While we have plenty to worry about in the next few years (there's a very good chance that we will get a dozen new supporters of the FMA in the House and 3-5 in the Senate, and the FMA WILL BE BACK in 2005, in 2006, in 2007, in 2008...every year until Dems regain major control of the government or until the ugly thing passes), we should take a few minutes to think back on how different things were 8 years ago, when gay Americans had no chance against harsh, Election Year legislation, even in a much less contested Election Year. When anyone who even thought about supporting gays was considered to be committing political suicide.
In 1996, 35 House Democrats (mainly from liberal states) and a single Republican voted against the Defense of Marriage Act. Around a dozen Democrats in the Senate voted against DOMA (Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein, John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Innouye, Akaka, Russ Feingold, Ron Wyden are still serving, with the rest retired or defeated in later years). Today, in spite of Republicans again controlling both chambers, and in spite of much more pressure on legislators of both parties to vote against gays, the Federal Marriage Amendment failed by a strong margin in both chambers. And yes, bills are much easier to pass than amendments (as the passage of the recent, offensive Marriage Protection Act proves), but still, there was such pressures, especially at the start of the year, to pass this amendment. This year it went out with a whimper, not even close to a bang.
Back to those gay Republicans. 1 gay Republican voted against DOMA. His name was Steve Gunderson (R-WI). He was a 15-year incumbent who was forced out because Newt Gingrich thought that seat was safe Republican anyway and didn't want a queer to head up the Agriculture Committee (the district went blue in '96 and has stayed that way ever since).
Thursday afternoon, 27 Republicans voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment, with a few more who did not vote but may have voted no. The Log Cabin Republicans view this as amazing progress. I honestly don't share their enthusiasm (a bill and a constitutional amendment are very different, as Bob Barr's writing DOMA and detesting the FMA proves; Hostettler and Paul voted against it because they don't want to amend the Constitution, and Greenwood, Houghton, Ose, McInnis are all retiring this term, with at least 3 of those seats likely to be filled by anti-gay replaceents). Of course, this is still a definite improvement, to go from 1 to about 20 sure GOP votes against hate.
Perhaps more compelling for me was the far more different reaction to the Hate Amendment. In 1996, there were 4 gay Republicans in the House. 3 were closeted, 1 was not. Those 3 closet cases voted for DOMA.
In 2004, there are at least 4 gay/bi Republicans in Congress. 3 of them are closeted, 1 is not. 3 of them voted against the amendment.
Is this progress?
I guess in a way. The "homosexual lobby" has, in only 8 years, gone from being an object of disdain for closeted Thugs to being their judge, jury, and executioner.
Gay activists can cause Mark Foley to behind skid marks (mind out of the gutter) at the RNC. Gay activists can expose the hypocrisy and the ethical violations of David Dreier, to the point where even the New York Post has documented his shunning of publicity and public appearances due to the outing campaign that the media continues to ignore, but which is clearly having some kind of impact.
In some cases, the impact may be nil. Ed Schrock, also exposed by BlogActive, voted for the Hate Amendment in spite of his resignation from Congress (and having nothing to lose). The vote didn't surprise me. Those who were surprised seem to have an idealized or antiquated view that anyone who is outed will become a chamption for gay rights. Honestly, each individual closet case will have a different reaction, and he obviously hates gays except to use them as cum dumpsters (or to be used as a cum dumpster). Even if a far-right Republican wins that seat, she (Thelma Drake) won't be any worse than the idiot in the space now, and at least these pigs will learn a lesson of the consequences of stabbing their people in the heart.
The view that any gay who is forced out will become a hero for gay rights may be due to Republicans like Gunderson, and Jim Kolbe. Jim outed himself in '96, after his DOMA vote, because he wanted to head magazine exposes off at the pass. Since then, he has become much more liberal on social issues (more liberal than I am on many of them, aside from gay issues), and in some ways is a beacon for the shifting tides of gays in the Republican Party. In 1996 Jim became the face of hypocrisy due to DOMA. In 2000, Jim mi_m1589/is_2000_Nov_7/ai_66681215 became the face of the hopes and dreams of gay Republicans as his speech at the RNC, however pathetic the reaction was (crying and praying on the convention floor). In 2004, Jim is the face of those thousands and thousands of men and women who are now kicking themselves due to their foolish support for a party that loathes them. They feel it's too late to make any difference, too late to switch parties or to have any power, too late to reclaim their integrity. Instead, they fight for what scraps they can. In August, Jim voted against the Marriage Protection Act, in spite of being in the ugliest primary challenge of his career. On Thursday, Jim took to the House floor to condemn his party for not even letting him speak out against the Hate Amendment. Yes, that's right, the Democrats had to give him some of THEIR alloted time because the "party of the big tent" was too disgusted by him to let him say a damn word.
Jim is not a martyr, of course. He could switch parties and face the true demons in the GOP. He could resign. But I do respect him for standing up and fighting back. He is the first gay Republican in Congress to do so. And the gutlessness of the perpetually outed and perpetually gutless Mark Foley (outed in 1996 and 2003, yet he's still deep in the closet thanks to a lazy media) and David Dreier show just how easy it would have been for Jim to stay in a quagmire of shame and repression.
The fact that Dreier and Foley did vote against this legislation, due to shame or pressure, is a sign that yes, gays have made progress, as hard as it is to believe. In only 8 years, gays do have a few more Republican allies in Congrss, and in only 8 years, several waves of anti-gay legislation (not all of course, but a good percentage) have been defeated in spite of a Republican-packed House and Senate. An amendment that even many gay activists worried last year would pass the House somewhat easily failed by over 40 votes, in spite of an extremely ugly and polarized election being only a month away. In spite of the increasingly anti-gay climate of the Republican Party, more and more Republicans in Congress are willing to vocally oppose such ugly legislation, instead of taking things for granted, or cowering away in silence.
What can we do to keep this up? Well, we can try to make sure that the House doesn't pick up too many anti-gay members this year (we can do that by helping Ginny Schrader, Samara Barend, Teresa Daly, Jan Schneider, John Salazar, and so forth). We can be charitable and thank the 27 Republicans who voted against this vile legislation. We can do our best to thank and protect those Democrats who sided with us even though it may cost them their seats (Earl Pomeroy, Martin Frost, Vic Snyder, Baron Hill, Dennis Moore). And the same goes for the Senate of course, with Patty Murray, Russ Feingold, Tom Daschle and anti-FMA Dem candidates like Erskine Bowles, Betty Castor, Tony Knowles who need all the help they can get.
But beyond that, we can take a moment, a second, to look at how much has changed in the last 8 years, and how much more influence and to a slighter degree, respect, Congress has for us, in spite of all the odds against us, in spite of all the ugly rhetoric, in spite of the bigots who run both chambers and the White House.
So every time I get depressed about how the media ignores self-hating gay Republicans, how the media ignores the consequences of this amendment, how the GOP continues to grow more powerful and is more of a threat to our very existence, I take a minute to savor this victory. Because, for whatever problems may be down the pike, it was a victory.
Say it with me:
WE WON. WE WON!