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sometimes are difficult doesn’t mean that
they’re not going to happen. They will.”
She continued: “If my child ever came to me
and told me, ‘Mom, this is who we are and this
is what I’m going to do,’ then 1 would feel, as a
mother, free to share my joy, my pride, with all
my friends, no matter the circumstances or reli
gion or their understanding or their culture, in
the same way that I would it my son said, i ’m
marrying this wonderful girl.’ You know what?
What we owe one another is respect, dignity,
civil rights and the generosity of spirit that
always has been a great American trait.
“Two months ago I was in Sonoma [Calif.) for
a fund-raiser, and after I spoke, a guy came up to
me and said, ‘I wish you were my mom,’ ” Heinz
Kerry said. “At least if nothing else, you will have
a mom in the White House.... I will always have
an ear, I will always have a heart, and I will always
respect and want you to he loved.... You can call
me Mama T anytime.”
The caucuses also
were
addressed
by
Maine Gov. John Bal-
dacci; U.S. Reps. Jerrold
Nadler and Carolyn
Maloney of New York,
Robert Matsui of C ali
fornia, Sheila Jackson
Lee o f Texas and
Eleanor Holmes Norton
of Washington, D.C.;
U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer
of California; and actors Robert Gant of Queer as
Folk and Steve Buscemi of The Sopranos.
“Our nominee for president is the most pro-
% gay nominee for president in U .S. history,” said
lesbian U .S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin,
who also addressed the convention in prime
time, discussing health care. She was appointed
one of the convention’s co-chairs, a queer first.
Like several other speakers, 7 0 s pop singer
Carole King expressed disagreement with
Kerry’s marriage positions.
“But I think that with our support and our
love and our openness and encouragement, I
think he will eventually come to where we are
on it,” she said. “This is a good man who has
been your advocate for many, many years.”
|USt 0 U l 17
support the appointment o f judges who will
uphold our laws and constitutional rights, not
their own narrow agendas."
The platform failed to support trans issues,
to the distress of the convention’s seven trans
delegates.
G
ay U .S. Rep. Barney Frank of Massachu
setts addressed the convention on the final
night. He did not give the speech that was on
the TelePrompTer, which did not reference
same-sex marriage. Instead he winged it and
talked extensively about marriage.
“I’m going to be honest with you now,” Frank
said, “the fact is, we who are gay, lesbian, bisexu
al and transgeridered, we do have an agenda. And
here it is: We think we should be able to fight for
our country like John Kerry and serve in the mil
itary. We believe, revolutionary as it may sound
to Rick Santomm and Tom DeLay and Jerry Fal-
well, we believe people
ought to be able to be
hired for a job and be
judged solely on how
well they do the work
and not on what some
body else thinks about
who they are. We go so
. ...
far as to believe that a
15-year-old who is differ
ent in a lot of ways sexu
ally from others ought to
be able to go to high
school without being beaten up. I admit it, we
believe that. And we even believe, it’s true, that
when two people are in love and they are willing
to be morally and legally committed to each
other and financially responsible to each other,
that if they are prepared to get married, it’s a gixxl
thing for the stability of society."
"You will have a mom in the
White House. . . . I will always
have an ear, I will always have a
heart, and I will always respect
and want you to be loved
You
can call me Mama T anytime.
— Teresa Heinz Kerry
WHETHER YOU'RE STARTING A FAMILY
OR CREATING ONE AS YOU GO.
A
part from same-sex marriage, the only other
queer conflict at the convention concerned
the Human Rights Campaign’s decision to un
invite comedian Margaret Cho from headlining
the week’s biggest gay party, a fund-raiser and del
egate reception at a nightclub. H RC communi
cations chief Steven Fisher said she was dumped
because “we were apprised to expect an incendi
ary and controversial performance.”
he official Democratic Party platform
H RC’s action caused the National Gay and
weighed in with a host of pro-gay positions.
Lesbian Task Force to withdraw as a sponsor of the
It says: “We support full inclusion of gay and
event and gave 17 members of DontAmend.com
lesbian families in the life of our nation and seek
a second reason to picket it. The group also
equal responsibilities, benefits and protections for demonstrated outside the party to highlight
these families. In our country, marriage has been
Kerry’s anti-gay position on marriage.
defined at the state level for 200 years, and we
“The leading political organizations in our
believe it should continue to be defined there.
community have chosen to politely downplay the
We repudiate President Bush’s divisive effort to
Dem(x:rats’ attacks on our equal marriage rights,
politicize the Constitution by pursuing a ‘Federal
all while using the marriage issue in fund-raising
Marriage Amendment.’ Our goal is to bring
letters to swell their treasuries,” DontAmend’s
Americans together, not drive them apart.”
Andy Thayer said. “Can you imagine the [Nation
The platform continues: “We will enact the
al Ass(x:iation for the Advancement of Colored
bipartisan legislation barring workplace discrim People! endorsing a candidate who opposed legal
equality for African Americans [or the National
ination based on sexual orientation. We are
Organization for Women) endorsing a candidate
committed to equal treatment of all service-
who opposed legal equality for women?”
members and believe all patriotic Americans
Fisher conceded that H RC’s action may not
should be allowed to serve our country without
have been the best move.
discrimination, persecution or violence. We
“I can’t say it’s 100 percent that C h o ’s
performance would have created a bigger
media firestorm than what’s going on now,”
he said. “ But I think the risk was very real.
And I think our taking a hit in the com
munity is worth avoiding even a 30 percent
chance of distracting from the efforts to
defeat George W. Bush. Our community is
their target, and we can’t give them any
opportunities. If I were a Republican opera
tive and I heard that Margaret Cho was
going to be debuting new material at the
gay
event at the convention, I’d make sure
The Human Rights Campaign uninvited comedian
Margaret Cho from headlining a queer fund-raiser for press was there.... We have to keep our eye
fear of “an incendiary and controversial performance” on the prize.” J H
T
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