Subject: Dole Attacks Clinton on Gays, Clinton Touts DOMA, What a Surprise!
From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 15 Oct 1996 14:44:53 -0400

Network of Lesbian & Gay Democratic Clubs & Organizations

For Immediate Release					October 15, 1996
								
Contact: 	Eric Bauman (800) 225-4157 or (818) 780-4590 
		fax (818) 786-6981  email: [email-masked] 

DOLE ATTACKS CLINTON ON GAYS IN THE MILITARY, 
CLINTON TOUTS DOMA, WHAT A SURPRISE!

Los Angeles, CA- Last week Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole, who is
mired in double-digit deficits in every national poll and who has lost the
support of several conservative-Christian groups, began running
advertisements on Christian radio stations around the nation which said
"America suffers from a moral crisis, But the problem isn't in your house....
The problem is in the White House.  Bill Clinton's White House....It is part
of a whole liberal agenda like gays in the military. And condoms for school
kids." What a surprise! Dole attacking Clinton on his support for lesbians
and gays.

In the face of this sleazy attack-ad, President Clinton's campaign responded
with an ad that says, "The President signed the Defense of Marriage Act,
supports curfews and school uniforms to teach our children discipline."
Network co-chair Eric Bauman said, "What a surprise! Clinton signed DOMA, did
anybody think it wasn't insurance against just such a sleazy attack."

For months now, the right-wing extremists in the Dole/Gingrich camp have been
trying to make lesbians and gays the focus and the wedge issue of the 1996
elections. In early May, Ralph Reed, head of the Christian Coalition, told
the New York Times that "gay marriage would be the number one issue of the
November election." The Republicans quickly introduced the Defense of
Marriage Act (DOMA) in the House of Representatives, and Dole became the lead
sponsor in the Senate. In fact, Dole told a meeting of Christian
conservatives that "DOMA didn't go far enough."

Bauman said "Unfortunately for Reed, Dole, Gingrich, and the rest of the
right-wing Republicans, Clinton quickly announced he would sign the bill.
While this angered many in the lesbian and gay community, it took the issue
off the front pages and denied the Republicans the thing they wanted and
needed most: a wedge issue to divide Americans. They hoped to divert
attention from a nation that is moving forward, with a strong, growing,
economy, the lowest unemployment, inflation, and interest rates in years, and
a Republican presidential candidate with a clueless campaign and a GOP
Congress that most Americans believe are extremists bent on destroying the
environment, education, Medicare and Medicaid, and refocus the attention on
issues like homosexuality and the President's character."

Bauman continued "While it is unfortunate and perhaps outrageous that Clinton
signed DOMA, this act took away the Dole/Gingrich hopes for the 1996
election." During the Republican love-fest in San Diego, The Republicans
adopted a homophobic platform that says "We reject the distortion of [Federal
Civil Rights] laws to cover sexual preference, and we endorse the Defense of
Marriage Act....We oppose Bill Clinton's assault on the culture and
traditions of the Armed Forces, especially his attempt to lift the ban on
homosexuals in the military. We affirm that homosexuality is incompatible
with military service."

According to a press release from Log Cabin, at the same time the
Dole/Gingrich convention was adopting its anti-gay platform, Dole told Log
Cabin he would not attack gays and lesbians during his campaign and would not
undo President Clinton's positive steps taken on behalf of the gay community.
Log Cabin promptly endorsed Dole, ignoring his 30 year anti-gay Congressional
record.

Bauman said "With Dole's campaign flailing, and traditional Republican groups
like the Christian Action Network publicly running away from him, it is no
surprise he began running ads on Christian radio attacking America's first
pro-gay President for his attempts (no matter how unsuccessful) to lift the
ban on gays in the military. So much for his promise to Log Cabin not attack
gays."

Meanwhile, President Clinton has recently spent much effort to ensure
significant increases in AIDS funding, and refused to sign the Immigration
Reform bill if it contained Republican amendments to deport immigrants with
AIDS. Clinton also has been proudly and publicly touting his support of the
Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), and just this past weekend became
the first President ever to visit the AIDS Memorial Quilt, while it was on
display in Washington. 

Bauman continued "It is disingenuous for the likes of Rich Tafel to attack
Clinton for signing Dole's Defense of Marriage Act, Republicans created it
and Republicans pushed it. While 90 percent of Democrats in the Senate voted
in favor of  ENDA, 90 percent of Republicans voted against it. It was Bill
Clinton and Al Gore who worked the phones trying to enlist Senate support for
ENDA and it was Bill Clinton's Vice President who stood by ready to break a
tie vote to pass ENDA."

While DOMA is a black eye for the gay community, this President's record on
lesbian and gay issues is unsurpassed, let us review and compare the records:

Bill Clinton became the first President ever to endorse federal civil rights
legislation for gay people. Bob Dole opposes the "distortion of federal civil
rights laws to cover sexual preference."

Bill Clinton has appointed over 100 openly gay officials to his
administration, including Roberta Achtenberg and Bruce Lehman as cabinet
assistant secretaries. Bob Dole had no openly gay staff and voted against
Roberta Achtenberg's Senate confirmation.

Bill Clinton appointed America's first openly gay federal judge, and
appointed the two Supreme Court Justices whose votes provided the margin of
victory in the Colorado Amendment 2 case. Bob Dole and Jack Kemp opposed and
criticized that Supreme Court ruling and have vowed to appoint judges like
Antonin Scalia and Robert Bork, bitter opponents of gay rights.

President Clinton became the first President to implement sexual orientation
non-discrimination policies in federal employment, and ended the use of
sexual orientation as means of denying security clearances. Dole has not said
publicly what he would do. Although his Senate office had a
non-discrimination policy, he never employed anyone who was openly gay.

President Clinton has fought for major increases in AIDS funding since
becoming president, overall a 56 percent increase since his inauguration. He
created the office of AIDS policy director, the Office of AIDS Research at
NIH, the office of AIDS Housing at HUD, and has given a national address on
AIDS. Bob Dole never speaks of AIDS, voted in favor of Sen. Jesse Helms'
amendment to freeze Ryan White funds, voted in favor of the Helms' amendment
to cut off funding for gay community organizations providing AIDS services,
and voted to cut off federal funds to local schools with programs aimed at
preventing HIV.

President Clinton sponsored a national conference to examine the causes of
and solutions to gay youth suicide. Bob Dole voted to cut off funding to
local schools with programs aimed at preventing anti-gay violence, and
preventing gay-teen suicide.

In addition to the above, President Clinton vetoed Republican attempts to
dismantle Medicaid, slash Medicare by $270 billion, gut environmental
protections, and grossly reduce federal assistance for education.  Dole voted
in favor of each of these bills. The President supported and signed into law
the Family and Medical Leave act, the Brady Bill, the Assault Weapons ban,
and has opposed all efforts to limit a woman's right to choose. Dole voted
against Family and Medical Leave, against the Brady Bill, against the Assault
Weapons ban, and has strongly favored a Constitutional amendment to limit a
woman's right to choose.

Bauman concluded, "President Clinton may have signed DOMA and may even be
cynically using it to shore up his support among moderate and conservative
voters, but he has consistently and vocally been a strong ally of the lesbian
and gay and HIV-affected community's. Bob Dole is our enemy, has always been
our enemy, and will always be our enemy. The records speak for themselves."

On January 20th 1993, the doors to the White House opened for the first time
to lesbian and gay Americans. Only by re-electing Bill Clinton can we keep
those doors open!

The Network of Lesbian and Gay Democratic Clubs is an organization
representing the interests of grassroots lesbian and gay Democratic activists
and organizations around the country. Eric Bauman is the co-chair of the
Network and the president of Stonewall Democratic Club in Los Angeles.

-end-