Sacramento Theater director resigns after his donation to Yes on Prop 8 becomes public

[davidinalameda]

http://www.sacbee.com/1089/story/1391705.html

California Musical Theatre's artistic director, Scott Eckern, resigned from his post today amid controversy over a donation he made to the Proposition 8 campaign to ban gay marriage.

Eckern gave $1,000 in support of Proposition 8, a donation that sparked criticism from theater workers and the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.

"We have released a statement that Scott resigned," said Chris McSwain, community affairs director for the theater company. He declined to comment further.

According to the statement, the theater company's board of directors received notice today from executive producer Richard Lewis saying that Eckern has resigned.

[Maat]

1. Good.

You go along with hate, you pay the price. He was probably told to resign or face other consequences (given the gentle hint).

[Ian David]

2. I've seen West Side Story. I know what could have happened to him. n/t

[BlueCaliDem]

3. GOOD! One down (hopefully) many more to go. Trying to strip Ca. citizens' equal rights should

be punished immediately.

I bet he wouldn't have resigned had his name not popped up on the donor's list.

[lurky]

4. An anti-gay musical theater director?

I think it's going to be hard for him to find work in his field now...

:wtf:

[davidinalameda]

5. good

bigots deserve to be punished

[GodlessBiker]

7. Without gay people, American musical theater would collapse.

This guy just had really bad judgment on this issue.

[IndianaGreen]

26. Without gay people, there wouldn't be an 1812 Overture to be played on the Fourth of July

Tchaikovsky was gay!

[nichomachus]

13. And his sister is a lesbian in a domestic partnership

[bluedawg12]

16. But we need more outreach n/t

[nichomachus]

19. Bingo! It's not going to work

People didn't vote for this because they don't know any gay people. That's a myth.

Here in Palm Springs, which is 40-50 percent gay, 30 percent of the voters voted for Prop H8. It would be hard to live in PS and not know, work with, and interact with gay people on a daily basis.

Most of the non-gay voters voted for Prop H8.

[yardwork]

27. Yes, and that ice cream store owner in Sacramento participated in gay pride parades

but still contributed $20,000 to "Yes on Prop 8." And now he's all hurt that people are mad at him.

[geiger]

6. dumb, incompetent, mentally challenged? do we start a poll?

[yardwork]

8. Did you read his comments? Unbelievable.

Eckern said that he "honestly had no idea" that the contribution would spark such outrage and made the donation to act on his belief as the traditional definition of marriage be preserved.

...

Eckern said his sister is a lesbian in a committed relationship and he loves her and is supportive of her and her family, just as she is of him and his family.

"I definitely do not support any message or treatment of others that is hateful or instills fear," he said. "This is a highly emotional issue and the accusations that have been made against me are simply not true."

What accusations are untrue, Scott? Did you contribute $1,000 to take away your sister's rights or not?

[KitchenWitch]

20. I wonder if his sister is really still talking to him after this.

unreal.

[juno jones]

9. Good.

He deserves it.

[Pryderi]

10. Knives and Noses...n/t

[terrya]

11. Good. This was the correct thing to do.

Scott Eckern should be ashamed of himself.

[Gregorian]

12. It's like smoking out Nazis.

I know. I know. Exaggerated generalization.

I'm really just trying out my new keyboard and internet connection.

Nazi!

[IndianaGreen]

24. Like Nazis, they claim ignorance, or that they were following orders

Scum bags the whole lot of them.

Any news about El Coyote's owner?

[nichomachus]

14. Go to this site -- see who donated in your town

http://www.sfgate.com/webdb/prop8/

Even if you don't live in CA -- money for this came from Mormons and their collaborators all over the US.

[MNBrewer]

22. Mark Madsen, a player for the Minnesota Timberwolves basketball team

was the Minnesota resident who gave the most of anyone in my state in support of Prop 8.

Scum.

[mondo joe]

25. I'm proud of Seattle: 4 donations for Prop 8, 477 donations against. NT

[yardwork]

28. I looked up my state of North Carolina and found 14 contributors - some of them known homophobes.

I was pleased to see ten times as many contributors to "No on 8" from North Carolina, though!

[bluedawg12]

15. I gave him less than a week

after he was outed. Hypocrite. Buh byee.

[Greyskye]

17. We typically see a number of their productions every year

I'll enjoy them even more in the future.

[The Backlash Cometh]

18. Ballsy.

[Zuiderelle]

21. Good. What an asshole.

[IndianaGreen]

23. He can become stage director for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Adios motherfraker!