Comments on: Kameny estate trademarks ‘Gay is Good’ slogan

By: brian

brian — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 10:29:24 +0000

Glen Ackerman is an honorable person and one of our city’s great LGBT attorneys. Your wholly unfounded personal attack on Glen Ackerman’s integrity is flatly false and outrageous.

Ackerman is doing exactly what a good lawyer should– zealously defending the rights and wishes of Frank Kameny and protecting Frank Kameny’s estate from self-appointed, potentially self-serving exploiters of Kameny’s legacy.

By: brian

brian — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 20:31:22 +0000

I’m not a lawyer, but once again, I can’t help but feel that there is more to this story than meets the eye. Something is missing. There was obviously a longstanding, close relationship between our national LGBT rights hero, Frank Kameny and a young man– a familial relationship, which after all, most local LGBT people never knew of. Maybe not always in death– but in life, don’t we have to respect any person’s wishes for privacy?

There has also been a lot of money raised in the name of Frank Kameny. Do we know who raised that money? Or how it was spent?

Also, it seems to me more than a little presumptuous for Chris Dyer or anyone else to pronounce with certainty how Kameny wanted the term “Gay is Good” to be used and protected. Did Kameny give Dyer a competing will? Is there some written Kameny document Dyer or anyone else can point to that suggests Kameny’s heir is being reckless with Kameny’s last wishes?

BTW, if *ANYONE* can use Kameny’s historic LGBT slogan for anything, why can’t it be used by Glenn Beck to stage a DC rally for ‘happy’ straight people who vehemently oppose marriage equality? If we google or bing “gay is good” what’s to keep a homophobic hate site from using it? Or a porn site, for that matter?

There are lots of good reasons trademark and intellectual property protections exist.

I enjoy a good lawyer joke as well as anyone. But before we start bashing lawyers trying to protect Frank Kameny’s wishes– as recorded by Frank Kameny himself (a LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT, wasn’t it?)– we need to see more facts.

By: Jerry Sloan

Jerry Sloan — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 19:43:11 +0000

Should the estate of the late Harvey Milk seek a copy right so no one can say “Come out, come out wherever you are!”

By: Joel Tobin-Causey

Joel Tobin-Causey — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 15:16:14 +0000

Wow Tim Kameny you should be ashamed of yourself for doing exactly what Frank wouldn't ever do.

By: Brian Watson

Brian Watson — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 15:09:18 +0000

I agree with the above comments, this just shows again people really become petty when folks die. A educated leader like Dr. Kameny had the opportunity to trademark this slogan if that was his wish for over 50 years he used this term.

By: Robert Cabeca

Robert Cabeca — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 14:49:15 +0000

Gay is good. Sue me.

By: Erica Gloger

Erica Gloger — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 14:49:10 +0000

I hope this legal circus inspires everyone in our community to have a proper Will drawn and make their wishes clear before they are gone! As an estate planning attorney myself, I see too many of these sad cases…when its too late.

By: Michael Jones

Michael Jones — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 14:25:09 +0000

This is quite ridiculous! Mr Ackerman is only interested in being able to commercialize for profit the slogan for his own gains which from what I have read about the late Mr Kamney goes against his intent. Mr Kamney offered the slogan up out of his intellectual thinking for a greater cause, the fight for equality. This phrase has become an icon, a war cry and is part of the LGBT community now and therefore should be considered public domain. It is people like Ackerman who taint the good deeds of people like Mr Kamney, and he is supposed to be looking out for his legacy. I seriously don't believe Mr Kamney would have had an issue with Mr Dyer using the phrase in a campaign to highlight those who work to improve the lives of the LGBT community for no commercial or profit gain. This actually goes right along with the reason Mr Kamney originally coined the phrase, to improve the lives of the LGBT community through equality so it is really a slap in the face of the late Mr Kamney to create this circus in his "honor" (remind me to leave no estate to be managed by someone in my honor). I suppose for every phrase I coin and choose not to trademark because it was for the good of others, I better start establishing legal documentation to keep misguided legacy bearers from manipulating the goodness of the phrase.

By: Robert Starkey

Robert Starkey — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 14:17:22 +0000

Having lived in Frank’s basement apartment in the 1970s, I got to know him pretty well and I too am appalled at this action to trademark “Gay is Good.” Frankly, Frank would be on the side of representing those who wish this phrase to belong to the entire Gay community. The fact that this term has been trademarked serves to remind me that Gay is not “always” good!

By: patsy

patsy — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 13:52:57 +0000

The process of trademarking anything takes time. As Mark Meinke pointed out, there is a process that must be followed before anything is officially accomplised. Saying this, the “Gay is Good” phrase is not offically trademarked yet, and therefore can still be used by anyone without fear of legal actions.

Please, please continue to voice one’s opinion.