MAY 14, 1993 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE
Oval Office meeting marks 'entry of gays into mainstream'
by Nita Lelyveld
Washington-Gay and lesbian activists left an April 16 meeting with President Clinton in the Oval Office full of hope about a new era of White House support for gay causes and forgiveness for the president's plans to be out of town during the March on Washington.
They described the hour-long meeting, the first ever between a president and lesbian-gay representatives, as an important watershed in the gay rights movement. The meeting, originally scheduled for a halfhour, was extended by Clinton.
"I think it's clearly an indication that the signals continue to come from the highest level of leadership in this country that gay men and lesbians are part of the American family," said Torie Osborne, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, who organized the meeting.
Participants said a number of major issues were discussed, including gays in the military, proposed civil rights legislation to prevent discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and government response to AIDS.
They said the president told them he still planned to issue an executive order on the ban on gays in the military by July 15. He also seemed generally supportive of the civil rights legislation, although he had not seen the details.
They also said an executive order to affirm anti-discrimination policies in the federal government was under discussion. The subject was raised by Clinton.
The president also asked the group for names of people to be considered for AIDS
czar.
Most important, though, seemed to be the general tenor of the meeting with the president and his firm commitment to fight discrimination.
"This meeting symbolized the entry of lesbian and gay people into the mainstream of American life, and it is the president of the United States who, through his moral leadership, permitted that to happen,” said Tom Stoddard, executive director of the Campaign For Military Service, an ad-hoc
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While Clinton impressed gay leaders as committed and sympathetic, he did make it clear that they must carry the burden of winning over public opinion.
The group appeared willing to let Clinton off the hook about his plans to be in Boston on the Sunday of the March on Washington, saying they never really expected him to be there. Clinton instead sent a letter, which was read to the March rally by Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California.
The White House also denied rumors that the weekend's meeting with Senate Democrats, and the Boston speech to a publisher's convention, had been
WHITE HOUSE PHOTO
President Bill Clinton in the Oval Office with gay representatives. The book Clinton is holding is Conduct Unbecoming, Randy Shilts' volume on gays in the military.
set up to avoid the gay rights march.
But Steve Palmedo, vice president for program development for the publisher's association, said Friday that Clinton didn't confirm acceptance of the invitation to speak to the convention until the Thursday ten days before the march, although it had been made in December.
Clinton, meanwhile, defended his record on gay rights.
"I have I believe it's clear-taken a stronger position against discrimination than any of my predecessors," he said. "And it is a position that I believe in very deeply, one that I took publicly in 1991 before there was any organized political support for me in the gay community.”
Among the White House officials present at the meeting were Bob Hattoy, a member of the personnel office staff who is HIV-
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positive and openly gay; and Keith Boykin, special assistant to the president and director of news analysis, who is also openly gay.
The activists who participated included: Tim McFeeley, executive director of the Human Rights Campaign Fund; Phill Wilson, president of the Black Gay and Lesbian Leadership Forum; Nadine Smith and Billy Hileman of the March on Washington committee; William Waybourn, executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, a gay political action committee; and Andrew Barrer of Coalition '93.
3
Hileman was later criticized for wearing
a T-shirt and leather vest to the White House meeting.
"I would have told him to go home and put on a jacket and tie," said Richard Tafel, president of the Log Cabin Federation, a national lesbian-gay Republican group.
Hileman said he meant no disrespect to the president by his attire.
"I wore a T-shirt that said 'Teacher Empowerment' on it," Hileman said. "Clinton said to me he approved and thought it was a very good thing that I was an openly gay teacher."
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