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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE November 20, 1992

Gays to be 'part of governing' in Clinton administration

by Peter Freiberg

Elated over Democrat Bill Clinton's presidential victory and the defeat of President George Bush, gay activists predicted a new era in which gays for the first time would be part of the country's "governing coalition."

While a few activists expressed concern over whether Clinton will fulfill his promises on gay and AIDS issues, most expressed confidence that the new president will carry out his pledges. The activists said their main job was to see that Clinton implemented these promises quickly.

Using virtually identical words, leaders of the country's two national gay political groups--Tim McFeeley, executive director of the Human Rights Campaign Fund, and Urvashi Vaid, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF)--forecast unparalleled access for gays in the Clinton White House.

McFeeley said it may be necessary for gay activists to adopt new strategies in light of "our role as part of a governing coalition, part of a coalition that put together this new government."

HRCF's board of directors has scheduled a special meeting this Sunday with three openly gay Clinton advisors--Los Angeles corporate consultant David Mixner, environmentalist Bob Hattoy, and San Francisco Board of Supervisors member Roberta Achtenberg--to coordinate strategy.

"How do we properly act to represent the community's best interests and get our agenda adopted?" asked McFeeley. "It's been easy in a way to be outside the governing coalition and to just criticize. I think it's a much harder job to be part of the governing coalition and to know when to criticize and when to [offer] support."

Vaid said the election marks a "rite of passage" for the gay movement, "from margin to center, from being political pari-

ahs to being welcome partners.

"This is the first time that we gay and lesbian people are going to be part of the governing of this country," said Vaid. “I think there's no question that the ClintonGore campaign involved openly gay people at senior levels, and I think the administration will welcome the participation of gay people.

"I can't tell you what it means after 12 years of hostile administrations to contemplate an open door," said Vaid.

Daniel Bross, executive director of AIDS Action Council, which lobbies on AIDSrelated issues at the federal level, said Clinton's election represents a "new beginning."

Speaking from Little Rock, where he had gone to make contacts with Clinton transition aides, Bross said, "I think this is the breakthrough we have been waiting for in the fight against AIDS. We have every reason to be optimistic and hopeful that the president-elect will address AIDS as a health care issue and not as a political or moral issue, which is the way it's been treated for the last 12 years."

""

Gay and AIDS issues took a higher profile in this campaign than ever before. The anti-gay GOP convention, combined with a remarkably pro-gay Democratic platform, gays' disgust with Bush's record, and satisfaction with Clinton's positions, led thousands of gays to join Clinton's campaign--volunteering, taking staff jobs, and raising $3.2 million in gay-id ntified money, according to Mixner. HKCF endorsed Clinton in June and assigned staff members to work for his election.

During the campaign, Clinton pledged to sign an executive order barring discrimination in all federal agencies, including the military; to support the federal bill to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation; to appoint openly gay people through-

out his administration; and to wage a real "war" on AIDS, including appointment of an AIDS czar, full funding of the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resource Emergency (CARE) Act, and implementing the recommendations of the National Commission on AIDS.

AIDS speech on October 29, she praised the president-elect for leading off with AIDS in a list of problems "too long ignored" when he gave his victory speech in Little Rock on election night.

Rich Tafel, president of the National Association of Log Cabin Clubs, a gay While national gay groups said they Republican group that refused to endorse were confident these promises would be President Bush, said that HRCF and other enacted, they said they were not leaving gay groups had raised great expectations things to chance. In addition to HRCF's for the new president in the gay commuspecial board meeting on strategy, a coali-_nity, “and I don't think the honeymoon tion of groups have put together a presidential appointments project to suggest names of openly gay people who could serve in the administration.

NGLTF prepared a transition document in which it urged Clinton to take action in seven key areas--leadership and reaching out to the gay community, civil rights, AIDS and health issues, anti-gay violence, freedom of expression, statehood for the District of Columbia, and family diversity.

NGLTF urged Clinton to meet with national gay leaders within his first 100 days in office, suggesting that the meeting could be timed to coincide with the gay March on Washington on April 25.

Even as gays celebrated, there were words of caution from some members of direct-action groups, as well as from gay Republicans who pointed to Clinton's sparse record on gay and AIDS issues as governor of Arkansas. Ann Northrop, a lesbian member of ACT UP New York, and a Clinton delegate to the Democratic National Convention, said she was "very pleased" at Clinton's election, but added, "I'm just concerned about how far we'll get, how fast."

Nothrop said it was notable that a centrist like Clinton "would assert his alliance with us." And while she was critical of Clinton for not emphasizing the role of gay men in fighting AIDS in his long-awaited

will be too long."

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Clinton advisor David Mixner said the main goal was to get Clinton to fulfill his promises "in a timely manner, because everyone will be pushing their agenda." Mixner said he hopes and expects that an executive order banning discrimination in all federal agencies and an ending the military ban on gays will be signed within the first 100 days of the new administration.

"I can tell you this," Mixner said. "There is not one second of doubt in my mind that Bill Clinton will sign such an executive order."

Mixner and other Clinton supporters said that Clinton and his top advisers were well aware of the importance of gays in the campaign and in the actual voting. They pointed to an exit poll taken by Voter Research and Surveys (VRS), a consortium of CBS, NBC, ABC, and CNN--that asked whether respondents were gay, lesbian, or bisexual.

VRS Director Murray Edelman said 2.4 percent of voters identified themselves on exit polling cards as gay, lesbian, or bisexual--a number that Edelman acknowledged could well be an undercount. Of these voters, 72 percent voted for Clinton, 14 percent for Bush, and 14 percent for independent Ross Perot.

Reprinted with permission from the Washington Blade.

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