Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 23, No. 27, Ed. 1 Friday, November 17, 2006 Page: 32 of 68
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view points
Some big wins, some big losses on Election Day
What will the change in which party controls Congress actually
mean for the country's LGBT population in the long run?
During 12 years of congresses
disproportionately influenced by
the GOP's religious right "core
constituency," gays and lesbians
became so used to tempering
their political expectations that it
is hard to know how to react to
the sudden change in party con-
trol wrought by the Nov. 7 elec-
tion.
Giddy excitement would be
one possible reaction. Cautious
optimism would probably be bet-
ter.
After all, gays won some and lost some. And
George Bush is still president and can wield a
veto pen.
Two results stand out: Gays and lesbians will
no longer always need to play defense, and
Election Day results were an implicit rebuke to
the religious right for over-reaching.
The party switch places gay-friendly Rep.
Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House and gay
and gay-friendly chairs such as Rep. Barney
Frank and Rep. Henry Waxman in charge of
some congressional committees. And because
gays are a constituency of the Democratic party,
Congress is unlikely to approve any specifically
anti-gay legislation.
Nor is a constitutional amendment barring gay
marriage likely to get further than being intro-
duced. It would be blocked at the committee
level.
In a related gain, the amendment's major fan,
Sen. Rick ("man on dog") Santorum went down
to substantial defeat (Thank you, Pennsylvania
voters), and although amendment co-sponsor
Colorado Rep. Marilyn Musgrave was re-elect-
ed, she won only 46 percent of the vote. So she is
likely to take a lower-profile role.
Can we expect any positive actions from a
Democratic congress?
Among the possibilities that have been men-
tioned are overturning the military's ban on
openly gay service members, inclusion of gays in
a federal hate crimes law and passage of the
Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).
Certainly public opinion supports all three.
The Hate Crimes law is perhaps the likeliest
since it produces the least opposition. Both
ENDA and repeal of the military's "Don't ask,
don't tell" policy are possibilities, but are more
Paul Varnell The Cutting Edge
likely to be vetoed.
Something very limited for
I same-sex partners has also been
mentioned, but seems unlikely.
To be sure, many of the new
Democratic legislators are more
socially conservative than the
Democratic leadership — Rahm
Emanuel recruited them specifi-
cally to counter the GOP's appeal
on social issues.
But simply because they origi-
nally joined the Democratic
rather than the Republican party,
they may not be as hostile to equal treatment for
gays as the Republicans were. Whatever they
44
"We can even dare to hope for greater
congressional insistence that federal
agencies such as the Centers for
Disease Control and the Drug
Enforcement Agency begin to tell the
truth about marijuana, condoms, oral sex,
abortion and a host of HIV issues."
55
may believe about guns, abortion or tariffs, they
tend — if only "tend" — to think that discrimi-
nation is wrong, unlike most Republicans who
approve discrimination if it is called "values."
Even if Bush vetoes such enactments, con-
gressional passage itself is a powerful precedent
to build on in the future.
We can even dare to hope for greater congres-
sional insistence that federal agencies such as the
Centers for Disease Control and the Drug
Enforcement Agency begin to tell the truth about
marijuana, condoms, oral sex, abortion and a
host of HIV issues. And that the National
Institutes of Health might finally be adequately
funded to research vaccines for syphilis and gon-
orrhea.
As to the religious right: With their remarkable
capacity for self-pity and victim-mongering
when they do not get every jot and tittle they
want, some religious right figures claimed to be
devastated by the election.
The New York Times quoted the head of the
anti-abortion group Operation Rescue describing
•
Nancy Pelosi
Election Day as
"Bloody Tuesday"
because South
Dakota turned back
a state law banning
almost all abor-
tions? California
and Oregon reject-
ed parental notifi-
cation of a minor's
abortion; and
Missouri rejected a
ban on stem-cell
research.
Yet they man-
aged to pass seven
out of the eight
state amendments
barring same-sex
marriage. Even
though gays were
heartened by
Arizona's rejection
of a gay marriage
ban, a national first,
they should be
kicking themselves
that they lost by 52
to 48 percent in South Dakota.
It may be that the Oct. 25 New Jersey civil
unions/marriage decision influenced the vote in
some states. Heterosexuals who say they support
civil unions or marriage in the abstract — even if
they are telling the truth — seem to get skittish
when confronted with the actual possibility.
Is it an accident that of states with marriage
bans on the ballot Arizona is the farthest away
from New Jersey? Perhaps more important,
Arizona retains a strong Goldwater/Kolbe liber-
tarian tradition of "live and let live."
It is hard to know how effective gay groups'
anti-amendment efforts were in states such as
Wisconsin, Colorado and Idaho .A friend reports
that he walked into the Wisconsin group's
Madison headquarters prepared to donate a few
hundred dollars. Although people were standing
around in the office, they all ignored him, so after
a few minutes he walked out, keeping his money.
When are gay advocacy groups going to stop
depending on untrained volunteers and get seri-
ous about our lives?
Many of Paul Vaniell's previous columns atv
posted at the Independent Gay Forum,
www. indegayfomm. org.
E-mail address h/arnell@aolxom
Barney Frank
44
"I wanted the gay issue
tested straight up."
knowledgeable
sources
I
City Councilman-Ed Oakley
about a poll showing his
chances of being elected
mayor are good
44
"I am simply unable to do that job that
I think you want me to do."
Mark Hayward, chair of the Turtle: Ctgek Chorale
board Of directors; about his decision to resign
55
55
44
"The openness and tolerance we'll
have in front of the court with
Democrats in the judicial
system will be very
positive, particularly in
the family courts."
Shannon Bailey, president of
Texas Stonewall Democrats
55
32 I dallasvoice.com I 11.17.06
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Nash, Tammye. Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 23, No. 27, Ed. 1 Friday, November 17, 2006, newspaper, November 17, 2006; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth238935/m1/32/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.