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