Milking Victimhood for Fun and Profit

by on

This is certainly not Lambda Legal’s finest hour, and it reveals a corrupt mindset that puts creating controversy for self-promotion—and perpetuating victimhood—above all else. Money quotes:

Even after being told how the restaurant handled the situation, Lambda isn’t backing down from the campaign. Instead the organization has dug in its heels. … Lambda is urging their followers to damage the reputation of a company that is recognized as an LGBT-friendly spot and hasn’t been proven guilty of any wrongdoing. …

“Lambda Legal has no obligation to investigate the allegations before doing media work or filling a case. That’s up to the [human rights] commission to decide,” said Dru Levasseur, Lambda Legal Transgender Rights Project Director. “The business’ reputation is not our concern.”

More. Mark Lees asks in the Washington Blade, “Can a business undo damage done by gay zealots?”

7 Comments for “Milking Victimhood for Fun and Profit”

  1. posted by R.V. on

    A professionally managed organization, which Lambda used to be, would have weeded out someone like Levasseur and those who perpetuated this action, but it seems political correctness now rules there as it does at so many LGBT groups. A pity.

  2. posted by Doug on

    I thought the title “Milking Victimhood for Fun and Profit” was referring to the evangelical right wanting a special carve out to discriminate only against the LGBT community.

  3. posted by Tom Jefferson III on

    1. Not to rush to defend Lambda — although the group has done great work in the past and can still do so now — but if (as some seem to imply) sexual orientation/gender identity should not be a part of civil rights laws, then this type of stunt would be the only sort of thing that a gay rights group would be able to to.

  4. posted by Doug on

    “. . . but if (as some seem to imply) sexual orientation/gender identity should not be a part of civil rights laws. . . ”

    That’s what Stephen wants, a carve out for religious faith so they can discriminate against the LGBT community.

    • posted by R.V. on

      T.J., Washington DC has one of the nation’s strongest trans-inclusive anti-discrimination laws, so how is it that unleashing a social media campaign attacking a pro-gay business that immediately fired the waitress who wrote the slur, in addition to bringing a complaint before the DC human rights commission, necessary on any grounds?

      Doug, can you contribute anything but bile against the blogger?

  5. posted by Tom Jefferson III on

    R.V.

    1. It is good that Washington D.C. has “nation’s strongest trans-inclusive anti-discrimination laws” (although I thought that award belonged to my state, Minnesota). Some people like to imply (sometimes more overtly then others) that an incident such as this “proves” that sexual orientation/gender identity should not be included in civil right laws.

    2. The Local Human Rights Commission may have to investigate (depending on how its rules are written), but (again, based on how the story has been framed in the press) I do not see that the owners in this case acted inappropriately or could have done anything else.

    The employee was “sacked” (I been picking up British words lately) and customers got an apology and some sort of refund. That is pretty much all a business can do.

    Again, the local civil right commission may have to go through the motions — you know, get the facts and not just rely on press reports — but I do not see what else could have been done.

    The customers might argue something about “emotional distress”, but even a undergraduate law student — such as myself — knows that is pretty hard to prove and oftentimes gets laughed out of court by the judge.

  6. posted by Tom Jefferson III on

    A friend of mine said that when Mel Gibon’s “Passion Of The Christ” film was released, some conservative Christians used it as an opportunity to do so of their own “Milking Victimhood for Fun and Profit.”

    When he had — what was once — the most successful movie in America, I guess some conservative Christians came out and said that the “liberal elite” was keeping Gibson down or something to that effect.

    I refer to this incident (I did actually see the film) have to wonder, how many conservatives kept quite when conservative Christians are “Milking Victimhood for Fun and Profit”…..

Comments are closed.