DECEMBER 21. 2007
jUStpUt|25
A Year in America
The gay agenda in Congress
by Bob Roehr
The Sissyboys sang their swan song Oct. 6.
square-foot building Feb. 20 for a cool
$2.25 million.
Silverado stayed on long after Club
Portland closed its doors June 17. In
November, Silverado co-owner Donald
Sexton said the 2 5-year-old gay bar would
officially leave the 1217 S.W. Stark St.
location at the end of December, but he
continued to be coy about exactly where
the new locale would be.
As first reported Dec. 17 on the Just
Out blog, Silverado will relocate to
318 S.W. Third Ave. The building, built
in 1894, was formerly home to the Red
Sea Restaurant and Nightclub. According
to Silverado bartender Sonny Amos, the
new space will house a lounge area as
well as a dance bar.
DOC: The Portland Queer
Documentary Film Festival
materialized in June because
of Oregonians Russ Gage and Q Center
arts and culture committee member
David Weissman.
“We’re committed to the idea of
creating a greater sense of community
cohesiveness for queers here in
Portland,” Weissman told Just Out.
Weissman, a filmmaker connected to
the queer and indie film scene since the
’80s, is best known for his 2002 award
winning feature documentary The
Cockettes.
Gage served as administrative direc
tor of the San Francisco International
Lesbian and Gay Film Festival for 10
years.
QDOC is rhe only documentary film
festival featuring queer content in the
country. It brought lines that curled
around Clinton Street Theater, titillating
audiences with erotic offerings such as Hot
and Bothered and the tearjerker Saving
Marriage, among many others. ©
olitical expectations were high at the
start of the year. With Democrats in
control of both chambers of Congress,
after more than a decade under
Republican majorities, now was the
time to move the gay legislative agenda forward. But
the year ended with little to show and growing frus
tration, even bitterness, within the community.
The plan was to pass hate crimes legislation in
early spring, expanding coverage to include sexual
orientation and gender identity. And when the
political sky didn’t fall, the freshman Democratic
congressmen would be inoculated to vote for the
Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA)
later in the year.
There were some minor delays in introducing the
hate crimes bill in the House, but it passed May 3 by
a vote of 237-180. Most people were too busy cele
brating to notice that not enough Democrats voted
for it to pass the bill. The margin of victory came
from 25 Republicans who voted yes.
Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., added Matthew
Shepard’s name to the bill when he introduced it in
that chamber in the summer. As the legislative
calendar filled, and rumblings of a presidential veto
sounded, Kennedy decided the best tactic would be
to attach it to the Department of Defense authoriza
tion. The Senate broke a filibuster 60-39 and it
moved forward Sept. 27.
But things came apart when the defense measure
came to a conference to resolve differences in lan
guage between the chambers, and Democratic lead
ership pulled the hate crimes amendment from the
main bill Dec. 6.
P
NDA got rolling in the House with a hearing
E
From top, Jack Smith and the Destruction of
Atlantis, Eye on the Guy: Alan B. Stone ft The
Age of Beefcake and Red Without Blue were
screened at QDOC.
Sept. 5. All hell broke loose a few weeks later
when openly gay Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass, floated
a trial balloon to remove protection for gender iden
tity. Strong opposition from the queer community to
his proposal seemed to catch Democratic leaders by
surprise, forcing them to reconsider. A scheduled vote
on the measure was delayed several times. The trans-
inclusive coalition known as United ENDA grew to
more than 300 community organizations.
In the end, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.,
decided that enough Democrats were fearful of voting
for trans-inclusive legislation that a stripped-down bill
was moved through committee and on to the fkxir of
the House. It passed the limited measure Nov. 7 by
a vote of 235-184. Again, the margin for victory was
supplied by 35 Republicans.
The bill has not yet been introduced in the
Senate. It is not clear whether the sponsors wilt
choose the limited or trans-inclusive language.
he legislative ball was supposed to get rolling
T
on the repeal of the anti-gay military policy
known as “don’t ask, don’t tell.” The plan was to
reintroduce the measure in the House and begin the
education process with hearings and to intnxluce it
for the first time in the Senate.
Neither happened. The surprise retirement of
lead advocate Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass.,
stymied House action, and there still is no bill in
the Senate.
The nomination of James Holsinger for surgeon
general of the United States raised hackles for the
anti-gay tract he had written for a committee
considering the role of homosexuals within the
United Methodist Church. He faced tough
questioning at a confirmation hearing July 12, and
his nomination appeared to be in limbo. Just
before Thanksgiving—when rumors circulated
that President Bush might make recess appoint
ments, including Holsinger, while the Senate was
away for the holiday—Democratic Majority Leader
Harry Reid of Nevada pulled a parliamentary trick
to technically keep the Senate in session and
prevent any recess appointments.
AIDS advocates hoped that Democratic control
might loosen the purse strings and bring adequate
funding for their programs. Those hopes did not last
as the Democrats adopted the governing principle
that all new spending had to be matched by cuts
elsewhere, or tax increases.
Increases for AIDS programs were mtxlest. Even
those ended up being threatened by the failure to
pass a budget that Bush would sign or, barring that,
to override his veto. ©
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