From: [email-masked] Fri May 6 16:26:47 1994
Date: Fri, 6 May 94 14:49:47 CDT

Excerpts from

"A Little Bit of Colorado in Texas"
  by Louisa C. Brinsmade

The Austin Chronicle, May 6, 1994

Mainstream Austin Coalition commandant and strategist, State 
Representative Glen Maxey, leads the way through the narrow
downtown office building crowded with volunteers grabbing
yard signs, leaflets, and stickers for another day of
campaigning.  He says he has very little time for our
interview, but talks nearly two hours, about his fight
against the Proposition 22 referendum, gay rights, and his
personal ideology as Texas' first openly gay state legislator.
With Maxey at the helm of the campaign against Proposition 22 --
which would repeal the city council's vote last September
to extend benefits to the domestic partners of city employees --
this issue is guaranteed to increase voter turnout on both sides.

Extending the Right Hand

When the city council amended the city charter to extend
the domestic partner benefits, the vote was immediately
considered progressive and cutting edge; it acknowledged for
the first time in Texas the validity and inherent rights of
unmarried couple relationships, both heterosexual and homosexual.

The rejoicing among the progressive liberals was short-lived.  
Following the council vote, the Reverend Charles Bullock of
Christ Memorial Baptist Church took out a full page ad in the
Austin American-Statesman blasting the council on four counts:
fiscal irresponsibility; condoning illegal activity; eroding
traditional family values; and condoning immoral activity.
Those four tenets, in that order, are the backbone of
Concerned Texans, a Christian group Bullock and fellow 
evangelical Baptist Michael Brandes formed to repeal the new
city benefits policy.

By March, Concerned Texans had gathered over 17,000 signatures --
more than enough to meet the requirement for a valid petition --
calling for the city council to put the domestic partner
benefits policy to a public vote.  Bullock told Chronicle
reporter Sherry Wasilow-Mueller recently that the city is spending
too much money on the benefits and overstepped its authority
when it passed the new policy last year.  Same sex couples "can't
even be married in the state of Texas," he said.  "They're not
even legal.  And the city of Austin has no authority or right
to redefine marriage... it should go to the Legislature."  When
the referendum was approved by the city council on March 17 and
placed on the May 7 ballot, the gay and lesbian community was
caught off guard.

"The attitude in Austin is that the radical right will never win 
here.  People blew off Concerned Texans," says Maxey.  "That is
until ultimately some of us recognized they would get their
referendum on the ballot."  Concerned Texans was immediately 
labeled by the gay and lesbian community as the radical religious
right when it became apparent that the group had received help
from two local groups affiliated with national Christian
organizations: the Austin chapter of the Christian Coalition
led locally by Kirk Ingels, and the American Family Association
(AFA) led locally by Jeff Fisher.  (Fisher may be more commonly
known as the "dildo man" for his habit of bringing boxes of
vibrators, dildos, and other sex toys to legislative hearings
on any topic remotely concerned with sex crimes or the Penal
Code.)  The Christian Coalition, with headquarters in Virginia,
is led by 700 Club host Pat Robertson.  American Family Association's
base is in Mississippi and is led by Don Wildman.

When it was discovered that the local AFA had helped gather
petition signatures for Concerned Texans, to most of the gay
and lesbian community, the referendum and ensuing campaign to get
out the conservative Christian vote was perceived as an infiltration
into Austin's tolerant, liberal environment.  It's a place where
even Fisher enjoys some acceptance.

"It's a shame it's being represented that way, as if we have
some national agenda to fulfill, beacuse we don't," says Fisher.
"We do support Concerned Texans, and we are helping them
wherever we can, but to call it gay-bashing or homophobia is
just not true."  Fisher says AFA subscribers (and there are
85,000 of them statewide), "are opposed to the homosexual
lifestyle and behavior," but that mainly the group gets involved
with paternal rights and school textbook issues.

Sonny Hood, of the Austin Lesbian-Gay Political Caucus, believes
the debate has implications beyond gay or lesbian rights.
"The issue is whether Austin remains a broad-minded and tolerant
community."  He says he opposes "letting the religious right
come in and dictate the morality of Austin."

It's a National Christian Community

Concerned Texans is certainly not as alone in their campaign as
Brandes claims.  Their contribution and expense report lists a
$200 honorarium paid last December 14 to Kevin Tebedo, director
of Colorado for Family Values (CFV), and the architect of the
Colorado anti-gay rights Amendment 2 that passed in November 1992.
Tebedo attended a November "Family Values Defense Conference"
in Austin hosted by the AFA.  The invocation was given by Rev.
Bullock, and Tebedo lectured on "How to Win a Referendum."
Concerned Texans paid the bill, plus $161 for accommodations.

The problem with groups like Concerned Texans is not that they
exist, because everyone has the right to gather and discuss
politics, it's the disingenuousness of the players, both locally
and nationally when it comes to a political agenda, says Maxey.
The fear among MAC organizers is that the AFA, the Christian
Coalition, or CFV will drop a chunk of money into television
advertising for the Concerned Texans campaign since the final
"contribution and expense" reporting period before the election
ended on April 28.

"No matter what happens this Saturday, afterward, the truth
will come out about who they are.  They can only hide their
true intentions for so long," says politico David Butts.
Maxey agrees and at the same time keeps one eye focused on
the national picture for gay and lesbian rights.  "If we win,
it will be important for the whole nation -- in the way we
run this campaign.  Other communities will want to know
how we packaged the message and pushed it through," Maxey
says.  "If we lose Saturday, many people will be devastated
and I imagine we will be seeing another referendum on the
city's policy of non-discrimination in hiring.  Look for that
in the next voting cycle coming near you."