Anti-Gay Tactics Used by Both Parties During Midterm Elections
By Joe Crea
WASHINGTON, Nov. 13, 2002–Through direct mail, radio and television, both Republicans and Democrats used a record number of anti-gay tactics during the midterm elections this fall said the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). But in the thirteen cases documented by the HRC, two involved Democrats attacking Republicans.
“HRC continues to assert a non-partisan element when almost all of the anti-gay stances in the midterm elections were conducted by Republicans,” said Representative Barney Frank (D-Mass). “These examples further indicate that the Republican Party is anti-gay.”
David Smith, communications director for the HRC, a non-profit group, said he didn’t agree with that characterization since an “anti gay comment is an anti-gay comment” and were used by both parties.
Rep. Frank also said that there was an “organized effort” by Republicans to use anti-gay tactics. Speaking in reference to one of the two cases where a Democrat attacked a Republican, he said that Senate nominee Alex Sanders (D-SC) “just blurted out” an anti-gay comment during a debate when he attacked Rudy Giuliani’s endorsement of his opponent Rep. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) saying that “Giuliani’s wife kicked him out and he moved in with two gay men and a Shih Tzu. Is that South Carolina values? I don’t think so.”
Smith said that HRC looked very hard for an organized national effort by Republicans in this midterm election cycle and found that none were “organized” and had no “common denominator except that they were anti-gay attacks.”
The Log Cabin Republicans (LCR), the largest group of gay and lesbian Republicans, said that Democrats did their fair share of gay baiting, some of which was not even listed on the HRC report.
LCR director of public affairs, Michael Mead, said Rep. Frank is “so partisan and so blind that he can’t see the forest from the trees” and noted that Rep. David Phelps (D-Ill), who introduced a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, placed pink-colored leaflets on parked cars noting that his Republican opponent, John Shimkus, was endorsed by the LCR and was pro-gay rights. Shimkus went on to win the race.
And also missing from the list, according to the LCR, was a whispering campaign conducted by Democrats in Hawaii who sought to spread rumors that that Republican gubernatorial candidate Linda Lingle, was a closeted lesbian. LCR said that no gay Democratic leaders or groups spoke out against this action.
HRC cited various cases in which Republicans used anti-gay tactics. In Arkansas’s 4th District race, Republican Jay Dickey smeared his Democratic opponent, Mike Ross, implying that he wanted to let “gays promote their lifestyle to children…”
And in the Florida Governor’s race, a Orlando political consultant and former executive director of the state Christian Coalition, produced a telephone message that implied Democrat candidate Bill McBride supported gay marriage. The call ended with, “This call is paid for on behalf of Jeb Bush campaign, Republican,” though it wasn’t endorsed by Republican Governor Jeb Bush.
“If some right wing nut wants to do something, there’s not much one can do,” said Michael Mead, Director of Public Affairs for the LCR. “But when you have the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee doing this it is particularly egregious.”
But according to the HRC report the National Republican Congressional Committee also sent out a direct mail piece attacking Ed O’Brien (D-Pa) saying he “received support from some of the most radical special interest groups in the nation-including groups that support expansion of gay rights.”
One case during the midterm elections that has been met with a mixed response involved a television ad supported by state Democratic Party leaders in Montana that questioned the sexual orientation of Republican state Senator Mike Taylor. The piece showed Taylor, former beauty school owner and hairdresser, administering skin care to a man by massaging his cheekbones.
Rep. Frank called the ad more “insensitive” than a case of gay baiting but the LCR and HRC said it was an absolute attack piece.
“The audience it was intended for had anti-gay tones and the gay community as a whole was outraged,” said Smith.
Published in The New Bedford Standard Times, in Massachusetts.
