2 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE APRIL 8, 1994
Political leaders should speak out against intolerance
Continued from Page 1
because I am sharing with voters my vision as to how we can make the federal government work better on behalf of Ohioans; how we can get Ohio growing again; my unique abilities to go to Washington to fight the powerful entrenched establishments and special interests that are riding roughshod over the real concerns of working people in Ohio.
I've proven that ability. I had to stand up to the legal establishment and the bar associations who fought me and Hyatt Legal Services when we tried to bring low-cost conveniently available legal care to people who were not being served by the legal profession. I took on those fights. I won those fights.
The mistake that's being made is that people assume from Hyatt Legal Services that what I've obtained is just recognition. There are 550,000 Ohioans who have been clients, who have benefited directly from the firm that I founded. That's an army of people out there who have been helped.
Politicians give speeches all the time about what they'd like to see happen. Entrepreneurs make things happen. What we need in Washington is what entrepreneurs know all about, and that's innovation, new ideas to address old problems. Even if you believe that political experience is useful in the United States Senate, I think you'll agree that kind of experience is already well represented there.
You'll be working in a different way in Washington than you do now as a company executive.
I think I bring some assets to the public arena which in combination are relatively unique. I believe my private sector experience will serve me extremely well. In the private sector what you're concerned about is results. In government unfortunately too
many people are concerned with input rather than with output. They'll say, "We provided $24 billion in funding for job training." When you ask what did you get for the $24 billion, no one seems to know.
But I also have as an asset a knowledge of how the Senate in particular, and the federal
Joel Hyatt
government in general work-or in many instances don't work-and I think that in combination those assets can be put to good
use.
What are problems you want to solve? I think that we have to make the federal government work better. I am very concerned about the extreme cynicism and skepticism that exists by the public when it comes to politics, politicians and government. The public has lost confidence in government. That's dangerous.
We need . . . to get our economy growing again. There is a very important role that the federal government plays in fostering
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an environment conducive to economic growth. And the federal government has not been playing that role well.
There are a whole host of additional concerns. Certainly I feel very strongly that every Ohioan must be assured health care coverage that can never be taken away. And I will lead the fight against the insurance companies and their powerful lobbyists who are standing in the way of any meaningful health care reform.
Crime is a major issue about which I hear every day from people everywhere in this state. I will stand up to a judicial system that puts violent criminals back out on the streets before their sentences are up. But I also point out, every time I talk about crime, that it's not just law enforcement that has to be tougher. We have to be much more serious about addressing the root causes of crime. Right now there is a tremendous sense of economic hopelessness among young people, and we've got to create opportunities for young people so that they don't start down a path a crime...
What is your feeling about rights for sexual minorities?
I strongly support all measures that prohibit discrimination against individuals based on a whole number of factors, not the least of which is sexual orientation.
We have at Hyatt Legal Services and Hyatt Legal Plans always provided opportunities to our associates, without regard to sex, age, race, nationality, sexual orientation, religion or any of those factors.
Is that listed in the company policies? Yes.
The radical right is planning a statewide anti-gay referendum. Are you willing to speak out against that?
I am. More importantly, I already have. I spoke out against that referendum issue in the city of Cincinnati last year. And indeed I contributed financially to the defeat of that proposition, which as you know my contribution was on the losing side. These are serious issues.
How do you think people in the state can overcome this bigotry?
I think there's a very important role for political leadership. I think it is incumbent upon political leaders to identify intolerance and discrimination wherever it exists and demonstrate their courage to speak out against it, whether or not doing so is politically expedient. That's the only reason I'm going into public life is to aspire to be that kind of political leader.
Regarding your comments after Philadelphia came out. When you discussed your position on AIDS issues, if I may summarize, you said, "It was sort of a learning experience, there was a mistake that was made which has since been corrected. That was '87 and now we're beyond that." Is that a fair assessment?
Yes, that's fair, I don't know that I'd call that a complete assessment.
How would you complete it? The additional point that I would make is that it is not simply in hindsight that I
believe we mishandled that situation. Going back all the way to 1987, a few weeks after our firm acted improperly and I learned that Clarence Cain felt we had treated him with insensitivity, I tried to right that wrong back then. It isn't that in 1994 Joel Hyatt decided to apologize. I apologized [right] after the mishandling of the situation occurred and tried to do everything I could to right that wrong. I've always accepted full responsibility because I'm CEO of the firm, and I wish that I could undo that history.
Can you give me some specifics on AIDS work that you have done?
[My wife Susan and I] have done a lot. I'd like to point out that our involvement in that issue goes back before 1987 and that support we have provided has been longstanding and that some of my strong supporters are people with whom we have had relationships for well over a decade. It's something that we have always cared deeply about and been involved in.
We do contribute financially to a broad range of organizations and groups that deal with AIDS. We have played a major role in some of those. Susan Hyatt chaired a fundraiser here in Cleveland for the Pediatric AIDS Foundation which Hyatt Legal Plans underwrote. But we have, with our time as well as our resources, tried to do what we can to assist research, to assist better treatment, to heighten societal awareness and, across a broad range of activities, be supportive as we can.
Sen. Metzenbaum introduced an interracial adoptions bill but there was no mention of gay foster or adoptive parents. Can we look for protections for gay parenting from the federal government?
I'm not certain of the answer; I would like to look into it. It seems entirely possible that there are federal legislative initiatives that could be taken. And if so I'd be interested in pursuing them.
And your stand on the issue of choice? I have been a strong advocate of freedom of choice for a long time... I have long been an activist in the pro-choice community.
How do you argue your case to rightto-lifers?
I believe a decision as to whether to have an abortion is intensely personal, private, and for many people religious. From the point of view of a person who wants to be a United States senator, the issue is simply "what is the role of the federal government"; and I believe there is no role for the federal government to play in a person's decision as to whether or not to have an abortion.
So you're not in favor of federal funding of abortions?
I am in favor of federal funding of abortions because to me that is a medical procedure to which you cannot exclude poor people who desire to have it. And if you do, the cost to society will be far greater in the damage done by back alley abortions. Would you support a federal "gay rights" law?
Yes I would.
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