I am glad that SeaWorld is finally really fighting back against PETA’s extreme and false claims by recently launching some educational public service and educational media outreach. The facts are that for over five decades no organization in San Diego County has done more to rescue and protect all ocean wildlife than SeaWorld. Yes, there have been some accidents at SeaWorld but PETA’s claim that SeaWorld systematically and knowingly mistreats its killer whales is not true.
The highly respected Association of Zoos and Aquariums have given SeaWorld its full accreditation after an independent review found they met its high standard. SeaWorld has put forth a $100 million plan to nearly double the size of their orcas’ habitat and has also committed $10 million for research on orcas in the wild.
Every year SeaWorld has undertaken to save sea lion pups that get mysteriously stranded on our beaches. The facts are that SeaWorld is inspected at least once a year by a federal agency and SeaWorld is accredited by actually two major zoological associations that both demand rigorous standards.
But nothing will ever be enough for PETA as they continue their negative and false campaigns against SeaWorld. I have close friends who have and do work at SeaWorld for many decades and they like all of us love all animals and tell me that they would never work at a place that mistreats any animal. Toni Atkins, Todd Gloria, Kevin Faulconer all strongly support SeaWorld because they know the facts and truth.
I urge you all to educate yourselves about the good people and programs at SeaWorld.
The golden state is turning brown …
So I have been saying in some of my speeches for the last decade and last month Latinos officially surpassed whites as California’s largest racial or ethnic group; there are now 14.99 million Latinos in California and I am proud to be one of them. And obviously there is also a more visible and growing LGBT Latino population with more Latinos taking on major activist and leadership roles in California.
Christians and gays being killed in the Middle East
It seems that the killing of thousands of Christians and gay people in the Middle East continues to get little media coverage or attention by American leaders. The facts are that Christians and LGBT people in the Middle East are being persecuted and murdered by Muslim extremists more than ever before. I am very proud of and salute the two San Diegans who have been leaders in the campaign to focus on the killing of Christians in the Middle Ease: Mark Arabo and Congressman Juan Vargas.
Truax House is a historic site
Congratulations and thank you to Lambda Archives, Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins and Councilman Todd Gloria for securing state and local financial grants to preserve San Diego LGBT historic sites. Lambda Archives deserves credit for starting the campaign to focus on this most important issue and now comes word that the Truax House is being considered as a historic site and indeed it is. I remember talking to a very ill Dr. Brad Truax in the 1980s to get his permission so that the AIDS Assistance Fund, and I (president and co-founder) could name the three story house after him and he modestly said yes. I look forward to other LGBT historic sites to be named.
Nicky Awards to honor mayor this Sunday
The San Diego LGBT Academy Awards will be held this Sunday, Aug. 23 at the Marriot Hotel in Mission Valley (6 p.m.). Tickets and tables are going like hot cakes and the entire community is invited. It’s always an Oscar Awards and Red Carpet-like event with outstanding entertainment. Producer Allan Spyere is saying it’s going to be another fabulous fun night and Mayor Kevin Faulconer will be honored as the national co-chair of Mayors for Marriage Equality. For further info: 619-300-1232 or 619-254-6372.
It saddens me to see that the LGBTQ community would even entertain the idea of supporting SeaWorld. Profiting from the abuse and slavery of another species is just deplorable. Since the beginning of time LGBTQ’s have had to fight and scratch for every ounce of compassion and understanding we could get, now you inflict it on others. Just because they don’t want on two legs does NOT mean they don’t deserve respect. Sad…
One would think that one oppressed group (LGBT) would care about the suffering of another oppressed group–captive whales. I am shocked to read your support of cetacean captivity. Have you even watched Blackfish? Or read the hundreds of articles filled with facts about the mistreatment of whales at SeaWorld? http://fortmyers.floridaweekly.com/news/2015-06-24/Opinion/Because_we_love_them.html
Holding intelligent, sentient highly socially evolved beings as prisoners to entertain us for profit? I think I am going to be sick. Sea mammals actually belong in the sea-not in tanks. Seaworld has never rescued/released one orca because they are cash cows for a corporation which is sinking fast (check their stocks).
PS. I have no association whatsoever to peta and I have I own that keeping whales in pools is wrong for 25 years-it’s common sense. Please don’t get me started on the hybrid breeding program (no conservation value whatsoever) and forced separation of mother and calf.
You’re being disingenuous when you specifically blame PETA for the movement to end cetacean captivity. PETA is not the only organization or individual that can see the inherent cruelty in SeaWorld’s treatment of highly intelligent, social creatures. PETA did not produce Blackfish, the highly influential documentary that has opened the eyes of millions of people. No, it merely takes an intelligent person and a little independent research to come out against SeaWorld and other captive-cetacean parks. History will look down upon those who supported the captivity of cetaceans, just as it will with those who denied the rights of people in the LGBT community.
Sadly it us you that has not done the research on cetaceans in captivity .
Seaworld is not nor has ever been an altruistic company . They are in the business of making money and still are. Time to wake up and acknowledge the truth that a 10,000lb animalwhose home is the vastness of the ocean , does not belong in a swimming pool. Doubling the side of the prison is not the answer!ihttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/20/killer-whales-not-suitable-captivity-seaworld
So rescuing a few seals and spending 5 cents per ticket on conservation gives SeaWorld a free pass to imprison orcas – highly intelligent and social animals that swim up to 100 miles a day in the wild – and make them do tricks for “entertainment”? Sorry, it doesn’t work that way. Anyone who owns a dog understands that it’s cruel to keep an animal penned in an abnormally small space for its entire life.
There have been countless articles in mainstream media exposing SeaWorld’s cruel treatment of its captive orcas. All you have to do is google “seaworld orcas.” I would echo Nicole’s statement: educate yourself.
I love San Diego, and I know that SeaWorld is important to the San Diego economy. But SeaWorld needs to figure out some way of making money that doesn’t involve cruelty and doesn’t put the lives of its employees in danger. The slave trade was important to the U.S. economy at one time, too, but that didn’t make it right.
Nicole, in the interest of full disclosure , have you received any benefits or compensation from Sea World or its associates?
Grotesque… just like this sad old queens icy heart.
Leave it to our illustrious Nicole to endorse Sea World and their shenanigans. Sea World was under scrutiny long before PETA came into being. I would elaborate more, but the other posters said it for me. Except I’d like to see Nicole totally confined to a room about 4 times her length. Not girth mind you because that would have to be one very large room. Of course for us, that would be a good thing if she were to be confined and gagged. This Nicole creature is so off the wall with her flip-flopping opinions, mean jabs at everyone, and actually thinks she’s speaking for the gay community. Not my gay community.
Faulconer is probably the most ineffective mayor we’ve had in years. Now he gets an award just because he didn’t fight against marriage equality? Nicole, my dear, he didn’t do much to promote it either. It’s politics. Your politics.
Please remember, Commenters, that Nicole does not speak for the gay community. Todd Gloria, unfortunately, gave Nicole the nickname, Mayor of Hillcrest, a fatal mistake, because Nicole ran with it like the attention seeking missile he is. If Sea World trained him to jump through hoops then I might visit Sea World for the first time — oh, wait. He is trained, by the many mouths who feed him, by the many politicians who kowtow to him for reasons I cannot understand and that disgust me.
wow – 20 years ago I was following you Nicole as a leader of the LGBT community- as a student at SDSU – listening to your Taco Tia stories and thinking how you were such a pioneer. Now I am just sigh. SeaWorld does not have the interests of the animals at heart (but they do care about stock prices and what makes money) and I am saddened by your blindness to this fact. The AZA is on the wrong side of many issues and this is just one more. I really admired you – when you took the lead in the 1993 MOW to many other things – but this just saddens me. Attacking PETA who has ALL ANIMALS interests in mind is not only misdirected but it shows you have a real lack of understanding on the issue. Shoot the messenger Nicole. Sad.
@Steve. Nicole was NEVER a leader in the community. She is, well, something else and a legend in her own mind. She has never worked, she lives off of the community and the politicians. That is her M.O. Now she lives off of the government system. She wasn’t even brave enough to go through with her sex change, she has failed at everything except for being a pest, she is a disgrace to our community and was a former prostitute. That is not someone that is representative of OUR community. She is a pioneer in the respect of her age. That’s all.