**GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE June 2
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Separate personal needs from political ones, Tafel says
Party Crasher A Gay Republican
Challenges Politics as Usual by Rich Tafel
Simon & Schuster, $25 hardcover
Reviewed by Bob Roehr
The union of politics and religion is seldom a happy one; it tends to corrupt either one or both of the partners. Log Cabin Republicans executive director Rich Tafel seems to have integrated the two without measurable harm to either.
In his book, Tafel lays out a topology of three views of politics within the gay community: assimilationist, liberationist, and libertarian.
Assimilationists "have a strong desire to overcome rejection and become accepted" by society. "Politics is a way for them to feel good about themselves."
Tafel calls the black-tie dinners of the Human Rights Campaign "a metaphor for the assimilationist strategy... The HRCF [the group dropped "Fund" from its name in 1995] put the bulk of its efforts into creating a status-seeking organization for gays... Instead of community leaders, the HRCF made stars of dinner committee members...
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while never addressing the real nettlesome issues that confronted gay Americans."
He advises, "If you want to be embraced, get a boyfriend or a dog. But don't get involved in politics because you need a hug; you'll just get hurt."
Tafel explains that "the rage and courage of liberationists often comes from the strong feeling of rejection they experience." They want to change society rather than be accepted by it. He respects their success in creating "identity politics," though it isn't for him.
Tafel calls himself a libertarian. That political philosophy does not lay between the other two but apart from them in a kind of triangulation. Each of the three approaches overlaps the others.
The core is rugged individualism. “When confronted with rejection, the libertarian responds: 'I don't really care what you think of me.' He believes he is personally responsible for his own success and failure, and rejects the victimization claims of the other two groups."
But Tafel also chides libertarians for too often rationalizing the closet. This contributes to their invisibility. He concludes this chapter with a clarion call for true diversity: "The future gay movement must articulate that, yes, we are different, and that difference makes us human."
The second major thread of “Party Crasher" is that of religion, or perhaps more accurately that of faith and values. Tafel was raised a Baptist, educated at Harvard Divinity School, and ordained a minister.
He is tenacious in his beliefs, broad yet vague in their definition, never sinking to dogma. More significantly, he has little evangelical fervor to impose them upon others. He acknowledges alternative pathways and is content to let his life speak for itself.
Tafel lambastes community leaders for speaking only of tolerance, not of a greater morality. "We must remind society that our cause is fundamentally about people being honest."
He points a finger at the shallowness of community values that so emphasize physical beauty. He argues, "The greatest threat comes from the internal debate we each wage over shame, self-worth, and loneliness.” Our worst enemy isn't the Christian Coalition, it is ourselves.
Tafel says, "Gays need a political strategy
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in which they aren't taken for granted by Democrats or written off by Republicans." Part of that will come from understanding "the difference between fulfilling personal needs and political needs, the desire to be liked and the desire to be free."
The book gives a nod to a former Clevelander, lesbian journalist Sabrina Eaton, who covers Washington, D.C. for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. During the 1996 presidential race, Tafel and the Log Cabin Republicans made news when GOP candidate Bob Dole first accepted, then rejected, the group's donation to his campaign.
It was Eaton, who during an impromptu meeting on Capitol Hill, asked Dole if he regretted the decision to return the Log Cabin check. Tafel writes: "The true story slipped out he said he wasn't consulted, didn't
approve of it, and wouldn't have [accepted the money] if he'd known about it.” Within an hour, Peter Jennings was reporting about Dole's turnabout on ABC's World News Tonight.
Tafel urges replacement of "the victimization of identity politics with the empowerment of individual rights and responsibilities. Only we can ultimately take control of our destiny."
The story is an intimate one told in the first person and illustrated with anecdotes that have shaped the author. In many ways it is a Rorschach test, an inkblot, interpreted through the experiences of the reader. It is an important book that accomplishes the unusual feat of being both easy to read and thought provoking. Kudos and brickbats are likely to come from unexpected corners.
The pain and pleasure of the movement's early days
Out for Good
The Struggle to Build a Gay Rights Movement in America by Dudley Clendinen
and Adam Nagourney Simon & Schuster, $30 hardcover
Reviewed by Bob Roehr
Anyone who hopes to understand contemporary gay America must read Out for Good. It is the first book to chronicle the political movement from Stonewall in 1969 into the onslaught of AIDS.
Authors Dudley Clendinen and Adam Nagourney, both reporters for the New York Times, combed archives for the facts. But more importantly, they conducted 700 interviews with the men and women who shaped that history. The sheer scope of the effort is staggering, as most events were local, with no central figure or organization to give it a sense of national unity.
We come to understand why the first victories, such as those in Minnesota, were relatively easy. Then we feel the bitter disappointment of the backlash of Anita Bryant and the religious right that first arose in Miami, only to be checked by defeat of the Briggs initiative in California. The community seems to find strength in
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attacks on it by reactionaries. Such hatred did not drive gays back into the closet; rather, it drew increasing numbers to realize that they had to join the struggle for equality with their talent and an acknowledgement of their sexual orientation.
This is no dry recounting of facts but a refreshingly honest and objective cap-
OOD
turing of the humanity, the human foibles and frailties as well as the strengths, of the men and women who made this history. We feel the anger, whimsy, pleasure and pain in their struggles for equality.
The flaws of Out for Good primarily stem from limitations of space. At "only" 716 pages it is twice as long as the publisher wished, and still nearly half was cut from the original draft. Some may lament the fact that their city or a personally important event was not given its due, but none can argue with what remains should have been excised.
Out for Good is an important addition to the history of post-Stonewall gay America. It is likely to remain the best account of that era for decades to come.
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HOURS LATER..
COULD YOU BELİEVE THAT ASSHOLE COUNCILMAN-MARCHING IN OUR PARADE, AFTER VOTING AGAINST GAY MARRIAGE!
23
WHAT A FUCKIN' HYPOCRITE!
EVER VOTE
AAAAHHH