Subject: Stephanopoulos speech 10/20/95
From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 16:09:04 -0500

For your information and republication, attached is an ASCII text copy of the
transcript of the October 20, 1995 speech by Senior White House Advisor
George Stephanopoulos to the Fourth Annual Convention of the National Lesbian
and Gay Journalists Association in Washington, D.C. about President Bill
Clinton's support of various federal issues important to bisexual, gay and
lesbian Americans.

THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON

Remarks by George R. Stephanopoulos
Senior Advisor to the President
to
The National Lesbian and Gay [Journalists] Association
4th Annual Convention
Washington, D.C. October 20, 1995

Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you Barney and thank you Roy and thank you all of you. You know, I gladly accepted your invitation to speak here today several months ago. And then my staff told me I should give it back. (laughter) Then I reconsidered that reconsideration--staff always screws up, you know. (laughter) Just don't send another invitation and we'll be okay.

And thank you Barney for encouraging me to come and speak. As you all know Barney's a great Congressman. He's got a helluva interesting name. Sounds just like its spelled. F-R-A-N-K. (laughter) I just can't imagine why Dick Armey can't get it straight. (applause) You know I just found out this morning that I have something on Barney. I've worked with him for many years and I've admired him and as you all know he's probably the quickest wit and one of the smartest men in the House. But this morning I discovered that I do have something on him. Oliver North named me one of the twenty-five most dangerous liberals in Washington. Barney didn't make it. (laughter)

During a visit to the United States in the closing years of the last century, a gay writer and occasional journalist was asked to comment on the role of the presidency in American life. Oscar Wilde replied that "In America, the President reigns for four years, but journalism reigns forever and ever." I had to spend about five minutes in the White House briefing room to know how true that is.

As journalists, let me speak to you first as journalists. You communicate facts, you correct misperceptions and contribute to a better understanding of the promises, the pledges, and the performance of public officials. You have a responsibility to find the truth and tell it -- without you no democracy can survive, although your presence means that many politicians don't survive very long.

The old saying goes that you speak truth to power. Politicians at their best harness power in the service of truth and progress. In fact, my favorite definition of politics comes from the playwright and the poet and the politician, Vaclav Havel. At his inaugural just a few years ago, he said politics can't just be the art of the possible. It has to be the art of the impossible...the art of changing people's lives for the better. I believe that Bill Clinton got in the race for President four years ago, determined to run for president and win the presidency because he believed that he could change peoples' lives for the better.

He ran for president with a very simple vision in mind--that we had to grow our economy, strengthen our community, and make sure that we were prepared to face all of the challenges of the next century. And that's exactly what we've seeked to do. And you know Democrats have a tradition of seeking out bad news, and we like to talk about bad news all the time, and we often have a hard time focusing on the positive. But if you look at the record, in the three years since Bill Clinton has been President, you see it as a record of great progress and the American people are doing very well, under his presidency. We have the lowest unemployment and lowest inflation in twenty-five years. The deficit is going down and jobs are going up. Around the world we've seen peace. You know, for the first time in my lifetime, in the last three years, there are no Russian nuclear missiles pointed at the United States; there are no United States missiles pointed at Russia. We've seen the beginnings of peace in the Middle East, the return of democracy to Haiti and maybe in the coming weeks and months, we'll see an end to the bloodshed in Bosnia because of United States leadership.

And even on our social problems, which many people rightly believe are at the heart of so much that ails the country today, we've seen progress. Most people don't know this but the murder rate and the crime rate have gone down. Over the last three years, welfare rolls are going down, food stamp rolls are going down, even the teen-pregnancy rate is going down. So we have made real progress. It is something we are very, very proud of.

Today I'd like to take a few minutes to talk particularly about the efforts of this Administration to fight for equality and justice for gay and lesbian Americans. I do that not in a way just because you are gay and lesbian, but I think it's an important opportunity to tell the country about what the President has done in the fight for decency and progress. And I do believe we have a record of achievement of which we can be proud. And I think the best way to understand that is to understand where we've been.

Think back four, five, six years ago and imagine what an assistant to the President, an advisor to the President, would say if he came to this group. First of all, would an advisor of the President come to this group? Secondly, would he say what Pat Buchanan said many years ago, that "the poor homosexuals have declared war upon nature, and now nature is exacting an awful retribution." Would he do what Ronald Reagan did for so many years, and stand perfectly silent as AIDS began to consume an entire community in this country? Would he talk about how they outlawed AIDS education campaigns targeting gay men? Or would he simply say nothing? Or fail to show?

It was in that context that four years ago Bill Clinton began to run for President. And I was there from the very beginning, and I remember what it was like to have a candidate for the first time acknowledge the importance of gays and lesbians to this country, to have a candidate for president say we have to fight, not for special rights but for equal rights for gays and lesbians, to have a candidate for president of the United States to go openly into the homes, and the community centers of gays and lesbians and people with AIDS, and do it without apology, without covering it up, do it in public, in front of the whole country. And I also know, that very act made people very hopeful, made people say "my goodness, we're about to see a real change in this country." And because of that, people all over the country volunteered for the first time in presidential politics: you gave money, you joined the campaign, you worked all across the country to help elect Bill Clinton president and you got your hopes raised. You said this is going to be different. Lesbian and gay volunteers along with their families devoted thousands of hours to campaigning, staffing phone banks, distributing flyers, walking in the snow, walking in the rain and doing something to change this country. And President Clinton said "you are part of my vision for America." He promised an Administration that would look like the American people and this was very new. And now when we look back, three and four years later, I think we can say proudly that we've made progress on that vision. The President made good on that pledge by reaching out across the country, to outstanding professionals in every field--Roberta Achtenberg, Bruce Lehman, Nan Hunter, Bob Hattoy, Gregory King, and your own co-founder Victor Zonana--are all serving in this administration as gays and lesbians, openly, for the first time in the history of the United States of America. (applause)

And let me also say just for a moment a special word on behalf of a woman who is not a lesbian, but has been assigned by the President to work full time on the issues of gays and lesbians, Ms. Marsha Scott. And, for the first time ever in the White House, we have a full time liaison to the gay and lesbian community, and that's a change.

President Clinton promised to appoint people to his administration on the basis of merit, without regard to sexual orientation, and he did. He promised that he would work for an America where all our citizens would be valued for their contribution to our society, and he did. He promised to devote the resource needed to combat all our citizens. He said "we don't have a person to waste," and we still don't.

And I know that even as I may say these words, and look out across this audience, and these are words that I believe very, very deeply, and as I've said I'd been there from the very beginning. But I also know that many of you are sitting out there and saying "give me a break--they took our money, they took our votes, and they walked away." And I think the only answer to that is I don't believe it--but the only answer to that is to deal with it, and to talk about it. So let's do that.

I know that many lesbian and gay American--including many of you in this room--saw the issue of discrimination in the military as an important reason to support the Clinton-Gore ticket. And as a campaign advisor and as a member of the President's staff, I worked very closely and very hard on that issue for a long time. And we tried--I know we didn't achieve what we set out to achieve. We'll continue to do what we can to ensure that at the very least, gays and lesbians serving honorably in the military, as they always have done, can do so without the harassment that has scarred too many lives and marred too many careers. I understand your disappointment. "Don't ask, don't tell" has not worked as well as we had hoped. But I also ask you to believe something else. This was an honest attempt to achieve an honorable compromise. The President did his best, and he will continue to do his best.

After the battle over the ban, politicians and journalists--probably some of you--stated that President Clinton had learned that gay issues are the third rail in politics. Touch it and you die. And that the President would never again talk or work on issues of importance to the gay and lesbian community. But that is not what happened.

It did not diminish our willingness to address the concerns of lesbian and gay Americans in a host of other areas. Because of the President's leadership we have brought gay and lesbian issues out of the closet and into the open.

We passed the Hate Crimes Sentencing Enhancement Act and urged states to use it as a model. We created an interagency task force to examine hate related violence. We granted political asylum to gays and lesbians who face persecution aborad. We gathered experts to examine the causes and solutions to suicide among gay and lesbian teenagers. We increased our commitment to research into women's health care and included the specific concerns and voices of lesbians in that agenda--such as their disproportionately high rates for breast and cervical cancer. And we began, for the first time, to make the federal government a full partner in the war on AIDS.

Since 1981, more than 470,000 Americans have been diagnosed with AIDS. More than 270,000 have died, among them men of vision and courage such as Randy Shilts, Jeff Schmalz, and Tim Halley, early members of this organization. Every single day now, 100 more Americans die of AIDS, and our nation has lived with it for fifteen years, and for much of that time the federal government's response was delay, denunciation, and denial.

President Clinton went to work. And he kept his promise. At a time when we were reducing the deficit and not having any growth in overall federal spending, he increased funding for AIDS research, prevention and care by forty percent. The President promised to fully fund the Ryan White CARE Act, and in three years the funding has risen 108 percent. During the last two years we have expanded the number of metropolitan areas covered under the Ryan White program, and now all 54 states and territories are receiving funds to serve people living with HIV and AIDS.

The President made AIDS education a top priority, directing the federal government to provide comprehensive work place education on AIDS for every employee and encouraging private employers to do it as well.

He created the National Task Force on AIDS Drug Development, an historic partnership among government, industry, academia, medicine, and community organizations working together for the first time to eliminate the barriers to rapid deployment of life-saving drugs.

When that panel was formed, the only licensed antiviral we had was AZT. No, I'm not a pharmacologist, I'm not an expert, but I did check with the FDA. Andy they told me we now have four more new classes and other new classes of drugs on the way. We have more to do, but we have made progress.

On the issues of equal justice, the Department of Justice and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission have vigorously prosecuted those who violate the Americans with Disabilities Act by discriminating on the basis of HIV and AIDS. We've taken action against health care providers and facilities that discriminate, and new efforts are underway to combat discrimination in nursing homes that provide essential long-term care. And we've issued waivers to more than a dozen states so they can provide home and community based services to more than 20,000 persons with AIDS.

The President has spoken out publicly and lent his support to community efforts like the Washington D.C. AIDSWALK. He established the Office of AIDS Research as part of the National Institutes of Health to direct all federal research efforts, and created the AIDS Housing Office in the Department of Housing and Urban Development to administer earmarked funds for low income people living with AIDS.

For the first time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have launched a frank and forward thinking campaign aimed at young adults to change behaviors that contribute to HIV transmission. We took to the airwaves with public service announcements that for the first time mentioned the most effective and the most unmentionable word in the fight against AIDS--"condoms."

We appointed a special AIDS coordinator in the White House and I think you'd all agree that Patsy Flemming is doing a wonderful job. We have an AIDS advisory commission headed by Dr. Scott Hitt, a nationally recognized expert in the field. And on December 6th, for the first time ever, the White House will devote and entire day to the study and the speaking about AIDS in the White House, and again that is a first, again, for this White House.

Do we have to do more? Of course we do. We can't rest for a second when AIDS is killing 100 people a day. You know there was a lot of celebration yesterday in the House of Representatives and the Senate. And they were celebrating the passage of their medicare plan which the President said he would veto because it destroys Medicare. But next week they're going to vote on something that is possibly even more threatening, will have even more severe impacts across this country, especially for people with AIDS. Because as we sit here, they're on the verge of passing a cut in Medicaid, $182 billion dollar cut in Medicaid funding, which is a dagger to the heart of the entire gay and lesbian community that is concerned about AIDS. Make no mistake about it. This is one of the worst public disasters that has come along in the last decade and if we don't fight it we're going to be terribly sorry.

In 1984 alone, Medicaid spent $3.6 billion dollars providing health care for people with AIDS--five times the amount of money distributed by the Ryan White Act. More than 50% of the people in the country with AIDS, including 90% of the children with AIDS, rely on Medicaid for their medical care. But the Republican plan, which gives everything over to the states--Barney has often pointed out, you ever noticed that Republicans don't block grant things people like? They only block grant things that they think it's going to be popular if they send it over. So people with AIDS, all the money for people with AIDS-block grant it, give it to the states. You know what that means? That means that there is absolutely no national guarantee that if you have AIDS, you are going to get your medical care paid for by Medicaid. And that means that people are going to lose their prescription drug care coverage; it means that people are going to die, before their time, and we can't allow it to happen. The President has said he would veto it but we need your help, to tell the truth about this bill to the entire country. (applause)

I think it is fair to say that in the past three years, we have done more to combat AIDS and AIDS related hysteria than the federal government did in the last decade and a half combined. And we know that there is still more to do.

But each day we face the threat that Jesse Helms will emerge victorious in his efforts to cut our funding priorities or gut and AIDS related program that works. Each day we await some new amendment from Bob Dornan or Phil Gramm. Each day we face the stupid and short-sighted comments like Jesse Helms said back a few months ago, he said we shouldn't spend any money on AIDS because it's a "product of people's behavior."

Each day we have to fight that extremism with facts, just as the President has done. When Jesse Helms got up there and said that, Bill Clinton didn't wait a day. He said: "You know, smoking causes lung cancer, but we don't propose to stop treating lung cancer and stop doing research to find a cure...Drunk driving causes a lot of highway deaths, but we don't propose to stop trying to make cars safer...the gay people who have AIDS are still our sons, our brothers, our cousins, our citizens. They are Americans, too." And he told that to the entire country. We can't let Jesse Helms and his kind get away with this. (applause)

And like all Americans, lesbian and gay Americans deserve to have a fair opportunity to make a contribution through the work they've done, whether it is in an office or on an athletic field, in a newsroom or in public service.

This is the first Administration to appoint an openly lesbian federal judge, and the first to direct every agency and department to include sexual orientation in their non-discrimination policies. Barney talked about security clearances and he worked very, very hard on the issue for a year and a half. Every year 3.2 million people in this country receive security clearances from the Federal Government. But for forty years, any gay or lesbian wanting to work in a job that required a security clearance faced a very painful choice: lie, or lose your job. Because of this President, they can't be denied a security clearance simply because they're gay.

And these are not symbolic acts. These are policy changes that guaranteed equal opportunity in the federal workplace. They improved the lives of thousands of lesbian and gay Americans working in every region of the country. They sent a message to employers thoughout the country that men and women should be judged by their ability to do their job, rather than face discrimination because of who they are.

But we have to go one step further. And that's why I'm also proud to say that President Clinton has announced his support of legislation to protect all Americans from discrimination in the workplace. (applause)

Last year, Senator Kennedy held the first hearings on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. He heard from men and women who had lost their jobs simply because of who they were. He heard from business leaders who said the time had come to change the law and protect all Americans against discrimination on the job.

Today President Clinton has written to Senator Kennedy restating this Administration's opposition to job discrimination and endorsing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. (applause)

Frankly, most Americans don't realize that in 41 states, gay and non-gay citizens alike can be fired from their jobs, demoted, or denied a promotion, simply because their boss dislikes their sexual orientation. You know most Americans think that's already against the law. But it's not. And it should be.

The President has spoken a great deal over the last year about the need to find common ground in this country, common sense policies and common ground--ending discrimination in the workplace is part of that common ground. No one should lose their job for reasons that have nothing to do with the job they do.

There is a broad national consensus for ending employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. This is not a partisan issue. A post election poll of 1994 election voters found 7 out of 10 support equal rights in hiring and firing for lesbian and gay Americans, including 64% of those who identify themselves as Republican. Equally significant, business leaders from Xerox to AT&T, labor unions from AFSCME to the International Association of Fire Fighters, religious institutions from the Episcopal Church to the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, have all endorsed this bill.

During the military debate in 1993, many who opposed the President's efforts said that "the military is different, it's not the same as civilian life." They said anti-gay discrimination in the civilian workforce was wrong. It is time for us to ask them if they really meant what they said. (applause)

There are always going to be people, there's going to be people who say that this bill will give gays and lesbians special rights. And we've seen it all prefigured not only in your own battles but in this entire battle, over affirmative action in the last year. But as journalists you can make a difference. Ask them what's so special about wanting to keep a job without worrying about being fired for something that has nothing to do with your job performance.

Some will claim than ENDA abrogates the right of religions to set their own rules for the clergy, forces local gas stations to meet quotas for gay mechanics, and forbids the police and fire departments from prescribing uniforms. They'll say everything and anything--that ending employment discrimination is the first step toward unisex rest rooms, the dissolution of family life, and the end of Western civilization. (laughter) Oh, they'll say it, but that doesn't make it true.

And you can challenge these claims with the truth. When they say that no one faces discrimination in this country, tell them the truth. Tell them about Americans who've lost their jobs, tell them about women like Cheryl Summerville, a lesbian cook who was fired from her job in a Cracker Barrel restaurant near Atlanta.

When they say that ENDA forces employers to give people unfair advantages, tell them the truth. Tell them all this bill does is reaffirm the principal of merit. Lesbian and gay Americans, like all Americans, should be judged on the basis of the quality of their work, not penalized on the base of someone else's prejudice.

When they say it will create a homosexual preference, tell them the truth--and hand them the bill. This bill prohibits quotas and preferential treatment. It exempts small businesses and religious organizations. It ensures simply that everyone gets equal treatment, and no one gets special treatment. Equal rights. Not special rights.

Former Senator Barry Goldwater had it right when he urged all Americans, regardless of party, to support ENDA. He said "it's time America realized there was no gay exemption in the right to 'life liberty and the pursuit of happiness" in the Declaration of Independence. Job discrimination against gays--or anybody else--is contrary to each of these founding principals."

And I believe that when Americans understand what this bill is really about, they'll give it their support. Most Americans don't believe people should be fired from a job because of something that has nothing to do with the work they are doing. And the last time I checked, western civilization had not died in New Jersey, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Connecticut, or any of the other states where they've already outlawed discrimination against gays and lesbians. Pat Robertson may not like it. Pat Buchanan may not like it. Bob Dole's still thinking about it. (laughter) But President Clinton is for this legislation because it's the rights thing to do, and the American people will be as well. (applause)

Before I close and take your questions, you know I don't get to take-I don't do press conferences that much anymore and I sort of miss it, not that much (laughter), I want to close and talk not about policy, but about the values that lie behind the work we do everyday. Most Americans want a country where men and women work together, for the common good and common purpose, recognizing that the problems we face, face us all. A country where communities work hand in hand to encourage opportunity and responsibility and justice. And that's exactly the kind of society that President Clinton has set out to help lead in his presidency.

And I suppose we're going to hear an awful lot of talk about values over the next year. And I frankly think that that's a very good thing. Values of opportunity and responsibility and community, values about taking care of ourselves and our communities and pulling for each other. The values of justice and dignity and respect for everyone, no matter who they are, or where they come from of what they believe, or what their sexual orientation is. And we're going to hear a lot about family values. Some helpful, some not so helpful. But it's not a bad thing to talk about values--I know we often shy away from the debate. And an awful lot of people over the next year are going to try and use the gay and lesbian community in that debate. They'll use them as whipping boys, they'll use them to rile up emotions across the country, and it probably won't be the most responsible debate, but there is something we can do about it. And I for at least one minute, would like to praise what should be praised in the gay and lesbian community.

Because in the face of a tragedy that has now touched all Americans, but has threatened to tear the heart out of your community, you have pulled together, and have taught all of the American people a lesson in community.

In the early days of the AIDS epidemic, when the federal government responded with apathy and indifference, you did your duty. And much, much more. In cities throughout this country, you built clinics and created life saving community centers. You began buddy programs to care for the sick and education campaigns to protect the healthy.

You donated your time, your energy, your money, your heart, your soul to make life better for people you loved and people you never knew. You held their hands, swabbed their sores, cried with them and made sure that someone prayed for them before they died. You lived the simple lesson that we should love our neighbors as ourselves. You honored life, and fought death, with love. You proved the truth that we all have etched in our hearts: that when the Bible teaches we are created in the image of God, it makes no exceptions. Not one. (applause)

And because you did your duty, because you acted with love and responsibility, many Americans realized for the first time that lesbian and gay Americans are not what we've been told. The stereotypes spread by bigots and bashers no longer resonate. We've discovered what we've really already knew but often failed to admit--that you are our friends, our neighbors, our co-workers, and our relatives. We have discovered that you are entitled to the same rights and respect as everyone else. We've discovered the truth.

Daniel Webster said "there is nothing so powerful as truth." And of course he was right. As journalists, you have a responsibility to tell the truth. As journalists who are lesbian and gay, you have an opportunity to teach us, to shed light on issues that are ignored or distorted by those who seek to divide our people into enemy camps.

You have the power to help us build a national community where all our citizens are valued for the contribution they can make to the common good. And through your efforts, all America will benefit. The work ahead won't be easy. But our course is sure. Remember Prior Walter's quiet hope, from the close of "Angels in America":

"The world only spins forward"

And we have so much to do.

Thank you very much.
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