At Last, the Mainstream Agenda Opens to Gay and Lesbian Issues : Politics: Campaigns show readiness to address the concerns of this neglected voting bloc.

Gay and lesbian civil-rights issues, heretofore avoided at any cost by presidential hopefuls, have broken through the glass ceiling at last.

From early Democratic contender Bob Kerrey’s joke about lesbians, to Ross Perot’s recent comments that it was “unrealistic” to have homosexuals serving in the military, to Bush campaign chief Robert Mosbacher’s meeting with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, to Patrick Buchanan’s shameful gay-bashing rhetoric, to Bill Clinton’s gay community rally in Los Angeles landing on the front pages of the Washington Post and the New York Times, lesbian and gay issues have received unprecedented attention in this year’s presidential race.

Through a collection of events--some gaffes, some premeditated attacks and some acts of genuine inclusion--the gay and lesbian community has become a consideration in political campaigning in 1992. The national spotlight illuminating these events and the growing non-gay support on key issues such as abolishing the ban on homosexuals in the military (81% supported abolition in a 1991 poll) is proof that the gay and lesbian struggle has emerged as an influential civil-rights movement. Barely a whisper on this subject could be heard in 1984 or 1988, largely because of the influence of the Reagan era.

The fact remains that some people vehemently hate gays and lesbians, and it is easy to assume that hatred drives all negative responses to gay and lesbian issues. Hate, however, is not always the culprit. For lesbian and gay people maneuvering through a minefield of malice, it is important to differentiate ignorance from hate. Recently the news coverage of Perot’s statement that he would not hire a homosexual for a Cabinet-level position in his Administration, nor would he hire a known adulterer, seemed to equate homosexuals with adulterers--a symptom of ignorance. Buchanan, on the other hand, publicly states that AIDS is nature’s retribution against homosexuals, and makes no apologies for his rancor.

Perot’s remarks demonstrate ignorance, a distinct lack of understanding of what is important to voting, taxpaying lesbian and gay Americans. Yet his words were not overtly hostile, and apparently not motivated by a rabid hate. If Perot fails to demonstrate a willingness to be educated on these issues, gays and lesbians should and will fight him tooth and nail. Perot and others seeking office at every level of government need to understand that gays and lesbians will not tolerate being denied rights that heterosexuals enjoy: equal opportunity in employment, military service, legal recognition of relationships and families--the list goes on.

The gay and lesbian civil-rights movement is not about sexual behavior; it is about living equal lives. The momentum of lesbian and gay activism, accelerated by the pain and outrage of being discarded as politically disposable by some and being marginalized and trivialized by others, is unstoppable, and can no longer be ignored.