Tim Gill Terrifies The Jeebus People

Gay activist Tim Gill has got the Christian right positively shaking in their pews.

Gill, the wealthy founder of software giant Quark who was recently named the fifth most influential gay person in America by Out Magazine, was "exposed" by Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcast Network this week as the "stealth" activist behind many recent advances for the LGBT movement in state and local elections across the nation. Gill's good work, while no secret to gay activists, had apparently operated far below the Christian right's radar until now.

But in the CBN feature story bookended by Robertson's commentary, the exposé almost reads more like a love letter to Gill than a condemnation. Go watch the CBN video clip as "family values" strategists describe Gill as brilliant and smart as they tick off the campaigns in which Gill quietly funneled money to gay-friendly candidates and upended right-wingers. Through his Gill Action Fund, Gill helped win dozens of state and local elections for our side - all done while remaining largely unknown to beleaguered Republicans.

From the transcript:

One of Gill's 2004 targets was Ray Martinez of Fort Collins, Colorado. As the three-time Republican mayor of this Republican leaning area, Martinez thought he had a great shot at winning a state senate seat. Martinez told CBN News "the odds looked very good. The polling we saw was very favorable." But in the last few weeks of the campaign, Martinez got hit with an avalanche of media attacking his personal character and pro-life stance.

"We didn't know who was funding it," Martinez said. "We heard rumors of their names, but we could never find their names and we couldn't expose those because they were buried in a barrage of paperwork." Martinez had raised over $300,000 - more than enough he thought to win Fort Collins. But several published reports show Gill and various associates had poured close to $1 million into the race through '527' political organizations.

By taking out Martinez and other Republicans, Gill helped Democrats seize control of Colorado's statehouse for the first time in 30 years. The result? A slew of gay-friendly laws that redefine the family in Colorado.

The Payoff

Today, pro-family lawmakers in the Rocky Mountain state say the "Gill factor" is impossible to ignore. State representative and Minority Whip Cory Gardner says "it puts extreme pressure on people who are trying to make a living at work and trying to raise money for a campaign who don't have deep pockets."

In 2005, Gill started the Gill Action Fund. The fund's mission is "securing equal opportunity for all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender expression." The next year, the fund's success rocked the political world. According to several published reports, it orchestrated donations worth $15 million to Gill's favored candidates and causes.

The payoff this time was wins in 50 of 70 targeted campaigns and power changes in the state chambers of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Iowa. Gill took out Iowa House Speaker Danny Carroll with one of his favorite stealth tactics: small checks from Gill and friends around the country. Carroll says he never knew what hit him until after the election when he checked campaign contributions for his opponent.

The clip ends with a shot of parents pushing their kids on a swingset as the narrator ominously warns that Tim Gill is looking to "flip statehouse chambers and ultimately, the way the country views sexuality and the family." I spoke with Gill on the phone yesterday and he laughed at that image, saying, "They're trying to say that I'm anti-swingset!"

Pat Robertson closes with this: "What are the Christians doing about this? The answer is 'absolutely zip'. There was an organization that I founded but it's not there anymore. To my knowledge, there is no other Christian grassroots organization that is even coming CLOSE to what Tim Gill is doing on the left for homosexuals."

And that, my friends, is high praise indeed.

Activist Tim Gill And Husband Buy Historic Phipps Mansion In Denver

The Denver Post reports today that activist Tim Gill and his husband have bought the historic Phipps Mansion from the University of Denver. Not earth-shattering political news, to be sure, but note how casually the Denver Post's front page story treats their marriage.

Political activist Tim Gill and his husband, Scott Miller, are buying the historic Phipps Mansion from the University of Denver in a deal expected to close by the end of the year. The house, which the university now rents out for events, will be the couple's primary residence. "Tim and I have been looking for a house that was very historic and that has a little bit of land so we can have a proper garden," said Miller, a wealth adviser at UBS. The couple, who married in Massachusetts a year ago, wasted no time making an offer on the house after hearing it was for sale last month. They signed a letter of intent to purchase the 6.5-acre estate a day after touring the property. The deal is slated to close Dec. 15 to accommodate events, including weddings, scheduled through the end of the year.

Just a little real estate news from a local Colorado power couple. Move along.

(Tipped by JMG reader Jerry)

HYPOCRISY ALERT: Thomas Peters Is Very Upset About "Secret" Donors

Former NOM communications director Thomas Peters is very upset that the main donor to an LGBT-friendly Catholic group has been "exposed" as Quark founder Tim Gill. And by "exposed," Peters means "listed on federally required forms."

I’ve been sounding the alarm about Catholics United since 2008. This is the group that, for example, attempted to silence and intimidate priests and bishops from preaching from the pulpit, opposed pro-life efforts, staged a demonstration when Congressman Paul Ryan went to speak at Georgetown, and went after the Knights of Colombus for supporting marriage at the ballot box. -- all while knowingly taking money from a notorious gay activist! This isn’t the first time Tim Gill has done this. I published an exposé in 2011 that Gill’s foundation had donated almost $100,000 to New Ways Ministry (I guess 100 grand is the going rate for buying a fake Catholic mouthpiece these days). Over the years, Gill has donated tens of millions of dollars to push gay marriage, often through deceitful tactics such as these. It’s fair to assume that Catholics United knew about Gill’s history when they accepted his money.

Deceitful tactics? Hidden donors? Stop it, Tommy, my sides!

Today: Double Your Donation To Prop 8 With The Help Of Tim Gill

Tim Gill, the founder of software giant Quark and gay social network Connextion, has made a $100K matching donation to No On 8.

Gill said “Proposition 8 needs all of our support to be defeated and protect marriage for gays and lesbians not just in California, but across the country. This amendment would eliminate the equal treatment of all Californians and write discrimination into the state constitution.”

Gill will match dollar for dollar all donations made by midnight tonight via the Connextion giving link.

NEW YORK: DId Activist Tim Gill Spend $3M In Marriage Battle?

So claims NOM on their blog. But here's what the article they cite really says.

New Yorkers United For Marriage, a coalition composed of gay rights groups such as the Empire State Pride Agenda and Marriage Equality New York, and underwritten in part by the Gill Action Fund, reportedly spent $3 million on the spring campaign to pass the marriage bill.

Not exactly the same thing, but it's easier to single Gill out and keep him in the headlines as that "anti-family" boogeyman.

Traitor NY Sen. Joseph Addabo Explains Why He Voted "No" On Marriage

Queens Democrat Joseph Addado, who was elected with the help of LGBT groups like the Gill Action Fund, says he had to vote "no' on marriage equality because so many calls from constituents told him to. Via Julie Bolcer at the Advocate:

In 2008, state campaign finance records indicate that Addaboo received $9,500, the maximum allowable contribution, from gay philanthropist Tim Gill, the backer of the Gill Action Fund. The contribution was part of the wave of support, ultimately totaling close to $1 million, that helped flipped the senate to Democratic control and install candidates who pledged to uphold pro-LGBT positions, including support for marriage equality.

On Friday, Addabbo defended himself by saying that he had never promised to vote “yes” on the bill, and that he wanted to keep his options open in order to gauge the sentiments of his constituents. “At no point did I ever say ‘yes,’” said Addabbo. “I proposed I would keep an open mind.” “It was my intention to keep an open mind and by doing so, I felt that I would get a clear indication of where my district stands on this issue,” said Addabbo, who said that he received more than 400 communications from constituents, 74% of whom opposed marriage equality. Pressed on whether he would also allow 74% of constituents to influence a vote on something absurd, such as a hypothetical proposal to deport all the Hispanics in the district, Addabbo said, “It’s apples and oranges.”

Addabo was elected with very slim majority. He's definitely one of the ones we can oust in 2010.

Brittany Novotny Vs. Sally Kern

Sally Kern claims that "out of state gay millionaire" Tim Gill is secretly backing Brittany Novotny. Neither Gill nor his PAC have donated to Novotny.

Noted Activist Rodger McFarlane Dies

Rodger McFarlane, the noted activist and author whose work ranged from ACT-UP to Gay Men's Health Crisis to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, has taken his own life in New Mexico due to failing health. McFarlane had been suffering great pain caused by heart and back problems. Most recently McFarlane was executive director of the Gill Foundation, a group which funds many LGBT causes. GLAAD has posted a joint statement from Tim Gill, Larry Kramer and many other LGBT leaders. McFarlane appears in the currently playing film Outrage, in which Michelangelo Signorile notes he made a "crucial contribution to the film, lucidly describing the closet and the right-wing self-loathing politicians in power who have done much damage -- and with all the humor for which Rodger was always known."

(Photo via Michelangelo Signorile)

Sammon To Leave Log Cabin

Patrick Sammon, executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans, has announced his resignation.

Sammon said in a statement released Thursday that he would step down at the end of January. Sammon, a former television news reporter, became president of Log Cabin in December 2006. “After five years at this organization and more than two years heading Log Cabin, I am ready to tackle new challenges,” he said. “I’ll be doing documentary filmmaking, which is what I did before joining Log Cabin’s staff.”

Sammon joined the staff of Liberty Education Forum, the Log Cabin educational arm, in January 2004. He became interim head of Log Cabin in September 2006, following the departure of Patrick Guerriero.

Sammon’s departure comes following two national elections that battered Republicans, ousting many of the party’s more moderate members from Congress. The few new GOP members of Congress have not supported gay issues. All 14 freshmen House Republicans ranked in this year’s Human Rights Campaign Congressional Scorecard received zero scores. Three freshmen Senate Republicans also received zero scores; freshmen Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee scored 20 of 100.

Despite the setbacks, the Log Cabin statement announcing Sammon’s departure notes several accomplishments. It says that under Sammon’s leadership, Log Cabin “built close ties with Sen. John McCain’s campaign” and “stood up to Gov. Mitt Romney’s use of gay and lesbian families as a wedge issue” during the presidential primaries. It also notes that Log Cabin “helped secure” 35 Republican votes on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which proved essential to passing the bill through the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill remains stalled in the U.S. Senate.

Sammon, who informed the Log Cabin board earlier this year that he would step down after the November elections, said he’s proud of the progress the organization has made.

The LCR is conducting a "national search" for Sammon's replacement. His predecessor, Patrick Guerriero, was the campaign director for No On 8.

UPDATE: It should be noted that Patrick Guerriero was brought in to head the No On 8 campaign in the final three weeks, once it became clear that our side was losing. Some are crediting Guerriero with the last minute surge in donations and the large number of celebrity endorsements that flooded in at the end. Besides working on Prop 8, Guerriero is the executive director for the Gill Action Fund, a progressive political advocacy organization founded by gay philantrophist Tim Gill.

(Via - Washington Blade)

Tony Perkins: Obama Is Bullying Other Nations Into Accepting LGBT Rights

"If the President doesn't respect America's views on marriage, what makes us think he would respect other countries'? Certainly not his latest USAID project. In April, to relatively little fanfare, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) embarked on one of the most shocking abuses of taxpayer dollars in the last five years. With help from the Levi Strauss Foundation and millionaire liberal Tim Gill, the U.S. government is spending $11 million to train homosexual activists in other countries.

"In essence, U.S. taxpayers are being forced to groom the next generation of the world's Human Rights Campaigns -- a stunning exploitation of Americans' money, and more importantly, their trust. For the Obama administration, this is just another part of its strong-arm strategy to bully other nations into compliance. Whether it's through the United Nations, U.S. embassies, or the State Department, President Obama is leading the effort to bribe and coerce poor countries into accepting his pro-homosexual agenda." - Hate group leader Tony Perkins, via email.

RELATED: Perkins' email links the below video from Family Watch International, which attacks the Obama administration for working to stop the persecution of LGBT people worldwide. Because Tony Perkins wants to see more gay people murdered.

Brian Brown: Leftists Are Quietly Taking Over As Secretaries Of State

"Perhaps you've never heard of the Secretary of State Project. But if you haven't, you should. With backers including George Soros and Tim Gill, the Secretary of State (SoS) Project is quietly packing Secretary of State offices across the country with left-wing activists...designed to tip the balance in close elections. One of those first SoS Project targets was Minnesota – where with just a few dollars they managed to replace a two-term incumbent with former community organizer and ACORN ally, Mark Ritchie. That race paid Soros and company their first dividends as Ritchie oversaw the 2008 recount between Norm Coleman and Al Franken. And now Ritchie is USING THE POWER OF HIS OFFICE to UNDERMINE the Minnesota Marriage Protection Amendment, a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as between 'one man and one woman.'" - NOM head Brian Brown, who is super pissed that Minnesota's marriage ban isn't worded to the haters' satisfaction.

Obama Speaks To Wealthy Gays

Last night President Obama spoke a small audience of wealthy LGBT Democrats, raising over $1.4M at the $38K per person event at the DC home of a married lesbian couple. An excerpt from his speech:

The work that we've done with respect to the LGBT community I think is just profoundly American and is at the heart of who we are. (Applause.) And that’s why I could not be prouder of the track record that we've done, starting with the very beginning when we started to change, through executive order, some of the federal policies. Kathleen -- the work that she did making sure that hospital visitation was applied equally to same-sex couples, just like with anybody else's loved ones. The changes we made at the State Department. The changes we made in terms of our own personnel policies. But also some very high-profile work, like "don't ask, don't tell."

And what's been striking over the course of these last three years is because we've rooted this work in this concept of fairness, and we haven't gone out of our way to grab credit for it, we haven't gone out of our way to call other folks names if they didn’t always agree with us on stuff, but we just kept plodding along -- because of that, in some ways what's been remarkable is how readily the public recognizes this is the right thing to do.

Over at Metro Weekly, reporter Chris Geidner has quotes from the attendees, which included such high-powered gay names as Tim Gill and James Hormel.

Brian Brown: The Manhattan Conspiracy Will Destroy All American Values

Much like the GOP likes to characterize anything from the Democrats as "San Francisco values," NOM has begun calling the marriage equality movement "the Manhattan conspiracy." Because you know what's in Manhattan? Jews, dirty queers and illegal brown people!

Gay-marriage advocates from Bloomberg to Tim Gill to Ken Mehlman look across the pond and see that the party of Margaret Thatcher, the "Conservative" Party in Great Britain, is now threatening to pass a gay marriage bill. Could the same thing happen to the party of Ronald Reagan? Not while you and I live and breathe and exercise our God-given ability to act! But the point person for this quiet new effort has now emerged: Florida Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen announced that she would co-sponsor the bill to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act— becoming the first Republican to sign on to Manhattan Rep. Jerrold Nadler's (D-NY) legislation. The Manhattan conspiracy against the Manhattan Declaration principles—respect for life, marriage and religious liberty—has now begun!

Brian Brown: "The laws of nature, and of nature's God, cannot be gainsaid by any merely human power, whether it is the will to evil, or merely the will to self-deception, or even ignorance of the truth."

New Heights Of Hypocrisy For NOM

NOM is ALL upset because openly gay philanthropist and mega-millionaire Tim Gill has promised to oppose anti-gay politicians in his home state of Colorado. How dare he "threaten to dump" millions to oppose people who don't vote the way he wants them to! Oh wait, last month that's exactly what NOM said they would do to any Maryland legislator who voted for same-sex marriage.

Tweet Of The Day - NOM's Hate Bus

How's THAT for hilarious hypocrisy? NOM "respects the state laws"? Like all those campaign finance disclosure laws that they brazenly and proudly FLOUT in every single state?

UPDATE: As explanation, NOM is claiming to have video of "the Tim Gill paid group" breaking Iowa law somehow as they followed the Hate Bus today.

Fight Back NY Targets Buffalo Democrat Sen. Bill Stachowski For Defeat

Fight Back NY, the LGBT action PAC funded by Tim Gill, has announced their latest target.

Our next target: We're going after Buffalo Democrat Bill Stachowski.

Sen. Stachowski's voted against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) New Yorkers at every turn, whether it's nondiscrimination protections or marriage equality. Sen. Stachowski's been part of the dysfunctional New York State Senate for far too long -- 30 years. He does not represent fair-minded New Yorkers, and it's time we hold him accountable. Remember the hard-hitting tactics we used to help keep anti-equality Hiram Monserrate from office this spring? We'll be engaging in similar targeted outreach to voters in Sen. Stachowski's district. It's time our elected officials learned that they can't vote against equality and expect to be voted back into office. Every contribution goes directly toward communicating to voters in Stachowski's district. Help us turn up the volume on why Stachowski should be booted in the September primary. The more money you give, the louder you get to be!

Contribute here.

HRC Launches New Group To Oust Anti-Marriage New York Politicians

The Human Rights Campaign has hired Bloomberg aide Brian Ellner to head a new group to take on New York's anti-marriage state politicians. The Campaign for New York Marriage will do similar work to that of the Tim Gill-funded Fight Back NY.

You may recall that Ellner was recently all but named to replace Alan Van Capelle as head of the Empire State Pride Agenda, but withdrew after some gay rights activists objected to his close affiliation with Bloomberg.

“I view this as an opportunity to build on solid work that has come before, and strengthen and expand the coalition that is necessary to secure marriage equality,” Mr. Ellner said in an interview. The new campaign will seek to re-elect state lawmakers who supported the bill on same-sex marriage last year, and to oust those who voted against it. After passing by a wide margin in the State Assembly, the bill was defeated by an eight-vote margin in the Senate despite a vigorous lobbying effort spearheaded by the Empire State Pride Agenda.

“New York is at a critical tipping point in securing marriage equality, and November’s elections hold the key,” said Joe Solmonese, the president of the Human Rights Campaign. The group would not say how much money it intended to spend to elect candidates in New York who advocate gay marriage, but those familiar with the plans said the group would seek to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars over the next few months. They are likely to focus on a few Democrats who voted against the bill on same-sex marriage last year, including Senators Joseph Addabbo and William Stachowski.

In 2005 Ellner ran unsuccessfully for Manhattan borough president as a Democrat.

Peralta Vs. Slasher Monserrate

Andres Duque at Blabbeando provides the transcript for this debate on NYC Spanish television. Monserrate complains about the "wealthy homosexuals" such as activist Tim Gill who are funding Peralta's campaign, calling Peralta a "marionette" of the gay community.

Iowa: Haters Aim For 2014 Marriage Repeal

It takes a lot of work to amend the Iowa state constitution, but anti-gay forces there have launched the first salvo in a campaign intended to result in the 2014 overturn of marriage equality. From the petition of LUV (Let Us Vote) Iowa:

Whereas: Marriage as established by God should be recognized by the civil power as legally, morally and historically between one man and one woman only; and

Whereas: A rogue Iowa Supreme Court has exceeded it proper constitutional authority, to claim legitimacy for so-called “marriages” of men with men and women with women, by usurping powers properly belonging to the legislative and executive branches of our state government; and

Whereas: A well funded, elite minority group of activists, supported by a wealthy, out-of-state homosexual instigator named Tim Gill, took advantage of an unaware public to plan and execute a judicial branch revolution to try to overthrow the settled law, and the will of the people, on marriage in Iowa; and .

There's a few more whereas-es, but you get the drift.

NOM Threatens NY GOP Senators

NOM has pledged $500,000 to the defeat of any GOP state senators in New York who support a marriage equality bill.

Gay marriage is not high on the list of any voters' priorities, but again and again we've seen politicians respond to political money thrown around by Tim Gill and his friends and ignore the wishes of their own constituents," said Brian Brown, executive director of the anti-same-sex-marriage organization, who said the group is forming a subsidiary, NOM PAC New York, for the purpose. "The first half million dollars will be used in GOP primaries," noted Brown, "but we are also looking to aid Democratic candidates who want to buck the establishment on the marriage issue, and to help in general election contests."

The Empire State Pride Agenda said NOM is making "empty threats."