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paign contributions with impressive
results in the last couple of elections.
The least we can do is support those
politicians courageous enough to support
us, and at considerable risk to their
careers in those districts outside the
major cities where gay populations are
concentrated. The HRCF also has the
advantage of preserving the anonymity of
donors who contribute $50 or less.
INVISIBILITY AS A POLITICAL ASSET
As a matter of fact, our vulnerability
as a generally despised minority group is
partially counterbalanced by our relative
invisibility. At the risk of sounding
politically incorrect, I think we should
make more use of this asset. "Sister
Boom-Boom" clearly did us and the Demo
cratic party incalculable harm by strut
ting her stuff on national television
during the coverage of the national con
vention last summer in San Francisco. In
retrospect, the decision to hold the
convention in that city appears incredibly
naive. The voyeurism of the media surely
could be counted upon to exploit the most
sensationalistic aspects of the largest
and most public gay community in America.
I am sure it is political heresy to
suggest that the passage of a gay rights
bill in Congress should not be our top
priority. Useful as these attempts are as
a litmus test of our political support, I
cannot help but think that making passage
the cornerstone of our political programs
weds us to the very sort of governmental
legislative solutions to social problems
which are absolutely anathema to the
general population in our conservative
age. Our inevitably futile efforts in
this direction each year lend a sense of
legitimacy to the propaganda of our oppo
nents to the effect that we are trying to
legislate a tolerance that they find
morally repugnant.
OUR GAY FRIENDS OF CONSERVATIVE POLITICAL
PERSUASION OUGHT TO BE ENCOURAGED IN
THEIR VERY IMPORTANT WORK
I think the recent birth of a gay
Republican interest group is a very pro
mising development. The sooner gay rights
looses its unfair stigma as a partisan
cause beloved only of the lunatic fringe
of the Democratic party, the better off we
all shall be. Our gay friends of conser
vative political persuasion ought to be
encouraged in their very important work.
Those of us of more liberal temperament
should exercise a little toleration our
selves and rembmer that they ways they go
about their goals will necessarily‘be
different from our own. Back in 1981, I
remember reading a personal ad in the gay
newspaper of the nation's capital, which
read somewhat along these lines: "Gay
Republican, coming to town to assume
important position with the new adminis
tration, desires attractive, discreet GWF
for social companion." Hypocrites aside,
we msut accept the fact that anyone who
works for us is a friend, even that
curious convert, ex-congressman Bob
Bauman.
Somehow, the challenge posed by bible-
thumping fundamentalist preachers has got
to be met head on. The great irony, it
seems to me, is that their view of the
universe is absolutely devoid of intellec
tual respectability in modern times, yet
goes unchallenged out of a curiously
American deference for religious opinion
(strange oriental cults excepted, of
course). So the preachers are allowed to
pander to the fears and bigotry of the
uneducated an duse the alleged meance
posed by our existence as their number one
lure for fundraising.
It is not clear to me how this can be
done. I was impressed, however, with
results of the head-on confrontation
between the Jewish and fundamentalist
leaders on the matter of whether "God
hears the prayers of Jews." For the
moment, some major fundamentalist leaders,
such as the Reverend Billy Graham, are
willing to admit that He just might, and
in any case, an ugly strain of anti
semitism has been nipped in the bud. Dare
we hope that the Reverend Jerry Falwell
might, if pressed, admit that God hears
the prayers of gays? We could use some
help from our allies in the mainline
churches on this one.
Finally, I think we've all got to stand
tall as personal "witnesses" (to borrow a
term beloved of fundamentalists) for
toleration if not explicitly for gay
rights. No "fag jokes" indulged, no
racist remarks tolerated, no retrograde
sexism left unchallenged. We must begin
to make an aggressive challenge upon the
notion that it is socially acceptable to
denigrate gay people. After all, they are
ourselves.
—'T T>
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