SPEAK OUT

DOMA's purpose: to separate us from a pro-gay president

by Eric Resnick

The "Gay '90s" have brought us increased visibility, access, and political clout in America. We can celebrate that our activists have been successful in broadening the political spectrum to include us, and in bringing our issues to an unprecedented level in national and local political arenas. So much so that our enemies have been forced to use more creative methods to oppress us.

The "Defense of Marriage Act," now before the U.S. Senate, is one such tactic. Let us examine some of the reasons DOMA came about, look into the political ramifications, and set forth what I believe to be the best way to deal with this new right-wing hate strategy.

In 1992-93, the lesbigay community proved to America that we could play a significant part in electing a president, but as an activist, legislation-influencing community, we had our obvious weaknesses. As demonstrated by the infamous military debate of 1993, we were unprepared for the "pew-by-pew" mobilization of America that our enemies had worked on for many years. We were overcome by the amount of congressional mail they could generate. We were dumbfounded by the lies they told.

We were amazed that the American public would elect "our" President, then impeach his wanting to support us. Finally, because we were not prepared for the fight, we watched our dreams of equality get crushed by the most powerful tool in American politics: public opinion.

Instead of looking inward and focusing our energy on strategies that would move Americans' minds our way, as our rightwing foes had been doing, we chose instead to let America see our anger toward the president. Significant pro-lesbigay actions taken by this White House were paled by our new contempt for this president, and by our willingness to abandon him because we did not get everything we wanted.

That's when some right-wing strategist said, "Eureka!" as it was then evident how to separate Bill Clinton from what should be one of his strongest constituencies. The seeds for DOMA were sown.

Our opponents knew the power of DOMA. The illegitimazation of families and relationships has always been an effective tool of oppression. They figured it would be a great fundraiser for them. They figured it would be a headline story. They took the polls and anticipated the public response. Then they calculated how they could put President Clinton and many otherwise pro-gay legislators in a lose-lose situation. With Hawaii about to legalize gay marriage, the seeds began to sprout.

Enter 1996. With the Republican congressional agenda in an irreversible tailspin and their presidential candidate proving to be a dud, the right-wing strategists decided it was time to make their carefully nurtured seeds bear fruit.

One look at DOMA proves the extent our enemies are willing to go to use the oppression of lesbians and gays as a political tool. DOMA is likely to be unconstitutional. Article IV, Section 1, known as the "full faith and credit clause" speaks to the recognition of public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of one state by every other state. So as long as the majority of Supreme Court justices are not beholden to a right-wing agenda,

the first time same-sex newlyweds from Hawaii are denied marital rights in any other state, it will be grounds to have DOMA overturned. It will be interesting to hear the Robert Bork types argue that marriage is not a public act or a judicial proceeding.

But in 1996, with the balance of the Supreme Court at stake, we must make sure that folks like Robert Bork, Edwin Meese and Justice Antinin Scalia are not appointed to the Court, as Bob Dole has promised to do. We must make sure that Bill Clinton has the opportunity to appoint another justice like Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who has never voted against us.

We must remember that DOMA enjoyed ten to twelve percent higher approval ratings from the American public than keeping the military ban did. We cannot buck that much public opinion in an election year, no matter how correct our position is.

With that in mind, we are making a big mistake by again channeling our anger over DOMA into opposition of those who are our political friends otherwise. We had better realize very quickly that if the Right succeeds in separating our community from the most progay president in history over this bill, and from supportive members of Congress, they will have effectively wiped out the last 25 years of lesbigay progress on the political scene. (Most of those same members of Congress also support the ENDA bill to ban anti-gay job bias— a much more important bill than DOMA.)

It is right-wing strategic brilliance. Fortunately for us, neither President Clinton nor many of our other friends in Congress took their bait. Imagine the defeats in November if they would have let same-sex marriage dominate their opposition's campaign. One can surf the internet or look at newsletters and see signs of frustration among our enemies because they no longer have a campaign issue.

Given DOMA's popularity, we should putting as much energy into celebrating its death as a campaign issue, which, in effect, is thumbing our noses at the Right. We should be forward-thinking and thankful that we will likely have the opportunity to get rid of DOMA and the military ban in the future, through a decision by a Clinton-appointed Supreme Court. More importantly, we need to work hard to ensure the re-election of President Clinton and the election of a gay-friendly Congress. Nothing else will make the passage of DOMA more futile.

To our credit, we have helped change the political landscape of America. But to continue to remain effective, we must begin to understand that some of the old tactics may no longer be sufficient. The old tests of loyalty may not always be in our best interest. We must never lose sight of the big picture, even when it means accepting minor setbacks.

We must increase our political activity as financial donors, candidates, and visible, out campaign workers. Our activism must be responsible, well positioned, and, as if we were playing chess, working toward the ultimate "checkmate” of our oppressors, no matter how long the game takes.

DOMA is headed for Senate approval and the inevitable presidential signature. It is up to us to make sure it dies on November 5 and beyond.

Eric Resnick ran in the spring Democratic primary for the 16th District (Canton) U.S. House seat.

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August 16, 1996. GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

9

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