President Obama hung in effigy outside Pastor Terry Jone's church (Photo screen grab from Jones video)
NPR reports Tuesday, July 3, that President Obama’s May 9 statement supporting marriage equality resulted in a “dramatic fundraising spike” for his re-election campaign:
Over the 72 hours following the announcement, donations to his campaign committees nearly tripled. He took in nearly $9 million over three days, compared with $3.4 million in the three previous days, according to an NPR analysis of campaign filings with the Federal Election Commission. The numbers include contributions from people who gave at least $200.
“People who may have sat on the sidelines are now coming in in full force as a result of the president’s and the administration’s support for marriage equality,” says gay philanthropist and Democratic political activist David Bohnett. “There’s no question about that.”
But make not mistake: this is a tale of two Americas. While the LGBT community may have reacted positively to President Obama’s pro-equality announcement, Obama-haters such as the Koran-burning Gainesville, Florida pastor Terry Jones had a more violent symbolic reaction. On June 6, Jones hung President Obama in effigy outside his Dove World Outreach Center and posted a video in which he says he wants to send a “clear message” that Obama is “killing America,” with the gay Rainbow Flag featured as a prominent prop:
“His policies must come to an end. That is why we have chosen to hang President Obama as a symbol of what America needs to do. We must remove him. We must vote him out of office.”
In an interview with the Broward Palm Beach New Times, Jones insisted that the effigy is NOT race-related and seems unconcerned how others may react (his burning of the Koran prompted violent attacks in Afghanistan):
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