June 18, 2004
Serving the Carolinas’ Gay & Lesbian Communities Since 1979
Volume 25. Number 12
Local: SC Anti-Marriage Amendment Dies, p.4
Remembering Reagan: What Do We Do With the Rage & Fury? p.12
It’s Smarmy
Recollection Time
in America
By Ann Rostow
The Texas Triangle
I've been reading- quite a few articles on
"our" reactions to Reagan. For the record, we
weren't too crazy about him, considering his
administration was responsible for killing off
half a generation of gay men by pretending
that a major epidemic did not exist. Aside
from that that minor
detail, he was just dandy.
We particularly appreciat
ed the fact that he proba
bly single handedly
defeated a citizen-led
effort to ban gays and les
bians from teaching in
California's public schools. The Briggs
Initiative, as it was called, was considered a
likely winner at the ballot box until the popu
lar former governor came out publicly against
it in 1978.
When he was first elected, my neighbors
and I were so distraught that we drank every
thing in our adjoining New York apartments,
including a half bottle of some mint stuff that
had been under my sink for several years
(which I have never forgotten — God it was
horrible). We then watched him preside, in his
unconvincingly genial fashion, over a slew of
misguided policies. His insane tax cuts —
which Paul Krugman now informs us were
promptly reversed. The reckless and ill
planned deregulation of the S&L industry —
how much did that cost us?
Over time, I have come to respect the once
discomforting figure of Nancy Reagan, who
now seems quite courageous, devoted, and
dignified. And I have no problem with a fancy
Presidential funeral, complete with riderless
horse and missing man fighter jet formations.
After all, the man was President of the United
States for eight years. But let's cut down on
the smarm just a bit, shall we? One commen
tator on Saturday afternoon intoned, "none of
us will ever forget where we were on this
day." Please! September 11, 2001. Sure.
November 23, 1963. Yes. But the day Reagan
died after a decade of senility? I don't think
so!
Hate Campaigns Can Be Harmful to your
Health
We now have six states preparing to send
anti-marriage constitutional amendments
before their voters this year, but this week we
can report one silver lining. Missouri's high
court has ruled that the governor has the right
to schedule an anti-marriage amendment for
continued on page 14
Pride + Vote = Power
By Bob Roenr
Contributing Writer
Pride + Vote = Power, the theme
of gay pride in Washington, DC,
kicked off with a June 6 forum of
local and national leaders dis
cussing those issues. It was no sur
prise that talk of gay marriage dom
inated the evening. Most notable
were a consensus on principles and
a minimum of partisanship.
"We're an economic powerhouse.
The problem is that some people
think we can't talk about activism
and talk about economics in the
same sentence," said Justin Nelson,
co-founder of the National Gay &
Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. He
said other communities have used
that power to help gain acceptance.
"When you take this out of the
bedroom and stick it in the board
room...when you talk about job cre
ation, healthcare for employees,
how do you grow the overall eco
nomic health of our community
and our nation," then some people
are more likely to listen.
Mara Keisling, executive director
of the National Center for
Transgender Equality, was perhaps
the most upbeat. She recounted
how in 2002, about 5% of the popu
lation was covered by laws protect
ing the rights of transgender per
sons. Legislative action and the
courts have expanded that to about
45%. "During that time the popula
tion protected on the basis of sexual
orientation has remained almost
stagnant at 45%."
She could count 30 trans friends
that had been fired in the last two
years, and yet there is resistance to
including trans persons in the
Employment Non-Discrimination
Act (ENDA). "We are spending so
Cornelius Baker
Photo by Bob Roehr
much of our energy fighting our
friends." She singled out Barney
Frank for criticism. "We have trad
ed the closeted folks for the assimi
lators who have sort of gone away.
Before, where we couldn't get most
of the people because they were in
the closet, now we can't get a lot of
them because they've move on.
We've shifted that much."
"I think we are all very nervous
about what will happen if Bush is
reelected," said one young member
of the audience. "But in some ways
I'm even more scared by the direc
tion of the Democratic Party,
because these people are suppose to
be our allies. How can we keep
them accountable?"
Moderator Jonathan Capehart
asked whether Senator John Kerry's
opposition to the Federal Marriage
Amendment (FMA) but possible
support of an amendment to the
Massachusetts Constitution "kind
of sounds like he's trying to have it
both ways. Can we really trust the
guy?"
"I think we can/' said Chrissy
Gephardt, representing the Gay and
Lesbian Victory Fund. It is about
"which candidate is going to fur
ther our rights the most...[Kerry] is
going to be leaps and bounds above
President Bush."
"There is a common language in
this country, and it is called money,"
said DC Council member David
Catania. He said the GLBT commu
nity is the fourth largest block of
contributors to the Democratic
Party - unions, trial lawyers, Jewish
Americans, gay Americans. " What
do we expect of the Democratic
Party? It [the gay community]
should get something in return."
"If the community is dispropor
tionately in one party, then we real
ly have no place to go," he argued.
Catania raised over $75,000 for
President Bush's reelection. "But
there comes a time when a party
does something so egregious that it
makes it impossible for us to be at
home there." Catania broke with
the President when Bush
announced his support for the
Federal Marriage Amendment
(FMA).
"George Bush won 25% of gay
votes in 2000; he will be lucky if he
gets 12% this time. And what he
will have done is hurt two genera
tions of gays who will be outside."
He compared it with 1960 when
Richard Nixon won 26-27% of the
African American vote, but that fell
to 12% in 1964 under the insensitive
policies of candidate Barry
Goldwater. The party has yet to
continued on page 10
,ii,M m
Members of the Pride + Vote = Power Panel
Photo by Bob Roehr
Carolina Pride 2004: www.ncpride.org