Date: Wed, 5 Oct 1994 14:50:51 -0700 (PDT) From: "David J. Edmondson" THE QUILL Queer Individual Liberty Letter, Vol. 1, No. 4, October, 1993 A publication of Gays and Lesbians for Individual Liberty GLIL TO HOST SPEECH ON FAILED DRUG POLICIES Richard Cowan, Executive Director of the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), will speak to GLIL on the topic of "Marijuana Prohibition as an Ideology." He will critique and lead a discussion of the government's failed drug policy. The speech will be held on Wednesday, October 20, at 7:00 p.m. at the Charles Sumner School, Lecture Hall 102, 1201 - 17 St. NW (at M St.). LIBERTARIAN NATIONAL CONVENTION IN SALT LAKE CITY James A. Long [The author is a member of GLIL and of Libertarians for Gay and Lesbian Concerns and was a delegate from Virginia. The views in the article are strictly his own.] My favorite episode at the Libertarian Party's National Convention (September 2-5 in Salt Lake City) was in the middle of the platform debate. The motion on the floor was from the Platform Committee: delete the reference to the USSR's nuclear stockpile, replace "US and Soviet governments" with "US government," etc. Dean Ahmad, the committee chair, explained that this was a technical change and that there was no more Soviet Union. There was a moment of silence, followed by loud applause and cheering from the floor. Good riddance! The Roll Call of the States (taken during the balloting the National Chair) is always a good source of one-liners: "The submerged state of Iowa . . . ." (This was the only reference to the Great Midwest Flood of 1993 made on the convention floor. What a contrast with the established parties!) "Washington, D.C., belly of the beast . . . ." "The Commonwealth of Virginia, the home of Thomas Jefferson . . . ." and my favorite, from LGLC's own Willy Marshall, "The pretty great state of Utah, where the separation of church and state has actually been measured and was found to be equal to two city blocks . . . ." Because of scheduling conflicts, jet lag, and that intense combination of exhaustion and excitement peculiar to conventions, I wasn't able to attend any LGLC events except the screening of _Maurice_ one evening in the hospitality suite. In fact, sometimes it felt as though I spent all my time on the floor; there was approximately thirty hours' worth of "Madame Chair, a point of blather . . . " to get through. I'll try to leave out the blather. The Virginia delegation was at the very rear of the Salt Palace auditorium, in the second of four blocks of seats. To our left were D.C. and Maryland; straight ahead were Georgia and New Jersey; to our right was California, and at the far right were Massachusetts (I had served in their delegation at previous conventions and know some of them) and New Hampshire with its four state representatives. The official number of delegates increased from 340 to 477 with the corresponding quorum being 132-182; 326 people voted on the bylaw amendment to eliminate the statement of membership. Considering the number of delegates and the strong feelings, Mary Gingell ran a very smooth meeting. If only we could get started on time! From my vantage point, the CLM (Committee for a Libertarian Majority, the group that grew out of the "Atlanta Declaration" meeting) was very visible: Ron Crickenberger, Nancy Lord, and Mike Tanner from Georgia right in front of us, and our own Rick Sincere. They were wearing identical CLM caps, and a number of them had walkie talkies. Evidently I wasn't the only one annoyed by the walkie talkies; the Chair admonished the delegates to take conversations and electronic sources of sound off the floor so that the rest of us could hear; they were gone the next day. (Sorry, Rick!) The actual proposal would have eliminated the concept of "national member," let the affiliate parties define their own members, and apportion convention delegates by counting the people who have given the National Party $25. Keep in mind that national membership is required only for the Presidential ticket. Conven tion delegates, national officers, and NatCom members need only belong to an affiliate party. After a lot of discussion (_Liberty_ subscribers may see C. A. Arthur's accountin the October issue), this was defeated, 132-194. The other major issue was the rules for selecting the next presidential candidate, where a number of changes were approved. First, the nominating convention was moved from Labor Day of the year before the election to July 4th of the election year. Hopefully, there will be a primary race in some states, with lots of media coverage. The downside is that getting on the ballot will be a lot harder in some states (e.g., Virginia, where there is no provision for a minor party to change its candidate after petitions are gathered). Second, each candidate for the Libertarian Party nomination will be expected to have prepared his or her own platform, to be voted up or down with the candidate. I like this: it gives George Will and his ilk less excuse to ignore the substantive issues we raise, and it allows the Libertarian Party to have a detailed catalog of agencies to be abolished, merged, sold, or whatever. I think it's nice to be able to quote the platform in press releases, e.g.: "LP Calls for Abolishing BATF." Speaking of the platform, the debate at the next convention should be interesting. The Platform Committee's term was increased to six months, and the delegates to the next convention will vote to retain or delete each plank separately (via electronic ballot). I'm hopeful both of these changes will focus the debate on a few trouble spots like children's rights. We'll see. Somebody (CLM?) distributed a flyer asking, "Is the national platform too negative?" It appeared to be a word-processed copy of the platform, with only the "negative" words kept: oppose, abolish, elimination, etc. Is there any other way to say what ought to be done to the FCC, DEA, etc., etc., . . . ? Steve Dasbach was elected Chair over 15-year-old (home schooled) Natalie Lloyd by a margin of 23 votes. I wouldn't mind seeing her on NatCom, but I don't think she should start out as chair. Karen Allard was elected vice-chair by acclamation. Hugh Butler defeated Steve Givot for treasurer, the main issue being Steve Givot's temperament. John Famularo defeated Gary Johnson for secretary, but there weren't any hot issues. Three events off of the floor stand out in my mind. The first is Senator Orrin Hatch's speech. He was talking about his legislation limiting the FDA's jurisdiction over vitamins and other supplements. He doesn't want to eliminate FDA, or legalize any controlled substance, but it was basically a friendly encounter. Has he ever faced an audience of 500 or so, all of whom want to legalize pot? The second was a breakfast presentation by Dr. Thomas Szasz. The third thing that really stands out was a video I saw at the Texas hospitality suite. It was a blow-by-blow account of the Waco massacre, claiming, among other things, that the BATF deliberately killed its own agents, and that they and the FBI systematically murdered the Branch Davidians and destroyed the evidence of their own wrongdoing. It was one of the most gruesome things I have ever seen on film, right up there with the atrocities of World War II and Vietnam. It's available for $20 from American Justice Foundation, 3850 S. Emerson Ave., Ste. E, Indianapolis, IN 46203, 317-780-5204. To end on an upbeat note, Salt Lake City and its environs are incredibly beautiful. One night there was a lightning storm in the Wasatch Mountains. Maybe even a little more upbeat: I heard a caller on C-SPAN a couple of days ago asking about what I think is the same video. "Why aren't the networks showing it?" he asked. READER POLL: TWO MUST-READ BOOKS Every so often we encounter a list of books which, in somebody's opinion, every person must read to be considered educated. Here's your chance to help GLIL compile such a list for queer Libertarians. Please write below (or on a reasonable facsimile) the titles and authors of the two books that you think belong on such a list and send them to GLIL, PO Box 65743, Washington DC 20035, by January 15, and we'll publish the results in February's _Quill_. 1.___________________________________________________________ 2.___________________________________________________________ WHAT IS _THE QUILL_? _The Quill: Queer Individual Liberty Letter_ is the bimonthly newsletter of Gays and Lesbians for Individual Liberty (GLIL). It is intended to include news of the organization, policy essays, and other articles of interest to lesbian, gay, and bisexual libertari ans. We welcome articles and letters to the editor. You may send submissions for the next issue through November 15 to GLIL, PO Box 65743, Washington DC 20035. If you would like to be added to the mailing list, please write to GLIL at the address given above. If you would prefer to receive _The Quill_ by fax, please so indicate. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dave Edmondson ghoti@netcom.com, 72020.600@compuserve.com, dave.edmondson@glib.org "Exalted Master, you told us that the world would end yesterday." "My child, it did end yesterday, but you're too sinful to notice."