Gay Activists (and Politically Correct Fellow Travellers) in American Political Science Association to Boycott New Orleans

We’ve blogged on the attempt of gay activists and some of their liberal colleagues to have the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association moved out of New Orleans.

Why? Because the voters in Louisiana had the temerity to vote to outlaw gay marriage. In other words, they took the position that voters in every other state in the union have.

A gay activist who has been pushing this issue just yesterday sent out the following e-mail:

Dear Political Science Colleagues at Marquette University:

In light of the APSA Council’s vote last month not to relocate the 2012 annual meeting away from New Orleans, I’m organizing a boycott of the conference and invite your formal endorsement of the effort.

A boycott statement -- crafted by several opponents of the New Orleans siting and setting forth the fundamental reasons for the embargo -- and a preliminary list of signatories are available at:

http://www.danpinello.com/Boycott.htm

More than 150 political scientists -- including a former APSA President, a former Vice President, former Council members, and a former APSR Editor -- have signed the document since it went online a week ago. So far, the most LGBT-friendly schools are:

Oberlin College -- 10 endorsers / 83% of the Oberlin department
Johns Hopkins University -- 8 / 40%
College of William & Mary -- 6 / 25%
University of Chicago -- 5 / 17%
University of California-Irvine -- 4 / 13%

Please let me know (at dpinello@jjay.cuny.edu or dan@danpinello.com) if you want to add your name to the endorsement roster. All APSA members, as well as non-members who have already attended an APSA annual meeting, are welcome to join. Note that the statement and its signatories will be distributed at the Association’s upcoming Boston conference.

The document’s language has been widely vetted. If you’re in general agreement with the goal of avoiding a New Orleans conference, I hope that you’ll be able to set aside any specific disagreements with wording.

Finally, if you support the boycott and plan to attend the Boston conference, I want to give you a three-inch “Boycott New Orleans” button to wear during the convention. Please let me know the best way to deliver the pin to you.

Many thanks,
Dan Pinello

So far, the online petition doesn’t seem to have gotten a lot of support. If only five political science departments in the entire country have more than 12% of faculty endorsing it, that’s hardly a groundswell.

Happily, none of our colleagues at Marquette has done so.

It’s early however, and only time will tell how many political scientists will sign up.

If anybody thinks that “it’s perfectly legitimate for people to express their opinion in favor of gay marriage,” they should keep in mind that any boycott of this kind violates an explicit provision of the APSA’s Constitution.

So the people who are signing on to the petition are not merely expressing their own opinion, they are demanding that the APSA blow off its own Constitution.

Thus being found among the signatories is a lot like being among the Group of 88 at Duke University who prejudged the guilt of the lacrosse players accused of rape.

But it is not quite that simple, since the New Orleans issue pits gay political correctness against racial political correctness. So the professors who don’t sign are not necessarily principled. They may simply be politically correct in a different way.