ffthruary 4, 2000 »
GUEST CO M M EN TA R Y
by
3
B o b W il d in
The IN publication for the O UT population
F ounded 1983 • J ay B rown
and
R enee L a C hance
V o l . 17 N o . 7 F e b r u a r y 4 , 2 0 0 0
FEA TU RE
SIMILARLY SATISFIES: How to enjoy Feb. 14,
whether or not you have your own funny
valentine
M 23-27
NEWS
NRRTRWEST • Big judicial and legislative
decisions made in Oregon; Clackamas
Community College stands up for tolerance;
Empress Misha whips pride into shape; monthly
column the Queer Profit; friends and relatives
remember Lindsey Alexander
» 7-13
NATIINAL * Margaret Johnston and the U.S.
AIDS vaccine program; Exxon under fire from
gay groups; lesbian lawmaker predicts failure
for California’s anti-gay Knight initiative; U.S.
Supreme Court to consider Boy Scouts gay ban
pp 15-19
Dutch newspaperman knighted by
queen; former flight attendant launches UK-
based gay airline
pp 2 0 -2 1
E N T E R T A IN M E N T
& CULTURE
Hunky gay singer comes to Portland
p 35
ART • Looking at life from both sides now
P 37
Reviews of new CDs— delights and
disappointments
pp 38-39
FILM S* New films don’t offer much queemess
p41
DIVERSIONS • Get your trolls ready for bingo;
take your sweetheart dancing
P
43
The red,the gpeen
and the blues
Lamenting a lapse in political leadership
in the 2000 presidential campaign
I
often hear that the political landscape in America is changing, but
I continue to be amazed by the bizarre contrasts emerging from the
2000 presidential race.
Labor, taxes, religious rights and abortion used to be the issues
creasing the line between Republicans and Democrats, but not any
more. Republicans waffle on abortion, Democrats court religious con
stituencies, everyone wants to cut taxes— they only differ on how— and
unions dump money into both parties’ coffers.
Meanwhile, the vacuum of real leaders with the abil
ity to unify the country, rather than divide it, hoovers far
more noisily than Ross Perot’s “giant sucking sound” in
the 1996 campaign.
The televised candidate debates are like a theater of
the absurd. The most vitriolic, xenophobic rhetoric—
which used to be heard only from the likes of Jesse
Helms— now emanates from the mouth of none other
than A lan Keyes, the only black candidate, a
Republican. Incredibly, he is also one of only two can
didates to say gays should be kicked out of the military,
period. Would he object to kicking blacks out as well?
Bob Wildin
The irony might be amusing if he weren’t so serious.
When it comes to gays in the military, John McCain
unreservedly capitulates to the “experienced judgment”
of generals on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Now that’s leadership! One won
ders whether he has asked which of those generals’ experienced judg
ments was responsible for his butt landing in a Vietcong POW camp for
several sweaty, testicle-twisting years.
O f all the issues brought before the candidates in the preprimary
debates, only one unites the candidates from each party and at the same
time clearly separates Democrats from Republicans: the right of queers to
serve openly in the U .S. military.
Is this a harbinger of the tone of the upcoming general election cam
paign? Will the acceptance of homosexuality become the only topic that
clearly differentiates the final contenders and their supporters? Will this
be the pivotal decision Americans will make to pick their next president?
It is not that I think this topic is unworthy. It is important, especially
for those who believe that “don’t ask, don’t tell” is a poster child for the
kind of sad, illogical rules produced when one compromises with bigots.
I fear this debate is becoming, like abortion in the 1980s, a lightning
rod that draws fire away from the heavier issues— those too difficult for
the electorate to understand, or at least too complex for the candidates to
articulate in a four-second sound bite.
Does this advance the cause of equal rights for queers? On one hand,
the fact that the questions are actually being asked by the media is
progress. O n the other hand, the answers expose the persistence of puta
tive leaders who are willing to declare openly that gays, rather than the
hatred and fear aimed at them, are bad for America.
If gay rights does become the litmus for political polarization in the
next decade, we are in trouble. Even conservatives who lean toward more
equality for queers, like Oregon G O P Sen. Gordon Smith, will not have
the freedom to vote their convictions.
And, as with abortion, all the substantive issues will be recast in terms
of whether purloined penis-peeking in the shower will affect a soldier’s
readiness to put a bullet hole through the enemy’s head.
If the military of the 1950s and 1960s could disman
tle the prevailing myth that African Americans were
dirty, dangerous and stupid, the high-tech military of the
new millennium can surely vaporize the illusion that
gays are greater sexual predators than straights.
Do they really expect us to believe that the seasoned
generals leading our boys into battle, those whose
scarred fingers we trust with the nuclear button, can be
felled by a young private wielding a lecherous wink?
What wimps!
And are the Democrats— who all support at least an
overhaul of “don’t ask”— really our friends? I wouldn’t
hold my breath. Have you ever wondered why this issue
only comes up in an election year? Why Clinton didn’t
have the chutzpah to live up to his campaign promises?
If Republicans see red when the topic of gays comes up,
Democrats see green— the sweet green of campaign cash. Queers have
nowhere else to go, and they know it.
I’m still waiting for a real leader to appear on the election scene. To
me, leadership doesn’t mean meandering all over the political map to gar
ner votes and manipulate special interests. Leadership means having the
ability to make others see the destructive nature of their views and bring
them into the fold. It means reinforcing the good among all people.
Leadership means not fearing that men loving men may somehow stop
men from killing men when someone declares, “Let’s make war.”
N B ob W ildin is a non'-native Portlander who fancies himself the love child of
William Safrre and Ricky Martin.
C O LU M N S
fiL-
to have
MY RIEER LIFE • Is he or isn’t he gay?
P 44
U l A U / VU d U t l l i y
9
i T.Wcl*vT i i u u t u i a t i u i 1 U l IIIIU * v U t U<M Y»
•
AMAZRN TRAIL * Driving in the slow lane
P 45
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• Kris tan Aspen reviewed Tee Corinne’s collection erf images titled “Women W ho Loved
Women.
• In her Help Out column, Sandra Finches wrote: “Frustration over the failure to find and
sustain a committed love relationship brings more people to the counselor’s office than
• In national news, the U .S. Supreme Court took on the controversial issue o f gay rights in
January. The hearings sparked a frill-scale public debate over the constitutionality of an
Oklahoma law enacted to protect schoolchildren from teachers who “profess homosexuality.”
Marty Davis
Inga Sorensen
Oriana Green
i • Christopher D. Cuttone
I • Marc Acito, Kristine Chatwood,
Katy Davidson, Michael Thomas Ford, Sandra
Lea LeBel, Lee Lynch, T.K. Mantese,
Gip Plaster, Bob Roehr, Dean Sidwell,
Marilyn Sorensen, Mariah Ureel, Rex Wockner,
Pat Young
Meg Grace
Larry Lewis
i • Christopher D. Cuttone
ART R K C T N • Rupert Kinnard
Oriana Green
UIS1ANTS • Thomas Christian,
Katy Davidson
Katy Davidson
1 Jenlyn Adams, Kathy Bethel,
Curtis Henderson, David Higbee, Lark Jarvis,
Marie Price, Meridith Schwartz, Ruth Traut,
David Wardell, Larry Williams