From: WillNich@aol.com
Date: Sat, 23 Mar 1996 11:09:39 -0500
Subject: April Editorial

Permission hereby granted to reprint.

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THE LETTERTORIAL

THE RIGHT'S NEW STEALTH STRATEGY

At last count, 27 state legislatures have introduced bills this year that
would prohibit same-sex couples from legally marrying.  One--in South
Dakota--is now law, and as of this writing two others may soon be.  Not since
the first Gay 90s 100 years ago has this country seen such a scramble to pass
laws to discriminate against a minority population.

Yet I imagine most gay men and lesbians are saying, so what?  Marriage is not
one of my main concerns, and anyway it's never been on the gay movement's top
ten list of priorities.  Why bother?

Sound familiar?  Go back just three years to the gays in the military issue.
 Back then, if you asked 100 gay men and lesbians how they felt about
allowing gays in the military, 95 would have said, hell no:  the military ban
is one of the few advantages we have!  And besides, it's never been on the
gay movement's top ten list of priorities.  Why bother?

Which is precisely why conservatives have latched onto anti-gay marriage laws
this year.  Unlike statewide initiatives, most of which have failed, they're
easy to pass (you have to convince only 100 non-gay politicians in each state
to vote yes) and they're not all that divisive:  even gays don't care!  More
importantly they establish precedent, which in law is everything.  So when
more important issues, such as protecting gays in the workplace, are
introduced later, conservatives can point to a body of law establishing a
right to discriminate.

History is replete with stealth campaigns like this:  the Jim Crow laws of
the 1890s, Hitler's anti- Semitic laws.  Oppression doesn't come in one swift
kick but in small baby steps:  a law here, a court decision there,
non-binding resolutions, "Barney Fag" jokes.  Each time a new law is passed,
the oppressed simply shrug and say, "I can live with that" in the interest of
harmony.  The majority, seeing their reaction, look down and say it is good.
 But one day the oppressed turn around and realize, "I can't live like this."
 By then it's too late:  a way of life is cemented into the culture.

If we learn one thing about the current battle over gay marriages, it's this:
 no part of the so- called "gay agenda" is unimportant.  An attack on gay
marriage is an attack on gay adoptions; an attack on sodomy laws is an attack
on gay civil rights laws.  We can't afford to pick and choose what we will
defend and what we will not.  The package is whole and seamless.

The ultimate goal of the gay movement is and always has been recognition as
equals under the law.  To settle for anything less is to accept a lie.  There
is no such thing as semi-equal.

--David Williams, Editor
The Letter - Louisville