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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (May 5, 1995)
10 ▼ m ay S. 1005 T just out G&M Automotive 6006 E Burnside, Portland 231-8486 PDX Automotive ~ national news 5934 N E Halsey, Portland 282-3315 Media prize turned spokeswoman Will the gay and lesbian community give Candace Gingrich time to become effective, before filleting her for being unable to rehabilitate her brother? *Mechanics with a Conscience" CERTIFIED MECHANICS Complete automotive service of foreign and domestic cars and light trucks Free ride to MAX G erard Lillie To d d Connelly A F ri enòly Lnrle Smgmg Compemion Wnb Fabulous Pmzes ave MidmçhT Sunday,M ay 14rb Sliding Scale $2 and U A Benefit For the Speak To Your Brothers Projet Come beh out rhose OThen pabulous Queen men and women—an evenr noT to by Shelly Roberts andace Gingrich, half sister of U.S. House Speaker Newt, entered Miami Beach Convention Center auditorium for her first public speaking engage ment, to a thunderous ovation. Five hundred people got up early on Saturday to claim the right to say they sat in the same room with the newest national lesbian icon. Gingrich was key note speaker at “Pathways to Pride,” a conference for the empowerment of the greater South Florida gay and lesbian community, sponsored by the “fight-the-right” group Safeguarding American Values for Everyone. “I don’t know how much you know about my M om ...” she began from the podium, capturing immediate attention, “but she has this habit of saying th at sh e ’s not going to reveal s o m e t h i n g ... a n d then...” her pregnant pause p erm ittin g a dawning laughter for the awakening crowd, “reveals it anyway. “She held up an old picture o f m e— one where I had long hair and I think even some makeup on— and said to this reporter, ‘This is my youngest daughter, Candace. This is not her most recent picture, but I don’t want to show you one of her in col lege.’ Then, true to form, Mom took out the picture and showed it to her anyway.” C andace d o e sn ’t have long hair any more. If there is a trace of makeup left, it isn’t apparent. She’s your Candace Gingrich average 28-year-old lesbian with Castro Street-clone glasses, smooth brown hair cut off in a sharp Northampton-style shelf, and the pleasant, uncharismatic aura of a lesbian caught in the beam of oncoming head lights. It is an unmistakable look for those of us who know what to look for. “I think a little light bulb went off in the reporter’s head,” Gingrich continued. “She called me the next morning and said, ‘I would like to interview you. ’ It took her about 45 minutes of the usual questions about the family, and at the end she said, ‘Candace, we’re about done, but there is one more question I need to ask you. I think you know what it is.’ “Well, I thought about it for about two sec onds. Should I answer her? Shouldn’t I answer her? And I said, ‘Yes, I am!’ ” Her re-enactment was met with the re-en forcement every gay man or lesbian longs for when making this most personal revelation— a standing ovation. This was, after all, her personal coming-out adventure. For the rest of her address, Gingrich had the same things to say as anyone who’s ever spoken into a Lesbian and Gay Pride C Day microphone. Gingrich went on to reveal that she is leaving her jobs as a carrier for United Parcel Service and as a computer technician for the Education De partment of the State of Pennsylvania. She will be joining the Human Rights Campaign Fund as a consultant and spokeswoman for its National Coming Out project. Under its auspices, she will be embarking on a multi-city tour at the end of April. Gingrich is a homosexual through an accident of birth— like the rest of us. Unlike the rest of us, through an accident of birth she is at the center of the media klieg lights. Twenty-three years after the birth of a certain Georgia political carpetbag ger, she occupied the same womb. Is that enough reason to hand her the tall responsibility for the re habilitation of her off- center sibling? Newt was in college when she was in Pampers. Newt was cutting his teeth on po litical maneuvering when she was simply cutting her teeth. The only time she has seen her brother since her public revela tion was at a photo op portunity in Washington, D.C., where there wasn’t time to talk. When asked about her relationship with her brother, she replied, “Kind of like an uncle and niece.” Imagine get ting your own uncle, even the most cooperative of ones, to reverse the very foundations of his suc cess. This is the task that the gay and lesbian com munity has handed to Candace G ingrich. U nfortunately, though Gingrich has ascended the stage, she hasn’t spent her life dreaming of inspiring masses. She never thought of herself as a role model. She is, how ever, a very quick learner. She understood at once that her value as a media prize is directly linked to the contrast her existence paints to her half brother’s politics. She has said of his politics, on the Good Morning America set and in the pages of Newsweek and Time, that when it comes to gay men and lesbians ‘Tolerance is not enough!” She understands instinctively (perhaps it is genetic) that you don’t get this kind of attention for very long, so she knows enough to make the most of it. Some questions remain. Will her HRCF advi sors be smart enough to give her meaningful things to say and enough practice to be impressive and effective while saying them? Will the gay and lesbian community give her enough time to de velop as an effective spokeswoman, before fillet ing her for being incapable of the impossible task of derailing her brother’s homophobic train? For the sake of the lesbian and gay commu nity, the answers better be yes. |
