IGF CultureWatch

Not "Devalued". A solid piece by columnist Rex Wockner on planetout.com describes why he doesn't buy into gay victimhood. In defending Rosie O"Donnell's comment that she has never felt discriminated against for being (as she calls herself) a gay woman, Rex writes:

"I have a theory that people who expect to experience discrimination may encounter more of it. I have gay and transgender acquaintances who seem to get discriminated against almost weekly. On the other hand, those of us who view our homosexuality as perfectly normal, and don't make it into an hysterical elephant in the living room, maybe end up having that reality reflected back at us by most people who figure out we're gay."

In a follow-up piece, Rex responds as follows to a well-intentioned activist who was quick to point up all the legal rights that gay people are still denied:

"[W]hile I am wholly uninterested in walking around feeling "devalued" (because I don't have any feelings like that at all, especially vis-"-vis society, as opposed to the government), I promise to continue, as I always have, to argue in favor of access to plain old marriage for same-sex couples.

Seems a sensible plan to me.

Predatory Priests, and All That. I haven't waded in much on the big gay-related (or is it?) news story dominating the media -- the exposure of the Catholic Church's years of covering up child molestation cases involving priests who repeatedly target young boys. This horror has been well reported and commented upon (see, for example, "The Catholic Pedophile Factory").

But here's my two cents. Attempts by church leaders to blame gay men in the priesthood, or the "homosexual atmosphere" created by a society tolerant of gay people, is certainly backfiring. No one is buying it. The church's refusal to take the blame for putting church PR over the safety of children is so self-evident that attempts to fire up homophobia in order to divert attention from their own sins is only making matters worse for themselves.

Here's a sidebar. The National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA) issued a letter to the media on April 26 criticizing a lack of quotes from gay spokespersons in stories about the Catholic hierarchy's gay-blaming. That's a good point. But the letter oddly devolves into a discussion of pedophilia versus ephebophilia. Writes NLGJA President Robert Dodge:

"Additional reporting may have revealed that the Catholic Church does not have a problem with pedophiles. Instead, it may be one of ephebophiles, or individuals exclusively attracted to adolescents. More reporting might have turned up Dr. Fred S. Berlin, associate professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University. In a statement that offered substantial balance and context, Dr. Berlin recently educated The New York Times readers that: "...We should make it clear that homosexuals are no more risk to children than heterosexuals. In terms of the bigger picture, there are every bit as many heterosexual men giving into sexual temptation with female adolescents.""

Perhaps pressuring 15-year-olds into sex is less horrific than pressuring pre-pubescent 8-year-olds, but I don't really see that this should be an issue to raise about media reporting. I mean, just what point is the NLGJA trying to make here? If they believe some of the teenage/priest sex was consensual, they should have the courage of their convictions and say so (although I haven't seen evidence of any teenagers having positive comments about their encounters with priestly predators). Moreover, the second part of the above quote, which claims that "as many heterosexual men" are prying on female adolescents, is surely not suggesting that there are as many homosexual abuse cases as heterosexual cases, given that under the most liberal theories gays are only 10% of the population (and, in fact, perhaps half that number)? Some advocacy!

Glass Half Full? According to a new study, the number of anti-gay hate crimes reported to a coalition of organizations around the country dropped 12% in 2001. Good news, right? But the gay and lesbian (and bisexual and transgender) anti-violence activists who issued the study were quick to say that the numbers meant only a decline in tracking, not violence. "Absolutely, unequivocally, it does not reflect that violence is down," Richard Haymes, executive director of the New York Gay & Lesbian Anti-Violence Project and a board member of the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP), told the Washington Blade. Haymes and Clarence Patton, author of the NCAVP report, emphasized repeatedly that the decrease was certainly due to a lack of participation in reporting, not to a lack of crimes to report.

And what is the cause for this drop in crime reporting? Insufficient funding for NCAVP member projects, the activists say. Well, maybe. But it couldn't be that a flat-out positive report just wouldn't be in the interest of those who specialize in raising funds to counter bias-related crime, could it?

Despite the overall drop in reports of anti-gay hate crimes, the activists note that their study does show a rise in crimes targeting transgendered people and gay Latinos.

Cabin Fire. An anti Log Cabin Republican screed by Sarah Wildman in the New Republic's April 29 issue, titled "The Log Cabin Republicans Collapse," forgoes credible criticism for knee-jerk bashing. She's appalled that the LCR is "cheering blatantly anti-gay policies and appointees" of the Bush administration. An example? "[W]hen Bush nominated John Ashcroft, one of the Senate's most consistently anti-gay members, to be attorney general, LCR supported the appointment." Five paragraphs later she tosses aside LCR's explanation that the group had "exacted statements of support from Ashcroft during his nomination process."

In fact, thanks to lobbying by LCR and others, during his confirmation testimony Ashcroft stated repeatedly that sexual orientation would not be a consideration in Justice Department employment or appointments, that he would enforce all laws and regulations protecting gay and lesbian federal workers from employment discrimination, that the gay and lesbian DOJ Pride employee organization would continue to meet and organize in the Department under his leadership, and that federal civil rights laws will be vigorously enforced. Shortly after his confirmation, LCR's leadership 's secured an unprecedented meeting with the new attorney general at his office in the Department of Justice, where he pledged, according to LCR, that he would "enforce the law equally for all Americans, and that equal protection under the law means that no one will be left out."

As I previously noted, to the surprise of many liberals, Ashcroft recently invoked the federal Hate Crimes Sentencing Enhancement Act in an indictment for the slaying of two lesbian hikers in Shenandoah National Park, in Virginia. According to the Justice Department, "The United States maintains that the defendant hated women and lesbians and that hatred was a motive for his killing""

Isn't this the way it's supposed to work? Or would liberals simply prefer shouting "Bigot, bigot go away" to actually working with conservatives and advancing their attitudes on gay and lesbian issues? Of course, the answer is the former.

Bush the homophobe? More evidence that the charge that the Bush administration is anti-gay is ludicrous. As the conservative Washington Times reported this week, the administration "has joined European delegates to the upcoming U.N. summit on children in moving to recognize families 'in various forms,' including unmarried cohabitating couples and homosexual partners." This is in opposition to a coalition of Catholic and Muslim countries that has formed to block the proposed change to the tradition U.N. definition of the family -- married heterosexual parents and children -- that the General Assembly's Special Session on Children will take up next next month. The article quoted an unnamed official who explained the U.S. supports the proposal to recognize families "in various forms" because "obviously we feel this more reflects the families of today, which are headed by single parents and extended families."

Now that the news is out, the rightwing can be expected to mobilize against the administration's position. Which is why we need gay Republican's with some clout to lobby the other way. Shouldn't this be obvious to liberals? (Sorry, another dumb question.)

Cheney Joins Pro-Gay Group's Board. That's Mary Cheney, the veep's out-lesbian daughter (what will those homophobic Republicans think of next?). As reported on andrewsullivan.com on April 22, she's joined the board of the Republican Unity Coalition, sort of a gay-straight alliance within the GOP to advance gay inclusion and participation within the Grand Old Party. According to Sullivan's report, Mary Cheney stated, "Working together we can expand the Republican Party's outreach to non-traditional Republicans; we can make sexual orientation a non-issue for the Republican Party; and we can help achieve equality for all gay and lesbian Americans." Now that"s sure to make the "no enemies on the left; no friends on the right" branch of the gay movement go absolutely ballistic.

The "Anti"s" Take to the Streets. Washington, D.C. is besieged this weekend with "anti-globalization" protesters. They"re anti-American, anti-Israeli, anti-Bush, anti-War on Terrorism, and, first and foremost, anti-free markets and free trade. What are they for? As one frequently seen sign demands, "Construct the Alternative!" Or, to quote a Web posting by Queers for Racial & Economic Justice:

"With the Log Cabin Republicans, Pro-'Life' Lesbians & Gays (anti-choice) and the continued right-wing drift of the Democratic Party, don't you think we need a progressive/radical alternative?"

Other than support for abortion rights (already the law of the land, and under no real threat) and for maintaining race-based preferences, and opposition to "police brutality" and "economic injustice," the contentless "progressive/radical alternative" is hardly an inspiring vision for mobilizing the masses. The question is why a movement that's pretty much just "anti" has attracted as much youthful support as the anti-globalizers have. No, they're not all would-be John Walker Lindhs, but they"re drawn from the same well -- that is, from what I"ve observed, the pampered children of the upper middle classes, in revolt against the very system that spoiled them rotten by fostering economic growth and prosperity.

Of course, the gay left -- especially its campus contingents -- have gone full throttle into the "anti" movement. Queers for Racial & Economic Justice was out marching to overthrow the very freedoms that allowed a gay movement to emerge in the first place -- a civil society based on respect for private property and the rights of individuals to create and own wealth, with only limited government interference.

It's interesting to note that the gay left "anti"s" have already created front organizations. Michael Buchanan, the organizer of the group QAQAF (Queers Against "Queer as Folk"), referred to in the previous posting (below), made this comment in a letter published recently in The Advocate:

"We truly wanted our queer brothers and sisters to know that what is taking place on QAF is not good for the queer community. (One quickie example: The cast picture in the evening's program has a huge American flag as a backdrop. Puke! -- The queer movement, if looked at in context of a bigger global picture, could be the issue that unites minorities against Republican and Democratic corporate globalization."

That's quite a leap from going ballistic because you don't like the non-PC plotline of a gay soap opera to trying to overthrow "corporate globalization" (which is, of course, leftwing blather for shareholder-owned companies doing business around the world with consumers who choose to buy their products). Didn't someone once write a book titled "Revolt Against Freedom"?

Good for Me, But Not for Thee? Paula Martinac, who writes a syndicated column appearing in a number of lesbigay newspapers, may be a writer whose generally on the left, but she scores some excellent points in her Apirl 17 offering, which (in it's Planet Out incarnation) is titled Changing Channels on GLAAD. Taking aim at some of more doctrinaire lockstep thinking on the part of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and others, she declares that "there's sometimes a creepy, doctrinaire undercurrent in the lesbian and gay movement of which GLAAD is only one example." How so? Well, there was GLAAD's attempt to get sponsors to boycott gay-unfriendly radio (and, briefly, TV) personality Dr. Laura Schlessinger, while at the same time criticizing the religious right's efforts to pressure sponsors to stop supporting gay-positive shows. Martinac suggests, not unreasonably, that if you practice the tactic of turing up the heat on sponsors so they'll drop their ads from shows you don't like, then you lose the moral authority to criticize the same tactic when used against gay-themed programming. Better to argue, rather than attempt to silence. Now there's a novel thought.

Martinac also lights into the group "Queers Against 'Queer as Folk,'" which is seeking the cancellation of the popular Showtime series. The group's leader says "We want this show to go away because its portrayals of gay people are 'dangerous.'" Funny, but I think the religious rightists over at the American Family Association are on the same team. Now there's an alliance!

The Case to Overturn "Hardwick"? Just days after the death of Byron "Whizzer" White, the former U.S. Supreme Court justice who penned the infamous "Hardwick" decision upholding laws criminalizing same-sex relations (see item below), Lambda Legal Defense announced it is taking a new "sodomy law" case back to the Supremes, in an attempt to make right what was once done wrong. The new case, "Lawrence and Garner v. Texas," involves two Houston men convicted of violating the Texas "Homosexual Conduct" Law by having consensual sex in the privacy of one man's home. Just as "Plessy v. Ferguson," which upheld segregated public schools, was upturned by "Brown v. Board of Education," it's high time the High Court recognized its error and mended its ways. Hears hoping this is the case to do it.

A Supreme Injustice Remembered. It's said we should remember those who have died with a certain amount of charity. But that doesn't mean excusing the wrong that they did, especially when their actions have caused pain and suffering. And so let us note that death came this week for Byron R. "Whizzer" White, the former U.S. Supreme Court justice who died Monday at the age of 84. Most of the obits remembered him as the former award-wining college football hero who enjoyed a colorful career on the bench. Lesbian and gay Americans, however, will recall him as the author of the horrific 1986 Bowers vs. Hardwick ruling that upheld state laws criminalizing homosexual sex between consenting adults. On behalf of the High Court's 5-to-4 majority, White wrote that it was appropriate to find Michael Hardwick guilty of having consensual adult homosexual relations in the privacy of his own bedroom because:

"To claim that a right to engage in such conduct is "deeply rooted in this Nation's history and tradition" or "implicit in the concept of ordered liberty" is, at best, facetious. -- .The fact that homosexual conduct occurs in the privacy of the home does not affect the result. -- [The defendant] insists that majority sentiments about the morality of homosexuality should be declared inadequate. We do not agree, and are unpersuaded that the sodomy laws of some 25 States should be invalidated on this basis."

It's worth noting that White was not appointed by a right-wing Republican, but by liberal Democrat John F. Kennedy, who praised his nominee as "the ideal New Frontier judge."

One can only imagine what the impact might have been if these so-called "sodomy laws" had been thrown out. Certainly, the fact that several states still have these statutes on their books to this day has aided those who oppose same-sex marriage and support the military's gay ban. The laws also work to deny lesbian or gay parents custody of their children -- or even, in some cases, visitation rights.

Fortunately, a 1996 Supreme Court decision by another Kennedy (unrelated to John and his clan) helped lay the foundation to eventually overturn "Hardwick." In Romer v. Evans, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion that found Colorado's constitutional amendment prohibiting gays and lesbians from ever being covered by anti-discrimination laws was unconstitutional. He declared:

"The amendment withdraws from homosexuals, but no others, specific legal protection from the injuries caused by discrimination, and it forbids reinstatement of these laws and policies. -- The resulting disqualification of a class of persons from the right to seek specific protection from the law is unprecedented in our jurisprudence" Central both to the idea of the rule of law and to our own Constitution's guarantee of equal protection is the principle that government and each of its parts remain open on impartial terms to all who seek its assistance". We must conclude that Amendment 2 classifies homosexuals not to further a proper legislative end but to make them unequal to everyone else. This Colorado cannot do. A State cannot so deem a class of persons a stranger to its laws. Amendment 2 violates the Equal Protection Clause""

Did I mention that Justice Kennedy was a 1987 Reagan appointee?

A question: Just how many hundreds of thousands of dollars will the Human Rights Campaign raise for liberal and left-leaning Democrats, using the specter of the vast danger posed by future Republican Supreme Court nominees (like Anthony Kennedy, or Bush the First appointee David Souter)?

That's not to say I'd support any nominee that Bush the Second might put forward (and I'm very grateful that Robert Bork was Borked, back in Reagan's day). However, it is to argue that nominees should be judged fairly, on their own merits, and that the scare campaign underway over the very idea of a GOP Supreme Court nominee is mostly partisan hyperbole, like so much in Washington these days.

Hate Crimes Conundrums. Both the liberal Human Rights Campaign and the leftwing National Gay and Lesbian Task Force " the two big Washington-based lesbigay lobbies -- issued press releases on Thursday applauding (yes, applauding!) U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, one of their favorite nemeses. The occasion was Ashcroft's invoking of the federal Hate Crimes Sentencing Enhancement Act in the indictment of Darrell David Rice for the 1996 slaying of two lesbian hikers in Shenandoah National Park, in Virginia. The Act mandates sentencing enhancements for crimes motivated by hate that occur on federal land. According to the indictment, "The United States maintains that the defendant hated women and lesbians and that hatred was a motive for his killing""

According to HRC Political Director Winnie Stachelberg, "With this indictment, the federal government has recognized the horrendous nature of this hate crime and that it should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law".We are grateful that federal jurisdiction could be exercised in this case." But the HRC release also declares that "If these murders had occurred almost any other place in America, this statute could not have been used." Both HRC and NGLTF have used the indictment to call for passage of a proposed law that would federalize violent hate crimes committed anywhere in the U.S. Without such a law, "many hate crime victims and their families may not receive the justice they deserve," says Stachelberg.

But this "hate crime" was, in fact, a horrendously brutal premeditated MURDER. And had it occurred outside the park, Murder One charges would have been brought in Virginia, and state prosecutors would have sought the death penalty -- regardless of the absence of either a wider federal or statewide hate crimes law. While the symbolism of a broad federal statute that lists gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and the transgendered in the laundry list of victim categories may have understandable appeal to activists, it's bogus to suggest that violent crimes such as the Shenandoah killings would go unprosecuted without federal intervention. Moreover, hate crime laws that list selected groups as special victims, but not others (conservative Republicans?) are likely to be, like affirmative action's group-based preferences, an ongoing source of conflict regarding whether they guarantee -- or mandate against -- equal treatment for all. And then there's the persistent issue of whether the government should be prosecuting "hate" (what the perpetrator is thinking and feeling) as opposed to the criminal act itself -- a slippery slope, indeed.

And there's another contradiction involved. If a hate crime statute bumps up the penalties for premeditated murder, the only place to go is the death penalty. But NGLTF is on record as opposing the death penalty, as do many other activists. This is what led to a series of bizarre arguments during the Matthew Shepard trial, in which some activists used the slaying to urge passage of a federal statute that would enhance hate crime penalties, but at the same time opposed the death penalty for Shepard's killers. Just what did they think enhanced penalties mean (no workout privileges? going without cable?). Eventually, Shepard's parents asked that the death penalty not be invoked, and their son's killers received multiple life sentences.

At least the Log Cabin Republicans, who also issued a release praising the federal indictment, have the courage of their convictions and are pro death penalty.

I leave aside a wider analysis on the general merits of hate crimes statutes (or the death penalty, for that matter) for another day.

Whose False Consciousness? As the AP reported earlier this month, the Florida Supreme Court has allowed convicted serial killer Aileen Wuornos to fire her attorneys and drop all appeals to her upcoming execution. Wuornos, a lesbian who received multiple death sentences for fatally shooting six middle-aged men along a central Florida highway in 1989 and 1990, last year admitted the truth about her motives. Writing to the Florida Supreme Court and expressing her desire to drop all appeals and be executed, Wuornos said, ""I am a serial killer. I would kill again," and "I"ve come clean. All were"murder to rob." Wuornos had previously claimed that her victims had tried to rape or kill her. And a host of national feminist and lesbian rights groups affiliated with the Aileen Wuornos Defense Committee had come to her aid, claiming the murders were ALL self defense (theory one), or else justifiably triggered by her years of abuse by men (theory two). Now that Wuornos has dropped her appeals, accepted her sentence, and admitted her guilt, don't expect her activist supporters to have the grace to apologize (they"ll probably claim the patriarchy has brainwashed Wuronos into falsely blaming herself!).

Notes from the Culture Wars. The school board in Torrance, California, has voted to ban a gay rights group for speaking at an annual high school event intended to promote understanding and fight bigotry. As reported in the local Daily Breeze, the board voted 3-2 to ban Gays and Lesbians Initiating Dialogue for Equality (GLIDE) from, well, initiating dialogue for equality, at least at the annual North High Human Relations Convention. A staff attorney for the Anti-Defamation League called the decision an "abomination" and said she would urge the ADL not participate in order to protest the gay group's exclusion. To which one anti-gay school board member, Joseph Bonano, responded, "If they [the ADL] want to pull out and make one less presenter, that's fine. They showed their true colors." Sounds like this will be some anti-bigotry lesson for the kids.

The article reports that an anti-gay group called Parents United to Stop Homosexual Education on our Schools (PUSHES) has been agitating against gay inclusion. Please note this is not a parody. Another interesting tidbit: the gay group, GLIDE, is a Beverly Hills-based nonprofit that makes 200 presentations each year on homophobia. It says the school board's decision has denied them their rights. But I wonder if a local gay group might not have been able to make its case more effectively than professional activists visiting from Beverly Hills.

An alternative conference may be held by organizers in a facility not under the jurisdiction of the Torrance school board.

Say What? The Washington Post ran a feature last week about a deaf lesbian couple that is hoping their newly born baby will also be deaf. One of the lesbians was inseminated with the sperm of a deaf male friend to make this outcome more likely. According to the article, the two mothers

"see deafness as an identity, not a medical affliction that needs to be fixed. Their effort -- to have a baby who belongs to what they see as their minority group -- is a natural outcome of the pride and self-acceptance the Deaf movement has brought to so many."

Reading this, you begin to understand why so many Americans are in backlash against anything that smacks of identity politics. But having said that, there is something fascinating about the radical deaf subculture that's emerged in recent years, and the parallels between deaf culture and gay culture as responses to alienation would be interesting to explore.

Look Who's Talking. "The Log Cabin Republicans' ... primary emotional commitment is to the conservative-dominated Republican Party, rather than to the fight against homophobia." So said gay U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., in an April 1 press release. Frank, who never misses an opportunity to promote his "one party only" view of gay politics, condemned the moderate Republican Log Cabiners because their latest newsletter ran a toss-away item which, as the Washington Post reports, was titled "Rhymes with Abercrombie and . . . -- Cutting to the chase, it expressed support for a Los Angeles police official who called U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., a "bitch." Waters, of course, is one of the most far left members of the House and has shown no hesitancy to condemn the police, the U.S. military, and anyone else to the right of Fidel. Nevertheless, Log Cabin spokesman Kevin Ivers said that "the staff has been told that in the future they need more careful about what is written in the newsletter," and that the comment on Waters is not the official position of LCR.

This, however, did not appease Barney Frank, who wrote that "Log Cabin's smarmy encouragement of this sort of attack stands in drastic contrast to the National Stonewall Democrats, which at its most recent event honored the Congressional Black Caucus".The distinction between Stonewall's expression of gratitude to a group of members who have been our strongest allies and Log Cabin's endorsement of a nasty personal attack on one of the most important members of that group says a great deal about the role the two organizations play." Ah, there it is -- the always useful race card, which is clearly something that Barney Frank and other liberals love to play.

Memo to Barney: it's not ONLY about gay issues, which is a fact to bear in mind given that Frank supported legislation in 1995, 1996, and 1997 to cut back the funding of U.S. intelligence agencies during a period in which attacks against the US were increasing, and also moves to cut the military's budget as well.

A Vast Gay Rightwing Conspiracy? The April 16 issue of The Advocate has a good cover story on "The Gay Right" that prominently features out-and-proud GOP officeholders and powerbrokers, though in the Advocate's eyes even liberal Republicans are "conservative" and part of "the Right." And wouldn't you just know it, for the sake of "balance" the magazine features a full-page opinion piece (not available online) by gay leftist and self-proclaimed "anarcho-syndicalist" Urvashi Vaid attacking (yep) welfare reform, which, we"re told, has "ideological roots [that] lay deep within the antigay, racially bigoted far right." Yawn. Ms. Vaid also argues that not making opposition to welfare reform a priority for the GLBT community "is a huge mistake." Of course, when you believe that the goal of progressive politics is to redistribute wealth from those who worked for it to those who simply want it, her perspective becomes clearer.

Disheartened Reactionaries. A story from the Baptist Press News recounts that religious conservatives are lamenting that "Christians" are no longer protesting gay characters on TV. "Christians voiced their outrage when ABC's "Ellen" featured a lead lesbian character in 1997," said Focus on the Family's Mike Haley, who continues, "That outrage, five years later, has dissipated -- even though there are now more than 20 homosexual characters on television." Guess who's winning the culture war!