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Selecting a President: The Critical Choice for Lesbians and Gays
The next president will make crucial
decisions on a range of issues that will affect
gays and lesbians for years to come. He will
help to determine the degree to which this
nation will defend the rights of all people,
including lesbians and gay men. Many of
those decisions will come as he sets the tone
on AIDS policy, including issues of
discrimination against people with AIDS and
people perceived to be at risk for AIDS. And
the next President will appoint judges who
will tell the country which way to go when it
comes to the privacy of individuals and their
right to control their bodies (e.g., abortion and
sodomy laws).
On issues affecting gays and lesbians the
contrast between the candidates is sharp.
In 1974, Michael Dukakis, as a ^
Massachusetts legislator, introduced that
slate's gay rights bill. He campaigned hard for
passage and as Governor has continued
fighting for it
Dukakis, the presidential candidate,
supports legislation extending civil rights
protections to gays and lesbians as well as a
bill ending a ban on homosexual immigration.
He opposes, however, the idea of having
the President issue an executive order
Republican Vice-President George Bush
protecting government employees from
discrimination.
According to Urvashi Raid of the National
Gay and Lesbian Task Force, his opposition
stems from not understanding the importance
of an executive order. Such an order, she
notes, would "set the tone" for legislation,
putting the government on record as opposing
discrimination. Dukakis says the order should
come from the legislature or the courts.
Activists in Massachusetts have bitterly
attacked the Governor on his foster parenting
position. Dukakis supported legislation that put
gays and lesbians at the bottom of the list for
foster parenting. Since the bill passed, no gay or
lesbian has become a foster parent in the state.
The Governor vetoed, on the other hand, a
bill that would have prohibited homosexuals
and bisexuals from becoming foster parents or
adopting children.
George Bush has refused to answer
specific questions about civil rights for gays.
But he has indicated his general opposition to
civil rights legislation, saying it gives "special
privileges" to one group. The record of the
Rcagan-Bush administration shows support
for the Supreme Court Hardwick decision on
sodomy, one of the biggest blows ever to gay
rights efforts.
The difference in rights for lesbians and
gays arc apparent in the campaign platforms
of the two parties. The Democratic party at
the Atlanta convention called for civil rights
for people regardless of sexual preference.
The Republican Party platform said nothing
about lesbian and gay rights.
It did, however, talk about AIDS.
Republicans called for more research and
compassion, but stressed the need to protect
those who are not infected and endorsed
contact tracing.
The Democratic platform talks about
increasing and accelerating research,
education and prevention. It talks about
compassion, and it emphasized the need for
confidential testing and protection of the
rights of people with AIDS, ARC, and HIV
positive.
Halloween
From Page 1
cool air, peel it back, I would find the
something that was waiting to be claimed.
Yes, fall demands a strong walk.
I kept walking. I remember I was trying to
think of just what my mind sensed missing, of
why I felt like I was searching and why I felt
like this every fall, when I glanced down at
the pavement
My shadow had grown darker. I stopped to
watch and saw her darken two shades.
A shadow is often taken for granted. Small
children free theirs with dancing movements
in their hands, aims and legs. Shadows have
added life, taking on creature poses on well-lit
walls. Big people barely seem to know their
shadow nearby.
I have been guilty of that. Rarely
acknowledging her. Some cats have known her
better by curling in her shade as I read outside.
She continued to darken. I stared at her
hard, real hard. This is when I heard her first
sound. It started with a rumbled crackled
sound as if it was coming from underground.
Her voice started quietly, gradually building
strength, never getting loud.
At first I couldn't make out the words she
was saying. I could hear only syllables. The
same ones over and over. As her voice got
more comfortable, the sounds came out faster.
From the syllables and the dark came a
swirl, not foggy, not misty, not dream or
trance-like. The swirl came strong and her
voice came deep.
She said, "All summers end." Overhead
the yellow turned to dark.
In this daikncss, fires began to bum slowly,
growing until a circle of flame was all I could see.
Her shadowy form took from the fire an
ember and gave it to me. The fires around me
began to go low, fading into her. The
darkness that is her took the flame and left my
outline that she claims. The ember, though,
still glowed in my hand.
Yellow light filled the sky and my
shadow's edges lightened.
I was walking again. 1 knew where I was
going, and it was back to the rites I had
practiced before.
Fall. Samhain marked the beginning of the
winter half of the year. This day started the
darkness that would bring the lightness of
spring and summer.
The fires around me began to go low, fading
into my shadow. The daikncss that she is took
the (lame and left my outline that is hers.
Yellow light became the sky and my
shadow's edges lightened.
I was walking again and she was a little to
the right of me, angling slightly ahead.
I knew where I was going and I knew I
was still looking and I knew I was standing
close to the beginnings, to the endings and to
today. I was at the crossroads of Samhain.
-Virginia
Southern Voice would like to thank
Madelaine St. Romain for the use of
'Throwing the Bones." Persons interested in
seeing other work, or in commissioning
work, may contact the artist at 292-7061.
George Bush has said AIDS education
should focus on "traditional moral values."
Bush also endorsed the conclusions of the
presidential AIDS commission calling for ■
antidiscrimination laws. But when
Republican Senator Lowell Weicker
suggested endorsing the report in the party
platfoim, Bush's people opposed him.
Dukakis supports voluntary and
confidential testing. He endorses mandatory
testing in the military and for immigrants.
Bush would add several groups to the
mandatory testing list, including marriage
license applicants and prisoners.
The confidentiality issue has been left up to
the states by the Reagan-Bush administration.
The next president will likely leave his
greatest mark in the judiciary. Half the sitting
federal judges are Reagan appointees, and
Reagan has chosen young conservative judges.
Reagan appointees have faced close scrutiny
to determine their conservative leanings, and
many of the more liberal judges has held off
retirement waiting for a new president.
With more conservative appointments,
observers say, the balance in the court will be
tilted towards the conservative side for
decades to come, making it more difficult to
overturn sodomy laws or the military bans on
gays and lesbians and issuing important
rulings on first amendment rights and privacy.
Urvashi Vaid of the NGLTF says Supreme
Court appointments are "perhaps the single most
important issue" for gays and lesbians. She
adds, there's "a potential for a very hostile court"
A conservative court for example, is more
likely to reverse the Roe vs. Wade ruling
legalizing abortion.
According to Vaid of the NGLTF, the
same decisions that give women the right to
control their bodies can be used to decide
issues on gay and lesbian rights.
Democratic Gov. Michael Dukakis
On the issue of abortion, Dukakis has long
been a supporter of the right to choose and the
need to financially help poor women who
choose abortion.
Bush opposes abortion except in case of
rape or to save the life of the mother.
The other candidate on the ballot, Lenora
Fulani of the New Alliance Party, has actively
courted the gay vote and taken a stand for gay
and lesbian rights. However, the NAP has
been the subject of criticism by activists who
are suspicious of their tactics and call them
opportunistic.
Despite the polls, the race is not over until
election day. The lines are drawn and the
decision is up to the voters.
That's us.
-F.G.
Come and Celebrate
15 th Anniversary
Meet Dianne Davidson and other
Olivia Recording Artists
at a
Cocktail Party
Nov. 18 8:00-10:00 PM
Colony Square Hotel
$5.00 at the door
Entertainment, Cash Bar, Hors d'oeuvre
Sponsored by
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Olivia Recording Artists:
fc^SGuest of Honor: Judy Dlugacz,
Founder & President
Cris Williamson & Bandft|<4
Lucie Blue Tremblay
Olivia Records
Dianne Davidson & Band
Deidre McCalla l &$i l
Tret Fure & Band Js^jj
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Nancy Vogl£pj