Why Are Two Wealthy Gay Men Hosting a Benefit for Ted Cruz? Israel.

[Jefferson23]

4/26/2015

The LGBT community is threatening boycotts and canceling benefits. The hidden reason is the GOP’s Israel strategy.

If you’ve ever been to Fire Island Pines, one of the leading gay utopias on the planet, you know that there isn’t much to do. There’s only one commercial center with a couple of stores, a bar, and a hotel.

And yet, in less than 24 hours, over 4,000 people have said they’re going to boycott it. The reason? It’s owned by Ian Reisner and Mati Weiderpass, the self-described “prominent NYC hotel owners” who recently hosted a “fireside chat” with Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz.

in full: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/04/26/why-are-two-wealthy-gay-men-hosting-a-benefit-for-ted-cruz-israel.html

[Scootaloo]

1. Sounds familiar. Like the pitter-patter of angry thumb-typing... n/t

[King_David]

10. What a repulsive personal attack , I do not support Ted Cruz at all

And don't get nasty right wing extremist sites when anybody googles the content of my messages either...

[Scootaloo]

12. I never said you supported Ted Cruz, Dave

[Iliyah]

2. Because they care more about Israel than the United States

[Jefferson23]

4. The two gentlemen can do that, nothing illegal about it and they will have to deal with

their challengers too. Cruz/Israel over human/civil rights is an interesting focus they're displaying,
not unusual for some Israeli policy supporters.

[mwrguy]

5. Zionism trumps everything

[leveymg]

3. Before anyone on Fire Island gets all carried away embracing the RW, they should see a Visconti film

"The Damned."

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Kx-0zlzy1JA/Ur71XIsdvII/AAAAAAAAEmw/OyBhKTgZDzc/s1600/Night+Porter2.jpg

[sabbat hunter]

6. I don't know how anyone

who is part of the LGBTQ community, or their allies, identifies as a member of the GOP.

[Jefferson23]

7. They do, as hard as it is to understand. There is an excerpt in the OP where Iran is

mentioned too as another fear factor...fear no matter how baseless makes for many hawks.

What I find interesting is that the Democrats have always supported Israel, have
always covered for them under any resolutions, yet that history is not good enough
for these two men..they want more, evidently.

[shira]

13. Same way some from the LGBTQ community support a BDS 1-state solution....

....for a greater Palestine that would mark the end of any LGBTQ rights in what was formally known as Israel.

[azurnoir]

17. I guess for some 2+2=5

[Jefferson23]

8. The author of the OP: Jay Michaelson

Jay Michaelson (born 1971) is a writer and LGBT activist in the USA. His work involves spirituality, Judaism, sexuality, and law.[1] He is currently a contributing editor to The Forward,[2] newspaper, and a columnist at the The Daily Beast[3] Michaelson has twice won the New York Society for Professional Journalists award for opinion writing, most recently in 2014.[4] Michaelson is Jewish and openly gay and often works in the intersecting fields of LGBT people and Jewish traditions.[5]

Michaelson has held teaching positions at Chicago Theological Seminary, Boston University, Yale University, and the City College of New York with a focus on religion, law, and ethics. His 1998 Stanford Environmental Law Journal article[6][7] on geoengineering and climate change was described as "seminal" by Salon Magazine[8] and he is regarded as an early advocate of the policy.[9]

Michaelson was listed in the Forward 50 list of influential American Jews in 2009. He founded Zeek: A Jewish Journal of Thought and Culture in 2002 and Nehirim, an LGBT Jewish organization, in 2004. In 2009, his essay entitled "How I'm Losing My Love for Israel" generated substantial controversy in the Jewish world, including responses [10] from Daniel Gordis,[11] and Jonathan Sarna,.[12] Michaelson holds a Ph.D. in Jewish Thought from Hebrew University, and was ordained as a rabbi in 2013.

In 2013, Michaelson wrote a long-form report on the religious exemptions movement,[13] which gained prominence a year later in the Hobby Lobby Supreme Court case. He has been a significant public voice on the issue, appearing on NPR[14] and writing in Reuters[15] and other publications.

in full: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Michaelson

[azurnoir]

9. Interesting to each his own guess and apparently Ian Reisner and Mati Weiderpass's reason(s)

for hosting such an event outweigh those for not

[Jefferson23]

18. They have their priorities, supporting a hawk for Israeli policy over the human/civil rights of

people..no matter where they live in the world. Appears they did not count on being challenged for it
and the author Jay Michaelson exposed their bias by calling them on it...a job well done. People
have a right to know and a right to boycott them if they so choose.

[King_David]

11. Shame on them

I feel nauseated just reading this.

[Little Tich]

14. Ian Reisner apologized for hosting Ted Cruz. It’s in LBN now.

Gay Businessman Ian Reisner Apologizes For Hosting Ted Cruz Event

Source: Huffington Post

Ian Reisner, a gay businessman who hosted an event for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in New York this week, apologized on Sunday after furious backlash from the gay community.

Read more: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141078226

[Jefferson23]

15. He was unaware of Cruz's politics? ok. n/t

[azurnoir]

16. ah huh

Prominent NYC Hotel Owners Ignited a Dialogue with Senator Ted Cruz about Gay Rights and Reiterated Their Support of Marriage Equality

Two prominent gay NYC hoteliers Ian Reisner and Mati Weiderpass have come out with a strong statement following their meeting with Senator Ted Cruz of Texas this week and in the wake of his latest legislation to try and stop gay marriage today. Reisner and Weiderpass who own The OUT Hotel in NYC have reiterated their unwavering support of gay rights, gay marriage and equality for all. The two Manhattan business leaders support public debate and have been active in the gay equal rights movement and gay social issues for the last two decades. No topic was left off the table during their meeting with Senator Cruz, including his opinions on gay marriage, protection for the state of Israel and national security. Although the Senator said that he and his wife would "love their daughter unconditionally even if she admitted being gay" he did not alter what they feel is an unconstitutional opinion on gay marriage, which was where they vehemently disagreed on this important social issue.

Ian Reisner released the following statement after the meeting, "For my entire adult life, I have been an ardent supporter and activist for gay rights and LGBT organizations worldwide. I was given the opportunity to have a candid conversation with Senator Ted Cruz on why he should rethink his view on gay marriage. We also spoke about where he stood on issues including the state of Israel and national security, which are the only places where we share common ground. My support for Hillary Clinton remains steadfast and my meeting with Senator Cruz was a chance to engage head-on with Hillary's opposition. It was just 3 months ago that I hosted a "Ready for Hillary" event for 900 people at my hotel The OUT NYC. Senator Ted Cruz and I disagree strongly on the issue of gay marriage, but having an open dialogue with those who have differing political opinions is a part of the political system that this country was founded on. My tireless support of the gay community and its causes worldwide has not and will not change; on the contrary I reaffirm my commitment to gay rights by not shying away from engaging with anyone opposed to us."


Mati Weiderpass continued, "Our records make it clear that we support gay marriage 100%. I have been a major supporter of gay causes and gay charities for two decades. People on both sides of the aisle need to be able to communicate with one another even when they ideologically disagree. As a Captain in the Army, I worked tirelessly for the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." While serving on the Board of Directors for the Service members Legal Defense Network, I needed to reach across the aisle to make that happen. The fact that Senator Cruz came to a gay household was a surprise and a step in the right direction towards him having a better understanding of why he should rethink his stance on the gay marriage. We spent most of the time talking about national security issues and in particular the challenges regarding the defense of Israel to ISIS and Iran -- these are the only issues where we found common ground. However, I did not shy away from engaging the Senator about social issues, in particular gay marriage."

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/prominent-nyc-hotel-owners-ignited-a-dialogue-with-senator-ted-cruz-about-gay-rights-and-reiterated-their-support-of-marriage-equality-300071962.html

[oberliner]

19. An apology was sent

Major error in judgement to say the least.

[Jefferson23]

20. What We Learned from the Global Activists at Quorum: Global LGBT Voices

April 30, 2015

Last December, when The Daily Beast brought together a dozen LGBT activists from around the world to share their stories, we expected to learn a lot. And we did. But despite the stories the activists shared about their disparate backgrounds and different experiences, what they all had in common emerged most clearly: courage, daring, resilience.

This was not exactly the plan.

One of the guiding principles of the Quorum program—the next installment is being scheduled for autumn—to “reverse the megaphone” in international LGBT activism. Often, activists and governments from the U.S. and other Western countries have a paternalistic attitude toward the Global South and Global East.

Listen to us, we shout, and learn from us how to respect human rights.

Even apart from the way this arrogance ignores the West’s own egregious failings in protecting human rights, this line of thinking can often do more harm than good. Many countries in Africa and the Islamic world, for example, have indigenous conceptions of sexual and gender diversity. But when Western activists force all of them to conform to “LGBT” and to Western conceptions of rights, they create conservative resistance to these “new” or “un-African” or “un-Islamic” ideas. They play right into the traditionalists’ rhetoric.

Even the language we use can be unintentionally marginalizing. We say LGBT, for example, but the more prevalent international term is SOGI—sexual orientation and gender identity—because it doesn’t assume that Western categories fit everyone’s experiences. The legacy of colonialism is still with us, even in the words we use.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/04/22/what-we-learned-from-the-global-activists-at-quorum-global-lgbt-voices.html