News Item

RNC Chair Blasted For Blaming Gays About Federal Marriage Issue

January 20, 2004

On Sunday, the chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) declared that if gay marriage becomes a divisive issue in the presidential election it would be "the fault of the gay community itself." Meanwhile, the chair of the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC) decried the RNC Chair's attempt to foist unearned blame, calling it "the height of deceptive misdirection."

"If gay activists try to take the Massachusetts court ruling and nationalize the government sanction of gay marriage, I suspect it will be an issue," RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie told ABC he said in an interview on ABC's "This Week."

"They lob the first salvos, throw our community into a defensive mode, then claim that we're creating an offensive action?" said an exasperated Vanessa Edwards Foster, chair of NTAC. "Not only is his attempt ludicrous, it's an insult to the intelligence of the American public! How brain-dead do they think we are?"

"Republicans introduced a Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) bill, and somehow they wish to twist that into the GLBT community pushing forth an aggressive agenda. This is clearly a case of deceptive political opportunism by the Republican National Committee."

Foster noted, "This discussion began when Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia wrote a dissenting opinion on Lawrence v. State of Texas' Sodomy Law, inferring that the favorable court decision would lead to same-sex marriage. Sen. Rick Santorum then fanned the phobia into bonfire proportions. Since then, nearly every religiopolitical activist organization has feverishly voiced their fears of an "assault" on the institution of marriage."

Gillespie acknowledged that the GOP is under pressure by conservatives within the party for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. But, Gillespie said as he travels the country "you don't hear a big clamor out there" for the amendment.

"Ed Gillespie must not be listening to his own party's base," Foster commented. "Religiopolitical activists have been weighing in loudly and heavily" on the marriage issue.

Sandy Rios, president of Concerned Women for America complained that, "this administration is dancing dangerously around the issue of homosexual marriage."

Former presidential candidate Gary L. Bauer, the current president of the conservative group American Values, said, "If the White House puts [the anti-same-sex marriage issue] on the back burner or doesn't put political capital into it, that would deeply demoralize a large block of voters that they are expecting to turn out in November."

Commenting about the president's indecision to move on the FMA Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council said, "time is running out but the clock is still ticking,"

Noting that the transgendered and intersexed communities, who would be an easy challenge to an FMA, regardless of how they write it, Foster noted that none of the rhetoric pushing for a "same-sex marriage bill" was coming from NTAC, or other transgender or intersex organizations. "This congressional makeup is conservative, all the way down the line. Even if we were of a mind, this would be very poor timing," she added. "It's election year."

Foster and other transgender leaders, and likewise the religious conservatives, are not buying Gillespie's claim. "The Bush Administration is looking for a cheap short cut to absolution," the NTAC chair offered. "Karl Rove would be overjoyed at the prospect of the key issue of a presidential election being about same-sex marriage. Trying to pin the GOP's issue on progressive or gay community activists is despicable and deceitful."

"Republican campaign-wonks aren't stupid. The 'homosexual agenda/same-sex marriage' chestnut is a well-used tactic," Foster said. "It not only incites phobia, but fills up campaign coffers, mobilizes anti-tolerance congregations, and gives them an effective polarizing tool to force people into one of two camps. It also allows the GOP to shift the focus onto same-sex marriage, and away from more troubling issues like the hemorrhaging of job loss in this country, or the ongoing Iraq. As it stands nationally, the same-sex marriage issue is one the Republicans will win.

"The downside," Foster continued, "is that whoever instigates the issue, who creates the polar camps and continues to press it will be viewed as divisive and mean-spirited. The Queer Community has been playing defense. Republicans began this fight, submitted the legislation and carried the process forward.

"If Gillespie really wished the marriage issue to go away," Foster concluded, "the Queer Community wouldn't be a problem. But he and President Bush will have a lot of work to do within their own camp to convince them to back off. Either the GOP drops this issue, or they take full credit if the issue moves forward.

"Religiopolitical activists' primary issue is marriage. Transgenders' primary issue is jobs - as well as hate crimes," said Foster, herself unemployed for almost 13 months. "Come next November, we'll see which issue resonates most with the voters - jobs or marriage."