Was Lorenzo Hoopes a Worthy Board Member for the Paramount?

Many gay-rights activists and supporters recently have denounced the re-nomination of Lorenzo Hoopes to the Paramount Theatre’s board of directors because the 96-year-old former president of the Mormon Temple was Oakland’s leading contributor to Proposition 8, the anti-gay-marriage initiative. Indeed, Mayor Ron Dellums decided to hold off on deciding about Hoopes’ nomination, and the San Francisco Chronicle reported that he likely won’t get enough votes from the city council to win final approval. But history suggests there are plenty of other reasons to question the qualifications of the theater’s longtime board member.