Bill Clinton and Gays

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/7/07 at 4:28pm

John Aravosis responds to the false meme that Gay Republicans espouse (and some gay leftists buy into) that Bill Clinton was somehow "bad" for gay and lesbian Americans.

Here's some choice points, but the rest is worth reading:

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Now, let's start with DOMA. How conveniently the gay Republicans forget whose idea DOMA was in the first place: the Republican congress. They came up with the legislation to bash Democrats by bashing gays. The Republicans came up with the brilliant move (and I mean brilliant) to put the Dems in the mid-1990s in the position of either supporting gay marriage - something that was politically untenable ten years ago (and is still not super popular with the public today) - or of bashing gays. Most Dems, including Clinton, chose to bash gays rather than fall on their swords. Yeah, it sucks. But I don't hold politicians that responsible for falling victim to "gotcha" votes unless we as a community have done our homework in laying the groundwork to make it possible for those politicians to vote against this kind of legislation (though Clinton bragged in radio ads about supporting DOMA, and that was wrong). As a community we didn't do this on marriage, and still haven't done this on marriage.

The Republican majority gave the Democrats in Congress a Sophie's Choice. Yeah, I'm still pissed at Sophie, but let's not forgot the Nazis who forced the choice on her in the first place.

Next point, supposedly Bill Clinton didn't do anything for gays. We've already established that Bill Clinton couldn't pass ENDA or hate crimes or marriage or anything else pro-gay because the Republicans controlled Congress for 12 years, and Congress is the one that makes laws. What Bill Clinton could do, and did, was make political appointments, write regulations, submit budgets, and use his bully pulpit. And on all of those, he did his job for our community.

Let's look at what Bill Clinton did for gays. First off, keep in mind, we're talking 1992 here. Not 2007. It's easy now to say "George Bush also supports AIDS research." Yeah, but Ronald Reagan, who has president just 4 years before Bill Clinton, refused to even say the word AIDS for most of his presidency. It was huge for the community that Bill Clinton ran as an openly gay-friendly president and went on to be a president who supported massive AIDS funding, and appointing openly-gay staff to ambassadorships and senior government positions. And before anyone poo-poo the importance of gay jobs in the administraiton, remember the battle over Roberta Achtenberg? Appointing lesbians to political jobs was a big deal in the early 90s, even if today it might seem old hat. Clinton took a huge amount of heat for appointing Roberta, Jesse Helms practically shut down the Senate, but Clinton stuck by her, stuck by us, and got her confirmed.

We also got our first openly gay ambassador under Bill Clinton, Jim Hormel. We got job protections for federal employees based on sexual orientation - a HUGE change from the days of Reagan when gay employees were witch-hunted, lost their security clearances and their jobs. I spoke recently to a senior openly-gay State Department official who was the subject of a witch hunt in the 1980s under Reagan. The administration threatened to ruin his career if he didn't out every gay person he knew at the State Department. He said 'no' and hired a lawyer (a rather brave thing to do in the mid-80s). He told me that when Bill Clinton came in EVERYTHING CHANGED. I said to him, yeah, but things weren't still a problem in 1992 when Clinton came in were they? He told me I was wrong, it was, and the witch hunts didn't stop until Bill Clinton made them stop.
So gay Republicans think Bill Clinton was anti-gay... uh, as compared to who, Barney Frank?

[Calvin]

Posted: 3/7/07 at 4:30pm

Hell, Bill Clinton actually would say the word "gay" in his speeches to the nation. I don't think Bush has said the word once.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/7/07 at 4:41pm

Bush is more likely to say "faggot."

[vmlinnie]

Posted: 3/7/07 at 4:44pm

Or sanctity, or newkaler. Do you think he actually knows what sanctity means?

[Calvin]

Posted: 3/7/07 at 4:45pm

I don't know, but his mom has two of them.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/7/07 at 4:47pm

Tee-hee. Sunk titties,

Posted: 3/7/07 at 5:06pm

Guilty! Gay Lefty here. Hillary Clinton has held up her husband's creation of DOMA and has called it the law of the land.

But I also think and hope that her public position on gay marriage will eventually change in our favor.

[lildogs]

Posted: 3/7/07 at 5:08pm

I love you, Calvin! Priceless...

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 3/7/07 at 5:17pm

Bush says "homosekshul".

[vmlinnie]

Posted: 3/7/07 at 5:20pm

I'm not sure about his position on the word gay, but Bush has made very clear his position on bodily enhancements in certain areas...

"I am proud to be A Mercon"