june ia. JOM • | U S t O U t ?5
r7ÎT7ïïT7TÎTI news
ay Pride kicked off June 6 in
W ashington, D .C ., with a
forum o f local and national
leaders discussing “ Pride + Vote
= Power,” the theme o f this
year’s celebration.
It was no surprise that talk of same-sex mar
riage dominated the evening. Most notable were
a consensus on principles and a minimum of
partisanship.
“We’re an economic powerhouse,” said
Justin Nelson, co-founder of the National Gay
& Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. “The prob
lem is that some people think we can’t talk
about activism and talk about economics in the
same sentence.”
Nelson added that other communities have
used that power to help gain acceptance.
“When you take this out of the bedroom and
stick it in the boardroom...when you talk about
job creation, health care for employees, how do
you grow the overall economic health of our
community and our nation,” then some people
are more likely to listen.
Mara Keisling, executive director of the
National Center for Transgender Equality, was
perhaps the most upbeat. She recounted how in
2002, about 5 percent of the U.S. population
was covered by laws protecting the rights of
trans people. Legislative action and the courts
have expanded that
to about 45 percent.
Keisling
could
count 30 trans friends
who had been fired in
the past two years,
and yet there is resis
tance to including
trans people in the
Employment Nondis
crimination Act.
“We are spending
so much of our energy
Justin Nelson
fighting our friends,"
she said, singling out U.S. Rep. Barney Frank,
D-Mass., for criticism. “We have traded the clos
eted folks for the assimilators who have sort of
gone away. Before, where we couldn’t get most
of the people because they were in the closet,
now we can’t get a lot of them because they’ve
moved on. We’ve shifted that much.”
One young member of the audience said: “I
think we are all very nervous about what will
happen if Bush is re-elected. But in some ways
I’m even more scared by the direction of the
Democratic Party, because these people are sup
pose to be our allies. How can we keep them
accountable V'
Moderator Jonathan Capehart asked
whether U.S. Sen. John Kerry’s opposition to
the Federal Marriage Amendment but possible
P ower P lay
D.C. forum forecasts a busy year for queer activists
by Bob Roehr
gets 12 percent this time,” Catania said.
“And what he will have done is hurt two
generations of gays who will be outside.”
Catania compared it with 1960, when
Richard Nixon won about 26.5 percent of
Com elius Baker said the sexual minorities
the African American vote, but that fell
to 12 percent in 1964 under the insensi community should “ take some lessons from
the black civil rights movement”
tive policies of candidate Barry Goldwater.
The G O P has yet to recover.
“You have to remember that some resources are being put into marriage." The goal
body running for president is going to be
is to defeat at least one and hopefully a couple of
inherently conservative in the careful
them, “so that gay-bashing is not longer politi
sense and is not going to put their head on
cally acceptable.”
Trans leader Mara Keisling slammed on “assimilators” the block," Keisling said. She pointed to
Cornelius Baker, executive director of the
the importance of a few dozen truly com-
Whitman-Walker Clinic, offered tactical advice
support of an amendment to the Massachusetts
petitive congressional races and to state legisla on likely demonstrations and protests at nation
Constitution “kind of sounds like he’s trying to
tive races where supporting a campaign can
al party conventions this summer.
have it both ways. Can we really trust the guy?”
have a bigger impact.
“We have to take some
“I think we can,” said Chrissy Gephardt, les
“It has to be about more than
lessons from the black civil
"George Bush won
bian daughter of U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt,
the presidential election,” Keis
rights movement,” he said.
D-Mo., who represented the Gay & Lesbian Vic ling said. “I think it is really dan
“There
is a reason they wore
2 5 percent o f gay
tory Fund. It is about “which candidate is going
gerous for us to think that we
their Sunday best when they
to further our rights the m ost.. .[Kerry] is going to
have to work with the Democ votes in 2000; he will marched. There was a benefit
be leaps and bounds above President Bush.”
rats and be anti-Republican.”
to that. What happened was
be lucky if he gets
Republican D.C. Councilor David Catania
Bias within the community
that our oppressors were unciv
said, “There is a common language in this coun against Republicans and conser
12 percent this tim e" il when they unleashed dogs
try, and it is called money.” He noted that the
vatives can hinder political
_
.
and fire hoses on people who
sexual minorities community is the fourth-largest
David CafaniG were ¡n their Sunday church
effectiveness, she added.
block of contributors to the Democratic Party—
Mark Perriello, associate
going best, marching in a civil
right behind unions, trial lawyers and Jews.
director of the Human Rights Campaign Polit-
action. It made them look brutal, and that is
“What do we expect of
ical A ction Com m ittee,
when America turned on the South and what
the Democratic Party.7
ticked off a list of Demo they saw as oppression.
[Queers] should get some
cratic candidates who sup
“We have made enormous progress; we
thing in return. If the com
port the Federal Marriage
should be very grateful for that,” Baker added.
munity is disproportionate
Amendment. “We need to
“I don’t want to be the skunk at the garden party
ly in one party, then we
make sure that our commu about that, but I will also say, if we are in a post-
really have no place to go,”
nity isn’t helping those
Civil War period, this may look like what
he argued.
people simply because they
Reconstruction looked like. The black commu
Catania raised more
have a D beside their
nity had a lot; in the South we even held elec
than $75,000 for Bush’s re-
name.”
tive office. And then Reconstruction ended and
election. “But there comes
Rea Carey, deputy di there was this huge backlash, there was segrega
a time when a party does
rector of the National Gay
tion and Jim Crow. It took anther hundred years
something so egregious
and Lesbian Task Force,
for the progress that we have now.
that it makes it impossible
said, “When you get down
“I think that we are still in a very early stage
for us to be at home there,”
to it, we are probably going
[of the queer civil rights movement]. There is a
said Catania, who broke
to have at least 10 amend lot of work left to be done. We who work here
with Bush when he
ments to state constitu in a place like Washington, we are in our
announced his support for
tions” banning same-sex
Harlem Renaissance, but there are a lot of peo
the
Federal
Marriage
marriage on the fall ballot.
ple who live in Alabama and Mississippi, and we
Amendment.
State organizations are
always have to be very conscious of that. ” j n
“George Bush won 25 Gay Republican David Catania
telling her, “We cannot
percent of gay votes in dumped President Bush after raising
focus on anything else in
B or R oehr is a free-lance reporter based in
2000; he will be lucky if he more than $ 7 5 ,0 0 0 for his re-election our state because all of our
W ashington, D .C .
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