The New Blacklist

(Update: this post is about the artistic blacklist in the United States. So it's the New US Blacklist. This shouldn't be confused with the new Australian Blacklist of internet censorship. I know it's hard to keep track of all the good things people are doing to protect you, but you'll figure it all out eventually).

"I am leaving California Musical Theatre after prayerful consideration to protect the organization and to help the healing in the local theatre-going and creative community. California Musical Theatre will continue to welcome with open arms all staff, artists and audiences who collaborate in the experience that live theatre does best – to lift the human spirit."

That's part of a resignation letter by Scott Eckern, former artistic director of the California Musical Theater. It's difficult to see how Eckern could have written that paragraph without vomiting. The only reason he wrote the letter and quit his job is because the creative community does not welcome people with open arms.

Eckern donated money in support of Proposition 8, California's measure to have marriage be defined as a union between a man and a woman. The vote passed last week.

Since donations are public record, Eckern was outed as - horrors! - a man with different views than the theater scene's heavy hitters. Word spread quickly through the theater crowd thanks to an email campaign. The email campaign asked people to boycott the theatre. The writer of Hairspray said that none of his productions will ever run in an Eckern theatre again. Seeing the writing on the wall, Eckern issued an apology and donated $1000 to the Human Rights Campaign, then called it quits.

So now we have a whole new blacklist, drawn up by people that delight in making movies bemoaning blacklists.

Our "artists" expose themselves yet again. They aren't about being different and accepting others that are different. They're about accepting those that are different but think exactly like them.

Politics transcends everything. Art, love, gender, family, friendships. What are these against a baying horde of goodthinkers?

I feel badly for Eckern. I've been in a lot of green rooms and attended many a theater party. The amount of hugging, backslapping, and "I love you" shrieks is staggering. And nobody means it. Just ask Eckern.

Poor guy. He actually thought he belonged to a diverse, accepting group. Then the group calls him a bigot and he feels the need to grovel and shell out another $1000 in an attempt to get his "friends" to love him again. Just another day in the land of tolerance.

Note to Eckern: keep your money, and your pride.