With the passing of former President Gerald Ford last week at the age of 93, Republicans and Democrats have joined in bipartisan praise of the man who led the country through the aftermath of the Watergate scandal.
President Bush praised Ford as "a man of complete integrity" whose "life was a blessing to America." Conservative politicians, activists and journalists across the country echoed this sentiment. But in their encomiums to the late president, they have conveniently left out one important fact: in his later years, Ford was a prominent - though hardly outspoken - supporter of gay rights.
In a 2001 interview with the Detroit News, Ford said, "I have always believed in an inclusive policy, in welcoming gays and others into the party. I think the party has to have an umbrella philosophy if it expects to win elections."
But his support for gay rights was not just a matter of strategic concern; it had a moral basis as well. "I think they ought to be treated equally. Period," the straight-talking ex-President of firm, Midwestern-values said.
With Ford, there was none of the evasiveness that we hear from the current president, who speaks of the gay marriage issue with words like "civility" and "decency," while supporting unreconstructed, anti-gay policies. Nor did Ford have any problem saying the word "gay," one that President Bush has shown incredible reticence in uttering.
In 2001, Ford joined the short-lived Republican Unity Coalition, an organization dedicated to making sexual orientation a "non-issue" in the GOP. Former Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson served as chair of the organization, and other prominent members included John Danforth, Mary Matalin and Diane Ravitch.
Following the coverage of Ford's passing in the mainstream media, one would have difficulty coming across any mention of his unprecedented support for gay rights. In a symposium on the web site of the leading conservative magazine National Review, not one of the nine conservative historians or journalists that the publication invited to share words on Ford mentioned this interview. Indeed, finding a conservative commentator or politician - aside, of course, from the Log Cabin Republicans - mentioning Ford's support for gay rights has been a futile effort.
That a former United States president would come out, essentially, in favor of gay marriage is no small thing. That he was a rock-solid Republican ought to give conservatives pause before launching into their next attack on the "homosexual agenda."
Gerald Ford was an honest, decent man who did a great service to his country in one of its most troubled times. In his statements on gay rights, he showed a better side of the Republican Party, one we have not seen much of lately, yet Ford reminds us what the party could still become. Ford's support for gay civil rights might have something to do with the fact that the man who saved his life from a 1975 assassination attempt in San Francisco, former Marine and Vietnam veteran Oliver Sipple, was gay.
When Ford took office in 1974, he assured the country that "our long national nightmare" - Watergate - was over. One day, when more Republicans show the same sense of fairness that Ford demonstrated, the door will be closed on our country's long, national nightmare of treating gay people like second-class citizens.
8 Comments for “A Gay Tribute to Gerald Ford”
posted by alan down in florida on
I read a comment on a blog which I had found through Google that questioned if Gerald Ford’s progressive stand on GLBT issues came from his son Steve being gay. Is there anybody out there who can corroborate that?
posted by George on
If that’s the case, he’s much better than Cheyney!
posted by raj on
alan down in florida | January 9, 2007, 12:41pm |
There was a rumor running around gay circles in the 1975-77 time frame that Steve Ford (Gerald’s son) was gay, but as far as I can tell it was never verified, and it was politely denied. That doesn’t mean that Steve wasn’t gay, just that the rumor was denied. I suspect that it was mostly wishful thinking on the part of some gay men.
Steve Ford was at the time trying to break into acting, and apparently he is still something of an actor, but not a very big one.
posted by paris on
With a mother like Betty, how could he not be!
posted by John on
Ours is a diverse country. There exists tremendous pressure to reduce differences in order to maintain our power and present a common front to the world. The ostracization of gay people is an inevitable result. It’s no co-incidence that we gays make the biggest strides in countries that strove for empire- The Netherlands and Spain – and failed or in a country that defines itself against us – Canada. As long as the US remains a superpower the social status of gay Americans will remain marginal. Read “American Theocracy” by Kevin Phillips.
posted by Antaeus on
Steve Ford was snapped in a photo off of “The Young and the Restless” checking out the butt of his co-star. The photo graces the illustrated plates in .
posted by Northeast Libertarian on
It’s no co-incidence that we gays make the biggest strides in countries that strove for empire- The Netherlands and Spain – and failed or in a country that defines itself against us – Canada.
As someone who has lived in two of those countries, I’d still rather be in the United States. My freedom and success as a gay man who is attacked by George W. Bush’s Texas sodomy laws and Bill Clinton’s DOMA laws is still more significant and possible than success in a high-tax socialist country that restricts my earning power, mobility, property ownership, and economic opportunity, while “allowing” me to file joint taxes or “permitting” me to “register” my relationship.
Perspective is, of course, in order. One need only read the experiences of Bruce Bawer to see the dangers of imagining the socialist states as pro-gay paradises rather than seeing them as the troubled places that they really are.
posted by John on
Northeast libertarian – I’ve lived abroad too. In the Czech Republic and in Czechoslovakia, in the summer, growing up. It seems to me you have a slightly feverish idea of socialism as it’s practiced today in Western Europe. It’s really nothing more than a broad social safety net to prevent the development of a destabilizing underclass and the confused and frustrated poor are, of course, easy prey for demagogues who inevitably use gays as bait. That argument aside, there’s no denying that in much of Europe today a person’s being gay is regarded as nothing more than a bit of a quirk if anyone cares to think of it at all. I’d prefer that over the constant psychological stress of being a gay American despite any economic advantages, which at any rate seem to be rapidly slipping away and I don’t think I’m alone; gay youth in our country are two to three times more likely to commit suicide than heterosexual youth. I would be very surprised if this is true in any European country.