I am so proud of Kansas Equality Coalition, we did this, even in Kansas we were able to do this.
Greetings KEC members -
The KEC-led boycott of the Kansas City production of "8," which originally was to star Jerry Springer, has been called off. Responding to intense public pressure brought about by KEC's public call to action, the play's local producers have fired Springer and replaced him with Dustin Lance Black.
Congratulations to Kansas City Metro chapter chair Sandra Meade for leading this successful action!
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The Kansas City Metro Chapter of the Kansas Equality Coalition is calling for a boycott of The American Foundation for Equal Rights & Broadway Impact's "8" by Dustin Lance Black, being held at the Muriel Kauffman Theatre in Kansas City, MO, on August 3rd.
A press release from Padgett Productions of Kansas City has the headline “JERRY SPRINGER TO HEADLINE STARRY MARRIAGE EQUALITY BENEFIT AT THE KAUFFMAN CENTER”, and goes on further to say that the event will “feature an All-Star Celebrity Cast led by Television powerhouse Jerry Springer.”
Jerry Springer is known by many in the LGBT advocacy community, especially the “T” advocacy community, as someone who has relentlessly profited from sensationalizing the suffering of thousands of participants on his television show, a great many of them being members of the transgender community. In the 20+ years of his show, Jerry Springer has had hundreds of shows which have perpetuated and reinforced the negative stereotype of transgender people as being deceitful and worthy of the constant stream of insults hurled at them by the audience, such as freak, she-male, tranny, and “it”. It is my personal opinion that Jerry Springer has done more harm to the transgender community than any other public figure, and those of us who are active in advocacy must constantly fight the stereotypes that he has spent years building up in order to overcome the negative public bias that hinder our access to legal equality.
In a subsequent email from the Producer of the show, Nick Padgett of Padgett Productions in Kansas City, he tried to minimize the importance of Jerry Springer’s involvement, and despite being used to hook people into buying tickets as the “headliner”, he may actually be reading a role during the stage reading portion of the show. It doesn’t matter what role Jerry Springer has. The fact that he is being used to make money in advertising for this effort, or playing any part in the show at all, while ignoring and trampling on the suffering he has caused to the transgender community for over 20 years is disgusting and cannot be tolerated.
Kansas Equality Coalition is a huge supporter of marriage equality initiatives. We initiated and coordinated the large DOMA/Prop 8 Decision Day event in Kansas City one month ago. But an entertainment company can’t make bad decisions in casting a person who has 20+ years of history harming part of the LGBT community, and expect everyone to say it is ok just because you are calling it a marriage equality benefit. This is unacceptable, and Kansas Equality Coalition is calling for a boycott of this event until Jerry Springer is removed from the event entirely, including all advertising and any role with the production itself.
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I don't drink it. It is probably different now but back in the 80's we went to Russia and were taken to a small party after a Folk Dance performance where we were given caviar and vodka, supposedly their best. It was fabulous, nothing like what I had ever tasted here but I would not set foot in that country now nor drink their vodka.
I know our stands seem silly to most but here we really are making progress. It is often over small things but in Kansas our small things are huge and they keep us from being thrown over the edge. Thank you for responding. 
I hope you are well and happy mitchtv. I want to thank you for teaching me so much history about the LGBT struggles and just being a friend over all these years.
