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As if trying to prevent Washington families from having solid legal protections isn’t harassment enough, one Referendum 71 supporter attempted to intimidate blogger Joshalot and Chris Mason of Driving Equality as they recorded the public sorting and submission of petitions sheets from the very public steps of the Washington state capitol. The attempted intimidation by the Referendum 71 supporter starts at about 2:20 into the video. Transcript below the fold. H/T Joshalot.
CORRECTION: Somehow I initially swapped Chris Mason’s dialog for Joshalot’s. The error has been corrected in the transcript.
Greg MacPherson: So, what’s your name? You, what’s your name?Joshalot: Who are you?
Greg: What’s your name. You’re harassing me. You’re videotaping me without my permission.
Joshalot: It’s a public space.
Greg: I’m a public figure. You’re taking my image without my permission. I want your name so that I can sue you. What’s your name?
Joshalot: I’m not giving it.
Greg: Or stop videotaping me.
Joshalot: This is a public place.
Greg: I am a well-known person. You are videotaping my image without my permission. I want the poliiice, hello! Police! Can I get some police here, hello!
Senator Val Stevens: They’re in the Secretary of State’s office.
Greg: That’s nice. I need them here. [deflatedly] Hello, police, anybody here? Police? Can I get some police here? Please, a police officer. Uhh. Uhh. DO you know if there are any police officers here?
Man in Hat: Yeah.
Greg: Good, I’d like one please. This man is videotaping me. I’m a public figure and he’s doing it without my permission. And he won’t give me his name.
MiH: Why you need the police?
Greg: Because this man is videotaping me without my permission. I’m a public figure and he’s doing it without my permission and I cannot get his name.
MiH: Do you have a cell phone?
Greg: Yes I do.
MiH: Call 9-1-1.
Greg: Naw, I’d rather just have a policeman come over….Police, hello, anybody a policeman, hello. Can’t find ‘em. There’s never a cop when you need one.
Joshalot: Yeah, cuz they’re busy with nonsense like this, instead of worrying about stopping somebody from getting killed….Now I’m going to call for some backup. Um, what’s going on there? Yeah, can you come on out here? Yeah there’s a guy who’s ah calling the police cuz I’m videotaping what’s going on. Alright.
Voiceover of Joshalot: This is footage from my buddy Chris, from DrivingEquality.com. I am the guy with the red backpack, and the guy in front of me is Greg MacPherson, who’s trying to intimidate me.
Greg: You guys on duty?
Cop: Yes.
Greg: This gentleman is videotaping me without my permission. I’m a publicly-recognizable figure, and he’s harassing me. I’d like him to stop he will not give me his name. Can you help me?
Cop: No, I cannot.
Greg: Ok, why not?
Cop: I cannot help you sir, because he’s not doing anything wrong. He has a right to do that.
Greg: He doesn’t have the right to tape a public personage without my permission.
Cop: Step inside sir. We’ll get you out of his view.
Greg: Ok, works for me. What do I do about all the video he’s already got?
Cop: Well, you can go to ah civil [inaudible]
Greg: I can’t because he won’t give me his name. But he won’t give me his name.
Cop2: Doesn’t sound like he’s committed a crime.
Cop: There’s no crime committed, sir.
Greg: Videotaping isn’t harassment?
Cop2: This is a public area.
Greg: Yeah? OK. But videotaping me without my permission is not an actual offense.
Cop: Are you a public figure?
Greg: No, but I’m a publicly known person, I’m not an elected official.
Cop: OK
Greg: My likeness and my name…
Cop: OK sir, there’s nothing I can do here sir. There’s no crime committed or anything like that, ok?
Greg: Ok.
Cop: I cannot make him give you, ah, his name or anything like that because I [inaudible]
Greg: Ok, so, he’s just got the right to videotape me and if I don’t like it I have to step out of the way.
Cop: How about this young man here, he’s videotaping you.
Greg: He’s the next one I’m going to go to.
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Related
* Taking pictures is harassment…unless a Garyite wields the camera
20 Comments
Anything they do is moral and legal. Anything anyone else does is immoral and criminalObviously, the cops are in on the conspiracy to harass righteous Christians going about God’s holy work.
And don’t forget, VIDEO TECHNOLOGY IS THE ANTI-CHRIST!!!
Especially when it exposes right-wing hypocricy, bigotry and/or outright hate n/t
WAAAAAHHHH!!!!What a whiner! He could have simply walked inside and ended the whole thing, but he stayed where he was being recorded and then played the victim card. Of course, laws are only there to protect the right-wingers…
Greg MacPherson: Uninformed Goof Yeah, there’s a one-of-a-kind “publicly-recognizable figure” — Like Joe-the-Plumber? hahahaha yeah, don’t we all recognize him?
Honey, this isn’t even gonna getcha 2 minutes of fame, let alone 15!
Oh I don’t know …..I’ve already put up the video on one of my blogs and I’m sure by days end “The Uniformed Goof” will get more than his 15 minutes of shame in cyberspace as he appears on other blogs and websites.
Po-lice, where de po-lice when ya need em ?
As Bugs Bunny says “What a Maroon !”.
Call me crazy, butIf he didn’t want to be seen, why was he in a public place? Sheesh!
And this is why Who Signed and any other legal effort to expose the haters is important.Because they really don’t want anybody to do it. Sucks to be them.
Insert crying baby video here….or maybe one of the laughing babies.
Why does my gaydar go off with MacPherson?
PatheticHow can he honestly see himself as the one who was harassed in that situation when he was the one who approached a law abiding citizen in a public area & started making the demands?
Greg MacPhersonCandidate for Douchebag of the universe award.
Dena
Don’t be too quick to voice that opinionHere are photos that I took of a marriage equality group in California having a Sarah Palin supporter removed from the steps of the California State Capital building in Sacramento.
This man was boo’d and laughed at as the CHP escorted him from the area.
The man was simply standing there holding his sign and watching the event. He wasn’t being disruptive.
So, I think we’ve got to ask ourselves why it is okay for LGBT organizations to silence this man’s voice at a political rally in a public place.
This was the same event where I was continually harassed for taking photographs without a “media badge” by the event security.
MacPherson is obviously a nut. But, why wasn’t he given the same opportunity to eject people from the steps of the Washington capital as were the LGBT activist is California?
I don’t think anyone should have that right. They shouldn’t be able to censor us. We shouldn’t be able to censor them.
The event in Olympia wasn’t a protest or a demonstration.Rules of “allowable mixing” change as the potential for violence increases. Back in MA during the marriage equality protests in front of the State House, police started separating “pro” and “con” people to different sides of the street as, I would imagine, a preventative measure.
But in Olympia saturday, there were no protests and no sign holders. However, a year or so ago when there was pro and con demonstrations on that very same spot about the introduction of the first domestic partnerships law, police broke up a very interesting and calm conversation i was having with a sign-holding anti, and made him go back to the anti zone. Different situations call for different responses by the police.
also remember that the videographer in question here had not identified himself in any was as pro or con, and was not engaging anyone in conversation, or even standing very close. this is very different from the scenario you present above, where a lone protester wades into a sea of opposition holding a sign he must know will stir up emotion.
This guy wasn’t a counterprotestorHe was holding up a Sarah Palin/No on Stimulus sign.
There are gay Republicans.
I assume that it would have been quite easy for the anti-equality group in Washington to have applied for a permit and turned their delivery into a politcal rally.
Then, I suppose they could have booted the videographers out for any reason.
The equality folks in California went and got the CHP and asked them to remove the guy with the Sarah Palin sign. I saw them do it.
The man argued that he wasn’t a counterprotestor. They removed him anyway.
I think my photographing this is what caused the organizers to start harassing me, too.
I Heart LyndonOff-topic – Anyone who quotes Bugs Bunny is my friend.
You’re not the only one.It’d be a shame if he is, though. Closeted self-hating phobes disgust me.
I’d love to see this crosspostedto Daily Kos. I can just imagine what folks over there would think of this guy – it would certainly make this thing go viral.
What I want to know is…If this Greg guy is so well-known, then why the hell haven’t I heard of him?