Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 20, 1995)
just out ▼ oc tobar 20. 1005 T 31 V irtual E quality Urvashi Vaid calls to queers to get real about what homophobia is and how to fight it by Kristine Chatwood with policy advisors, there is still no national gay he presidential election of ’92, the and lesbian rights law; there is now an even more story goes, was a watershed moment insidious policy affecting gay men and lesbians in for the gay and lesbian community. the military; and Jesse Helms still manages to A presidential candidate had actually attach his politics of hate to Senate bill after Senate courted our vote— had not only taken bill. The our money but had even shaken our hands. words “gay” and “lesbian” rolled off Bill Clinton’s Political mainstreaming, according to Vaid, is tongue with nary a flinch. Why, he and Hillary not working because it does not challenge the “ moral and antisexual underpinnings of even had gay friends. Look at David Mixner, homophobia....” And that homophobia does not perhaps the most famous gay Friend of Bill. come from our lack of civil rights, she says, it originates in “the nature and construction of the political, legal, economic, sexual, racial and fam ily systems within which we live.” Until we ad dress the social institutions and cultural forces that give rise to homophobia, we cannot eliminate The Clintons met with us publicly; they openly prejudice. solicited our money; they went on record as want Central to homophobia is gay and lesbian sexu ing our votes. And, so, a grateful community ality. It is “the biggest obstacle to our full accep voted, in record numbers, for the Democratic can tance as human beings...” Vaid states. “We are didate. Finally, we thought, we have been ac hated because of how, with whom and how much cepted. Our place at the table is assured. (mythic or real) we do it.” The straight world reacts How had a community so long persecuted and “as if every act of ho vilified come to this place mosexual sex were an of acceptance and appar act of terrorism against ent power? And at what heterosexuality.” Les price? And did we get bians and gay men are what we paid for? In Vir “threatening because tual E quality: The our movement repre Mainstreaming o f Gay q u a l i t y sents the liberation of and Lesbian Liberation, the most powerful and Urvashi Vaid examines T he M ainstreaming of G ay & L esbian L iberation untamed m otivating these questions and many force in human life: de others. sire.” Vaid, the former ex- And so we become ecuti ve director of the N a- the demons of the radi tional Gay and Lesbian cal right, and every act Task Force, is a progres of homosex becomes an sive activist who has act of civil disobedi worked in the gay and les ence. Our war is fought bian movement for more not just on the legal and than 15 years. Her per political fronts, but on spective, her analysis, cultural and sexual com es from the left. fronts as well. Change, not assimilation, There is little room rvashi ai d is her goal. It is the battle in V aid’s world for between the forces for those espousing a change and those aligned policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” whether from with assimilation that Vaid discusses in her book. without or within our community. Our political Vaid takes the title of her book from the high- battle is hampered by our inability to quantifiably technology concept of virtual reality, where “the deliver the “gay” vote. With so many gay men and ‘virtual’ or simulated reality can be made to seem lesbians living closeted, secretive lives, there is no as believable as the ‘real’ experience” ; a place way to prove our power at the ballot box. And where “nothing is real, but we experience it as if it while it takes money to run a campaign, it takes were.” votes to win one. Until we can definitively deliver The reality for lesbians and gay men, in her the votes, our political influence is limited at best. view, is that after more than half a century of Our social and cultural battle cannot be won fighting homophobia and heterosexism, we have until we come out of hiding and—day in and day attained not freedom but “virtual equality.” We out—challenge the heterosexual world view. Gay may enjoy the “trappings of full equality,” but we men and lesbians are not “just like” everyone else. are denied the benefits. No amount of celebrity We never have been and we never will be. In the fund-raisers and Newsweek cover stories on les long run, we are not well served by attempts to bian chic can change the fact that lesbians and gay disguise and smooth over our differences. men are forced daily to deny who we are and what Virtual Equality is not a perfect book. It rambles we do. Discrimination, right-wing opposition and a bit. Vaid engages in some public breast-beating unabated violence face us every day, everywhere, over what she did and did not do during her years Vaid argues, and quite persuasively, that while on the political front lines. Seemingly every activ we may have finally won access to the seats of ist she ever met or heard about gets a mention in the power, we lack the all-important clout. Politicians book. talk to us, but they don’t listen to us. She believes Nonetheless, her political history is well re that the apparent shift in gay influence in politics searched. Her presentation of the differences be that occurred from 1972 to 1992 was, in reality, a tween liberation and mainstreaming is, simply, the “transitory pandering to the rich,” and did not best. And, like the true activist she is, Vaid is not reflect a fundamental change in the view of homo content to merely muse and run. She closes her sexuality held by either the Republicans or the book with a list of projects for anyone who wants Democrats. to become involved, at any level. Witness the experience we have had with Clinton. Despite the unprecedented access gay Virtual Equality: the Mainstreaming of Gay and men and lesbians have had to the White House, Lesbian Liberation by Urvashi Vaid. Anchor despite David Mixner’s friendship with Clinton, Books, 1995; $24.95 cloth. despite all those campaign promises and meetings T ooks V ornbard F l_ d > W Fi rrrwrnrrnw afSSj O Located in Historic St. Johns 8 3 0 2 N. LOMBARD • PORTLAND, OREGON 9 7 2 0 3 YOU KNEAD A MASSAGE Relieve Tension and St r e s s wi t h our licensed massage Therapists V a n e s s a M R a r l e n e i r t u a l V 503/ 286-1330 — ' E S o d i n E & v o n h a f f e r Shiatsu • Swedish Deep Tissue E U Proudly Serving The Greater Portland Metro Area • 10% OFF 1 - HOUR Members - $26.55 hr. (reg. $29.50) Non-Members recieve member price $29.50 Offer Expires Oct 31,1995 MASSAGE y g fg YW CA 1111 SW 1 0 th • P ortland • 2 9 4 -7420 G&M Automotive PDX Automotive 6006 E Burnside, Portland 231-8486 ^ 5934 NE Halsey, Portland 282-3315 . ». .T\s^V.~,T V , 3 < n i ;• •• • »•:?- — ■Mechanics with a Conscience " CERTIFIED MECHANICS Complete automotive service of foreign and domestic cars and light trucks Free ride to MAX Gerard Lillie To d d Connelly