Brad Pitt gives, but GLBT A-listers? Maybe not so much.

I saw an article on this which criticized Ellen--but I'm reticent to do so. I think her announcement on her show will do more than anything to defeat this terrible bill.

I don't care who contributes and i definetely dont care if they are doing it anonymously...to me, the thing is....if they're gonna fight for the cause with their name out there or not...so what? at least they're fighting. at least they are giving.

at the same time, it does have me curious why people donate anonymously in the first place to certain, er....um....causes i guess is the word i am looking for.  i've never understood that. i wonder if it's more a reputation thing or more of a "please dont focus on me" thing.

I can't call anyone out for not donating on a cause that I might believe in. I think that's tacky. Many Celebs donate to and work for a pet charity and see concentrating their effort in one area as a better use of resources. Many Celebs were not earning 20 million by their 5th film like Pitt was. But it is cool to mention that there is less support than their could be. Let's celebrate the supporters

PS: Liz, I think sometimes it's a "Please don't ask me for money too, just because I donated to this cause, thing".

 

As soon as I saw this piece I forwarded it to Michael.  I thought it was great that Brad came forward and gave generously to this important cause.  For the most part, since this is not a charitable effort, the donations are not tax deductible (at least mine were not).

If we can't count on Hollywood to stand up and support this effort, I think that is very disheartening.  Anonymous donations are fine, but we need high profile people to stand behind "NO on Prop 8" in a public way.  It's not just important to California civil rights, it's important to advancing ideology in other states. 

I live in a midwestern state that does not have civil unions or domestic partnerships, let alone marriage for same-sex couples (we keep trying, though). 

The money, sadly, is important to this fight.  If I can give (I make far less than Brad Pitt's donation on an annual basis), there are many others in California that can give but have not.  I hope they do and that they stand up publically against this offensive ballot initiative on civil rights.   

I don’t understand that thing with prop 8. I thought that the Californian supreme court have legalize gay marriage, then why is it that there can be a proposal to abolish it?

Here (in Argentina were I live) the supreme court is the final instance in applying the law and if it dictates something base on the law and constitutional rights doesn’t mater what people think of that as long as it’s in the laws you can’t change it (unless you want to change the constitution, and that’s not an easy thing to do and requires more than a proposition).

So my question is what that proposition is all about?, it really means the abolition of gay marriage if its passed?, or there are more legal instances? Am I missing something and the supreme court doesn’t have the last word there? Thanks in advance and sorry for my English.

I don't feel it's okay to make somebody feel bad for not donating (or not saying publicly that they've donated). My own belief is that every adult, who can do so without hurting themselves, should donate 10% of their income to charity or causes that benefit society. It's just something I believe leads to good health and happiness. (Similar to how everybody should have 5-10 servings of vegetables a day.)

However, I would NEVER make somebody feel bad for not living upto that. We're all in different situations and financial decisions are a very personal thing. There are a lot of factors involved. I generally don't talk about the dollar amount I donate to charity each month, because maybe it's not as much as some people would think I could make. Supporting my causes means a lot to me and I don't want to feel belittled about it. (Most people don't do that, but I don't want to take the risk.) At the same time, I also don't want to embarass people who aren't contributing. That doesn't actually help anybody because when people feel shamed about something, they will likely just go home, feel guilty, and eat ice-cream until they forget about it.

Brad Pitt is right to express surprise that more of the hollywood elite haven't come forward. There are plenty of millionaires in hollywood. However, it's wrong to mention specific people. Not everybody can afford to rent a giant compound in cambodia for five months, just so you can give birth in a foreign country. (Nothing wrong with that, btw, but most people can't afford it. Not even most well known actors.) With the exception of maybe Ellen, I don't think there are any openly gay actors in Brad Pitt's level of income. I'm sure plenty of folks have donated anonnymously so they can keep the size of their donation to themselves.

Brad Pitt is awesome. I think he's cool for setting an example when it comes to supporting issues he believes in. I hope others will follow his example. I think more people could stand to follow his example. I just don't want to see specific people being called out for not doing so. 

I agree. I also think it's fine to express concern that other members of the entertainment industry are not involved, however, I don't think anyone should call out Ellen as being unsupportive. Just because her donation was not financial, does not mean that she has not been a huge advocate for the cause!

I think it's great any way that celebrities draw attention to the cause. It creates awareness and gets people talking!