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Gay & Lesbian Politicos Take Centerstage In Recent Caucus Candidates Continued from page 3 education and policy "must confront the homophobia, the irrational and divisive fear, the racism, the victim-blaming that impede efforts to combat the disease." Senator Simon and Governor Dukakis joined Jackson in supporting Surgeon General C. Everett Koop's call for "frank, non-judgmental education about AIDS", and targeted education and prevention programs for minorities. It is assumed that the candidates are including women, a majority of the U.S. population, under the category of minority. Vice-President George Bush was the only Republican who in any way acknowledged the question of gay and lesbian civil rights. His only response to such concerns was, "I believe all Americans have fundamental rights guaranteed in our Constitution - rights such as freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and the right to a jury by trial. No one group should have special privileges granted by government." Only the Reverend Jesse Jackson supported gay men and lesbians on every civil rights issue. He was the only. candidate to specifically support "lesbian and gay partners being afforded other benefits granted to heterosexual partners (of government employees), including health coverage." Governor Michael Dukakis was the only candidate who specifically opposed including partners in homosexual relationships from government employee benefit programs. All of the other candidates chose not to address the issue. All of the Democratic candidates, except Senator Gore, promised to make the Federal Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights bill a part of their legislative agenda. Only Hart, Jackson, and Simon, however, promised to issue an Executive Order banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in the federal government, including the military, security agencies, and federal contractors. Governor Dukakis opposes such an Executive Order, stating he "believes that a legislative solution to the problem would have broader application." Representative Gephardt, conversely, "believes that the Constitution and civil rights laws already protect individuals in federal government.. . (including) the military... (and) national security clearances. If, as president, there is a determination that an Executive Order is necessary to obtain enforcement, an Executive Order would be issued." All of the democratic candidates issued statements that only "merit and competence" will be used as hiring standards, with each assuring his commitment to equal opportunity. The issue of women's rights has gained widespread support among all of the democratic candidates. They all supported pasasage of the Equal Rights Amendment and freedom of choice on abortion. All except Gephardt and Hart supported comparable worth standards being factored into public sector wage scales. Reverend Jackson was the only candidate to specifically endorse the equal rights of gay men and lesbians in child custody, adoption, and foster care cases. Senator Simon stated that the "courts need to decide on a case by case basis issues involving the right of lesbian and gay people to be foster parents, adoptive parents or retain custody of children. These decisions should be based on the quality of care and love provided to the child and not the parent(s) sexual preferences." Governor Dukakis, who claims to support the equal rights of gay men and lesbians, protests that his foster care policy requiring "prior parenting experience... and other reasonable indicators of parenting ability" has been misinterpreted as banning lesbians and gays from foster placement programs. No other candidates addressed the question. Of the ten candidates, only Jackson and Simon supported a party platform plank supporting lesbian/gay civil rights. Southern Voice has not attempted to cover such areas as national defense, social policy other than that directly affecting gay men and lesbians, and the economy. We urge you to study other publications and contact the candidates' offices for more information. Valuable sources of information include the Georgia League of Women Voters at (404)522-8683, the Georgia Democratic Party at (404)681- 1988, and the Georgia Republican Party at (404)870-2800. -Chris Duncan ATLANTA- In an unprecedented move in , Georgia politics, openly gay men and lesbians have won elections in the delegate selection process for both the Republican and Democratic parties. These men and women hope to represent the interests of lesbians and gays at the two party’s national conventions this summer. LEGAL (Legislate Equality for Gays And Lesbians), an Atlanta based Democratic club, successfully targeted Congressional District Four and Five in the heart of Atlanta to receive the brunt of their organizing efforts. The Democratic caucuses, held during the early morning hours of January 30th, elected delegates to each presidential candidate's slate. Delegates to the Democratic National Convention are apportioned in each Congressional district by the percentage of votes cast for each candidate during the upcoming March 8th, Super Tuesday, primary. In the fourth Congressional district, which encompasses much of northeast Atlanta inside the 1-285 perimeter, Dick Rhodes was elected to the first delegate slot for Senator Albert Gore. Melinda Daniels and Paul Garrard were elected to the third and fourth delegate slots in the district In the Fifth Congressional District which includes most of downtown Atlanta, Gil Robison and Joe Williford were elected respectively to the third and fifth Gore delegate slots. When asked to explain why Gore's campaign was targeted to advance the gay and lesbian cause, Lee Harrington, President of LEGAL, cited the electability and acceptability factors of Gore's campaign. "We felt like the number two vote getter (in the fifth Congressional district) very likely was going to be A1 Gore. And in the fourth district, we felt like Gore would win it" In addition to the number of popular votes each candidate would receive, the electability factor, LEGAL also had to consider the number of supporters each candidate would draw to the January 30th caucus meetings. Harrington stressed Gore's acceptability to the lesbian and gay communities as a co factor for the selection of his campaign. Gore co-sponsored "the AIDS Amendment to the fiscal '88 year budget... that increased what Reagan had proposed for AIDS funding by 650 million dollars." This indicates to » Harrington that Senator Gore is at the very least "a compassionate person... (if not) the advocate of gay rights that we might like." Seemingly homophobic comments by Gore and his campaign staff in reaction to early news of LEGAL's success would indeed seem to indicate that Gore was not an advocate of gay and lesbian rights. Arlie Schardt, a national spokesperson for Gore, was quick to defend his candidate, and complained that the media had inaccurately reported the circumstances which led to the disputed comments. Schardt claims the candidate was baited by an Associated Press reporter, whose question stated as fact that "gay activists were using the Gore campaign as a tool to reach the Democratic National Convention, and were not supporting his (Gore's) candidacy." Understandably, to Schardt, Gore reacted with indignation at the thought of being used as a tool. To the credit of the Gore campaign, as soon as they perceived how the story was being reported, they immediately contacted Harrington of LEGAL and the elected delegates to clarify the Senator's position. When asked to give the Gore campaign's final position on LEGAL's success, Schardt said "they did a good job of organizing, got their delegates elected, and more power to them." Dick Rhodes and Melinda Daniels, two of the delegates elect, are strident in their calls for fourth and fifth district gay men and lesbians to vote for Gore. Stressing the possibility of electing one lesbian and possibly two gay men to the floor of the Democratic National Convention, Rhodes urged people not totally committed to another candidate to cast their lot with Gore, "and get people (delegates) who believe in what we believe to the floor, and maybe we can help shape the (party) platform." Lesbian and Gay Republicans have also made their presence known to party regulars in their own caucus system. Jeffrey Laymon, a local gay Republican, won election along with another gay delegate, and four gay alternates, to the county delegate convention. The Republican process, however, differs sharply from the Democratic process in that grass root voter participation is allowed only in the first of the five step process which eventually assigns delegates to the Republican candidates at the GOP National Convention. According to Laymon, it is unlikely that he will advance past the next stage, the county caucus, due to the Republican system's reliance on long established ties and coalition among recognized GOP factions. Laymon attributes the cumbersome system and lack of knowledge of gay and lesbian concerns by mainstream Republican voters to his poor chances of winning final election as a delegate. Being active in mainstream politics is a relatively new concept for gays and lesbians in Georgia, according to Harrington of LEGAL. Party politics, which more often revolve around number crunching than rhetoric, depend upon bloc voting and filling slates when determining the relative power of various groups. Dick Rhodes remarked on how "fragile the system is" to a concentrated attempt to gamer power. A mere three hundred more people, for a total of four hundred present, would have allowed LEGAL to capture every delegate slot in every sub-caucus of the fourth Congressional district, according to Rhodes. Political insiders trace the recent surge of participation in political processes by gay men and lesbians to the damning evidence against those currently in power, and their lack of response to the devastation the AIDS epidemic has wreaked in the gay and lesbian community. Beginning with the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, many see this growing activism of gay men and lesbians changing forever the face of American politics. -Chris Duncan CHERISHED LOVE by Evelyn Kennedy ...The love story you have always wished someone would write. A romantic, sensuosly detailed story of lesbian love. Comments Katherine V. Forrest, author of Curios Wine: "This one should please women who enjoy erotic romance novels..." The Naiad Press, Inc. P.O. Box 10543 Tallahasee, Florida 32302 (904) 539-9322 Page 6