Via The NY Transfer News Service ~ All the News that Doesn't Fit from the LESBIAN & GAY Newsfeed - NY Transfer News Service Modem: 718-448-2358 nytransfer@igc.org nyxfer@panix.com from The (Electronic) Gay Community Magazine - March 21, 1992 MEETING BETWEEN BUSH CAMPAIGN AND GAY ACTIVISTS SPARKS INTENSE RIGHT-WING BACKLASH WASHINGTON, DC (EGCM) Far Right organizations have seized on a meeting between gay activists and the Bush/Quayle `92 campaign to push anti-gay rhetoric to the forefront of the presidential race and attack gay and lesbian campaign visibility. Gay activists met with Robert Mosbacher, chair of the Bush reelection campaign in Washington, DC. The activists briefed the campaign on discrimination, AIDS and homophobic campaign rhetoric. Following national media coverage of the meeting, several condemned the meeting and demanded that President Bush disavow himself from gay and lesbian issues. "Having the highest-ranking member of your re-election campaign meet with the homosexual lobby is a direct contradiction to your attempts to portray your administration as pro-family," wrote Reverend Morris Chapman, president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), and reported in the Washington Times. "We call upon you to personally disavow any support or sympathy for the homosexual civil rights agenda." Representatives William Dannemeyer (R-CA), Newt Gingrich (R-GA) and other conservative Congressmen fired off a letter to Bush blasting the meeting. "The invitation and meeting was a slap in the face to every voter who affirms the traditional family. The NGLTF agenda is not the Republican agenda and should not become part of your reelection bid." The Conservative Political Caucus, Pat Robertson's 700 Club, the National Association of Evangelicals and other groups have also vilified the meeting. Richard Land, Christian Life Commission head, was quoted in The Tennessean as saying, "People who campaign for office as pro-family are engaging in hypocrisy when they court people whose lifestyle is not...traditional." The White House has distances itself from the meeting, saying it was a "personal decision" by Mosbacher. "Gay people have every right to meeting with representatives of our elected officials," said NGLTF executive director Urvashi Vaid, who arranged the meeting. "These extremist groups are anti-democratic. In a panic because of the increasing gay political organizing, they are striking out at our visibility. Now the burden is on President Bush. Will he capitulate to the bigotry of extremists, or will he stand for tolerance and justice?" [Following is a letter from a few conservative Congress members.] Dear President Bush: Bush re-election campaign director and Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher recently met with officials of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF). While we realize the meeting held at your campaign headquarters was more of a personal favor of the Secretary's for his daughter than it was a formal attempt to court militant homosexuals, we are nonetheless concerned by the Secretary's judgement. The invitation and meeting was a slap in the face to every voter who affirms the traditional family. Offending 98% of your constituency to attempt to placate 2% is unwise. Not only that, it is politically unfounded. Among the few homosexual voters who identified as Republicans in 1988, 63% voted for Michael Dukakis. The NGLTF agenda is not the Republican agenda and should not become a part of your re-election bid. We urge you to counsel your campaign on this point and to re-establish yourself as a protector of traditional family values. Sincerely, Bill Dannemeyer, M.C. Mel Hancock, M.C. Phil Crane, M.C. Clyde Holloway, M.C. John Doolittle, M.C. William H. Zeliff, Jr., M.C. Joe Barton, M.C. Newt Gingrich, M.C. For more information contact: The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force; 1734 Fourteenth Street NW; Washington, DC 20009; Voice 202-332-6483; Fax 202-332-0207. Be sure to mention in your correspondence that you heard of this through The Electronic Gay Community Magazine.