And so the new era begins...with dramatically new (and sinister) meanings to the terms "tolerance" and "political freedom." Scott Eckern, the Sacramento theater director whose political donation in support of California's Prop. 8 ban on same-sex marriage turned into a lightning rod in the debate over gay rights, resigned Wednesday, saying he wanted to protect the California Musical Theatre, his artistic home since 1984, from further controversy.
Word of Eckern's $1,000 donation -- publicly reported under state elections law -- spread rapidly on the Internet last week, and Eckern drew criticism from some prominent stage artists, including Tony Award-winning composer Marc Shaiman ("Hairspray") (shown in the above photo) and Jeff Whitty, the "Avenue Q" librettist.
"I am disappointed that my personal convictions have cost me the opportunity to do what I love the most," Eckern, the nonprofit stage company's artistic director since 2003, said in a written statement. By resigning, he said he hoped to "help the healing in the local theatergoing and creative community."
The Sacramento Bee described the pressure this way: "In an industry long considered gay-friendly and tied to causes such as AIDS research, Eckern's donation outraged theater workers across the country...When Tony Award-winner Marc Shaiman, the composer of "Hairspray," read of Eckern's donation last week, he urged artists and theater workers across the country to boycott the theater."
And that campaign was generating substantial force. Enough that Eckern caved in completely, not only with his resignation, but with what he foolishly thinks is an appeasement donation of $1,000 to the Human Rights Campaign, one of the primary advocacy arms for homosexuals, bisexuals and the transgendered.
Given the increasing desire of evangelical clergymen (and their parishioners) to be popular, comfortable, and to avoid controversy, one wonders how they will react when such "new intolerance" tactics as were employed against Mr. Eckern are employed against them.
