Date: Sun, 29 Sep 1996 22:56:07 -0700 (PDT) From: Rex Wockner Subject: WOCKNER/DEM CONV FINAL WRAPUP ---------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright (c) 1996 Rex Wockner. All rights reserved. Do not publish, broadcast, or cybertransport without permission. ---------------------------------------------------------------- DEMOCRATIC VIPs COURT GAY DELEGATES IN CHICAGO by Rex Wockner 2,050 words CHICAGO -- For gays and lesbians, the Democratic National Convention was a whole different world from the Republican convention. In San Diego there were three openly gay delegates inside and thousands of gay protesters outside. Here in Chicago Aug. 26- 29, there were 146 open gays inside (102 delegates, 25 alternates and 19 standing committee members) and the protests hardly happened at all. A Lesbian Avengers demonstration drew nine protesters and 54 onlookers, a quarter of whom appeared to be reporters. A protest by gay veterans was less successful. So where were all the homosexuals? Inside being wooed by important Democrats. The daily gay-caucus meetings at the Hyatt hotel drew VIPs such as Tipper Gore (the Vice-President's wife), U.S. Reps. Maxine Waters and Sheila Jackson Lee, Washington Gov. Mike Lowry, and U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer, John Kerry and Christopher Dodd, who is also the Democratic National Committee general chairman. In fact, so many VIPs showed up to address the gay and lesbian caucus that the delegates began complaining they didn't have any time to strategize among themselves. At other events throughout the week, the gay contingent was further courted by, among others, Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala, Jesse Jackson, U.S. Rep. Vic Fazio, Clinton senior advisor George Stephanopoulos, U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown. "Rather than inclusion being a word, here at this convention it's a commitment and it is enacted," said lesbian activist Candace Gingrich, sister of Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. "That's a start," she said. "We have party leaders paying us court, as they should be, as any other constituency deserves," said delegate Sky Johnson, public-policy director at the Los Angeles gay center. "We've made an enormous amount of progress." "Your hard work and your advice have been absolutely invaluable," Mrs. Gore told the gay delegates. "Al and I are very proud of your presence here at the Democratic convention." Mrs. Gore admitted that the administration was "not completely where we want to be" on gay issues but urged the group to remember Clinton's accomplishments when contemplating "the work that still needs to be done." Subhead: 'Kick Him in the Butt' "Yours is the kind of story that America needs to understand," said U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif. "When I look at the distance that gays and lesbians have brought this nation, I am inspired and I am motivated. ... I'm going to implore my friends who say that they support you to stand up for your right to be joined in matrimony any way that you want to do it. ... Bill Clinton is our friend. We're going to re-elect him. But we're going to kick him where he needs to be kicked to get what we've got to get from him!" Gov. Lowry also denounced Clinton's support for the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which is pending in Congress, saying he and his wife do not need to have their marriage protected by politicians. So did Mayor Willie Brown. In an interview on the convention floor, he told [this publication], "I absolutely disagree with the president on gay marriage." Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., called DOMA "not only wrong on Constitutional grounds but ... clearly a legislative attempt to drive a wedge between Americans and to bash in the process." And Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., labeled the bill "nothing more than a political ploy to hurt people ... nothing more than scapegoating. It's wrong, it's unAmerican and they ought to be ashamed of themselves," she said. Boxer also denounced "Don't Ask Don't Tell." "In my time in the Senate, we're going to get rid of that [military] ban," she said. It's stupid and it's ridiculous." Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., told the gay caucus that "for the first time we have an administration that is willing to stand up and fight on behalf of issues that affect the gay and lesbian community." But minutes later he told the Gay Cable Network he supports DOMA because "marriage is for a man and a woman." Subhead: 'The Party of Hope' Clinton's support for DOMA and his botched 1993 attempt to lift the ban on gays in the military appeared to be the only sore spots among the gay delegates, who seemed focused on getting the President re-elected rather than criticizing him. "Even the [gay delegates] who were the most disappointed ... obviously came to some resolution about those concerns and -- at least for the sake of the campaign -- are determined to work for the president's re-election," said the L.A. gay center's Johnson. Gay anger at Clinton over those two issues is "righteous and appropriate," said delegate Carole Migden. "But as a California State Assemblywoman, who's been in hand-to-hand combat with Republicans about key lesbian and gay issues, the Democratic Party is the party of hope for us." Indeed, the Democratic convention platform said: "We continue to lead the fight to end discrimination on the basis of ... sexual orientation. ... We support continued efforts, like the [federal] Employment Non-Discrimination Act [ENDA], to end discrimination against gay men and lesbians and further their full inclusion in the life of the nation." The Republican platform, on the other hand, denounced gay- rights laws, gay marriage and gays-in-the-military. Numerous administration representatives drove home Clinton's unprecedented pro-gay record throughout the week. "Bill Clinton is the first president to meet with openly gay and lesbian Americans in the Oval Office," beamed George Stephanopoulos, standing on the bar to address 550 activists and delegates at the popular gay nightclub Sidetrack. He went on to list Clinton's other accomplishments, such as a record number of gay appointments, vocal support for ENDA, and the removal of sexual orientation as a factor in the issuance of security clearances. Clinton's gay liaison, Richard Socarides, and Clinton's highest-ranking gay appointee, Assistant Secretary of Commerce Bruce Lehman, also attended the bar event. At the convention itself in the United Center, meanwhile, at least four open gays were given brief speaking slots at the podium -- California legislator Sheila James Kuehl, U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, black gay leader Phill Wilson, and Long Beach congressional candidate Rick Zbur. "Nothing explodes anti-gay stereotypes like the power of positive visibility," said Kathleen DeBold, spokeswoman for the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, which is backing Zbur's run. Zbur is the first openly gay non-incumbent to win a contested primary for the U.S. House of Representatives. Subhead: Saying the 'G' Word Some straight supporters remembered the gay community when they got to the podium as well. "Listen to me, please," said former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo. "Please forget a lot of this political argumentation. Forget about new Democrats, old Democrats, conservative Democrats, liberal Democrats, neo-liberal Democrats. The truth is ageless: Either we make it together, all of us of every faith and color, straight or gay, with or without disabilities, whatever our accent, whatever our past -- wherever we are in this great land, whether we are rich, struggling, desperate, either we make it, all of us together, or there is no American worth the gift that God has given this blessed place." And Bill Clinton said the 'g' word in his acceptance speech. "So look around here, look around here," he said. "Old or young, healthy as a horse or a person with a disability that hasn't kept you down, man or woman, Native American, native-born, immigrant, straight or gay -- whatever -- the test [for acceptance by others] ought to be: I believe in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. I believe in religious liberty, I believe in freedom of speech, and I believe in working hard and playing by the rules." There was an instant outburst of applause when Clinton said 'straight or gay.' He had paused briefly (and dramatically) right before saying it, indicating either that the phrase was not in the written speech or that he wanted people to know the decision to say it had not come easily. On AIDS, Clinton said: "More rapid development of drugs to deal with HIV and AIDS and moving them to the market quickly have almost doubled life expectancy in only four years and we are looking at no limit in sight to that. We'll keep going until normal life is returned to people who deal with this." Gay Democrats Disorganized? Back at the daily gay/lesbian caucus meetings, some delegates began complaining mid-week that they were listening to a lot of great speeches from very important people but not doing any networking, planning or strategizing. "What's going on here is that the gay Democratic presence nationally is not there," said Melinda Paras, head of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "You see that the Log Cabin Republican club, which represents a very small portion of this community, is much more organized, much more vocal, has stronger organization and funding than any gay national Democratic presence. ... This is a very serious problem. There's some very important organizing work that needs to be done and ... I think the delegates are feeling that lack of connection with each other and that lack of coordination." "It would be nice if they would allow more time for ... getting more strategic and down into the details on the local level," agreed Elizabeth Birch, head of the Human Rights Campaign. California's Kuehl added that gay delegates "were at a paralytic impasse about whether to have a big demonstration on the convention floor, maybe sending a message not to vote for Clinton. There has been some indecisiveness because of how the press will play it," she said. There were no gay protests on the floor and next to none outside either. Nine Lesbian Avengers abandoned their hour-long slot at one of the two designated protest sites after only 24 minutes. "This whole idea of a protest on a stage is so fucking stupid," yelled one Avenger, throwing down her protest sign. The other eight women then dropped their signs and the group departed. "We sort of on a whim entered the lottery [for an official protest slot] and were a little bit surprised when we won and, so, felt it was well worth it to be here and get the media attention and to spend some time talking about gay and lesbian issues in a place where people are going to pay attention," said Avenger Linda Oakleaf. "But ... it wasn't a protest at all; it was a speech on a stage. ... It was controversial within our own membership whether or not we wanted to do this. But when the name Lesbian Avengers hit the front page of the [Chicago] Trib[une], that's got its own value." There was a small AIDS protest Tuesday night outside John F. Kennedy Jr.'s A-list party at the Art Institute of Chicago. About 100 people from the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and ACT UP groups shouted, "DNC is a sham; Clinton has no real AIDS plan" and "What do we want? Funding. When do we want it? Now." They said the federal government must allocate a million dollars to pay for protease inhibitors for people who can't afford them. Subhead: Gore Meets With ACT UP On Thursday, Aug. 29, seven ACT UP members from Washington, D.C., and New York zapped Vice President Al Gore at a meeting of the women's caucus at the Hyatt hotel. Gore responded by meeting privately with protester Wayne Turner for about 10 minutes in a utility hallway. Turner said he complained about the administration's lack of support for clean-needle exchange and its failure to establish a "Manhattan Project" to find an AIDS cure or to create a Cabinet- level "AIDS czar" position. Turner said Gore promised to pass the concerns on to Clinton, and assured Turner "that there are things going on behind the scenes that we don't know about." ACT UP being invited backstage by the Vice President was perhaps a fitting gay end to a convention in which gays found themselves inside, included, involved, influential, courted and wooed like never before -- a key bloc of voters like any other. Queer Nation used to chant, "We're here, we're queer, get used to it." The events in Chicago Aug. 26-29 suggest that the nation's Democratic power structure got the message. -end- Contributing: Trudy Ring, Tracy Baim.