Badpuppy Gay Today

Monday, 28 April 1997

According to Rex Wockner, GayToday's International Correspondent, The Washington Times is the only large daily newspaper in the U.S. that has an "obvious" anti-gay bias/agenda. An April 3 edition headline read "Gore, Gephardt Woo Homos". Hoping to rally homophobes against Democrats, The Washington Times wrote: "Vice-president Al Gore and House Minority Leader, Richard A. Gebhardt, in the first demonstration of their expected campaign showdown in 2000, have opened a bidding war for support of politically influential homosexual and AIDS activists." The conservative newspaper, with malicious glee, quoted Brian Bond, executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund: "They (Gore and Gebhardt) are both trying to send a message that our community is a member of the American family,"

Such a "bidding war" for the "homo" vote by Democrats incorrectly foreseen by The Washington Times as not to be scheduled for three more years, has now erupted full-scale, however, and under the current Democratic administration. Michael Sneed in his Chicago Sun-Times column has passed along unsubstantiated rumors that the First Couple will be April 30 White House hosts to America's new First Lesbian Couple, Ellen Degeneres and her companion, actress Anne "Volcano" Heche, and that the two couples, one heterosexual and one homosexual, will watch a much ballyhooed episode of a soon-to-be-historic sit-com.

If this were not enough, President Clinton and Vice- President Gore have now held an historic White House meeting with key sponsors of ENDA (The Employment Non-Discrimination Act) which would protect Americans from job discrimination that is based on sexual orientation. In 1996, ENDA came within one vote of passing in the U.S. Senate. Such job discrimination remains legal in 41 states.

According to The Human Rights Campaign, the prospects for ENDA are looking favorable. A bi-partisan poll released by the HRC, shows 68 percent of all voters favor passage of ENDA. The poll found support for the measure strong across party lines and in every region of the country---including Republicans and voters in the South.

The poll, says HRC, found that 59 percent of Republicans, 69 percent of Independents and 79 percent of Democrats favor ENDA. In addition, voters in every region of the country strongly support the measure, with 77 percent favoring it in the Northeast, 71 percent in the Midwest, 68 percent in the West and 62 percent in the South.

ENDA is being reintroduced in Congress this Spring, "so now is the time to act," says HRC. With an overwhelming majority of Americans understanding that gay people should not be discriminated against in the workplace, ENDA has emerged as a mainstream, bipartisan proposal that has a solid chance of passing in this 105th Congress, "if," as the HRC puts it, "we all work together to make it happen."

Currently there has been an historic rash of favorable bipartisan political support for equal employment rights, in both state legislatures and city governments nationwide. In the California legislature, for example, LIFE Lobby reported April 24 that (1) an employment protection bill has passed, (2) an anti- same-sex marriage bill is dead, and (3) a bill with the words "sexual orientation" has been passed to add to California's Fair Employment and Housing Act.

"Urge your U.S. senators and representatives to protect Americans from job bias based on sexual orientation by supporting and co-sponsoring the Employment Non-Discrimination Act," advises the Human Rights Campaign.

Call them through the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121. If you are not sure who your representatives are, either in the Senate or the House, you may ask the switchboard operator and you will be informed and then connected. You can also send messages to Congress through the Human Rights Campaign's on-line action center at http://www.hrc.org. Include your name and address and send a politely worded letter to: The Honorable_____ U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. 20510 or The Honorable _____, U.S. House of Representatives. Washington, D.C. 20515.