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 is Welcomed by Many HRC: End of Anti-Gay Era?-PFAW Fears Helms' Clones NY Times: 'Few have Done More to Resist Enlightenment' |
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Compiled By GayToday
"It is our sincere hope that the retirement of Senator Helms marks the end of an era of anti-gay activism in the Senate,' said Winnie Stachelberg, HRC's political director. "Through legislation and anti-gay speeches on the Senate floor, Senator Helms has done great harm to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans. Suffice it to say, Senator Helms will not be missed." Just a few examples of Helms' anti-gay actions through the years:
1993: During the confirmation process for Roberta Achtenberg, President Clinton's nominee to be assistant secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Helms said his reason for opposing her was "because she is a damn lesbian." (News and Observer 5/6/93.) Two days later, he was quoted in the same paper saying: "She's not your garden-variety lesbian. She's a militant activist-mean lesbian, working her whole career to advance the homosexual agenda." 1995: Helms offered an amendment to the reauthorization of the Ryan White CARE Act that would have cut off funding to any local gay community health center that provided care to men, women and children with HIV and AIDS. 1998: Helms stated "The New York Times and The Washington Post are both infested with homosexuals themselves." He charged that the Post "caters to homosexual groups. Just about every person down there is homosexual or lesbian." In the same story, continuing to refer to homosexuals, Helms is quoted as saying "these people are intellectually dishonest in just everything they say and do. They start by pretending that it is just another form of love. It's sickening." (Boston Herald quoting Congressional Quarterly, 7/9/98). 2001: Helms offered an amendment to the Better Education for Students and Teachers Act that would have denied all federal money to any local school district or education agency that "discriminates [against] the Boy Scouts of America or [any other] youth group that prohibit[s] the acceptance of homosexuals, or individuals who reject the Boy Scouts' or the youth group's oath of allegiance to God and country." This amendment was similar to a 1992 Helms effort to deny contributions through the Combined Federal Campaign to any organization that boycotted the Boy Scouts. People for the American Way
"Senator Jesse Helms, said Neas, "is the father of the modern Republican right-wing movement. He may be leaving the Senate but his ideological proteges now run the House of Representatives, lead the Republicans in the Senate, and determine the legal policies of the Bush administration. "While Senator Helms may not have adopted the smooth style or the soothing rhetoric of his successors, the ideological agenda is precisely the same." The New York Times Editorial, August 23 "Few senators in the modern era have done more to resist the tide of progress and enlightenment," said the New York Times editorial (August 23, 2001) titled " 'Senator No' Says Goodbye". Without equivocation the Times editorial stated: "Mr. Helms rarely missed an opportunity to put his parochial interests ahead of the national interest." The editorial pointedly noted that Helms voting record has always been "uniquely negative." Because he was "a tough infighter with no qualms about using his seniority to further his personal crusades, he earned the sobriquet 'Senator No' for his zeal in stopping initiatives and blocking appointments," said the Times. |
