LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
Capital Letters |
by Hastings Wyman |
Gore & Bradley Come A-Courtin' Al Gore and Bill Bradley have been aggressively seeking gay support in their bids for the Democratic presidential nomination. First, Bradley took more far-reaching stands on hot-button gay issues, coming out for amending existing civil-rights laws to include gays and for scrapping the Pentagon's controversial "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy, and speaking against the Knight initiative in California. The former New Jersey senator's more-liberal-than-thou positions forced the Vice President to follow suit on most of these issues. As a result, Bradley has garnered support from an impressive lineup of gay groups, including San Francisco's Harvey Milk Democratic Club and three major gay political groups in New York CityStonewall Manhattan, the LAMBDA Independent Democrats of Brooklyn, and the Lesbian and Gay Democratic Club of Queens. A Boston gay paper, Bay Windows, has also endorsed Bradley. Gore has not been sitting idly by. He broke with the Clinton administration on gays in the military, said he would appoint a presidential commission to determine how to provide gay couples "the same rights as marriage," and criticized Bradley's health plan as harmful to those with HIV. The once stoic veep went on stage to sing a verse of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" with the New York City's Gay Men's Chorus and appeared with Sharon Stone at the Human Rights Campaign's Los Angeles fundraiser, where they passed the hat for the "No on Knight" campaign and mustered $330,000. In response, most of the nation's gay and lesbian political muscle has ended up in Gore's corner, including such powerhouses as the National Stonewall Democratic Federation and the Human Rights Campaign. In addition, Gore has the support of the Gay and Lesbian Independent Democrats and the Empire State Pride Agenda in New York; the Stonewall Democratic Club in Los Angeles; the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club in Washington, D.C.; and the New England gay newspaper In Newsweekly. Gay Legislation in States While the public spotlight is on national politics, a number of state legislatureseven in the conservative South and Midwest have moved forward on pro-gay proposals. And anti-gay bills, a hot commodity only a couple of years ago, not only are outnumbered, but are often getting buried in committee. According to Dan Hawes, field director for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, "The general trend over the last four years is toward more positive bills, while the number of hostile ones remains the same or is down slightly. And the positive bills are moving further along the legislative process than ever before, while the hostile ones are not moving as far." There are currently 160 gay-friendly bills pending in the nation's state legislatures, compared to 55 unfriendly ones. Here's some examples: Colorado: On the down side, a safe-school environment bill designed to protect gay kids and others from intimidation died in a Senate committee, while a ban on same-sex marriage passed the Senate. "We usually beat it in the House Judiciary Committee," says Nick Sarchet of Equality Coloradobut this is an election year, so who knows? On the up side, two pro-gay measuresa hate crimes bill and civil rights proposalhave been reported out of the House Judiciary Committee and may reach the floor during this legislative session. Georgia: By a vote of 30-23, the Senate made Peach State history when it passed a hate crimes bill that includes sexual orientation. The bill is now pending in the lower chamber, which "will start committee work shortly" on the measure, says longtime gay lobbyist Larry Pellegrini of the Georgia Rural-Urban Summit. Indiana: The state House of Representatives, controlled by Democrats, passed a hate crimes bill by a wide margin. Originally, sexual orientation was deleted from the measure, "but we raised a stink," says Chris Douglas of the Indianapolis gay-rights group Justice Inc., so it's now included. The provision mandating tougher penalties for hate crimes has been deleted, but the bill still requires that hate crimes be reported. The bill goes to the Republican-controlled state Senate. Hoosier gays are "cautiously optimistic," says Douglas. Kentucky: A bill to prohibit discrimination against gay people in housing and employment was introduced in the Bluegrass State legislature for the first time earlier this year. Last year, four Kentucky municipalities enacted similar anti-bias ordinances. On the down side, some right-wing lawmakers want to pass a state law that would veto these local gay-rights laws. Mississippi: A bill to prohibit adoptions by samesex couples is bogged down in a House committee, and "we expect it to die in committee," says Eddie Sandifer of the Mississippi Gay and Lesbian Alliance. New Jersey: A bill introduced to exempt the Boy Scouts from the Garden State's anti-discrimination law hasn't gone anywhere, but it may before the session is over. Ohio: A bill that would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the state's hate crimes law has been introduced in the legislature and is pending in the House Judiciary Committee. Similar measures have failed in the past in the Buckeye State. Jeff Redfield of Stonewall Columbus says the group is polling legislators on the proposal. Utah: A bill banning adoptions by unmarried couples has passed the Senate and has a good chance of making it through the House as well. Vermont: The legislature toyed with legalizing same-sex marriage, but now looks like it will come up with a domestic partnership package to satisfy the Green Mountain State's recent Supreme Court ruling that held the current marriage laws to be discriminatory against gay people. Virginia: The state Senate passed a bill to downgrade sodomy from a crime to a misdemeanor and reduce the penalties for committing so-called crimes against nature. Proposals that would repeal the state's sodomy law got nowhere, notes Shirley Lesser of Virginians for Justice, so they came up with a "Sodomy Reform Bill." The bill is now pending in the Senate. "There are seven steps to pass a bill," says Lesser. "We've passed three; the next four are the most difficult." Who's Buying? The Human Rights Campaign, in returning a $5,000 contribution from the Coors Foundation because some of the Coors family members are to the right of Attila the Hun, has forgotten its roots. One of HRC's earliest financial backers was the late Dallas Coors, an openly gay member of the same beer family. That Coors served on HRC's board in the early 1980s. 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. 2, Mar. 10, 2000. |