File Under: Jack Burkman Is An Idiot

Boy oh boy, there are quite a few idiots out there jumping on the Don’t Serve The Gays ... or Jail The Gays ... or Kill The Gays, ... or Ban The Gays bandwagon, and yet none of them seem to be aware that their actions have repercussions.

Folks, gay folks and straight folks who dislike discrimination of any kind, big business, the National Football League, Apple, Delta, and many others are calling for a boycott of all things Arizona if the Don’t Serve The Gays bill gets signed by Arizona’s idiot governor, Jan Brewer.

For her part, Brewer says she’ll do what’s best for Arizona, meaning she’ll do what’s best for her own personal political agenda. But I digress. This post isn’t about Arizona, or Indiana — whose Hate The Gays bill is now dead — or even Georgia — whose Hate The Gays bill is on life-support — it’s about idiotic Washington lobbyist Jack Burkman who announced earlier this week that he would push for legislation to prohibit the National Football League from employing gay players:

“If the NFL has no morals and no values, then Congress must find values for it.”

Oh.Yes.He.Did.

Burkman later admitted it was all a publicity stunt, though how one gets publicity by being a bigoted homophobic douchebag is a new one to me, but it seems as though his stunt has backfired.

See, a lot of Burkman’s clients aren’t keen on his stunt — he represents mostly companies in fields like medical devices, clean energy, and pharmaceuticals — and several of his clients — many of whom are LGBT pro-equality allies — now believe his efforts no longer represent their interests, .

Bruce Brimacombe, founder and CEO of GOE3:

“I believe in doing things that will bring this country together, not pull it apart.”

Ed St. Amour of the international business company G-PROP:

“I think those positions are a little bizarre. It certainly wouldn’t be anything the company would participate in, [they're] not our values at all.”

David Sher of Greenbacker Renewable Energy:

“I personally do not agree with his positions nor are they the positions of Greenbacker.”

Daniel Penchina, a principal at The Raben Group and president of Q Street, an association of LGBT lobbyists and advocates:

“Burkman’s clients should not only be concerned with being associated with his views, but also his judgment and competence as an advocate. Ultimately, he’s promoting his public image at the expense of his clients. That raises real questions about whether he can adequately represent his clients’ interests before policymakers.”

Now, to be fair, this act of Burkman’s should really come as no surprise to his clients. He once argued that parents should remove their children from Boy Scouts of America because they now allow openly gay youth in the organization and he once said women should not be allowed to serve in the military, become doctors or lawyers because they should be home raising children.

Oh.Yes.He.Did.

Michael Sam got into the fray, as well, Tweeting that Burkman would “need a Delorian [a reference to the Back to the Future time machine], not some bogus bill, if he wants to prevent gay athletes from being in the locker room.” And even Jack Burkman’s openly gay brother weighed in with his own Tweet that Jack was “being an ass.”

Well, and a bigot and a homophobe, too.

Still, though some of his family and most of America denounced Burkman for his statement, nearly all his many of his clients decided to stick with him except one ...

CEO Jeffrey Carpoff and COO Paulette Carpoff of DC Solar Solutions, Inc., a California-based green energy company, released a joint statement:

“DC Solar does not condone or support Mr. Burkman’s homophobic views, and since learning about his misguided efforts to write legislation banning gay athletes from the NFL, we have ended our relationship with him. DC Solar values diversity within our company and within our communities, and we do not tolerate discrimination of any sort. As a company working to address issues about our country’s future, we have no intention of working with those who are stuck in the past.”

That was good to hear, though it is dismaying to hear other companies denounce him for his ridiculous views, publicity stunt or otherwise and yet keep him on the payroll. So, good on DC Solar for standing up against intolerance, and bad on all those other businesses that talk and talk but do nothing.

But here's the real deal: in a world where some countries want to literally jail people for being gay, and other countries want to kill people for being gay and here in America, where some states are trying to allow legalized discrimination of gay people, this kind of publicity stunt is not funny or amusing or cute.

It;'s dangerous and stupid, and I only wish more companies that employed Jack Burkman had the balls to fire his ass.

via ThinkProgress