|
|
|
|
18 Gay Speeches at the Democratic Convention |
|
If this type of discipline is needed to win, I am all for it. I doubt the Republicans will be as disciplined at their August convention. In 2000, Republicans agitated and divided the gay vote by pointing out that the Democrats were taking their vote for granted. With this propaganda, Republicans probably succeeded in picking up a million gay votes and it also probably gave Ralph Nader some critical votes, which caused Al Gore to lose the Electoral College vote. After refusing to speak at the 2004 NAACP convention, President Bush used the above agitprop on blacks by asking them if the Democrats had "earned" their vote. In a rousing 2004 DNC speech, the Rev. Al Sharpton sharply responded, "Our vote is not for sale." Amen. The gay vote is not for sale either. As far as Ralph Nader is concerned, Rep. Barney Frank's 2004 DNC speech accused Nader of "trivializing our lives when he says there is no difference between the Republicans and Democratic Parties." Frank eloquently put into words what had been bothering me about Nader, who had unconditionally supported gay rights in the past. This year, a vote for Nader or Bush will certainly lead to the appointment of more "conservative activist judges" who will legislate from the bench and take away gay civil rights without any voter approval. The only way to stop this is to vote for John Kerry. Yes, it is irritating that gay Democrats had to compromise at the convention. But these compromises are trivial when looking at it from a historical perspective. During the DNC, C-Span2 was replaying the unedited NBC TV coverage of the 1964 Democratic and Republican Presidential and Vice Presidential acceptance speeches. Watching these old speeches made me realize how much progress on gay rights has been made in 40 years, despite how much has stayed the same. I remember watching the 1964 conventions when I was ten years old and being very worried about nuclear war. Re-watching these speeches 40 years later reminded me of the fear I had about communists. I am sure today's children are in fear of "terrorists." Fear has always been used to seduce voters. At the 1964 Republican convention, Presidential Nominee Barry Goldwater brought thunderous applause with his famous line, "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." In 1964 many voters interpreted this as meaning Goldwater was a trigger-happy warmonger who would lead the world into a self-destructive nuclear war against communists. Today, Bush has a similar philosophy and his preemptive warmongering has actually placed America in grave danger. At the 1964 Democratic convention, Johnson strongly countered Goldwater by asserting that America should never use nuclear weapons except as a last resort to defend our "great society." Johnson emphasized that as the "greatest country on earth" we should be fighting the "war on poverty" instead of waging nuclear war. Johnson's principled compassion led him to a landslide victory over Goldwater. Today, the Republican Bush administration is intentionally ignoring previous nuclear weapons treaties and they have started several new nuclear weapons programs. Unfortunately, after being reelected, Johnson changed his mind and escalated the Vietnam War. This is when I started to worry about being drafted at age eighteen and I became more politically involved in the anti-war movement. President George W. Bush already has plans to reinstate the draft after the election. Students at my university and their parents are extremely worried by this very real possibility. What was spooky about these old convention speeches was how similar they were to today's speeches except for some contemporaneous references. For example, Vice President Hubert Humphrey denounced Republicans for "dividing the nation." Democrats spoke of "hope and help" just as Clinton, Kerry and Edwards did years later. Republicans have remained a party of fear mongers only worried about creating a healthy climate for business. The Democrats have remained the defenders of all Americans. Despite the fact that little has changed in political speech, I am not jaded. To paraphrase John Kerry, my hair may be greyer, but I still know how to fight for my country and my rights. John Kerry is not perfect, but I am convinced that we will lose many of our hard-won rights if President Bush is reelected. In 1965, a few homophile rights activists were bravely planning a Fourth of July protest march in front of Independence Hall. Neither Republicans nor Democrats felt the need to say anything about homosexuals at their conventions, other than to address the "security risk" that homosexuals and communists posed to America. Forty years later, the official 2004 Democratic Party Platform includes language explicitly supporting gay rights. The official 2004 Republican Party Platform has explicit language calling for gay rights to be taken away by amending the U.S. Constitution. The 2004 Republican convention has numerous anti-gay individuals scheduled to speak out against gay rights. Virtually every gay Republican is planning to vote for Kerry. Gay Republicans must continue to try and change the minds of their fellow Republicans. But they would be voting against their own rights if they voted for George W. Bush. As Rep. Barney Frank more eloquently said, the difference between the two parties is huge. And Ralph Nader is dead wrong. Since I actually watched the DNC, I quickly found out that the reporters were not listening to any of the speeches, but depended on transcripts that often differed significantly from the live event. I was pleased to hear many references to gay rights during the convention. Many of these references I could not find even using a paid professional-level Lexus search. In order to counter the agitprop that Democrats scrubbed gays from their convention, here is my exclusive annotated list of gay rights references during the Democratic National Convention: Note: All times shown below are live on the west coast. I included these times to remind easterners that most of these speeches occurred while people were at work or dinner on the west coast. The official "primetime" for speeches was between 4:00 to 8:00 PM west coast time, which is 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM east coast time. Monday, July 26, 2004 1:44 - 1:47 PM PT (Pacific Time, add three hours to get East Coast time) Andrew Tobias Treasurer, Democratic National Committee Andrew Tobias, author of the famous 1973 coming out book, The Best Little Boy In The World, did not utter the word gay, but near the end of his speech said, "You know, Charles and I are celebrating our tenth anniversary next month and we pay a lot of taxes and we should be able to share fully in the promise of America." 2:45 - 2:48 PM PT Bill Lann Lee Former U.S. Assistant Attorney General Lee said "gays and lesbians" deserve "rights" and should not be denied "benefits" or be assaulted due to their "sexual orientation." Lee was the only speaker to equate "civil rights" with gay rights. Many other speakers, including John Edwards, closely linked "civil rights" only with black rights. For example, Edwards said, "From the time I was very young, I saw the ugly face of segregation and discrimination. I saw young African-American kids sent upstairs in movie theaters. I saw white only signs on restaurant doors and luncheon counters. I feel such an enormous responsibility when it comes to issues of race and equality and civil rights. I have heard some discussions and debates about where, and in front of what audiences we should talk about race, equality, and civil rights. Well, I have an answer to that question. Everywhere." I fully agree. But we must remember that civil rights include more than just black rights. Forty years ago, the American Civil Liberties Union believed that homosexuality was not a civil rights issue. Today, the ACLU is aggressively defending the civil rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. Yes, John Edwards is very good looking. (VGL, HWP, SWM and married to use Internet dating profile speak) And no, I could not find any references to gay rights in his speech where he accepted the nomination to be John Kerry's Vice Presidential running mate. 2:48 - 2:52 PM PT Roberta Achtenberg Senior Vice President for Public Policy, San Francisco Chamber of Commerce Achtenberg started by saying, "I, too, am a proud American. In addition to being a Senior Vice President of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, I am a lawyer, a mother, and a lesbian. I am proud to be all of those things and one thing more: a Democrat!" She was one of only two speakers who directly said they were gay or lesbian. She read from the carefully crafted Democratic platform: "We Democrats call for gay and lesbian families to be fully included in the life of America, and will seek equal responsibilities, benefits, and protections for these families. We are committed to equal treatment of all service members. We reject the Federal Marriage Amendment." 6:31 - 6:38 PM PT The Honorable Tammy Baldwin U.S. House of Representatives, Wisconsin
Baldwin is an out lesbian, but she did not mention it in
her "primetime" speech. She also did not say the word gay
or lesbian, but her indirect allusion to gay families drew
loud applause from the few gay activists in the auditorium:
"And [Kerry will] guarantee the right to family health
benefits to all our families - - including domestic
partners." During the speech, I noticed an unauthorized gay
marriage equality sign in the crowd that must have been
confiscated because it disappeared in all the subsequent
shots. Such signs were forbidden supposedly for "security"
reasons and to "stay on message."
Tuesday, July 27, 2004 2:58 PM PT Denise Stokes AIDS Educational Consultant Ellenwood, Georgia Stokes included the word gay as part of a long list of AIDS victims. She was a Clinton appointee and skewed her speech to address the global AIDS problem. 3:20 PM PT Performance by Peter, Paul and Mary Song lyrics included the phrase, "how many people must die." This was a classic song often used by both anti-war and gay AIDS activists. 5:00 PM PT The Honorable Edward Kennedy United States Senator, Massachusetts Honorary Chair, Democratic National Committee
6:55 PM PT Keynote Speaker Barack Obama Candidate for the United States Senate, Illinois
In talking about the divisions between Blue states and Red
states, (the color blue is commonly used in newsmagazine
graphics for Democratic controlled states and the color red
for Republican controlled states) Obama gave a long list of
people who exist in both states. In that long list he said,
"We've got some gay friends in the Red states." It was a
very elegant and classy acknowledgment of gay people. I was
impressed.
In context, Obama said, "Yet even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there's not a liberal America and a conservative America - there's the United States of America. There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America. The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I've got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States. We've got some gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported it. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America." Wednesday, July 28, 2004 3:00 - 3:03 PM PT The Honorable David Paterson New York State Senate Paterson is a blind black man who didn't explicitly mention gay people, but he was a poignant lead-in to Cheryl Jacques gay rights speech. Perhaps I was moved by his speech because I am going blind and I feel what he was saying also applies to gay rights. 3:03 - 3:07PM PT Cheryl Jacques President, Human Rights Campaign
Jacques gave one of the two speeches overtly supporting gay
rights. Like many other gay speakers, Jacques did not say
she was gay, but did refer to her "partner Jennifer, and
our beautiful twin boys Timmy and Tommy." And without
explicitly mentioning gay marriage, she said, "America has
often been called a great experiment. What began with a
revolution against tyranny right here in Massachusetts has
transformed into an evolution of progress." In talking
about health care she said, "That in part is why we're
working for marriage equality - so we can do what families
do best - care for each other in sickness and in health."
To her credit, she was also one of two speakers to clearly
say the words, "Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender
Americans." She drew out the word transgender, possibly to
recognize their exclusion from the official platform.
9:05 PM PT (Note: This was after midnight east coast time.) Presidential Nomination Roll Call of the States John Kerry, 4254 votes vs. Dennis Kucinich, 43 votes During the roll call vote, a very handsome male representative from the "great state of Vermont" proudly bragged about being the first state to recognize marriage equality (the exact same term Cheryl Jacques used in her speech) by providing "civil unions." This is something that the "separate but equal" Democrats, such as John Kerry, want as a compromise. But I am confident that mainstream Democrats will eventually see the unfairness of "civil unions" when the general public becomes more educated on gay marriage. Thursday, July 29, 2004
Boxer and singer Carole King participated in a GLBT caucus earlier in the week, but in this speech Boxer only mentioned "civil liberties for all." This was an apparent subliminal reference to gay rights. My San Francisco friends heard her loud and clear. 3:14 - 3:19 PM PT The Honorable Barney Frank U.S. House of Representatives, Massachusetts Frank was the only other speaker to proudly state he is gay. On behalf of the National Stonewall Democrats group, he pulled no punches in spelling out "The Gay Agenda." Frank also made a strong case that gay marriage was good for society. Frank said, "I'm going to be honest with you now. The fact is we who are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered, we do have an agenda. And here it is: We think we should be able to fight for our country like John Kerry and serve in the military. We believe, revolutionary as it may sound to Rick Santorum and Tom DeLay and Jerry Falwell, we believe people ought to be able to be hired for a job and be judged solely on how well they do the work and not on what somebody else thinks about who they are. We go so far as to believe that a 15-year-old who is different in a lot of ways sexually from others ought to be able to go to high school without being beaten up. I admit it, we believe that. And we even believe, it's true, that when two people are in love and they are willing to be morally and legally committed to each other and financially responsible to each other, that if they are prepared to get married, it's a good thing for the stability of society."
Frank said he felt sorrow for the GOP: "I am sorry that the
thought of two women who are in love seeking in Florida to
solemnize that love in a marriage so disorganized my
Republican colleagues that they decided to put aside the
business of America, that they decided a couple of weeks
ago that we couldn't deal with homeland security or a
highway bill or education or health care, and they had to
try and knock a big hole in the U.S. Constitution."
Frank also put into words what was bothering me about Ralph Nader. Frank accused Nader of "trivializing our lives when he says there is no difference between the Republican and Democratic Parties." On gay rights, there is a huge difference and it does matter. Reportedly, Frank deviated significantly from his vetted speech. Possibly due to this, I could not find any transcript of his speech on official Democratic websites. 3:19 - 3:28 PM PT The Honorable Kweisi Mfume President, NAACP Mfume managed to work in the words "gay bashing" in a long list of things Democrats oppose. Bush was the first President in decades not to speak to this black civil rights organization. I admire Mfume for exposing President Bush's pettiness. Mfume appeared on Bill O'Reilly's conservative Fox News program and he successfully convinced O'Reilly that Bush was wrong not to speak at the NAACP convention. He described how the NAACP had promised to do things that would insure President Bush was not heckled or disrespected at the NAACP convention. But Bush's handlers made it clear in press releases that they were intentionally snubbing the NAACP because some of its leaders had criticized President Bush. Mfume said, "We must have a basic set of principals that guides us. We must mean it when we say that racism and sexism and anti-Semitism are wrong. We must know as a matter of critical fact that black bigotry is just as cruel and evil as white bigotry. We must know in our heart of hearts that gay bashing, union bashing and immigrant bashing deplete us as a nation and rob us of our ability to make true and lasting change." 6:06 - 6:10 PM PT Performance by Carole King As previously mentioned, King participated in the GLBT caucus earlier in the week with Senator Barbara Boxer of California. Notice her prominent position in "primetime" just before John Kerry spoke. 6:45 PM PT Overhead TV projection screen in the convention hall It showed a black male activist who included "sexual orientation" in a list of nondiscrimination categories. This was displayed right after a ten minute John Kerry biography film was shown and right before the Vietnam veterans, who served with Kerry, took the stage. 7:05 PM PT The Honorable John Kerry Democratic Nominee for President
I know gay parents got Kerry's message even though they were not included in his examples: "For four years, we've heard a lot of talk about values. But values spoken without actions taken are just slogans. Values are not just words. They're what we live by. They're about the causes we champion and the people we fight for. And it is time for those who talk about family values to start valuing families. You don't value families by kicking kids out of after school programs and taking cops off our streets, so that Enron can get another tax break. We believe in the family value of caring for our children and protecting the neighborhoods where they walk and play. And that is the choice in this election." Kerry directly addressed George W. Bush and challenged him to "let's not misuse for political purposes our most precious document, the Constitution of the United States." Later on he said, "I will appoint an Attorney General who actually upholds the Constitution of the United States." The first statement was an obvious allusion to the anti-gay Federal Marriage Amendment. The second statement clearly encompassed all of the rights the Bush administration has been trying to take away from Americans, including gay rights. Kerry even slipped the word "AIDS" into a long list of things stem cell research may help: "And now it's our time to ask: What if? What if we find a breakthrough to cure Parkinson's, diabetes, Alzheimer's and AIDS? What if we have a president who believes in science, so we can unleash the wonders of discovery like stem cell research to treat illness and save millions of lives?" After his speech, Kerry was seen hugging the openly gay Rep. Barney Frank. Unlike President Bush, Kerry once again demonstrated how secure he is with his own masculinity, despite the Republicans' repeated attempts to feminize him. I do not detect any homophobic bones in his body even though he officially opposes gay marriage. Various times during the convention: In between speeches, the overhead TV projector frequently showed pictures of people who were loyal Republicans, but now they are voting for John Kerry. One military admiral said in a speech that he had converted from being a Republican to being a Democrat. General Wesley Clark was another prominent ex-Republican at the convention. It almost felt like a Christian ex-gay revival meeting. I guess, unlike being gay, being a Republican really is a choice. I wonder, what is the American Psychiatric Association position on ex-Republican conversion therapy? |
Democratic presidential and vice presidential candidates, Sen. John Kerry and Sen. John Edwards at the Democratic National Convention 
Once again, Kennedy proved to be a tireless champion of
equal rights for all, including gays and lesbians. In his
DNC speech he said, "Our country demands a great deal from
us, and we rightly demand a great deal from our leaders.
America is a compact, a bargain, a contract. It says that
all of us are connected. Our fates are intertwined. Fifty
states, one nation. Our Constitution binds us together. Yet
in our own time, there are those who seek to divide us. One
community against another. Urban against rural. City
against suburb. Whites against blacks. Men against women.
Straights against gays. Americans against Americans."
2:29 PM PT
John Kerry fittingly entered to Bruce Springsteen's song
"No Surrender." His speech, which lasted until 7:55 PM PT,
included no overt references to gay rights, but he
powerfully said, "It is time for those who talk about
family values to start valuing families."