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Party Platform Denounces Gay Rights but There's Hope GOP Strategist Mary Matalin Favors Same-Sex Marriage |
On the one hand, the party platform denounces gay rights, gay Boy Scouts, gay marriage and gay adoption. However, much of that language was re-inserted by hardline right-wingers after moderates had succeeded in removing it with George W. Bush's blessing. On the other hand, Bush and the GOP alienated some right-wingers by sending the GOP's only openly gay congressman, Rep. Jim Kolbe of Arizona, to the convention podium in prime time to speak on trade issues. Several Texas delegates were so offended that they took off their cowboy hats, placed them over their hearts, bowed their heads and prayed. "We were praying for Kolbe, for this nation, for Governor Bush," said Ernest Murry of San Marcos, Tex. "We made a firm stand in this party as far as lifestyles." Fundamentalist Christian spokesman Pat Robertson refused to denounce Kolbe's appearance, however. "We want to help gay people and encourage them to succeed," he said. "And so here's a man who succeeded as a congressman and ... I'm for free trade so I suppose that his message will resonate with the convention. Am I going to stand there with a placard to say keep him off the program? No way. It's just one of those things. This is a decision of the Bush campaign. They don't want anybody in the Democratic party to criticize them that they're not inclusive." Fundamentalist Christian spokesman Jerry Falwell added: "This is a political party, not a church. ... Arizona Rep. Jim Kolbe, who is homosexual, gave an excellent speech on the GOP's trade efforts. It would be fruitless for conservative Christians to turn a deaf ear to his words simply because we disagree with his sexual predilection."
After his convention address, Kolbe commented, "Including somebody like myself who is gay is just one more indication that the party is reaching out to everybody, and that's what it should be doing." Mary Matalin The GOP also sent Republican strategist Mary Matalin of CNN's Crossfire program around town with a message of Republican gay inclusiveness. Following a Log Cabin Republicans/Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund/Human Rights Campaign reception for 300 Republican politicos and gay delegates and activists, Matalin told this reporter:
Matalin added that she favors gay marriage "because it's logical." "You want to reduce promiscuity, you want to enhance stability -- duh, marriage, OK?" she said. Gays have felt unwelcome in the Republican party, Matalin said, because "we shut them out. We turned out our hearts. That can happen no more -- that the loud voice of a few suffocates the big voice of the many," she said. "Our gathering here [at this reception] does mark, hopefully permanently, the end of the culture-wars rhetoric." Several gay-friendly Republicans made stops at gay events during the week. U.S. Rep. Connie Morelia of Maryland told one gathering, "I'm a supporter of an inclusive Republican party." U.S. Rep. Tom Campbell of California said, "It is easy to stand up for the principle that government should not discriminate on the basis of orientation."
Indeed, there were 19 openly gay delegates this year, up from six in 1996 and two in 1992. "This convention makes it dramatically clear that we are inside the tent," said Log Cabin spokesman Kevin Ivers. Mary Cheney One gay Republican who's certainly inside is vice-presidential nominee Dick Cheney's daughter Mary. She attended the convention and appeared on stage with the candidates' families following Bush's acceptance speech the final evening. It was not immediately clear if her life partner, Heather Poe, was present. Mary Cheney declined all requests for interviews. On the convention's final day, there were a smattering of unconfirmed reports that Mary Cheney will formally join the Cheney campaign staff.
"The crux of it is, it's going to focus attention on Bush's anti- gay policy positions, and Cheney is going to look quite mean if he comes out and says: 'Yeah, I support a law that bans my daughter from adopting a child. I don't support a law that would protect my daughter from discrimination," Smith said. HRC Executive Director Elizabeth Birch added: "Mary Cheney is a bright and articulate woman. She is highly impressive. The issue will be whether she is locked away in a vault in terms of her public-policy positions that are well-known." Until recently, Cheney worked for the Coors brewery as the head of its gay and lesbian outreach efforts. "I talked to her," Birch said. "I told her we wanted to be supportive and that I felt that merely directing all inquiries to the campaign was not going to work for very long because this is a radar-jamming moment where with someone with a record like Dick Cheney's, it is remarkable and interesting that he has such a dynamic daughter. She cut her teeth on advocating for gay Americans as consumers. She's a quasi-public figure. The press will want to write about that." Dick Cheney's record on gay issues includes supporting the military gay ban and voting against the Hate Crimes Statistics Act in 1988 as a congressman. George W. Bush is on record opposing job protections for gay people and gay adoption. He scuttled hate-crime legislation in Texas and has vowed to abolish the position of White House liaison to the gay community. In an interview with journalist Cokie Roberts, Dick Cheney's wife, Lynne, seemingly attempted to shove Mary back in the closet. When Roberts said Mary is an open lesbian, Lynne shot back: "Mary has never declared such a thing. I would like to say that I'm appalled at the media interest in one of my daughters. I have two wonderful daughters. I love them very much. They are bright; they are hard-working; they are decent. And I simply am not going to talk about their personal lives. And I'm surprised, Cokie, that even you would want to bring it up on this program." But Mary has declared such a thing, repeatedly. For instance, she told Girlfriends magazine, "The reason I came to work here [at Coors] is because I knew several other lesbians who were very happy here." Strategist Matalin acknowledged Mary Cheney's sexual orientation and told this reporter: "Mary Cheney knows how to speak knowledgeably, reasonably, calmly and confidently on gay issues and [she] has. I hope she does. I don't know what her demands for privacy will be." The Grand Dichotomy Despite the many gay firsts at this year's convention, HRC's Smith said gays still would be unwise to vote for Bush and Cheney. "The Republican Party is changing slowly but somewhat surely," he said. "But we're definitely concerned about George Bush's anti- gay policy positions that he's articulated as governor of Texas and during the primaries. We feel that he obviously would not be a good choice for president. We're going to actively work against him." HRC's Birch added: "The story for this convention is the grand dichotomy. Here you have a presidential candidate who finally has one meeting with a group of gay Republicans, and yet there's this restoration of mean-spirited, out-of-date, dinosaur [anti-gay] language in the platform. For an institution that is trying to argue that its edges are softening and that it is a larger, wider tent, it's looking more like a pup tent of exclusion, when you look only at the platform." Following his April meeting with gays, Bush said: "The meeting was a wide-ranging discussion on issues. I'm a better person for the meeting. I enjoyed it. I welcome gay Americans into my campaign. "I want the Republicans, conservative Republicans, to understand we judge people based upon their heart and soul, that's what the campaign is about," he said. "And while we disagree on gay marriage, for example, we agree on a lot of other issues and it's important for people to hear that. ... These are individuals who've got interesting stories to tell and it's important for the next president to listen to people's real-life stories. These are people from our neighborhoods, people with whom all of us went to school, people who generally care about America, and I appreciate them sharing their stories with me. And I'm mindful that we're all God's children." In the final analysis, the ongoing assimilation of gays and lesbians into the American mainstream and the many pro-gay positions of the Democratic party clearly have steered the Republican party toward a less-hostile relationship with the gay and lesbian community. The advances this year have been real and tangible. If the ball keeps bouncing in the same direction -- as all indicators suggest -- it should not be too terribly long before the Republicans throw in the towel and treat homosexuals the same as they do racial, ethnic and religious minorities. The signposts were many in Philly that this is exactly where the GOP is headed. |
