NOVEMBER 25, 1994 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 11
SPEAK OUT
With the Right now in power, organization is a must
by Peri Jude Radecic
The history of the gay and lesbian civil rights movement is one of many victories and, unfortunately, many defeats. The 1994 clections are no exception. The gay and lesbian community celebrates the defeat of the anti-gay ballot initiatives in Oregon and Idaho. We congratulate the No On One and No On Thirteen campaigns for their successful effort in discrediting the right wing's deceitful, mean-spirited scapegoating of gay, lesbian and bisexual
people by showing the
nates Congress. In local communities, antigay and anti-choice ballot measures are being joined by measures that limit basic government services, persecute immigrants, censor our schools and libraries and remove protective environmental and labor laws.
The cultural warriors Pat Buchanan and Pat Robertson are hearing their battle cries against immigrants, strong sexual harassment laws, welfare and other entitlement programs echoed in every sector of society. Having created an economic mess with trickle-down economics they are proposing we mop up the mess with new immigrants, gays and les-
public the real face of We are moving from a strategy of promoting our
gay America.
We also share the con-
cern of gay men and lesVisibility to one of building bins, the poor, bians in Alachua organization.
County, Florida whose
neighbors voted away
protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation. The voters of Alachua County voted instead to preserve their special right to discriminate.
The American people voted to hand political control of the United States Senate, House of Representatives and many governorships to a Republican Party more lopsided toward Far Right politics than ever before. Acting out of fear, many voters supported candidates far from the mainstream Republican Party.
The real tragedy of these elections is that too many voters believed the lies, accepted the stereotypes and voted against the public interest by supporting anti-gay, racist or sexist candidates and initiatives. Voters in state after state elected Far Right candidates and supported Far Right agendas that were foreign even to the platform of a conservative Republican Party.
Our challenge at the federal level will be unprecedented. Pushing proactive AIDS, health care, anti-discrimination and hate crime measures in an increasingly hostile environment will be daunting. At the same time, we will be fighting to fend off proactive radical right measures. In all the years of an active gay and lesbian civil rights presence on Capitol Hill, there has never been a wholly Republican Congress.
We call on President Clinton to use his executive veto power to prevent a congressional assault on the lives of any groups used as scapegoats by the Far Right. It is the responsibility of Congress and the President to protect people of color, women, gays and lesbians, new immigrants, the elderly and the disabled from attack by an arch-conservative Congress.
What is of even greater concern than the loss of Democratic seats to Republicans, is what these results indicate about the mood of the nation's electorate. We are concerned about the growing influence of the right wing on American political, economic and cultural life. The Republican Party-newly invigorated by right wing infiltration-domi-
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women, the disabled, the elderly, our public schools and po-
lice forces and middle-class voters who rely on many of the basic government services the right hopes to privatize or destroy.
The Far Right is capturing the public debate surrounding too many of these issues. What was once a right-wing solution to crime has become a mainstream crime bill that proposes to lock up criminals and throw away the key on the one hand, as we remove the schools, job programs, educational opportunities and investment climate that might discourage crime on the other.
What was once a right wing solution to undocumented immigration has become a popular ballot measure in California. Proposition 187, passed overwhelmingly by a margin of 2 to 1, will punish the children of undocumented immigrants. I can not believe that this is the true direction of American politics. When all we can do is build jails and
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not build communities, we are heading in the wrong direction.
The victories of the Far Right are the product of years of practice. They've practiced their divide and conquer strategy for years in campaigns against abortion, school desegregation, pay equity for women, and programs to aid the poor, the disabled, the elderly and children. On the national level, they've expended millions of dollars on voter research to learn how to turn American voters against one another so that theocratic special interest groups can turn back basic rights for everyone and reserve special rights for themselves.
We have successfully promoted a visibility strategy that is fast moving us from the margins to the mainstream of American life.
At the same time we are achieving greater victories than could ever have been imagined even ten years ago, we are also faced with unprecedented challenges. It is time for us to get back to basics.
We are moving from a strategy of promoting our visibility to one of building organization. We will build across our differences to those with whom we share a common dream of equality and justice, we will build local organizations that will expand our base of power beyond the urban gay meccas. And one day we will finally create a place for us at the table of national politics that can no longer be sacrificed to political expediency.
Peri Jude Radecic is executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
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