Homophobia Can Cost You Millions, College Edition
Our pals over at Raw Story report on a gay couple that has decided not to give $15 million to their alma mater because of their state’s hostility to gays:
A gay couple is withholding millions of dollars from their alma mater, the University of Alabama, over the state’s stance on same-sex marriage.
Elliott Mitchell and Clark West met at the university in 1972 and have been together since. They married in Hawaii in 2013 and now live in Sarasota, Florida.
The couple, who earned much of their fortune in real estate, gave $1 million to the university about 10 years ago, reported AL.com, and they had intended to leave their estate – valued at about $15 million to $18 million – to UA.
However, the longtime season-ticket holders for Alabama football decided about two years ago to cancel those plans over the legal status of LGBT people in their home state.
The couple notified UA President Judy Bonner and the Board of Trustees in 2013 that they were dropping plans to leave their estate to the university over the state’s view on same-sex marriage.
“We understand the conflict of well-intended people struggling to find balance with this issue,” they wrote. “But, we also realize there is no support in the legislature or initiatives at the University to create a dialogue. Instead, there is a very strong and continued effort by the state and the majority of its citizens to exclude this group in every way possible.”
The university never responded.
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Copyright 2015 Liberaland
By: dave-dr-gonzo
David Hirsch, a.k.a. Dave "Doctor" Gonzo*, is a renegade record producer, video producer, writer, reformed corporate shill, and still-registered lobbyist for non-one-percenter performing artists and musicians. He lives in a heavily fortified compound in one of Manhattan's less trendy neighborhoods.
* Hirsch is the third person to use the pseudonym, a not-so-veiled tribute to journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, with the permission of his predecessors Gene Gaudette of American Politics Journal (currently webmaster and chief bottlewasher at Liberaland) and Stephen Meese at Smashmouth Politics.
6 responses to Homophobia Can Cost You Millions, College Edition
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Budda March 17th, 2015 at 09:55
Good for them.
jybarz March 17th, 2015 at 10:11
Yep, silence means consent. And I can understand why these guys felt that the UA’s silence on LGBT rights is actually a loud consent against it.
William March 17th, 2015 at 12:05
Somebody once told me. “The most expensive thing you’ll ever own is a closed mind.
rg9rts March 17th, 2015 at 13:42
LOL the university never responded…..LOL
whatthe46 March 17th, 2015 at 14:10
they’d rather cut off their noses. how sad. well no answer means these gentlemen got their answers. by the way, my computer crashed this morning when i was trying to respond to you. lol so, i went back to bed.
rg9rts March 17th, 2015 at 14:46
Thats their style …I like the guy that won’t go to Oklahoma because of the frats