Much press coverage last week about the withdrawal of Jerry
Thacker -- the head of a Christian right AIDS ministry who had been
nominated to the presidential advisory AIDS council, and then
withdrew under pressure when it came to light he had called AIDS a
"gay plague" and referred to the gay "deathstyle." As reported in
an article by Carolyn Lochhead in the San Francisco
Chronicle:
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer quickly and adamantly disavowed Thacker's views and his nomination, saying the selection was not made at the presidential level but came instead from the Department of Health and Human Services.
Let's also point out that of the 7 new nominees to the 35-member advisory council, 4 are openly gay -- including long-time Log Cabin Republican activist David Greer.
This White House is trying to both court gays in a subtle way
and still placate the religious right, and sometimes you just can't
do both. But when push comes to shove, they are distancing
themselves from bigotry even at the cost of upsetting religious
conservatives, and that's a major development. If you think my
observation na"ve, read this attack on Bush by the American Family
Association, Bush
White House, Clinton White House ... No Difference on
Homosexuality. According to this prominent religious
conservative group, the Bush Administration is accused of "having a
blind spot on an issue of critical importance to Christians: the
homosexual movement," as evidenced most recently by its failure to
support Thacker:
presidential spokesman Ari Fleisher publicly condemned Thacker, saying his views are "far, far removed from what the president believes," that the president has a "totally opposite view," and that Bush did not choose Thacker personally.
AFA chairman and founder Don Wildmon says while he was disappointed in the turn of events, he was more surprised at how quickly they happened.
"The homosexuals raised an objection, and Mr. Thacker was gone -- and that really surprised me," he says. "I was surprised by the strong comments from the White House saying the president did not share any of the views that Mr. Thacker holds."
Wildmon says he is tired of the apparent powerful influence exercised on the president by the Log Cabin Republicans, a homosexual lobby group -- and is concerned the Thacker incident could be a signal that the Administration may cave in to demands for pro-homosexual legislation. The White House, he says, is misguided in its attempts to appease homosexuals.
More evidence of the new thinking: Last week, the
Washington Post reported that Peggy Neff, the lesbian partner
of a woman killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the Pentagon,
has been awarded more than $500,000 from a federal fund created to
compensate victims:
Unlike gay couples in New York, Neff was not eligible for state aid from Virginia. Virginia law limits the benefits to spouses, parents, grandparents, siblings and children. But the master of a federal fund established by the Department of Justice after the terrorist attacks concluded that Neff, who is in her mid-fifties, was entitled to compensation.
"This is a huge step forward for the federal government," said Jennifer Middleton, an attorney for the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, which represented Neff.
Under a GOP administration, the federal government is
increasingly recognizing that gays deserve to be given equal
treatment. Much remains to be done, of course (the military and
partnership recognition/marriage being the biggest hurdles), but
the whines of our opponents are warranted; we"re continuing to move
forward at a pace many activists had doubted was
possible.