The American Psychological Association Will Not Be Giving Prop 8 Lover Doug Manchester Any Conference Money
There are so many metaphors in this news, but our favorite is that this is really a gift to celebrate Doug Manchester’s legal separation from wife Elizabeth.
Daniel is correct, however Daniel doesn’t address the APA’s epic FAIL in this matter. Rather than being pro-active from day one when Manchester’s involvement with Prop 8 became public, the leadership of the APA found it self scrambling to placate justifiably upset members. Many members have refused to renew their membership for this year in protest and are skipping the conference.
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Doug Manchester apologized for his private donation 2 years ago. He has since changed his mind and supports equal rights for all Americans, including all rights afforded by civil marriage. http://mghsd4equality.com/
Doug Manchester was once a foe, but is now an ally. Why we as a community continue to ignore that is beyond me. There are more important battles for us to fight. We are wasting time, energy and resources with this effort. Aren’t we supposed to be fighting for EQUALITY? Doesn’t that include people who have made mistakes, apologized for their wrongdoings and have stepped out publicly to correct their actions? All this back and forth is a huge distraction to the LGBT community and our fight for the things that MATTER the MOST.
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It is only the APA’s Council meeting that’s moving, not the entire conference. The conference is going ahead at the Hyatt as planned since breaking the contract, which was signed before the Prop 8 campaign, would be too costly to APA. However, various groups within APA are discussing ways in which to protest Manchester’s donation and anti-gay politics at the Hyatt and other, smaller groups in APA (such as APA divisions) have also moved their meetings and hospitality suites to other hotels.