My friend, Nate Schulman posted this letter on Facebook earlier today. It makes an important connection that I, for one, hadn’t made myself regarding the boycotts of Arizona over SB 1070.


Dear Los Angeles and San Francisco,


GLAAD didn’t boycott the whole of your state due to Prop. 8. Imagine if they had, they and even others. Imagine conventions, tourism, musicians, artists, all stopping to show up. How would you like that? Fancy that. So why punish my entire state of Arizona? I am a new transplant here, coming from California, and may even move back to California soon.

Why do I bring that up? Because I can see where both sides are coming from here. But your actions disappoint me, L.A. and San Francisco. You truly are being holier-than-thou, and here is why.

First, Jan Brewer wasn’t even elected! The people of AZ did not vote for her, anymore than they did for 1070, equally radical to Prop. 8. On the other hand, more voters DID vote to overturn equal rights in the California Constitution than did not. If anything, a boycott from gay rights groups on the entire state would have still had some merit along those lines. But of course that never happened.

Look yourself in the mirror, California! Just because those of you who wouldn’t have dreamed of voting to overturn gay marriage would like to think you only live in a State where people think exactly like you, you can’t step outside yourself for half a second and learn from what happened with Prop 8? That maybe the rest of your State wasn’t as liberal as L.A. and San Francisco? (Gasp!) Wouldn’t it be unfair for outsiders to group everyone in Cali all together, all as homophobes, because of what happened there?

Well, apparently, I live in Arizona and thus I am a racist. Thanks for letting me know Cali. The States of mind in California are as vast as the State they inhabit. Likewise, Arizona has many voices. Boycotting all of Arizona, and staying uneducated about the law, is to avoid a larger issue. We can and should be seeking commonality right now, not unnecessary slippery slopes of division such as a boycott.

Why do you complain about this measure building up further walls between so-called nativists and immigrants, when it is you, Los Angeles and San Francisco, who are DOING THE SAME THING by building up a wall of economic hurt on all of Arizona? Please reconsider.


Yours,in Frustration and in Love,

Nate Schulman