What do you mean by "Treated as he was"? He donated money to support the modification of the Californian constitution to explicitly remove rights that the Californian judicial system had determined were otherwise constitutionally protected. Do you feel that it is unreasonable for people to feel that this was an attack on them, just as you would feel that any attempts to remove your right to freedom of worship would be an attack on you?
Re: "The community didn't trust Brendan"