Scott Eckern, artistic director of California Musical Theatre, has resigned over his $1,000 contribution to the Prop 8 campaign.

(CMT is the largest musical-theater nonprofit in California.)

Eckern gave money to Prop 8, was outed by a blogger and an email campaign by Marc Shaiman (of Hairspray), and has suffered the (righteous) wrath of pretty much everyone who matters in American musical theater. (I mean, come on. What did he expect?)

Jeff Whitty, whose “Avenue Q” is scheduled to play the Sacramento theater in March, was among those alerted by Shaiman’s e-mail. On Monday, he wrote in his whitless.com blog that “like Marc, I’ll work to prevent CMT from producing any of my future shows with Mr. Eckern at the helm. To me, he’s one of those hypocrites who profits from the contributions of gays … but thinks of us as ultimately damned.”

And that about hits it. It’s bad enough to support the majority revoking the rights of a minority1, but to be at the top of a profession that has long reaped profit from that same minority—that’s both wrong and bizarre.

(It just so happens that The Drowsy Chaperone, musical theater’s first serious homage to that certain kind of gay man who poured his love, devotion, and savings into musicals, is playing at the 5th Ave through Nov 16. It’s excellent.)

Want to see who else donated big bucks for (and against) Prop 8? See here.

(Thanks to Comte for sending the CMT story our way.)

1From a digest of John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty, which partly concerns the “tyranny of the majority” and would—if American conservatives weren’t blinded by the bigotry of evangelicals—be Republican gospel. Mill demands that conservatives fight Prop 8 on the grounds of liberty:

The tyranny of the majority is especially dangerous to individual liberty, Mill supposed, because the most commonly recommended remedy is to demand that the recalcitrant minority either persuade the majority to change its views or learn to conform to socially accepted norms.

Mill had a different notion. The proper balance between individual liberty and governmental authority, he proposed, can be stated as a simple principle:

“[T]he only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others.” (On Liberty 1)

Which is to say, this idea that that the minority should have to campaign for their rights is in itself a violation of the principle of liberty. Conservatives, as well as liberals, should be appalled by what’s happened in California.

Brend an Kiley has worked as a child actor in New Orleans, as a member of the junior press corps at the 1988 Republican National Convention, and, for one happy April, as a bootlegger’s assistant in Nicaragua....

16 replies on “Prop 8 Hits Musical Theater”

  1. To me, hhttp://www.thestranger.com/images/buttons/formatting/italic.gife’s one of those hypocrites who profits from the contributions of gays … but thinks of us as ultimately damned.”

    Huh?

  3. Good riddance to Eckern. But I’d like to know if his lesbian sister even tried to help educate him on the matter, if in fact he really didn’t understand what he was doing? Right.

  6. Wow.

    In this new spirit, perhaps you ought to form the “Michele Bachmann Committee for Un-Gay Activities”. Some kind of blacklist might be in order also.

  8. Oh for goodness’ sake, Mr. Strangeways, calling this a “witchhunt” is needlessly inflammatory. Nobody is proposing legislation against Mr. Eckern — in fact, though “organized boycotts” have been reported, there’s no evidence of such. It’s within an artist’s rights to pick who they wish to work with, and an audience’s right to pick where they take their business.

    For that matter, it’s Mr. Eckern’s right to support Prop 8, and it’s the Mormons’ right to campaign in support of it. But they can’t whine when they get some blowback. (And Mr. Eckern has not been on the record for whining, though the same can’t be said about the Mormons.)

  9. I agree with #4. You have no clue what you’re talking about regarding Mill. You also don’t fully cite the passage that you took, which would be helpful. I think you can make the points you wanted about Eckern without crawling into the realm of political philosophy, can’t you?

  15. Blacklisting was for people SUSPECTED of being communists.

    This is individuals saying to an individual: Hey, you shit in my sandbox, you no longer get to play in my part of the palyground.

  16. There’s someone who contributed to the yes on prop 8 who is president of an organization called “NO AMERICAN HEALTH CARE” which is, quite possibly, the shittiest name for an organization I have ever heard. You’d think, if you were head of an organization of people who wanted to privatize health care you could come up with a good polarizing name like, oh, i don’t know, “Anti-Socialist Health Care” or “More Choices Health Care” but “No American Health Care”? Who would ever want to be in an organization called “No American Health Care?” That’s like being head of an organization called “Just Die Quietly” or something equally awful.

    Update! The name “No American Health Care” is un google-able. So I guess it doesn’t exist.

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