JULY 18, 1997 Gay People's ChronICLE 11

SPEAK OUT

Mirror, mirror on the wall: Questions for David Brock

by Eric Resnick

I'm not a regular reader of Esquire magazine, but when a friend told me the July 1997 issue contained a hot piece by David Brock, I made a trip to the newsstand.

There he was on page 52. It is obvious by the photo that Esquire is looking for gay readers. Thirty-four-year-old David Brock is a “hunk,” and obviously not afraid to flaunt a little beefcake in the periodical that touts itself as "the magazine for men.'

Brock is a skillful writer, and within the five pages of text, discusses the American conservative movement and what it's like to go from being called "the Right's road warrior" to a gay traitor in short order.

Yes, David Brock, author of the book The Real Anita Hill and the American Spectator article that brought Paula Jones and "Troopergate" onto the scene, is gay.

In 1993, New York Times columnist Frank Rich suggested that Brock's journalism was motivated by "animus" toward women, which put Brock's sexual orientation in the rumor mill. Brock soon came out publicly in the Washington Post.

Brock's first-hand account of how conservatism really works is insightful. Because of the codes of honor Brock describes within the "hardwired 'conservative movement' that can function as a kind of neoStalinist thought police," it is easier for me understand the seemingly irrational behavior of groups like the Log Cabin Club. These groups frequently, and without apology, endorse anti-gay candidates for office, and protest louder than anyone else when someone questions the sexual orientation of anti-gay Republican office holders.

Brock writes: "As long as I was on the

team, my anti-Clinton credentials apparently checked any latent bigotry about my personal life, but it came rushing to the fore as soon as I broke ranks."

Conservatives are mad at Brock because his latest book The Seduction of Hillary Rodham was honest, and failed to deliver the death blow to the Clinton campaign.

"Healthy people recognize that an offender must make amends to those he has offended before he is accepted back. Brock has been pretty offensive."

Also, it was David Brock that exposed Gary Aldrich's book about Clinton as trash.

According to Brock, former Bush White House counsel C. Boyden Gray told him at a wedding, "since it looked as if Kenneth Starr was not going to come up with the goods before the election, it was up to [Brock] to derail the Clinton juggernaut.”

In the article, Brock suggests that his apparent change of heart is because he now cares more for the integrity of his journalism than for the agenda. He seems sincere. In fact, at times, I started to sympathize with the fallen angel as he described his betrayal by people he thought were friends. My sympathy didn't last long.

Gay himself, David Brock is an oppressor of gay people. The fact is, Brock cared more about the riches and power

the homophobes offered him than he cared about his individuality--or the rights of those of us not blessed with the protective shield he enjoyed.

In addition to polemics on Bill and Hillary Clinton, Brock was allied with virulent homophobes on the national scene. He bolstered the prejudices of people like Bay Buchanan (Pat's sister) while she hawked his books on her TV show. He did the same for Paul Weyrich, Oliver North, Newt Gingrich, and others. Brock's work in the ultra-conservative American Spectator was used frequently to further the causes of anti-gay crusaders Edwin Meese, Dan Quayle, Pat Buchanan, Pat Robertson and the Landmark Legal Foundation.

Brock describes attending parties with all these homophobes and others. He talks about victory parties at his home that they attended. Now, those once-allies are suggesting that it was "the gay thing" that turned Brock against Gary Aldrich. According to the Washington Post, conservative donors are pushing for Brock's dismissal from the American Spectator. Welcome to the real world, David!

I tried to arrange an interview with David Brock after reading Esquire. There are questions I'm eager to have answered, but after two weeks of phone calls not answered and e-mail ignored, I came to the conclusion that David Brock doesn't want to talk to me.

David Brock is not going to just go away, now that conservatives are shunning him. He will likely find his way onto other venues and he may look for support and sympathy from gays and lesbians as other gay fallen conservatives have done.

Healthy people recognize that an offender must make amends to those he has offended before he is accepted back. Brock has been pretty offensive.

Since Brock won't answer the questions himself, we are going to have to use our imaginations until he changes his mind. These are the things I want to know from David Brock:

1. When your old allies call homosexuals "one of the heads on the three-headed mönster plaguing America" and don't give the other two, who did you think they were talking about?

2. When you were in the presence of the anti-gay crusaders, both professionally and socially, who did they think you were?

3. Did your gay friends abandon you for helping those trying to dehumanize them?

4. Did you ever try to use your influence to further causes important to gay and lesbian people? What happened?

5. In your article, you confess that you were an "outsider" in conservative circles since your coming out. Why do you stick around?

6. You have made millions of dollars as an apologist and muckraker as well as a tacit fundraiser for nearly every political force against us. Now, since you've seen who they really are, are you going to be generous with your money and help us defend ourselves against them?

7. If you had to live it over again, would you give your talent to us instead?

I wish David Brock and his newly-found conscience well.

A gay activist living in Canton, Eric Resnick ran in 1996 for the 16th District U.S. House seat.

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