find “common ground” on any issue affecting the gay community.
It may not be blatant hate speech, but it’s result is the same.
http://www.gayleruzicka.com