COMMUNITY GROUPS

Winning at the dinner table, not in the streets

by Parker Bosley

Is there a bi-partisan community in our future? Will the gay community discover its political diversity which in turn will be its strength? These are questions that came to mind while listening to a C-Span press conference given by Human Rights Campaign Fund executive director Elizabeth Birch.

Birch spoke with a kind of reason, diplomacy and logic unlike the usual mainstream voice of the gay community. She sounded more like a spokeswoman from the Coalition for a Republican Majority. There appeared

to be interest on her part for open dialogue, for less confrontation and for coalition building. This is the kind of stuff that gladdens the hearts of conservatives and Republicans who are gay, as well as the one out of three gay people who voted for Republican candidates last November.

Absent from her presentation were the usual themes: confrontation, straight-bashing, heterophobia, and the idea that only gay people from the liberal left have political validity in our community. Instead, she talked about successes.

She told us that the 104th Congress is not the ogre that the gay media had predicted. She asked us to look at the big picture and use that as our scorecard rather than concentrating on single issues.

It was encouraging to hear such positive comments about the 104th Congress when one remembers the doom and gloom predictions delivered last November by our gay media, the lamentations of National Gay and Lesbian Task Force director Peri Jude Radecic, or even the recounting of a mournful election-night vigil as presented in the Chronicle by Stonewall Cleveland's John Nolan.

Birch offers a rather simple idea for us to consider. Americans, she says, are tired of the anti-gay rhetoric, and in more and more cases offended by it. The reason for this, according to Birch, is that so many of them have dealt personally with this issue. They have learned of their own child's homosexuality; or perhaps that of their grandchild, the next door neighbor, one of their heros, a niece or nephew, the boss's daughter, or the auto mechanic's son. And when the face of sexual orientation is put on a real person whom they know and love, more and more Americans discover how different they feel about it, and how unimportant it becomes when judging the real worth of the person.

Her comments remind us of a prediction made by Torie Osborn during a McNeilLehrer interview after the 1993 March on Washington. "Our fight," said Osborn, "will be won at the Thanksgiving dinner table, not in the streets."

Equally good news for our community and our future is that more and more gay people are learning that conservative politicians care less about sexual orientation then they do about returning government to the people, improving our economy, dismantling the welfare state, restoring urban America, addressing crime and making our streets safe, providing quality education to all children and preparing America to compete in the emerging global economy and global job market.

Birch, who comes from the corporate world, speaks so well to this issue of the workplace and the job market. She points out that corporate America is the leader in recognizing the importance of creating an environment where the best and most talented can work to the best of their individual abilities. The government and some segments of the

public, she tells us, must follow this idea and prepare for the new millennium.

Yes, there could be a bipartisan future for the gay community. But we will have to seek it out. Like happiness, it ain't goin' come jump on ya. We will have to listen to others. We will have to open our hearts and our

minds. We may have to admit that some of our demands are unreasonable and some of our behavior is at times inappropriate. Conservatives in the community should encourage more dialogue at the Thanksgiving table and less action in the streets. In a bipartisan future, we will no longer have to sit in the kitchen of the

Democrats waiting for a few crumbs to fall. Instead we will to sit at every table as equal participants.

A copy of the press packet prepared by Elizabeth Birch and her staff is available from Sloan Wiesen, 1101 14th St. N.W., Suite 200, Washington D.C. 20005; 202628-4160.

The Log Cabin Club of Cleveland meets the second Thursday of each month. Conservatives in the gay community as well as folks from outside the community are welcome to join as Friends of Log Cabin. Call 216-5212684.

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