Gays and lbians owe thanks to Print Gee W. Bh and Jtice Slia - The Washgton Post

Contents:

• GEE W. BH'S FOTTEN GAY-RIGHTS HISTORY
• BH ON GAY RIGHTS ISSU
• GEE W. BH ON GAY MARRIAGE, IMMIGRATN, AND WHY OBAMA KEPT HIS TERRORISM POLICI
• GEORGE BUSH: "I'M GAY"
• GEE H.W. BH OPPOSED GAY MARRIAGE, UNTIL HE WAS A WNS TO ONE
• GEE H.W. BH ‘UNSUPPORTIVE’ ON GAY RIGHTS, HIV/AIDS
• GEE W. BH ON GAY RIGHTS
• BH’S DGHTER, A BREAK, ENDORS GAY MARRIAGE
• BH BACKS BAN CONSTUTN ON GAY MARRIAGE
• GAYS AND LBIANS OWE THANKS TO PRINT GEE W. BH AND JTICE SLIA

GEE W. BH'S FOTTEN GAY-RIGHTS HISTORY

" Bh had wad to the revalized same-sex marriage bate last week -- if only barely -- a ment to a reporter Zambia, who asked whether gay marriage nflicts wh Christian valu. "I meant 's very important for people not to be overly cril of someone else until you've examed your own heart, " Bh told story went on to note that "As print, Bh opposed gay marriage, and Republins phed ballot measur to ban at the state level. ''As Republins seek to fd a new way forward the wake of the Supreme Court cisn strikg down DOMA, 's worth rellg that one equently discsed proposed path -- backg civil unns but not full marriage equaly -- would jt take the GOP back to where s succsful printial ndidate was , the more nservative ndidate who lost where Bh won, opposed both gay marriage and civil unns picture wh Bh was hardly one of straightforward support for gay unns, of urse.

And tight rac, those voters -- who historilly have leaned heavily Republin -- may have tipped the now Bh, rponse to a journalist Zambia askg about whether gay marriage is agast Christian valu, said, "I shouldn't be takg a speck out of someone else's eye when I have a log my own. Like dozens of other gay lleagu the Bh Whe Hoe, many of them closeted, Leve had been sure that Bh himself was personally tolerant even if the GOP was not—and unfortable wh gay-bashg as a way to w electns.

But this was also the print who had ma batg AIDS Ai a personal e (later, at Leve’s urgg, he would even rate the Whe Hoe North Porti wh a giant red ribbon to mark World AIDS Day), who had met wh prevly ostracized gay Republin lears and whose hard-le nservative vice print had an openly gay dghter. Evertz says Bh’s polil gu, Karl Rove, for a time would only give him clearance for public appearanc if he promised not to be billed as the first openly gay appotee a Republin admistratn.

BH ON GAY RIGHTS ISSU

In recent months, I’ve reported extensively on life the closet of the Bh Whe Hoe, and a number of his former ais are quoted on the rerd this story for the first time about their experienc as gay Republins an admistratn that was perhaps the last of the era when stutnalized discrimatn agast gays and lbians was still legal, if creasgly owned upon. At the time, seemed to be great polics for Bh: Comg out agast gay marriage, as Rove bragged his 2010 book, Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative the Fight, “benefed my ndidate” and “helped reelect him” 2004.

GEE W. BH ON GAY MARRIAGE, IMMIGRATN, AND WHY OBAMA KEPT HIS TERRORISM POLICI

But sce a Supreme Court cisn last year, 19 stat and the District of Columbia have legalized gay marriage, jt the oute that Bh and his team fought to prevent, and a clear majory of Amerins—a rerd high of 55 percent this year—now tell pollsters they support this right.

In retirement Texas, Bh himself has remaed largely silent about this polil sea change—even as his wife, Lra, exprsed support for same-sex marriage a televisn terview, his dghter Barbara taped a vio  support of legalizg gay marriage New York and even his father, the first Print Bh, served as a wns at a same-sex marriage.

For some of his gay ais, was a stggle to rencile the cency they ually saw up close wh the equent remrs, both large and small, that theirs was a party very publicly mted to the view that they were not entled to the same legal protectns as other Amerins. Mehlman me out publicly 2010 and renounced his past work agast gay marriage; he went on to help the group that sponsored one of last year’s gay rights s the Supreme Court. But for all his public regrets, there rema many gay Republins who rent Mehlman’s failure, as the hight-rankg gay person the Bh Whe Hoe, to speak out at the time he uld have ma a difference.

GEORGE BUSH: "I'M GAY"

Bh started out as perhaps the most gay-iendly Republin print ever, an astonishg fact when you nsir that, his first year office, 71 percent of Republins thought homosexual behavr was morally wrong, acrdg to Gallup. ” The party’s platform that year might have talked about the sancty of tradnal marriage as a foundatn of Amerin mocracy, but this was nohels a print who, a few months before nailg down his party’s nomatn 2000, met At wh a dozen gay Republin lears, proclaimg afterward, “I am a better person for the meetg.

GEE H.W. BH OPPOSED GAY MARRIAGE, UNTIL HE WAS A WNS TO ONE

” Berkowz says that when he was “outed” by blogger Michael Rogers, whose mpaign to publicize what he saw as the hypocrisy of gay Republin operativ was chronicled the 2009 documentary Outrage, Bh staffers flocked to show their support. Although former staffers say they never believed Bh personally had anythg agast gay people, many still experienced episos of gnive dissonance, pecially when the print went to mpaign mo—and all of sudn started phg for the nstutnal amendment banng gay marriage.

So a flier was drafted that clud an image of one man kneelg to propose to another and verbiage to the effect that if nservative voters didn’t turn out, gay marriage would be “allowed” while the Bible would be “banned.

GEE H.W. BH ‘UNSUPPORTIVE’ ON GAY RIGHTS, HIV/AIDS

The nventnal wisdom among Bh’s crics, and even some supporters, is that the print phed the nstutnal amendment to ban gay marriage ls om eply held prciple than as part of Karl Rove’s strategy to rile up the Republin base at tim of polil weakns: Early the 2004 reelectn mpaign, when Bh was weighed down by the Iraq telligence disaster, and then June 2006, when ntrol of Congrs was slippg away the midterm electns.

Still, Rove sists, “Neher Bh nor I regret his stand on gay marriage, ” which he argu was an effort to block the “social revolutnary act” of overturng the time-honored fn of marriage. “History needs to unrstand how a print wh his heart and his fay and iends and many gay people his admistratn—how they uld have so totally disavowed gay Ameri, ” Francis says.

GEE W. BH ON GAY RIGHTS

A few days after the 2012 printial mpaign, durg which Barack Obama beme the first print to publicly support gay marriage and Mt Romney held firm to his party’s opposn to , I received an email om Chris Edwards, who had e out while workg the Bh Whe Hoe. "The short answer is that is unclear, " said David Smh, a spokman for the Human Rights Campaign Washgton, one of the natn's largt gay rights anizatns, when asked how the Bh admistratn might handle gay rights many, cludg Smh, say they fd forebodg Bh's Texas rerd and some of his recent picks for his admistratn's Cabet, cludg former Sen. Both Powell, now Bh's nomee for secretary of state, and Condoleezza Rice, Bh's natnal secury adviser-signee, oppose gays servg openly the 1993 policy stat that those the ary who engage "homosexual nduct" would create "an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good orr and disciple, and un hn that are the sence of ary pabily.

Michael Piazza, senr pastor of The Cathedral of Hope, a large Dallas church that wel gays and Exist, But Willg to Give Bh Benef of the DoubtBut while Bh may not act on the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy, many gays are worried about his actn. "There is a fear that the admistratn is gog to s on [the issu] and we won't see any movement, said Michael Colby, executive director of the Natnal Stonewall Democrats, a gay polil anizatn.

"Though many gays would say the progrs for gay rights has been slow, others ntend the Clton admistratn was the first to tackle the issu, and succeed by takg small steps Clton admistratn tak cred for, among other thgs, supportg the passage of longer sentenc for hate crim, protectg feral workers om discrimatn based on sexual orientatn, hostg the first Whe Hoe nference on HIV and AIDS, and appotg a number of gays and lbians to ernment posns — cludg the natn's first openly gay U.

BH’S DGHTER, A BREAK, ENDORS GAY MARRIAGE

Ambassador [of Luxembourg], Jam uld make some cisns that uld have a negative impact on gay rights, gay lears say, by makg chang to executive orrs Clton has already signed.

"Many gay polil lears say they are tryg to give Bh the benef of the doubt the early months of his most gay voters are registered Democrats, Bh received 25 percent of the gay vote, acrdg to a Voter News Service survey. And many Republins have supported legislatn such as the Hate Crim Preventn Act and the Employment Non-Discrimatn Act, which are nsired important measur for protectg gay rights. Ashcroft was a -sponsor of the Defense of Marriage Act, a law passed 1996 which bans feral regnn of gay marriag and prohibs spo same-sex marriag om receivg feral the time, Ashcroft asserted that unlike race and genr, homosexualy "is clearly a choice — a choice that n be ma and unma, " acrdg to a report by the San Francis Chronicle.

"It is a difficult challenge for the civil rights and gay muny bee of his rerd the Congrs, " said Steve Gunrson, a former ngrsman om Wisns who was the first openly gay Republin member of Congrs. "Many gay rights activists also say they fd Bh's nomatn of Gail Norton for terr secretary, formally Colorado's attorney general, strongly fend the voters' passage of Amendment 2, which nied gays the right to legal protectn agast discrimatn. " she wrote The Denver ’s History on Gay RightsPiazza, the Dallas pastor, was stg his office 1999 when he got a ll om a Republin state legislator who was upset about a closed-door meetg he had wh then-Gov.

BH BACKS BAN CONSTUTN ON GAY MARRIAGE

"Hoover thought many left-leang Amerins posed a threat to the natn, and he thought the same of gay people -- even though there's reason to believe Hoover was gay himself and a long-term relatnship wh ai Cly Tolson. "Many loyal Amerins, by reason of stabily, alholism, homosexualy, or prev tennci to associate wh Communist-ont groups, are untentnally secury risks, " Ike himself wrote, although he also admted feelg guilty over his treatment of Vannberg. Civil Service Commissn lifted the orr 1975, and the Department of Defense, which had ed to ny secury clearanc to gays and lbians, gradually ceased s "tensive qutng of gays...

JohnsonKennedy and Johnson may have never thought their civil rights law would be terpreted as protectg LGBT people, but Kennedy, at least, would probably approve -- his bt iend was a gay man, Lem Billgs. " Its Office of Civil Rights will therefore vtigate such claims, offerg a means of relief for transgenr and, to some extent, lbian, gay, and bisexual CarterCarter, who intifi as a "born-aga" Christian, is proof that ep relig fah need not go hand hand wh homophobia. In 1976, as a ndidate, he had ma clear he would sign a gay rights bill, and 1977, durg his princy, the first-ever gay and lbian legatn vised the Whe Hoe to discs policy issu wh admistratn officials.

GAYS AND LBIANS OWE THANKS TO PRINT GEE W. BH AND JTICE SLIA

He has famoly said, "I never knew of any word or actn of J Christ that discrimated agast anyone, " and has endorsed marriage ReaganReagan's greatt effect on the gay populatn was undoubtedly his rponse, or lack thereof, to a disease that took the liv of many gay men.