The Circuit

A commenter named "Tinasky" published a lengthy response to our "Boycott Sundance?" post:

This made me curious. So here's a special exclusive analysis prepared for The Circuit readers:

Total contributions in support of Prop 8: $36.1M
Total contributions against Prop 8: $38.4M

You can download the contributions in support of Prop 8 from the Secretary of State's website.

Here are the total contributions by State in support of Prop. 8 for the two largest organizations totalling $28M in contributions (so granted, its not complete):

Yes on 8 Rank State Total Contrib. % State GDP % of GDP (in 1000s)
1 CA $23,296,209 82% 1,812,968 1.28%
2 CT $1,257,289 4% 216,266 0.58%
3 PA $1,004,677 4% 531,110 0.19%
4 MS $500,000 2% 88,546 0.56%
5 CO $460,400 2% 236,324 0.19%
6 MI $459,635 2% 381,963 0.12%
7 DC $412,150 1% 93,819 0.44%
8 UT $274,027 1% 105,658 0.26%
9 HI $152,425 1% 61,532 0.25%
10 TX $105,512 0% 1,141,965 0.01%
11 AZ $103,445 0% 247,028 0.04%

If you wanted to boycott supporters of Prop 8 the best place to start would be California. That's where 82% of the money came from. Next would be Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Mississippi in total dollars.

Okay, Utah is small and Connecticut is wealthier, so maybe Utah's residents are doing an excessive amount of contributing compared to the state's wealth. To look at this, I have contributions as a ratio of state GDP in 2007. Using this measure, CT, MS, Washington DC are higher than Utah, and Hawaii is just about the same as Utah.

Well maybe this is unfair too. Maybe what we should look at is the net contributions for Prop 8 against those contributions against Prop 8.

Here it is for the same 11 states: For 8 Against 8 Difference GDP % of GDP
1 CA $23,296,209 $26,985,049 -$3,688,840 1,812,968 -0.20%
2 CT $1,257,289 $30,545 $1,226,744 216,266 0.57%
3 PA $1,004,677 $59,686 $944,991 531,110 0.18%
4 MS $500,000 $2,050 $497,950 88,546 0.56%
5 CO $460,400 $479,696 -$19,296 236,324 -0.01%
6 MI $459,635 $1,080,077 -$620,442 381,963 -0.16%
7 DC $412,150 $3,549,181 -$3,137,031 93,819 -3.34%
8 UT $274,027 $24,515 $249,512 105,658 0.24%
9 HI $152,425 $13,450 $138,975 61,532 0.23%
10 TX $105,512 $94,483 $11,029 1,141,965 0.00%
11 AZ $103,445 $26,847 $76,598 247,028 0.03%

Still Utah is not the top net contributor in dollars or in percent of GDP. Connecticut and Mississippi still take the top positions here. In fact Connecticut has five times the net dollars spent in support of Prop 8 compared to Utah and double the net contributions adjusting for wealth.

Here's some film festivals that the no on Prop 8 activists should consider as more appropriate than Sundance:
The Connecticut Film Festival
Kent Film Festival
Connecticut Gay and Lesbian Film Festival

See how silly it seems.

Read the full post here.