LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
Capital Letters |
by Hastings Wyman |
Gore Picks Lieberman Al Gore's choice of Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman as his running mate is on balance a plus for the Democratic ticket and for the gay community. For the past several years, he has held a very positive record on gay issues. In the last session of this Congress, Lieberman rated a perfect 100 on the Human Rights Campaign's scorecard of gay-related issues; in the Congress before that, he scored an impressive 83 percent. However, going back a few years, Lieberman, who is known as somewhat of a cultural conservative, had some significant anti-gay votes. In 1996, he voted for the Defense of Marriage Act, a thinly veiled attack on same-sex matrimony that gained widespread support on both sides of the aisle. More troubling, in 1993, he voted to prohibit HIV-positive people from immigrating to the United States and to kill the District of Columbia's Domestic Partners Act. And going back to 1989, he voted to prevent schools from using educational materials that "promote homosexuality" or portray homosexuality as "normal, natural, or healthy." Given his positive record on recent issuesco-sponsoring hate crimes proposals and the Employment Non-Discrimination Actone may argue that the Connecticut moderate has grown on the job, and grown in a pro-gay direction. On the other hand, many of the issues on which he opposed gay interests have not come up for a vote recently. It is legitimate to ask Senator Lieberman whether he would vote the same way on these anti-gay proposals today. An Orthodox Jewthe first of his faith to be on the national ticket of a major partyLieberman has a strong moral sense that may underlie some of his cultural conservatism. Not very long ago, his moral vision often excluded gay people; recently, it has not. Politically, it is not yet clear how much Lieberman will help the ticket. Jewish voters, who had begun to stray from their Democratic loyalties in the past decade or so, are likely to return to the fold. While their numbers are small, their turnout rate is generally higher than that of other voter groups. In any case, Lieberman makes an interesting addition to the Gore ticket. His recent record will probably earn him high marks from most gay voters. His earlier record, however, will give some ammunition both to Log Cabin Republicans and to the Ralph Nader campaign. Stay tuned. Pro-Gay Chinks in Cheney's Right-Wing Armor? When Dick Cheney, George W. Bush's choice for vice-president, represented Wyoming in Congress, he had a staunchly conservative record on social and civil rights issuesanti-abortion, anti-affirmative action, anti-collecting hate crime statistics. But several actions in his record suggest that this establishment insider may have a few sympathetic vibes for gay concerns. For starters, Cheney's daughter, Mary Cheney, is openly lesbian. She was for many years in charge of corporate donations to gay and lesbian groups for Coors, the sometimes-controversial brewery in Golden, Colo. She was in the news as recently as February, speaking to the press about the Human Rights Campaign's rejection of a $5,000 gift from Coors because of the conservative views of some Coors family members. Mary Cheney was also in the forefront of the $110,000 Coors grant to the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, which drew attention in late 1998. Coors' defenders cite the company's progressive policies toward gay and lesbian employees, of which Ms. Cheney was apparently a key part. The closest parallel to Mary Cheney is House Speaker Newt Gingrich's half- sister, Candace Gingrich. It would be reassuring to believe Mary has more influence on her father than Candace did on the ex-Speaker. In addition, when Cheney was in Congress, he hired Pete Williams as his press secretary. Later, when Cheney was Secretary of Defense, Williams was his Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs. While Williamsnow a television correspondent for NBChas never advertised his sexual orientation, The Advocate effectively outed him in 1991. Cheney acknowledged that his longtime key staffer was gayand he kept him on in a highly visible post. In the same year, while testifying before a congressional budget committee, Cheney was asked about the Pentagon's policy on gays in the military by U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.). Cheney, taken by surprise, referred to the ban as an "old chestnut," implying it was outmoded. "He didn't defend the ban" at that time, Frank told me. Cheney did not become our ally on this issue, however, and the next time he testified, he brought Colin Powell with him to stick up for the homophobic policy. Cheney, however, did make some changes to moderate one anti-gay practice in the militarythat of requiring service members kicked out for being gay to reimburse the government for educational benefits they received. While the policy's still in effect, it's less onerous, due in part to Cheney's efforts. "I will give him credit" for this, says Frank, adding, "otherwise, he's 100 percent terrible." These factors suggest Cheney is very much in the George W. Bush mold on gay issuespersonally tolerant, willing to help now and then, but essentially a social conservative on most issues and, in any case, beholden to political forces far less tolerant. He could be worse. He could be a lot better. GOP Has Gay-Friendly Face, But Led by George Bush and Dick Cheney, the Republican Party abandoned its anti-gay stance of recent years at its Philadelphia convention. The pro-gay straws in the wind included lesbian Mary Cheney in the vice-presidential family, gay Congressman Jim Kolbe giving a prime-time speech, gay GOP receptions with party officials and officeholders in attendance. In addition, there was an absence of the kind of speeches thatas Log Cabiner Rich Tafel repeated from a Molly Ivins quote of some of the 1992 rhetoric"were better in the original German." There are also rumorsthe stuff of campaignsthat a gay Republican could get a cabinet post in a Bush-Cheney Administration: Jim Kolbe (Ariz.) as U.S. Trade Representative? Ex-U.S. Rep. Steve Gunderson (Wisc.) as Secretary of Agriculture? But the GOP glass is only half full. The empty half includes anti-gay provisions in the GOP platform, despite the wishes of its chairman, Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, and Bush himself. The document would scrap Don't-Ask-Don't-Tell and reinstate a ban on gays in the military, supports the Boy Scouts' right to bar gays, and opposes same-sex marriages and adoptions. While Bush's opposition to putting these provisions in the platform may be more important than the document itself, the platform committee's action suggests that in a Republican Administration, when push comes to shove, gays may get shoved. Moreover, the empty half includes the failure of the GOP or its national ticket to publicly support a single piece of legislation on the community's unofficial gay agenda. Not hate crimes penalties. Not domestic partnerships. Not even the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, even though opinion polls show a majority of Americans support its purpose. By contrast, the Democratic platform supports all of these proposals and more. The Republican's are showing a new face to voters this year, the most gay-friendly in its history, an important step forward, for the GOP and for gay people. But the GOP is not acting in a vacuum, and the Democrats are charging forth with a largely gay-friendly ticket and the most pro-gay platform in the history of either party. Gay folk can only benefit from this competition. Show Me the Money The three openly gay members of Congress are doing fine in the money chase, but the gay challengers are mostly having a hard time. Here's the latest from the mid-year financial reports to the Federal Election Commission. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), a potentially vulnerable freshman, is raking in the campaign cash$702,000 on hand making her re-election in this once-Republican district highly likely. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) is unopposed this year, so his war chest is fittingly modest$119,000. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) has $366,000 on hand for the fall campaign. Two Democrats are battling for their party's nomination, State Sen. George Cunningham$132,000 on handand City Attorney Mary Ryan has $80,000, including $21,000 in loans. Gay incumbents are in good shape, but not the challengers. Gerrie Schipske, running as a Democrat in California's 38th District (Long Beach, etc.), is the best financed of this year's openly gay congressional challengers, but she has only $106,000 on handand a $45,000 debt to boot. However, the National Congressional Campaign Committee is awash in cash and may decide to help her. Schipske's opponent, pro-gay Republican Steve Horn, has a hefty $388,000. Ron Oden, a Democrat who is opposing Republican Mary Bono in California's 44th District (Palm Springs, etc.), has $6,000 on hand, and is $19,000 in debt. Bono's finances aren't that greatshe's got $79,000 on hand. But the widow of Sonny and the step-mother of Chastity doesn't have to spend money teaching voters to recognize her name. Ron Strouse, running as a Democrat in Pennsylvania's 8th District (Bucks County, etc.), has only $12,000 to finance a campaign against four-term incumbent Jim Greenwood (R), who has $91,000 on hand. Hastings Wyman publishes Southern Political Report, a nonpartisan biweekly political newsletter. He can be reached at HWymanSPR@aol.com. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 10, No. 11, Aug. 11, 2000. |