Prop. 8 and Hollywood

Re “Prop. 8 rifts put industry on edge,” Nov. 23

Thank you for the article dealing with the backlash toward those in the entertainment industry who supported Proposition 8. While I strongly opposed the proposition, I am saddened to learn that a group in the entertainment industry that also opposed it, and that probably overwhelmingly supported Barack Obama at the polls, has decided to retaliate against those who supported it.

Everyone has a right to express their opinion and to support that in which they believe without fear of recrimination in our country, don’t they? After the last eight years, I would like to see attacks directed more toward the message and less toward the messenger. The hate and fear mentality so loved by extreme conservatives seems to have been rejected by a majority of voters. Is Hollywood listening?

Forrest Shattuck

Orange

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I was amused by the coping strategies used by those in Hollywood who are torn between their anger at the passage of Proposition 8 and their desire to be “fair.”

But no matter how much they try to justify the position of Proposition 8 supporters with whom they have to do business to promote their films, there is no way to be fair in the face of discrimination. No amount of fancy differentiation between who should be boycotted and who should not -- or hiding behind free speech arguments -- will push away the truth: They are supporting those who favor legalized discrimination.

And if, God forbid, they come for these appeasers one day to take them to a relocation camp, that Spirit Award they are clutching will be worth very little.

Barry Simon

Studio City

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If the organizers of the Los Angeles Film Festival, the Spirit Awards, Focus Features and the board of Film Independent are having a difficult time on this issue, their gay customers and friends will help them decide. When they see the power of the (withheld) gay dollar, the answer will come to them.

Show your film at a Cinemark theater, submit your film to the Sundance Festival (or otherwise support the economy of Utah) and watch your target audience disappear. Certain people and institutions need to be reminded about the spending power of gays and that, this time anyway, we’re not going away quietly.

Stewart Rubin

West Hollywood