With control of both houses of Congress up for grabs, gay-rights leaders are loudly debating a key question: Just how much does party control matter in the push for full equality?
"Plenty," is the response of gay Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., and the National Stonewall Democrats, especially in an election like this year's, when Republicans narrowly hold the House and Democrats barely rule the Senate.
But the Log Cabin Republicans and the nonpartisan Human Rights Campaign counter that it's vital to have allies in both parties. Otherwise, they argue, Republicans have no incentive to change and Democrats can take gay votes, donations and volunteer help for granted, and fail to push for fairness once they're in Congress.
A tight race in a Maryland suburb illustrates the dispute. Rep. Connie Morella, an eight-term Republican with a terrific gay record except for supporting the Defense of Marriage Act, is being challenged by Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat whose accomplishments in the Maryland legislature include being a driving force behind the state's ban on anti-gay job discrimination.
HRC is taking a lot of flak from its Democratic-leaning membership for endorsing Morella and giving her $10,000. "Just as Connie Morella has stood by our community, we will stand by her," says HRC political director Winnie Stachelberg.
But Frank counters that the first vote Morella casts at the start of every Congress is for House speaker, meaning that since the Republicans took control in 1995 she has helped put--and keep--in power speakers hostile to basic gay rights. Frank also says the moderate Morella hasn't shown the brawn to sway House Republican leaders on such critical issues as their refusal to allow a vote on hate-crimes legislation.
Especially in the House, the majority party sets the legislative agenda, runs the committees and generally has the power to derail anything it dislikes.
HRC and Log Cabin Republicans argue that Morella is too important to lose because she's exemplifies the array of forces that have enticed the GOP to begin warming up to those of us who're gay. "I can't think of a single successful political movement that isn't bipartisan," says Log Cabin executive director Rich Tafel. "Barney Frank's argument is a gamble, even if you assume he's right that Democrats will do good things. If ( Democrats ) don't gain the majority, you've eliminated your best Republican friends. A Connie Morella to me is worth nine Democrats."
But Frank points to a new report, "Party Matters," an analysis by the Stonewall Democrats of 10 years of grades given to members of Congress by HRC ( highlights: www.stonewalldemocrats.org ) :
-- The proportion of House and Senate Democrats scoring a perfect 100 skyrocketed from 27 percent to 72 percent. Republicans with perfect scores "flat-lined" from 1 percent to 2 percent.
-- Democrats with a zero HRC rating dropped from 5 percent to 3 percent; Republicans zeros rose from 46 percent to 61 percent.
-- Looking at the 2000 election, every single time a Democrat replaced a Republican, the HRC score for that district went up. In contrast, each time a Republican replaced a Democrat, the HRC score fell.
"The Log Cabin Republicans think of themselves as reformers, but they are enablers," quips Frank. "How do you change bad behavior? Not by rewarding it. Their method hasn't worked."
Frank predicts that a Democratic takeover of the House would mean that hate-crimes legislation and a federal ban on anti-gay job bias would pass within months. Then, he argues, House Democrats would pass domestic partnership benefits for federal employees and repeal the Defense of Marriage Act provision that says even if a state's legislature or citizens allowed same-sex marriage, gay couples still couldn't receive federal benefits.
Without question, this election matters. And gay and gay-friendly voters need to demonstrate their clout to both parties.
COPYRIGHT 2002 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.
Deb Price of The Detroit News writes the first nationally syndicated column on gay issues and is the co-author of "Courting Justice: Gay Men and Lesbians v. the Supreme Court." www.creators.com .
