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An Open Letter to the Lesbian & Gay
Community from Lenora Fulani
Presidential Candidate, New Alliance Party
Lenora Fulani, New Alliance Party
The "official" leadership of the lesbian and
gay community is up in arms over my
independent campaign for President of the
United States. I am America's third
candidate-thc first woman and the first
African-American ever to be on the ballot in
all 50 states and the District of Columbia. I
am the only national pro-gay Presidential
candidate-I have used my independent
campaign to advocate for a federal lesbian
and gay rights bill, a federal AIDS Bill of
Rights, a national health service that would
provide comprehensive, quality health care
for every American, including of course,
people with AIDS, and for legislation that
would reverse the Supreme Court's Hardwick
decision upholding Georgia’s anti-sodomy
law, and for the defeat of the dangerously
homophobic Propositions 96 and 102.
But the mostly white, middle class and
male-dominated establishment leadership of
the gay community isn't interested in any of
this. They are too busy repeating second
hand chaiges, as vicious as they are foolish,
that I am a brainwashed member of a cult, that
I am a follower of the neo-fascist Lyndon
LaRouche, that I only seem to be pro-gay but
in fact have a "hidden agenda." What's their
plain for advancing the gay agenda in 1988?
In Massachusetts they put it this way: "Vote
for Dukakis and then throw up."
The tragicTact-the criminal fact-is that the
only commitment these gay movement
leaders have is to holding on to their jobs,
their little pieces of turf, and their niche in the
status quo. They have abandoned the lesbian
and gay community to the right wing, to
AIDS, and to gay bashing because they have
abandoned lesbians and gays to the
manipulations of the Democratic Party.
Last weekend 100,000 people participated
in a candlelight vigil in Washington, D.C. to
commemorate those who have died of AIDS.
It was an emotional and deeply upsetting
event-intended to mark the more than 40,000
deaths that have resulted from the AIDS
epidemic. But in all honesty, the vigil was an
exercise in organized impotence. The
speakers confined themselves to pleading for
compassion and sympathy. And I insist that
we not, that the lesbian and gay community
not, plead for anything!
Sisters and brothers, it is not enough to
mourn our dead; we must point a finger at the
bi-partisan murderers responsible for the
spread of AIDS. Have the Democrats
succeeded in stopping the drive by the right
wing to persecute and isolate people with
AIDS?
Michael Dukakis' weak performance in the
debates revealed that he is suffering from the
unraveling of his campaign and the two
decades-long erosion of the Democratic party.
Dukakis ha rejected ideology in favor of
"competency" and thereby runs smack into a
basic contradiction. The Democratic Party
can no longer sustain the myth that it is the
party of the underdog, of the disenfranchised
and of the poor. The Democrats'
unwillingness to put forth a progressive social
vision of the kind articulated by Reverend
Jesse Jackson and supported by seven and a
half million Americans means that Dukakis
has to try to appeal to the party's traditional
working class base of liberal voters, while
effectively denying that he is a liberal.
How is it that the gay leadership can tell
lesbians and gays that the New Alliance Party,
whose national chairperson I am, is to be
shunned? A party many of whose leaders are
lesbian and gay? A party that includes people
who themselves have AIDS? Are only gay
Democrats really gay? Are only Democrats
with AIDS worthy of compassion?
Why in the name of the Gay agenda isn't
the establishment leadership addressing itself
to the work that the New Alliance Party has
done in the fight for lesbian and gay rights?
Why in the name of the Gay agenda isn't that
leadership responding to my charges that
Michael Dukakis is anti-gay-his wife Kitty's
"good will" tours notwithstanding? Why
when gay men are dying of an epidemic that
the Democratic politicians cry crocodile tears
over but don't have the guts to take on the
murderously homophobic right wing, won't
the leaders of the establishment gay
organizations and the editors of the
establishment gay press stand up for the
community? Why, instead, are they seeking
to cult-bait and LaRouche-bait me?
The Democrats pretend to care about the
AIDS crisis when all they care about is
getting votes and preserving their position of
power. They're hypocrites! But what are we
to say about the establishment gay leadership,
which is acting as a procurer by attempting to
lure the gay community into the party's vile
embrace?
The Democrats arrogantly assume that,
with the "help" of such leadership, the gay
community will vote for them again this
year-just as they assume that the African-
American electorate will once again give the
party a blank check without getting anything
in return. And that's why we need to cost
them the White House. We need to teach the
white supremacist, homophobic party
leadership that we are just as independent as
the conservative white voters-the so-called
"Reagan Dcmocrats'-Michael Dukakis is so
busy running after; if the Democrats want our
votes, they'll have to deliver much more than
a definition of apartheid as terrorist, a few
tears for our brothers who have died, and
other "symbolic" gestures that are more of an
insult to our people than a victory for our
Agenda. A vote for Dukakis next month is a
wasted vote—it shows the Democrats that we
are still a blank check constituency. But a
vote for me on November 8 is a way to use
our volcs-it forces the Democrats to deal with
our Agenda. Sisters and brothers, our
willingness to stand together and stand up on
November 8 will make all the difference. We
have the right, you have the right, we have the
opportunity, you have the opportunity, to
stand up and tell the Democrats that we're not
going to take it any more!!
-Lenora Fulani
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Is Anybody
Out There?
For those of you who have been following
the Ben Jones story, specifically with regard
to the ad appealing for phone bankers, I
thought you might be interested in the
outcome of that fateful night of October 18lh.
It was a night of mixed emotions, of
excitement at people's willingness to work for
candidates who aren't all that exciting to the
lesbian and gay community (Jones, Dukakis,
Bentsen) and a night of terror at the responses
from households in places like Stone
Mountain and Dunwoody. The story goes
like this:
I arrive at the phone bank headquarters
around 5 p.m. and sit in the car to collect my
thoughts. I survey the parking lot for familiar
faces and see none. I wondqf when a viable
candidate who deserves my support will
contend for political office.
Melinda arrives and we enter the phone
bank. We receive our instructions on the use
of the phone script, and I am handed a stack
of cards with information on registered voters
in Dunwoody. I begin to call to "assess voter
preference for the November 8th election"
and ask whether these people support Ben
Jones, Dukakis/Bentsen and the Democratic
party.
I see five more people I know entering the
phone bank. This cycle repeats itself for
several hours until there are about 25
dedicated gay men and lesbians staffing
phones to "assess voter preference." It's
exciting to know that people are willing to
help. It's comforting to be around my friends.
On completing each stack of cards, I am
instructed to tally my responses. Of the 100
or so people I called, I have four hash marks
in favor of Dukakis/Bentsen. The outcome
for Ben Jones is somewhat better.
It is of some interest to note the responses
of some of those 100 individuals, if only for
the variety of opinions put forth by people in
places such as Dunwoody and Stone
Mountain. I list these in order of absurdity
(ascending). Number 1-When asked whether
the person generally supported Democratic or
Republican candidates, the individual replied,
"I vote for the person, the person's ideals and
morals." When asked whether the person
would support Ben Jones or Pat Swindall, the
individual replied, "Pat Swindall, of course."
Number 2-When asked whether the person
would support Ben Jones or Pat Swindall, and
Dukakis/Bentsen or Bush/Quayle, the person
replied, "Whichever one is the Republican,
I'm not sure which is which." Number
3-When I identified myself as a volunteer for
the Democratic Party, the woman on the other
end of the phone emphatically stated that she
was a Republican. When I assured her that
the Republican party and its candidates were
responses which could be chosen for my
three questions, she asked me to hang on
while she asked her husband for permission
to speak with me. He declined. I came away
from the experience both discouraged for the
uninformed electorate in Georgia and elated
that gay men and lesbians were willing to
devote their time and talents once again.
-Linda Meredith
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