A new report by the Heritage Foundation takes a detailed look at the “harassment, intimidation, vandalism, racial scapegoating, blacklisting, loss of employment, economic hardships, angry protests, violence, at least one death threat, and gross expressions of anti-religious bigotry” experienced by supporters of Proposition 8, the marriage amendment passed last year in California.

Thomas M. Messner writes in the recent report:

Some individuals found their property vandalized with spray paint. Vandals spray-painted vehicles, garages, fences, and Yes on 8 signs in Yucaipa, California. An Alta Loma resident who placed a Yes on 8 sign in her yard found the words “love for all” and “no on 8” spray-painted on her fifth-wheel trailer. In San Jose, vandals spray-painted the garage doors of two homeowners who displayed signs supporting Prop 8. Vandals also spray-painted anti-Prop-8 messages on commercial and residential buildings in Fullerton.

Other forms of vandalism were more bizarre. One woman who placed a pro-Prop-8 sign on her balcony reported finding that her staircase leading downstairs had been covered in urine. She also found a puddle of urine at the bottom of the stairs.

And this:

In Fresno, the town mayor received a death threat for supporting Prop 8. The threat stated, “Hey Bubba, you really acted like a real idiot at the Yes of [sic] Prop 8 Rally this past weekend. Consider yourself lucky. If I had a gun I would have gunned you down along with each and every other supporter.”

Those who speak up despite the threat of harrassment “provide an important example of civic courage and inspire particular vir­tues that are essential to the proper functioning of any free and open society,” Messner says. 

Rose writes:

Camille Paglia (who claims in the article to be a libertarian, but is actually rather undefinable) says of gay-rights activists:

“I have been struck, in my brief encounters over the years with a half-dozen prominent gay male activists, by the frightening coldness and deadness of their eyes. Behind their smooth, bland faces I saw the seething hatreds of Dostoevskian anarchists. Gay crusading, I concluded, was their way of handling their own bitter misanthropy, which came from other sources. I found these men more spiritually twisted than anyone I have encountered in my life. The gay movement should not be left in their hands.”

Laura writes:

In whose hands, I wonder, does Paglia envision leaving it?

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