Queer Town: Tracking the Money for Prop. 8

While Brad Pitt's $100,000 contribution to the "No on 8" campaign made big news last week, the larger money picture for the anti-gay ballot measure doesn't look so good for opponents of Proposition 8, and may be why gay and lesbian activists are still concerned about defeating the proposed gay marriage ban.

The graphic that really paints a disturbing picture for the "No on 8" crowd can be found at the LA Times web site. A "money tracker" shows that contributions to support Prop. 8 come from more varied communities within the state of California, and donations from opponents are heavily concentrated in traditional gay enclaves like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Palm Springs, and San Diego. The tracker also shows that nearly half of the contributions to defeat the ballot measure come from out of state. In other words, that's money from people who aren't voting.

This is not good news, and demonstrates that supporters of Prop. 8 seem to be more active--at least with their check books--in the state and national battle to stop gay marriage, which is already a right in California. On October 15, in the form of absentee ballots, the ultimate decision to ban same sex weddings or not will begin.

Contact Patrick Range McDonald at pmcdonald@laweekly.com.