| Small steps and missteps
Gay rights activists have adjusted to their new position in the mainstream. Gone, for the most part, are the confrontational tactics of the early nineties. Today, the objectives of the movement--however wide-reaching--have become more mundane. The goals have been whittled down to four major pieces of legislation: a hate crimes bill; an employment discrimination law; an end to any restrictions on gay service in the military; and some form of legal civil union, if not outright marriage, for non-heterosexual couples. But the political landscape has become tricky, according to activists. While Republicans and Democrats both claim to cater to the political center, and Republicans are less apt to single out gays for public attacks, the hostility toward gay rights persists within conservative circles. Last year, the Supreme Court gave the nod to the Boy Scouts of America and its regulations banning gay boys and men from becoming members, citing the organization's right to free association. Republican senators blocked the 1999 appointment of James Hormel as ambassador to Luxembourg because he was openly gay, and the G.O.P. leadership remains opposed to any laws that would assist gays, such as legislation to provide for gay civil unions. President Bush said on the campaign trail in 1999 that he would not discriminate against gays. A person's sexuality is that person's private business, he said. Even so, Bush also said that he would not knowingly appoint someone openly gay to his administration. Will Bush be able to appease his conservative base and still offer some sort of olive branch to gay leaders? The answer is still not clear. Even though Bush appointed former Missouri Senator John Ashcroft--a man who has publicly opposed gay rights--as his attorney general, the first civil rights group Ashcroft met with was the Log Cabin Republicans. Meanwhile, cultural conservatives in the Republican Party continue to beat their war drums. Led by groups such as the Christian Action Network, Focus on the Family, and the Family Research Council, this political faction has focused upon fighting on two fronts: against homosexuality, and against abortion. As court victories have piled up for abortion-rights activists over the last eight years, conservative organizations have poured their energies into attacking homosexuality. Church-backed campaigns to thwart gay-rights initiatives were the political brush fires that swept through the 1990s, and this faction continues to pose the greatest threat to gay rights in politics. To make things worse for gay-rights activists, their movement has become a victim of its own growth. Today, the gay rights movement encompasses a diverse range of sexual identities--including transgenderism and bisexuality--and activists are faced with the challenge of crossing lines of culture, race, and sexuality to build their coalitions. In fact, the speed and zeal with which the Human Rights Campaign has entered the mainstream has fueled resentment among some sectors of the gay and lesbian community, who feel the lobbying group caters to wealthier whites and has been co-opted by conservative influences. Likewise, when mainstream gay organizations such as the the Advocate and the gay and lesbian Web site PlanetOut sponsored the Millennium March on Washington last year, many other gay groups opted not to join in. Some even encouraged a boycott, criticizing the march's middle-of-the-road message and its corporate sponsorship. With a second Bush in the White House, a conservative Supreme Court, and Republicans controlling both the House of Representatives and the Senate, it's unlikely that the gay-rights movement will score significant victories at the national level over the next two years. Facing those grim prospects, activists have recently begun taking their fight to the states and private sector. There, they have had some success. Last year, Vermont became the first state to pass a law permitting same-sex civil unions. Ten states and hundreds of municipalities now ban discrimination based on sexual orientation. Several cities offer domestic partnership benefits, and 13 percent of the nation's employers now provide health insurance to same-sex partners. Gay rights activists still face an uphill fight. According to the Human Rights Campaign, twenty-nine states have laws on their books banning gay marriage. When the Hawaii Supreme Court suggested it might legalize gay marriage in 1995, conservatives mobilized and blocked the move through legislative action. In Maine, voters overturned the state's gay-rights ordinance in a 1999 referendum; a push to restore the legislation last year failed. And in Oregon, gay-rights supporters barely defeated a proposal to prohibit the "promotion of homosexuality" in the state's schools. But culture, like politics, moves in small steps. It took many small steps to get from the Montgomery Bus Boycott to the March on Washington. It took a generation to move from ending segregation in schools to winning passage of a far-reaching civil rights bill that included African Americans. Gay rights activists take heart in the progress that took place under Bill Clinton, and in their belief that things must move forward. After all, more young people are out than ever before, and surveys show that people who know gays and lesbians personally are more likely to support gay rights. And it is that sort of change--when personal lives fuel political transformations--that offers gays and lesbians their greatest hope for true equality.
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'I have a vision and you are part of it' Small steps and missteps |