LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
Capital Letters |
by Hastings Wyman |
Democrats Dig Gay Gold The Gore campaign is engaged in a well-planned, highly successful effort to get major financial support from the gay community throughout the country. On July 26, Tipper Gore will be the guest of honor in Columbia, S.C., for a Gay/Lesbian Leadership Council fundraiser. Money aside, the event will make history in this conservative state. Then in early August, Vice President Gore himself will headline a gay fundraiser in the Hamptons, where New York City's well-off cool off. These fundraisers come on top of two recent gay events in Manhattan that brought in nearly a quarter of a million bucks for the Democrats in one evening. The guests of honor included Second Lady Gore, the DNC's Chair Ed Rendell and its gay Treasurer Andy Tobias. The festivities began with a reception on the penthouse balcony of real-estater Robby Brownewho also raises cash for the U.S. Marines' "Toys for Tots" programthen continued with a dinner on the balcony at the home of classy glass Christmas ornament mogul Christopher Radko. Radko's balcony, FYI, was used in the opening scene of The Talented Mr. Ripley. (Down home, we call such gallivanting "Pissing in high cotton.") For several years, the DNC has had a gay liaison on staffcurrently the able and savvy Mark Spenglerto coordinate the party's gay-related political activities. Now the party has added another gay stafferenergetic impresario Paul Yandurawhose full-time job is to raise money from gay and lesbian contributors. In addition, of course, there are a number of other openly gay folks working at the DNC. We know what's in it for Democrats. What's in it for gays? First, the party in power rewards its friendsnever as much as the friends want, but significantly more than the opposition party. That means a friendlier ear to pro-gay legislation and to appointing gay people to administration positions. Second, probably sooner than later, the Republicans are going to notice all that lavender cash going into Democratic coffers and begin to feel left out. So don't be surprised if the GOP starts to compete more aggressively for gay supportif not this year, then in the near future. Gay Delegates Serve on Democratic Platform Committee Five openly lesbian and gay delegates have already been selected to serve on the Democrats' platform committee. That's up from the two openly gay people who were on this important committee in 1996. And look for more gay members to be added to the platform committee in the next few weeks. The five include: Tina Podlodowski, a former member of the Seattle City Council. She was a senior manager at Microsoft until she founded her own investment firm recently specializing in news media and Internet businesses. Moreover, Podlodowski has also been appointed to serve on the all-important drafting committee, which will actually write the platform. Randy Palmer, chairman of the Iowa Gay and Lesbian Democratic Party Caucus. Christine Kehoe, currently a San Diego City Council member. She's heavily favored as the Democratic nominee for the California State Assembly for her district. Cynthia Smith, with the Gay and Lesbian Independent Democrats of New York. And Steve Sanders, the Indiana state coordinator for the Human Rights Campaign, a former chair of the City of Bloomington Human Rights Commission. He teaches a political science course on gay and lesbian politics at the University of Indiana-Bloomington. The platform committee has the job of drafting and approving a blueprint for the issues the party will campaign on this fall. In theory, the platform also sets out what the party will accomplish if it wins the elections for the White House and Congress. (But don't count on itparty platforms have never been built out of stone.) Virginia GOPers Meet with Log Cabiners The Old Dominion GOP is staunchly conservative, so it was a step forward when two of its major figures recently met with gay Republicans. Former Governor George Allen, who is running against U.S. Senator Charles Robb, a pro-gay Democrat, met with a delegation of Virginia Log Cabin members. While Allen stuck close to his conservative line, he did indicate that he would vote against measures such as last year's Hefley amendment, which would have gutted the President's executive order banning anti-gay discrimination in the federal civilian workplace. U.S. Senator John Warner addressed the Log Cabin Club of Northern Virginia. The senator, who votes with us some of the time, told the 75 gay GOPers that he will "examine allegations of discrimination in the workplace and look at some legislative options." Warner, who is chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, also said he believes the Pentagon's Don't-Ask-Don't-Tell policy needs review. He pointed out that during his five-year marriage to Elizabeth Taylor, he met a lot of gay people, noting he only had problems with one, joking: "Sometimes I had to kick her hair-dresser out on his ass." Nader & the Lavender Greens Ralph Nader, America's number one consumer activist, is running for president as the nominee of the Green Party, and his campaign will include a high- profile outreach to gay voters. In addition to its left-of-center economics, the Green Party has adopted a platform that includes such staple pro-gay planks as anti-discrimination legislation encompassing lesbians, bisexuals, gays, and the transgendered. But it also goes further than the major party platforms are likely to by supporting same-sex marriages. Other Green Party policies, approved in draft form and scheduled for adoption next year, include opposition to non-consensual gender reassignment surgery for infants and a goal of 10 percent gay teachers in public schools. In 1996, Nader derisively referred to the Greens' same-sex marriage debate as "gonadal politics," but he now supports the Greens' social platform. Moreover, this year the party has established an active Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay and Transgender Green Party Caucus, known as the Lavender Greens, that is "trying to bring in more of the queer community," says Starlene Rankin, national secretary of the caucus. Nader, who is 66 and a life-long bachelor, has been the subject of speculation about his private life. Is he gay? Or does he have a monk-like absorption for his causes, leaving little of himself left over for personal fulfillment? There's no evidence for the former, but considerable for the latter. In any case, Nader is an intensely private person who has shared little of his personal life with the public. Nader ran as the Green Party's nominee in 1996, but his campaign budget was negligible and he garnered only 685,000 votes. This year, he plans an all-out campaign with at least a $5 million budget and a line on the ballot in 45 states and the District of Columbia. The latest four-way Gallup Poll showed Nader with 6 percentto George W. Bush's 50 percent, Al Gore's 38 percent and Pat Buchanan's 2 percent. If the race tightens, votes for Naderlikely to come off Gore, not Bushcould help put Bush in the White House. Nader is especially strong in California. Some 11 percent of the voters in California's Democratic primary earlier this year were gayand 24 percent of those voted for Bill Bradley, a potential weak spot for Gore. If Nader ends up running strong among Golden State gays, he could tip the state to Bush, sinking the Gore effort nationwide. But the Nader campaign might benefit the Democrats' effort to win control of Congress. If Nader aims his campaign at non-voters, which was Gov. Jesse Ventura's successful strategy in Minnesota, the Green campaign could draw a number of new voters to the polls who pick Nader for president, but vote Democratic further down the ticket. The Nader campaign has signed on quirky ad man Bill Hillsman, who put Jesse Ventura in the Minnesota governor's mansion by bringing new voters to the polls. In any case, Nader will probably have a tough time matching the gay outreach of the Gore campaign, which is waging the most intensive effort for gay support in American political history. Moreover, most of the nation's gay and lesbian political establishment is strongly behind Gore. Nor is Nader likely to appeal to gay Republicans, who have accounted for as much as one-third of the gay turnout in some elections. For starters, Log Cabin GOPers are making peace with their party's standard-bearer. And considering the Green Party's near-Marxist distrust of private enterprise, it could well choose the watermelon as its symbolgreen on the outside, red on the inside. Thus, even disaffected gay Republicans are likely to view Nader, who has had a long-standing battle with American business, as unsafe at any speed. Hastings Wyman publishes Southern Political Report, a nonpartisan biweekly political newsletter. He can be reached care of Letters from CAMP Rehoboth or at HWymanSPR@aol.com. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 10, No. 9, July 14, 2000. |