Freedom Writer - February 1994 [ref001] More bigotry on the ballot By Frederick Clarkson A

Freedom Writer - February 1994

[ref001]

More bigotry on the ballot

By Frederick Clarkson

Anti-gay ballot initiatives continue to work as a major tactic in 
the Christian Right's drive for political power. Win or lose, the 
exploitation of fears and ignorance about homosexuality serves as 
a "wedge issue" to build mailing lists, reach new allies, and divide 
political opponents.

Last November, gay rights laws passed by city councils in Cincinnati, 
Ohio and Lewiston, Maine, were repealed by voters by more than a 2-1 
margin. A Portsmouth, New Hampshire advisory vote on gay rights failed 
by a margin of 3-2. At least 16 towns and counties in Oregon passed 
Colorado-style initiatives this year, barring the extension of civil 
rights to gays and lesbians. 

In 1994, anti-gay politics will move to the state level with efforts 
to get initiatives on the ballot in Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Michigan, 
and Missouri. Initiatives are also possible in Maine, Oregon, Washington, 
and California.

While the propaganda film "The Gay Agenda" continues to fuel these 
campaigns, Lou Sheldon's Traditional Values Coalition has produced 
a similar, if long-winded, video: "Gay Rights, Special Rights." The 
film argues that gays and lesbians are inappropriately and undeservingly 
claiming the heritage of the black civil rights movement. While there 
are some blacks in the film, the most prominent proponents of this 
view are former attorney general Ed Meese and U.S. Senator Trent Lott 
(R-MS), whose civil rights records have been, as _Newsweek_ (10/18/93) 
reported, "unfriendly to blacks." "Lott opposed the Civil Rights Act 
of 1990, and as a congressman tried to reverse the ban on exemptions 
for segregated schools," said Newsweek, while Meese "led the Reagan 
administration's war on affirmative action."

Meese and Lott offer a special kind of cynicism. Although they have 
opposed every modern civil rights advance, they claim to speak for 
the civil rights movement. (Sheldon's film actually uses footage of 
King's historic "I have a dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial.) 
What is really going on here is that the far right is attempting to 
hijack the symbols and moral authority of the civil rights movement 
to demonize gays and lesbians. This is a clever attempt to divide 
the far right's historic opponents -- blacks, Jews, and Hispanics 
-- who have been allies in the struggle for civil and economic justice.

Beneath much of the Christian Right rhetoric about "values" is hate 
and intolerance. Pat Robertson of the Christian Coalition routinely 
castigates those who disagree with him as "anti-Christian" and even 
"Satanic." In his book The New World Order, Robertson calls the American 
Jewish Congress "irreligious," while invoking "the God of Jacob" behind 
his political agenda.

The "traditional American values" of democracy, pluralism, and religious 
tolerance are also under attack, though these values are the glue 
that has held this society together despite religious differences. 
R.J. Rushdoony of the Chalcedon Foundation complains, for example, 
that "in the name of toleration, the believer is asked to be associated 
on a common level of total acceptance with the atheist, the pervert, 
the criminal, and the adherents of other religions."

Constitutional democracy in the U.S. means respect for minority rights. 
Belatedly, this will include sexual orientation. And while the theocratic 
Christian Right now pretends to adopt the moral position on civil 
rights it once opposed, the aggressive promotion of homophobic bigotry 
is a wedge issue aimed not just at gays and lesbians, but the constitutional 
rights of everyone.

_
Sidebar: [ref002]Do-it-yourself hatred in Colorado
_

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Copyright 1995 IFAS
The Freedom Writer / ifas@crocker.com

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