JUNE 21, 1996 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 11

SPEAK OUT

Gay men and lesbians may be too tired to vote this fall

by Mubarak S. Dahir

The November presidential elections are still six months away, but many gay men and lesbians are already so frustrated with the way we are being held hostage by electionyear politics that they've already made up their minds not to vote for either Clinton or Dole this year.

That spells good news for candidate Dole, who knows his personal views and his party's stance on gays isn't likely to win him many votes from the gay and lesbian community. Dole's campaign never counted on winning the gay vote. At best, he might have hoped to pick up

a few protest votes from gays and lesbi-

ans disillusioned with Clinton. But he'd by

deal in terms of a public backlash. And the inane outcome of “don't ask, don't tell" is a policy that gay and lesbian legal organizations are now being forced to spend their precious time and money battling in the

courts.

Speaking of courts, it's true that we recently won a significant victory when the United States Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional Colorado's anti-gay Amendment 2. But it made a lot of gays and lesbians

We're tired of being treated like an embarrassing bump on the face of the

Democratic candidate, one he does his best to hide in public.

happy if gays and lesbians just stayed away from the polls on election day. And the way things are going, Dole may just get his wish.

Candidate Clinton, on the other hand, has always counted on getting the gay and lesbian vote. In fact, he has taken it for granted. At least, that's the way a lot of gay men and lesbians see it. And that's why a lot of them may not wind up voting for him after all.

Clinton's campaign minions and his political apologists within the gay and lesbian community are fond of telling us that Clinton is the most gay-friendly president we've ever

had.

But his record is a lot less upbeat than his perky spokespeople.

He got off to a bad start, of course, with his disastrous handling of the military ban on gays and lesbians. The fiasco cost a great

(myself included) mad as hell when Clinton and his cronies tried to grab credit for that. Their argument was that Clinton's somewhat liberal appointees to the high court were crucial to winning the case.

But the court handed down a 6-3

decision, with the critical balance of power resting with the so-called moderates, such as Sandra Day O'Connor and Anthony Kennedy, both of whom were appointed by Republican presidents.

Besides, what most of us remember about Bill Clinton when it comes to the fight against Colorado's Amendment 2 was the way he directed his Justice Department not to file even a mostly symbolic court brief in our favor.

Ironically, one of the mantras Clinton's groupies use when trying to convince gay and lesbian voters they should pull the lever for the president this fall is the Supreme Court argument: the next president will likely appoint two or three new Supreme Court justices. Gays and lesbians are watching this closely since it is widely anticipated that

some spin-off of the Hawaii marriage case— in which gays and lesbians may win the legal recognition to marry-will end up in front of the high court.

But by raising this subject, Clinton has once again managed to shoot himself in the foot. Just a few weeks ago, Clinton came out against gay and lesbian marriages, saying they were "wrong," Much of the rhetoric Clinton mouthed through his spokesman, Mike McCurry, sounded like it was lifted right off the pages of a pamphlet put out by the religious right.

In a last-ditch effort to get us to vote for Clinton, his supporters try the old scaretactic technique, where they paint a picture of how much worse off we'd be if Bob Dole

won the White House. While that may be true, it is no longer a good enough enticement to win us over.

We're tired of being told we should be content to vote for the lesser of two evils. We're tired of being thrown political bread crumbs, only to be told we should be thankful we not anything at all. We're tired of being treated like an embarrassing bump on the face of the Democratic candidate, one he does his best to hide in public. We're just tired, Bill.

Maybe even too tired to get up the energy to go to the voting booth this fall.

Mubarak Dahir is a columnist for the daily Philadelphia Inquirer.

EARN SPARE CASH

We need people to deliver the Chronicle to Columbus area stores.

If you have an insured vehicle, and are available every other Friday, please call Brian, 11 am to 5 pm weekdays, at 800-426-5947.

ANNOUNCING OUR 2ND LOCATION

VIDEO

CENTRAL

Still the largest Laserdisc selection in Central Ohio

OPEN 24 HOURS

Large selection of Videos --all ratings, Super Nintendo, Sega

German Village 231 E. Livingston 221-6848

North 1299 Bethel Rd. 442-TAPE

In Memoriam Of Our Founder, Cecil Ray deLoach (1952-1991)

HIV+?

Reach Out and Let The Medical Escrow Society Help You!

Cash Now for your life insurance through our Advance Cash Benefits Program

Our bidding process ensures the Highest Cash Settlement

We are the Oldest and Largest advocate for you, the Insured

Our service is quick, Strictly Confidential,

and requires only one simple application

Absolutely No Cost and No Obligation at any time

A personal representative is available 24 Hours a day to assist and help you

Consistently funding policies for clients with up to 800 T-CELLS

The Medical Escrow Society... Here Today, For Your Tomorrow!

1-800-422-1314

Founding member of both the National Viatical Association and the Viatical Association of America