Posted on 06/14/2003 8:42:17 PM PDT by Stew Padasso
Not antigay enough
Far-right leaders wage political war over President Bush’s “pro-gay” bent
From The Advocate, June 24, 2003
Is President Bush too gay-friendly? That’s what a number of U.S. religious-right leaders are charging. And if the president doesn’t change his ways, some conservatives are threatening to withhold their support for his 2004 reelection bid.
In a scene right out of the movie The Star Chamber, a group of powerful religious-right leaders on May 6 grilled Marc Racicot, chairman of the Republican National Committee, about a meeting he’d had with the Human Rights Campaign, a gay advocacy group, in March. They also expressed their displeasure with what they say is the GOP’s general failure to strongly support U.S. senator Rick Santorum’s recent remarks in favor of antigay sodomy laws.
Robert Knight, who as director of the far-right Culture and Family Institute was part of the May 6 gathering, published an account in the Institute’s Culture & Family Report. According to Knight, when asked whether it is normal for two men to have sex, Racicot, who will head Bush’s 2004 campaign, answered, “No, of course not.” But the former Montana governor did point out the insidiousness in what his inquisitors were asking of lawmakers. “You need to be straight up with it,” he said. “You want a law that says you can dismiss someone solely on the basis of homosexuality.”
That wasn’t good enough for Gary Bauer, the failed GOP presidential candidate and far-right leader who helped grill Racicot. “My sense after the meeting was that for reasons I don’t fully understand, we still have a lot of work to do educating the Republican establishment about why this matters,” Bauer told Knight.
“If President Bush is pro-gay, we didn’t get that memo,” David Smith, senior strategist for HRC, told The Advocate. “This administration has taken small steps forward, like appointing openly gay people, but in no way, shape, or form can it be characterized as pro-gay.”
Smith described the religious right’s reaction to Racicot’s meeting with HRC as “ferocious and, in many ways, irrational. The full impact of their reaction has not been felt. It’s going to be interesting to see how the RNC and this administration respond to these blatant threats.”
Is there really a split over something as petty as this?
I hoped they served him with some nice side dishes...
Oh the huge manatee.....and the hyperbole
Is there really a split over something as petty as this?
There's a split on this website over it!
God help you if you don't come out in favor of fag-burning.
One side wants govt in their bedrooms, and talks about this 24/7, 365.
The other side wants to force their crap in our schools and make us pay for their domestic benefits.
Here's a good compromise. It's none of damn business what goes on in your bedroom. Keep it that way, stay the hell outta our schools, and don't have me pay for your partner.
Conscientious objectors sit out election? And the alternative is to allow the democratic faithfuls to take over? dumb dumb
Like, for example, here in New Zealand where a recently created law allows one of the lesbian partners oficially to be the Father, not just a parent of their child (born or adopted).
Just imagine poor kid introducing a dyke as his/her Father at a school meeting!
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