AUGUST 30, 1996

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 9

102 gay delegates at DNC

Continued from page 1

full participation in the mainstream of American life. And his "don't ask, don't tell" policy requires gays and lesbians in the military to lie and hide, or else have no personal life whatso-

ever.

Even so, there was not much friction over these issues among the gays and lesbians who came to Chicago as delegates.

"There's no split," said delegate Sky Johnson, public policy director at the Los Angeles gay community center. "Even the folks who were the most disappointed, those [from that group] who are here obviously came to some resolution about those concerns and at least for the sake of the campaign— are determined to work for the president's reelection."

Delegate Carole Migden, an openly lesbian member of California's legislature, agreed with Johnson but said the anger some gays and lesbians have toward Clinton is certainly legitimate.

"I don't want to dampen or diminish their anger which is righteous and appropriate," Migden said. "There is no question that we have been marginalized and stripped of our humanity. I am not one that will in any way try and soften the dissent or cloud over our deep disappointment. But as a California state assembly member, who's been in hand-to-hand combat with Republicans about key lesbian and gay issues, the Democratic Party is the party of hope for us. So whereas it is not our finest hour, it is nevertheless important to support the Clinton-Gore ticket for a myriad of other things we believe in-and help bring them along and educate them hopefully to bring us to more enlightened times."

At press time Tuesday, none of the major gay-related events had taken place with the exception of a big Aug. 25 reception for gay delegates at the popular gay bar Sidetrack, coowned by Chicago gay leader Art Johnston and his lover Pepe Peña.

About 550 people attended the eventincluding Clinton senior advisor George Stephanopoulos. When Stephanopoulos jumped up on the bar to address the crowd, someone yelled, "Take it off!"

"I about fainted," said Sidetrack's Peña. The crowd repeatedly cheered Stephanopoulos as he touted the gay ground Clinton has broken. "Bill Clinton is the first president to meet with openly gay and lesbian Americans in the Oval Office,” he exclaimed, going on to list the President's many other gay firsts such as a record number of gay appointments and support for a federal bill to ban workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Clinton's gay liaison, Richard Socarides, was also on hand, along with the highestranking openly gay man in the Clinton administration, Bruce Leyman.

Gays were included in at least one speech to the convention floor Tuesday night. Former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, denouncing the Republican party as divisive, said, "Whether you're black or white, gay or straight, abled or disabled, rich or struggling, we are one America, we are one family."

Tuesday night, past Chronicle deadline, the Lesbian Avengers were to stage a mock wedding of Clinton to Dole (they both oppose gay marriage) in one of the two designated free-speech sites. Half an hour later, an AIDS march was to step off from the United Center convention site heading for Grant Park downtown, site of some of the 1968 Democratic Convention police riots.

On Wednesday, a long list of national, regional and local gay groups were to stage a gala reception for gay and lesbian delegates at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Also, gay veterans had secured a protest slot Wednesday night at one of the free-speech sites, and the Human Rights Campaign and IMPACT-Illinois' gay political-action committee-were hosting another delegates' reception featuring U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and Candace Gingrich, House Speaker Newt Gingrich's lesbian sister.

Brown was slated to address the convention Wednesday night. The previous Sunday, he had quipped to reporters that he likely would perform some gay domesticpartnership ceremonies Wednesday afternoon to get in the mood for his speech, which he planned to ad lib. The San Francisco city government offers such ceremonies.

Cornered on the convention floor Monday night, Brown told this reporter: "I absolutely disagree with the president on gay marriage, but that quote was clearly a typical San-Francisco-Willie-Brown funny. I'm not licensed to perform domestic-partners unions here," he said, laughing.

Also on Wednesday evening, an openly gay candidate for Congress was scheduled to address the convention. He is Rick Zbur of Long Beach, Calif., the first openly gay non-incumbent to win a contested primary for the U.S. House of Representatives.

"Rick Zbur's appearance at the DNC is political dynamite," said Kathleen DeBold, spokeswoman for the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, a national group that funds the races of gay candidates for public office.

“Nothing explodes antigay stereotypes like the power of positive visibility," she said.

The largest of the national gay groups, the Human Rights Campaign, ran a hospitality suite all week at the Hyatt hotel that quickly became the convention's gay action center.

Among the large number of folks HRC brought to the convention was Barbara Roberts, Oregon's governor until 1995. In an interview, Roberts called the gay cause "the civil-rights issue of this decade-without any question."

"I am absolutely committed to this cause," Roberts said. "I believe strongly that straight people must take a stand on this issue. It's a civil-rights issue, it's a human-rights issue, and if people who are not personally impacted by it stand silent, then maybe they're going to be in the group that gets chosen to be battered next-and I'm just not willing to do that." At press time, the convention—and the gay politicking inside and protests outside were continuing.

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