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from both Candidates Chairman: 'We Don't Care Which Gender You Hold Hands With' Al Gore Calls for Passage of Employment Non-Discrimination Act |
Gay outreach during the GOP event was limited to sending Republican strategist Mary Matalin around to say nice things to the gay Log Cabin Republicans, letting openly gay U.S. Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., give a brief speech to the convention on trade issues, and allowing vice-presidential candidate Dick Cheney's openly lesbian daughter Mary to stand on the stage with her family. There were 19 openly gay delegates and alternates in Philadelphia. There were 212 openly gay delegates, alternates and standing committee members in Los Angeles, and gays and gay issues were everywhere. Al Gore mentioned them in his acceptance speech, although without saying the 'g' word. "Hear me well, we will pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act," Gore said. "And we will honor the memory of Matthew Shepard, Joseph Ileto and James Byrd, whose families all joined us this week, by passing a law against hate crimes. It's time." While most listeners probably did not know that the Employment Non-Discrimination Act bans job discrimination based on sexual orientation, nearly everyone knows that Matthew Shepard was gay.
There were numerous other gay developments:
"The stakes are huge [in this election]," Clinton said. "They're huge for everybody who cares about a strong economy, about a good education system, about health care that is available and affordable, about the environment, about a woman's right to choose, about gun-safety measures, about ending discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation -- on everything that we have fought for for the last eight years, and some of you for the last decade. It is all at stake in this election. Make no mistake about it. We are either going to continue to go forward or we are doing a U-turn back to the days not just of deficits and disinvestment but of discrimination and derision. We're going back to the days when people think it's acceptable to look down on their fellow human beings, to draw walls and lines between us." Four Cabinet members and several members of Congress also spoke to the GLBT caucus.
"Not a single gay American seeks special rights or favored treatment," Birch said. "We seek simple equality -- the equal right to work, raise a family, serve our country in every way and be free from the shackles of brutality and hate." All 231 Texas delegates held up placards and chanted slogans against hate crimes as Birch spoke. The action, orchestrated by HRC, was a response to the Texas delegates at the Republican convention who took off their cowboy hats, bowed their heads and prayed when Rep. Kolbe spoke.
"The Republicans put on a parade of diversity on their convention stage, but when it comes right down to it, they only had a handful of gay and lesbian participants," he said. "The Democrats ... are proud to host a record number of gays and lesbians -- a true sign that we are the true party of diversity and inclusion. ... We don't care ... what gender you want to hold hands with -- as long as you want to hold hands, you are welcome in the Democratic Party."
"It's such an affront," said Assemblywoman Carole Migden of San Francisco. The U.S. Supreme Court recently affirmed the Scouts' gay ban.
"We've got a very strong platform, there's no question about that," said Jean O'Leary, chair of the Democratic National Committee's Gay & Lesbian Caucus. "There were nine openly gay people on the platform committee. "That's how far we've come in terms of our place in the party and our position at the table," O'Leary said. "We are a very, very important voting bloc. We have arrived. People are aware the gay and lesbian community could swing the election." The Next Step With all the support, and with the platform affirming every gay goal except legalization of marriage itself, some gay and lesbian delegates found themselves wondering where to go from here. "Where we go is two-fold," Rep. Frank said in an interview. "In the current situation it's important to point out to gay and lesbian people that the Democrats are much better than the Republicans. The Democratic National Committee does that. But it's also important to push the Democrats so they'll be even better-better. The Human Rights Campaign does that. We're the ones who can preach gay rights to Democrats and preach voting Democrat to gay people, and we do." In an interview, Rep. Baldwin added: "We have to translate the platform into action. The platform is really the basis, the values statement, the ideal. To implement it is clearly the next set of steps. The openly gay and lesbian delegates play a tremendous role in communicating the need for the next steps." National Organization for Women President Patricia Ireland said she was in town to push for full-fledged gay marriage. "We're at that beginning stage with the issue of marriage and of long-term, loving, committed relationships that should actually fit very well with the current political climate," she said in an interview during a party at the L.A. gay center. "So, as a caucus, inside and outside, we have to keep bringing that message forward." Ireland said that when she first heard about gay marriage, she thought to herself, "Why would anybody want to buy into that patriarchal, hierarchical relationship where one person essentially, traditionally, owned the other person? "Then, of course, I had to be educated -- remember all the legal and tax and other benefits that go along with legal marriage," she said. "There's also a benefit in having the community recognize your relationship, take concern for your relationship, be supportive. That means something. So, while a lot of people say: 'OK, civil unions, that's all we need. That's the legal, that's the economic, that's the tax benefits,' I think we should push for marriage. We need the ceremony, the symbolism, the celebration, as well as the legal and economic."
"Baby, I've been political for a long, long time," Anderson said in an interview. "For gay and lesbian issues, there's no choice. Al Gore and Joe Lieberman will continue the inclusiveness that Bill Clinton has given us in the last eight years. "It's really important to me now to be able to use my voice -- whatever kind of visibility I have -- to get out there in front and talk about the things that I'm passionate about," Anderson said. "I'm very passionate about equal opportunity for all people, including gay and lesbian people. That means marriage, health care, inheritance, all of the things that everybody else takes for granted, all those rights, I'm very interested in having that for all Americans." In The Streets Meanwhile, a bizarre game played out in the streets the evening of August 15 between 1,000 gay protesters and 500 police officers. It started with speeches and a kiss-in in downtown's Pershing Square. But when the gays set off on a march to the Ronald Reagan state-government building and to the Federal Building, the cops got nervous. At each intersection, 40-50 LAPD officers stood ready to rumble - - helmets on, visors down, clubs drawn and tear-gas canisters at the ready.
The Los Angeles Police Department blocks about 1,000 gay protesters during a downtown march Aug. 15. The protesters said the Clinton administration and the Democratic Party have failed to deliver in areas such as the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, hate-crimes legislation, domestic-partnership rights, increased AIDS funding, the military gay ban and universal health care. Around 500 police officers were assigned to the demonstration. When the protesters arrived at the Reagan building, they were greeted by scores of California Highway Patrol officers standing shoulder-to-shoulder across the front and side of the building. The march was scheduled to end with a "die-in" (activists lie in the street and draw chalk outlines around their bodies to remember people lost to homophobia or AIDS) at the Federal Building at Temple Street and Los Angeles Street near Union Station. But the situation there quickly turned ugly. As the marchers filled the intersection, around 500 police officers surrounded them on all four sides. As the die-in proceeded, the police officers periodically grunted very loudly in unison, then ran en masse to a new location and assumed another ready-to- fight formation. Each time this happened, several protesters hopped up from the pavement and ran, fearful of an impending police attack. Finally, the die-in finished but the police then refused to let the protesters leave. For half an hour, the demonstrators and scores of reporters remained trapped in the intersection with all avenues of exit blocked. "We just want to get on the subway," they pleaded. "We want to pee and go home," they said. "We're done, let us leave." After extended negotiations, the protesters and the reporters finally were forced to retrace their steps all the way back to Pershing Square (two subway stops away), again with the police rushing ahead and blocking each intersection so the protesters could not disperse. Openly gay member of the West Hollywood City Council Steve Martin, who took part in the protest, commented: "This is like bizarre intimidation tactics. It's really strange. ... But, you know, when we were here [at the Reagan building] back in 1991 we smashed the windows during the AB 101 demonstrations, so that might explain some of it. But throughout this convention, the police ratio to demonstrators has been awfully high." The demonstrators said they were protesting the failure of the Democratic Party and the Clinton administration to deliver in such areas as the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, hate-crimes legislation, domestic-partnership rights, increased AIDS funding, cheaper AIDS drugs, AIDS education, the HIV immigration ban, the military gay ban and universal health care. As they marched, they chanted: "We're here, we're queer, we're not going shopping.", "What do we want? Queer rights. When do we want it? Now." and "Racist, sexist, anti-gay -- LAPD, go away." "This feels great," Martin said, noting that there had been no GLBT street protests in Los Angeles since the heyday of ACT UP and Queer Nation. |
