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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 11, 1995)
VIEWPOINTS EDITORIALS. OPINIONS. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Coming Out Day wields personal, political power ■ OUR OPINION: U national event contributes to the fight for gay rights National Coming (Jut Day has become a rallying point for gay, lesbian and bisexual people in the last d**< ade Organizers designed the event to counteract the feel ing of isolation many young lesbian and gay people endure in an overtly hetero sexual world. The campaign has worked, and each ()ct. JI. thousands of non-heterosex uni people leave their shame and fear in the closet and declare who they are to their families, friends and co workers. As liberating as that moment is for the individ ual, the event indirecth wields more political power than (Jay Pride Day or the March on Washington in 1903. (aiming Out Day speaks to the people. bach time s gay man or lesbian comes out. it forces bis or her family to see gay rights issues in a different light; it increases the mon itor of Americans who know and love someone who is gay or lesbian. Suddenly, gay people stop being one of them, and they become one of us. For politicians, popularity equals power As morn peo ple come out, more Ameri cans are less likely to believe the anti-gay rhetorit spewed from their televi sions and mailboxes. Coming Out Day has been responsible, in part, for the increased politii a) and social power of non-hetero sexual people in the past decade. That power will play a part in the U S. Supreme Court's decision on the constitutionality of Colorado’s Amendment 2 Amendment 2 sun ended In repealing all city gay rights' ordlnances in that state and prohibited any future laws that would extend civil-rights protec lion to lesbians and gays. Tuesday, the Court heard opening arguments on this case, and its decision could affei t anti-gay rights initio lives across the country. The amendment passed in Colorado because of fear and ignorance it passed because not enough gays and lesbians stepped for ward and said. ' Morn, Dad. I am gay. and 1 am not the enemy." By coming out. non het erosexual people educate all of us, and perhaps more importantly, they make it easier for the next genera tion of gays and lesbians to acknowledge who they are without the fear of being unloved. Almost 20 years ago. the first openly gay elec ted offi cial in this country. Harvey Milk, gave this challenge to gay and lesbian people: "livery gay person must come out. As difficult as it is. you must tell your imme diate family, you must tell your relatives, you must tell your friends if indeed they are your friends, you must tell your neighbors, you must toll the people you work with, you must tell the people at the stores you shop in. 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WacNt CwwgAxo 1^11'ttotoH to*.ctoHUrimi/fc Cat* >-•*'«» !toAk«gW IAo% Mct~O^U ^cttowa*» iofc Vtotor Atow^’ SilK^no SlWU V' ‘MAW ♦tu- g .v...^*- .-,-J'i i.’ixwoev CijmiftoA U'«1 »r» ,n» «r" bV1 \ •.rf>r . ,i«i Htwvoom 346 latent Offtot Uk s s Chiftn kan'Uv*i JttJTII m* m 3 MOUSE CONTROLLED by republicans r SENATE controlled fly REPuflUCANj [ AG€A/DA COAjreotLED I 8V NE^jT GlMCiRicM Ta? :aP I RAN AS AN ouT5/D£R AMD 6V GoulV, r delivered'. mt 1 ^ A*1D m l CAM ^ ■ • ■■ , , ■■ r ■ A i ■* J • OPINION U.S. on verge of getting third party A few iMH'l'i ago on CNN s Dirr\ King Live. Texas billionaire and sometime politician H Ross Perot made an announcement that could dramatically niter the American electoral scene lor some time That evening, he announced the formation of a new politir.al organization. The Indepen dence Party Tills group is planning to elect a candidate for only one position, the Presidency of the United States As Perot told Time after his announce ment. the new party is going to "build a war chest of $60 million at least Why does it need such a large pot? So that the candidate won't have to go out with a tambourine ami lieg the special interests for money.' This turn of events liegs the following ques tion. Is Amerii a ready for a third party ? According to a recent Time/CNN poll of 1.000 adults. 54 pen cut of respondents said that they believed the formation of the Independent e Par ty is "good for the country This number, while not astonishingly high, is large enough to indicate that among a majority of Americans then- is a genuine dissal is faction with the current two-party system Why is this? 1-et's take a look at each side. The Republicans are great at cutting Medicare and Welfare for the elderly and the poor. On the other hand, when it comes to subsidies for rich farmers and business people, they aren't so fru gal This hypocrisy has not gone unnoticed by the voting public, as Hob Dole will discover when primary season begins Then, there’s the Democrats, who have let not only the Republican party (mat them in election season, hut have let their own interna! struggles cause an Ideological standstill The Democrats, ns .Yens week columnist |oe Klein wrote, are a mess They have no organizing philosophy, they are a dwindling collection of fads and factions, most of which are anathema to the American middle The important thing to remember here is that the "middle” in question is what can make or break an election, and that this is when Perot w ill attempt to position his candidate One problem that the new venture may have is its lack of definition Simply because the two major parties are not working doesn't necessari ly mean that voters disenchanted with them will all fit into one category. Thus far, the only issues that Perot has mentioned are that the Republicans and the Democrats are both spe cial interest parties." meaning that lobbying influence must lie curbed, and that the federal budget needs to be balant ad Aside from that, it seems that anything goes. As Nfwswfi'k reported on the group's first gath ering in San Diego, "there was just us much sup port in tiie crowd for Pat Buchanan and Jesse Jackson as there was for Powell and Perot." It is Quite likely that the same consensus problems that have struck the two major parties could affw t the Perot movement as well. This brings up another point: who will the Independent e Party elect ns its candidate? Obvi ously, the first name brought up is Colin Powell. who has expressed some reser vations about working with Perot. Others mentioned have OPINION mien retiring .Senator Hill Bradley (D-N.J.), former (Con necticut Governor Lowell Wicker (one of the few people who has actually won a major office as an independent), and of course, Ross Perot himself. But, after Perot helped Clin ton win the White House in 1992. the public has not seen him as a political maverick, but a dis ruption According to the previously mentioned Time/CNN poll, only 27 percent of respondents said that they would like to see Perot run as the Independence Party's candidate, and remember, that's 27 percent who would like to see him us a candidate, not who would necessarily vote for him. The Independence Party, if it wishes to tie a true power, must do its utmost to distance itself from the ornery Texan. The voting public will never forget his cartoonish fight against NAFTA, his delusions about a Republican conspiracy to break up his daughter's wedding; his entrance, exit and re-entrance in the race or the rest of his buffoonery during the 1992 election. If the movement is to succeed, he must allow another i andidate, a Powell or a Bradley, to take the helm, and more importantly, the nomination for the 1996 presidential election. I he American people are starving for another answer in politics, a group ora person who can truly break the cycle of lobbying, over-burden some taxation, overzealous spending and ideo logical inconsistency, which is now the norm in both of the major parties. Let's hope that the Independence Party will attempt to lie a truly new and unique political organization with real solutions and a true sense of leadership, not just a vehicle for Ross Perot's ego. Primo A I Fontana, a senior majoring in eco nomics, is a columnist for the Emerald.
