Wednesday, May 7, 2008

It's Like Poll Crashing, only it Matters.

I've got a new hobby. Four days ago I heard that the AFA (American Family Assn or Abhorrent Fundy Asses, I can never remember which) had waged a letter-writing campaign against Proctor and Gamble for including gays in one of their soap operas. My response was to use the AFA's email mechanism to thank P&G for the positive portrayal of gays in their soap opera. That put me on the AFA mailing list, so now they're keeping me informed of all of their maligned activities. My new hobby: AFA crashing. Every time they campaign to force Bronze Age morality on America, I will oppose them by using their mechanisms to distribute my message to the appropriate parties, and I will spread the word to like-minded individuals. It's like poll crashing, except that when I make my opinion known to my senators or to P&G or whoever else the AFA targets, those opinions could have real effects on their actions.

Last night I read the AFA's latest call to action: they want to protect employers' rights to discriminate against people based on their sexual orientation. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) has passed in the house and is moving onto the senate. According to the AFA, "The proposed legislation would prohibit employers from taking their deeply held [religious] beliefs into account when making personnel decisions." In the same way that a Jew or Muslim may want to fire or bar employment from eaters of bacon, the AFA wants to ensure employers' rights to discriminate against people for what they do in their private lives. Because (to them) it's icky. And their book says it's bad. In two places.

It is important that our senators get a representative sample of opinions on this legislation. To email/mail your senators, you can follow this AFA link. Enter your zip code and click "Go." It takes you to a page with a form letter addressed to your state's senators. Simply delete the AFA form letter and insert your own message. Here's what I said:

I urge you to support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). The personal lives of law-abiding citizens should not be grounds for employment discrimination. A Jew can't fire me for eating pork. A Muslim can't bar me from employment for not wearing a burka. No one should be able to discriminate against a homosexual for loving his or her chosen partner. We're all counting on you to support equality. Support America. Support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

3 comments:

Kyle Szklenski said...

This is a great idea. Let's do it.

Jordan said...

What kind of bad logic comes to the conclusion that it is discriminatory to prevent people from being discriminatory? I sent in your form letter. I just try to be optimistic when I hear stories like this. "We ARE winning, we ARE winning!" :P

tom said...

Good idea. Done.