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Hysterical Republican Candidates Denounce Equality

Gays in the Military Becomes Major Campaign Issue

Gore & Bradley Affirm Repeal of Anti-Gay Policies

By Jack Nichols

Durham, New Hampshire� Republican primary candidates debating issues Thursday night strove mightily to out-do each other denouncing openly gay and lesbian service members as unworthy.

This sudden display of heated anti-gay passion on the part of every Republican presidential candidate has startlingly underscored the continuing nature of a war instigated in mid-1993 when both House and Senate Republican leaders passionately and publicly denounced same-sex love and affection.

GOP fringe candidates Gary Bauer (left) and Alan Keyes are finding their anti-gay views being adopted by the Party's mainstream candidates

During the previous night's Democratic debates between Vice president Al Gore and former Senator Bill Bradley, both men vowed to repeal exclusionary military policies unfairly and inappropriately working to the disadvantage of citizens wishing to serve their country.

The Republicans, however, turning into a fevered pack after initial remarks made by Gary Bauer, condemned the openly gay servicemembers in tones so extravagant it became clear they were also defending imaginary political stakes in which they thought an "ultra-masculine" image would count most

. In clumsy attempts to duck the issue with a status quo approach, both Arizona Sen. John McCain and Texas Gov. George W. Bush agreed that 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' was working effectively, Candidate Alan Keyes, however, led in stridency, accusing the status quo supporters of condoning lying and insisting that the current policy be scraped and that an absolute ban on gays must be the order of the day.

Bauer, who led the GOP candidates' charge, called the principled Gore and Bradley positions the "most ridiculous" thing he'd ever heard. Bush, whose repertoire of replies found him stumbling, tried looking moderate, but ended allowing his agitated thoughts to wander noticeably.

"All six GOP candidates, these Christian Reich Republicans are betraying America," said Bob Kunst, a veteran activist in gay and Jewish causes, "and they're betraying all those gay and lesbian Americans who've given their lives and limbs to stop the Nazis that these candidates were behaving like."

"What traitors to the American spirit!" exclaimed Kunst talking with GayToday, "they're falling all over themselves being more anti-gay than thou."

"Their war on gays will be their Waterloo," he predicted, "Americans don't like sexual witch hunts."

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Related Sites:
Don't Ask, Don't Tell Database

Oral Majority (E-Mail)

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Dr. Franklin E. Kameny, widely known as the Father of Gay Activist Militancy and who initiated attempts to change military policy in the early 1960s through The Mattachine Society of Washington, said:

"Since these venomously homophobic attitudes obviously carry over to all gay related issues and clearly represent the Republican Party, it is clear that no thoughtful, non-masochistic gay person has any choice but to support and to vote for a Democratic candidate."

Kunst's Miami-based organization, The Oral Majority, is issuing an invitation to both Democratic candidates Gore and Bradley to join in a protest march April 29 from the White House to the Pentagon.

"We must not allow these sexually-insecure Republican bigots to prevail," Kunst insists.