Lilith Fair Concert Tour May Donate Ticket Proceeds to Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
March 31, 2010
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Back in the 1990s, the Lilith Fair tour was one of the most people concert draws of the time — with millions of people flocking to venues and festivals to see mostly female alternative rock and pop artists. Organizers of the tour, which had a distinct liberal, feminist, bent have brought it back — with a twist.
The Summer 2010 Lilith Fair team announced a "Choose Your Charity" campaign through which Facebook users were able to vote from a pre-selected group of charities.
Those selected will receive $1 for every ticket sold in each concert city — potentially generating tens of thousands of dollars for charities involved.
To the surprise of pro-life advocates, the Lilith Fair team included pregnancy centers in the mix of groups and the Facebook users who voted decided to award them as their charity to receive the funds.
Fans in Minneapolis and Indianapolis, for example, are given the option of supporting Metro Women’s Center and Indianapolis Life Center — both are life-affirming pregnancy centers that help women find abortion alternatives and legitimate pregnancy support. Other cities such as Atlanta and Seattle also saw pregnancy centers selected.
Danielle Romeo, a publicist for the Lilith Fair tour, spoke with the Chicago Reader newspaper about the decision.
"The primary focus of the selection process will be on those organizations that provide shelter to women in need. We want the fans to have a voice in the selection, and we will strongly consider all feedback on these selected charities when making the final decisions," she said — making it appear pregnancy centers may not become the ultimate funding recipient.
Lilith cofounder Terry McBride responded further.
"The seeding at the start was done with a basic digital search in each market of woman’s charities," he told the reader. "It’s not perfect. Nor could it be, as we simply don’t have the local expertise even within our own city of Vancouver."
He explained that little research was done beyond examining the names of groups with federal taxpayer IDs
Ultimately, McBride said local Lilith Fair organizers will choose the charity recipients.
"The Lilith founders — Sarah McLachlan, Terry McBride, Dan Fraser and Marty Diamond — will hand pick the local charity winners from the top three charities with the most votes in each city," the festival’s web site says.
That likely means the pregnancy centers will get the short end of the stick eventually, although going against the wishes of Facebook fans could result in bad publicity.
Jill Stanek, a pro-life blogger, said she was shocked to see the pregnancy centers in the Lilith Fair list.
"To the surprise of everyone, including me, was several pregnancy care centers were included on the list. A surprise because back in the day Lilith Fair had the reputation of being a feminist and lesbian magnet, both groups being pro-abortion," she said. "Sarah McLachlan is also a pro-abort (ironically having previously performed in Rock for Choice concerts)."
Stanek found a total of seven pregnancy centers in the lists, with Kansas City and Phoenix also having them.
But she also noted two abortion businesses made the voting list, with centers in Atlanta and Raleigh, North Carolina selected.
"Ultimately, the deck is stacked against the" pregnancy centers, Stanek said — noting that the pro-abortion organizers have the final say.
Stanek also said pregnancy centers will be hurt by a pro-abortion Facebook campaign seeking to persuade Lilith Fair officials to deny them funding.
"All that said, pro-lifers sure can vote," Stanek concluded.
Related web sites:
Vote for pregnancy centers
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