Brody's Notes... Immigration Law Creates Rift In Relations Between LGBT Equality Groups

By Brody Levesque (Washington DC) July 1 | In the ever escalating battle over the Arizona Illegal Immigration Bill Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed into law last April 23rd, [SB 1070] the Greater Phoenix Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce is now decrying a national boycott of Arizona's businesses announced by the Human Rights Campaign and the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce,  for non-profit groups and businesses organizations to avoid bringing any conferences or meetings to the state.

Phoenix GPGLCC head Joseph Gesullo, in an article published yesterday at The Advocate.com, accused HRC and the national chamber of not thoroughly reading the immigration bill;

"This is so political," he said in a statement. "They weren't coming here anyway so why do you need to sign onto something where you're not really taking a giant stand?"

Joseph Gesullo  Photo From Facebook

Vice-President of Communications for the HRC Fred Sainz told the Fox News Channel in an interview that:

"We don't share the opinion ... that it's going to result in these things that the Phoenix folks do."

According to the HRC website, in a statement released June 16th, HRC's position was offered as follows:
Where HRC is concerned, the boycott is quite limited in nature, as follows: 

• The boycott only applies to bringing in outside conferences and meetings into the state. HRC did not and does not have any meetings planned in the state.
• The HRC dinner is not affected by the boycott. It is a local event produced by our volunteer leadership.
• Arizona continues to be a priority state for HRC. Effectuating positive change is now more than ever a priority. The boycott does not apply to political contributions made by HRC to candidates or causes in the state. Similarly, staff travel to the state is unaffected.

We understand that Arizonans stand on many sides of this issue. We have taken a principled stand that we believe is just as important to LGBT people as it is to Latinos and immigrants. The nature of our boycott is also quite limited. We encourage Arizona residents and visitors to patronize businesses that have supported the LGBT community and that are engaged in opposing SB 1070.

There had been private communiqués between the Phoenix Chamber, the National LGBT Chamber & HRC which failed forcing the Phoenix Chamber to go public in an open letter and mass emailing to its membership.

"We feel the boycott of the entire state of Arizona is counter-productive to the issue at hand," the e-mail read. "Punishing Arizona businesses will not change the minds of any partisan legislature politician, including Arizona's. Our entire state has been miscast as racist, unsophisticated and dangerous in the worst of the 'Wild West' stereotypes."