SEND OUT THE CLOWNS

Along with Dolly, other major controversies erupted: religious, ethical, cultural and political. The initial reactions were, mostly, reactionary. But soon (as noted by the scientist and pioneer of gay militancy, Franklin E. Kameny, Ph.D.) calmer scientific voices--advocating such research-- were also beginning to help shape the arguments. Of course we knew we were stirring up controversies by printing several groundbreaking news scoops, giving space to the views of gay/lesbian celebrities who support cloning research. In fact, even if Badpuppy's GayToday hadn't broken the gay angle on this event, someone else certainly would have, because the entire controversy, no matter which side finally gets its way, remains unavoidable. We knew too, as the prominent author, Kirkpatrick Sale puts it in his New York Times Op-ed piece, that although cloning makes many exceedingly uncomfortable, its here to stay and banning it isn't a reasonable approach. Banning, says Sale, hasn't got a chance anyway. "The President and Congress can try," he explains, "but science can't be stopped."

On post-Dolly Tuesday, Ken Brandt, GayToday's managing editor, agreed that our website should hurry into print a gay/lesbian/feminist angle on human cloning.

"The news about Dolly is the scientific breakthrough story of the century," I observed, "and it would be worthwhile, somehow, to have GayToday cover the gay/lesbian angles on it. I think I know the very person to call."

Ken Brandt's enthusiasm went into high gear. "The government will probably try to outlaw cloning," he observed, "and Badpuppy's GayToday stands for full freedom for scientific research. We should certainly blast those politicians, knee-jerks, who'll rush to grab control of cloning research!"

Who, then, would speak for cloning? I knew of no other person better suited to deliver passionate defenses of research than Randolfe Wicker, an historic figure, the masterful gay media star of the 1960's, the man who nearly singlehandedly brought to the attention of the mainstream media those issues we associate with gay and lesbian liberation. Wicker's pioneering spirit had impelled him, in 1962, to become the first openly gay person to go on radio and TV.

I knew, before approaching him, that Wicker had always wanted to have offspring. He remains to this day without an heir, his passion for seeing "Wicker & Son" on the well-lit marquee notwithstanding.

On Tuesday morning, prior to my conversation with Ken Brandt, Randy had called me and announced, "I want to be cloned!" Tuesday evening, following my talk with Brandt, Wicker phoned again just seconds after I'd returned home. "Let me get my shoes off and I'll call you back in ten minutes," I said, "and, by the way, be ready to give me a strong interview on cloning. While you wait for my call, list a few points you'd really like to make."

Making note of Marchi's knee-jerk reaction, GayToday published on Thursday morning its first news scoop, one it had inadvertently helped create. It said: "First Cloning Rights Group Led By Gay Pioneer!" explaining how state senator Marchi had excitedly called for a ban on cloning. Other cloning GayToday news scoops followed.

One week passed. On the following Thursday afternoon GayToday's original stories were picked up in mainstream media (USA Today-- "the nation's newspaper"). USA Today kindly printed GayToday's website address and, on its USA Today website edition highlighted it so that interested parties could click directly to our on-line gay newsmagazine.

Voila. E-mail and telephone calls about cloning suddenly turned into overwhelming avalanches, while Badpuppy's Conference Room, a Forum project, buzzed both seriously and flippantly, alive with smart gay readers willing to consider many startling and provocative questions. But men, particularly, reacted with revulsion to lesbian/feminist Ann Northrop's vision, her carrying matters to their extremes, dreaming of a world inhabited only by women.

At my home base, a Chilean friend of mine, Maria, a bold heterosexual woman, spoke directly to bothersome Roman Catholic theological concerns about cloning.

"If cloning becomes usual," she said in wonderment, "nuns will be able have their own little girls while still remaining virgins. They could have cesareans, with no hymen breakage."

In any case, as Dr. Kameny had noted, the womb itself may soon become, for cloning, obsolete. "All science will need," he told GayToday, "will be a few old cells and some glassware." This factor seems to cancel the unsettling "world-without-men" approach of New York's independent lesbian commentator, Ann Northrop, though, hopefully, she will provide GayToday with more input about this "world-without-men" controversy she's ignited. The late Roslyn Regelson, after all, a lesbian and America's first gay studies instructor (New York University and Yale) told Gay newspaper (February 15, 1971) that "heterosexuality will always hold its own in the marketplace."

The Roman Catholic Church is certain to do a rain dance to protect virginity. Hah! I hadn't thought of it before, but suddenly I visualized the pope counting his thumbs, calling meetings on how to deal with what to him seem "threats," the terribly troublesome theological questions that human cloning evokes. If human reproduction can actually proceed without canceling a woman's virginity, then what happens, really, to the much ballyhooed status of the Virgin Mary or to priestly celibacy? After Jesus' supposed virgin birth, ordinary mortals may soon be able to duplicate human creation and, simultaneously, like his mother, Mary, retain their too-much prized virginity. Whew!

What planned parenthood, feminism and gay liberation had all been saying since the timely introduction of birth control methods (namely that we must, for the sake of human survival, overcome looming disease and overpopulation by separating human sex from human reproduction) was now beaming brightly on the horizons of possibility.

My own reaction to cloning has been, simply, that we shouldn't let Christian Coalition members, Papal dictation, or mini-brained politicians stand in the way of research. Research, in fact, may have, as Dr. Kameny puts it, many positive "benefits," among them being medical progress. GayToday readers, spontaneously, were quick to pick up on this angle, as shown in the Badpuppy Forum's conference room now devoted to cloning.

At the same time, being a social constructionist, I believe clones will never be truly identical to, except in genetic make-up, their original cell-donator. My approach emphasizes not the endless continuation of mere physical forms, but the passing, from one generation to the next, of important human values, like compassion, truth, and curiosity.

Finally, I believe, humanity must keep all options open. As the editor of Badpuppy's GayToday, I say if there's any factor paramount in human continuance--human survival--it is human elasticity. We can hope to survive only by claiming as our own, a natural pliancy that is part of humanity's make-up. Dr. George Weinberg's magnificent book, The Pliant Animal, makes this point. In fact, the future survival of our species depends upon our ability to quickly change our collective minds, once we're given the facts, and to be prepared, mentally, to jump upside down from a standing position, if necessary.