ACTIVISM
Natural History Parts Ways With Rebekah Mercer
Breakup follows years of Revolting Lesbians’ protests against climate change denier
BY MATT TRACY
Billionaire Rebekah Mercer,
a generous contributor
to right-wing causes
and a major investor in
Breitbart News, is no longer listed
as a member of the Board of Trustees
at the American Museum of
Natural History (AMNH) following
a sustained, years-long protest
led primarily by the direct action
group Revolting Lesbians.
The museum confi rmed to Gay
City News on February 24 that
Mercer was no longer on the board,
though a spokesperson would only
say that her “term expired in December”
and otherwise avoided
questions about the circumstances
surrounding her departure. Mercer
fi rst joined the board in 2013.
Mercer leads the Mercer Family
Foundation, which has reportedly
injected more than $50 million
into organizations that deny
climate change and push other
far-right beliefs. She and her family
— including, most prominently,
her father Robert Mercer — have
long maintained a low profi le that
has aided their ability to distribute
their wealth without much attention.
But Revolting Lesbians thrust
her name and the museum into the
spotlight beginning in 2017 when
members of the group started protesting
AMNH for its ties to Mercer
and her foundation in a way that
presented a striking juxtaposition
in light of the role of the museum,
one of the nation’s premier scientific
institutions, in highlighting the
effects of climate change.
Among many contributions to
and investments in right-wing organizations,
Mercer has donated
at least $5 million to the Heartland
Institute, a climate-change
denial think tank that boasts of
having convinced President Donald
Trump “that man-made global
warming is not a crisis.”
Revolting Lesbians utilized
unique tactics to draw attention to
their cause. At one point in 2018,
members staged a Friday the
13th “horror show” in which they
Revolting Lesbians in Rebekah Mercer drag on the steps of the American Museum of Natural HIstory.
DONNA ACETO
Anne Maguire of Revolting Lesbians.
dressed up as Mercer and paraded
around the museum chanting,
“Why am I a trustee here?” and
“I do not belong at the American
Natural History Museum.” There
were numerous protests over the
course of the two-plus years that
the group targeted the museum.
During Mercer’s tenure on the
board, museum spokespersons
repeatedly said the AMNH did not
appoint staff or trustees based on
political views and maintained that
trustees and donors were not making
decisions about the way scientifi
c information was presented.
Members of Revolting Lesbians
said they are confi dent that it was
their protests — as well as pressure
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Revolting Lesbians during their Friday the 13th
“horror show” demonstration.
from the public and museum
members, including at least 450
scientists and out gay City Council
Speaker Corey Johnson — that
helped push Mercer out the door.
“The fact that we were turning
up very regularly inside the museum
and outside the museum to the
point where security got to know
who we are — that was not good
for the museum,” Anne Maguire of
Revolting Lesbians told Gay City
News in a phone interview February
24. “We’re very happy Mercer
is not on the board, and she never
belonged on the board.”
Maguire said members of Revolting
Lesbians have not yet determined
whether they would
DONNA ACETO
continue targeting Mercer and her
foundation’s donations to rightwing
groups.
Beyond Breitbart and the Heartland
Institute, the long list of organizations
which the Mercers have
funded include the Federalist Society,
a robust legal group known for
churning out conservative — and,
at times, manifestly unqualifi ed —
judges appointed by Trump; the
conservative think tank known as
the Goldwater Institute; the Young
American’s Foundation, a conservative
youth organization that
promotes “traditional values” and
counts Trump advisor Stephen
Miller among its alumni; and the
Council for National Policy, an exclusive
networking organization for
conservatives. After initially supporting
Texas Senator Ted Cruz
in 2016, Mercer and her father became
major supporters of Trump,
convincing him to bring both Kellyanne
Conway and Steve Bannon
into his orbit.
For now, Revolting Lesbians is
reveling in the satisfaction that
Rebekah Mercer has at least lost
her sway at a prestigious museum
dedicated to public education in
critical areas of scientifi c study.
“It’s great to have a win of any
kind,” Maguire said. “People have
been fi ghting and doing all the
resistance work and it seems like
sometimes they don’t know what
the point is. This is a big deal.”
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