Gay Activist’s Nomination Hotly Debated

The discussion of gay rights activist Roberta Achtenberg’s appointment as assistant secretary for the Department of Housing and Urban Development flared into passionate debate on the Senate floor Wednesday as conservative Republicans accused her of being a militant who would abuse her power and Democrats defended her with equal fury.

The San Francisco attorney and city supervisor was expected to be confirmed--but not before a phalanx of conservative Republicans led by Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) challenged her record of gay activism and criticized her for purportedly leading a controversial fight to pressure the Boy Scouts of America into dropping a policy barring acknowledged homosexuals from serving as Scoutmasters.

Helms, who was quoted earlier as saying he opposed Achtenberg’s nomination because she is “a damn lesbian,” modified his objections on the Senate floor, arguing that his colleagues should reject the nominee “not because she is a lesbian, but because she is a militant activist who demands that Americans accept as normal a lifestyle that most of the world finds immoral.”

Waving a stack of letters of recommendation from organizations such as United Way, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) ardently defended Achtenberg’s record.

“Character assassination will not hold, whether it is in the press or in this beautiful hall,” Boxer said defiantly. “People who don’t know this woman and who admittedly don’t like her private life would try to destroy her. That has no place in . . . this great institution.

“If you are against a nominee, then you better come up with the truth, because what we heard here today from the senator from North Carolina saddens me deeply . . . and frightens me.”

The Senate’s discussion of Achtenberg, who is openly lesbian, marked the first time that a nominee’s sexual orientation has become an issue in a Senate confirmation process.

Helms, who had maneuvered behind the scenes to delay the Senate debate on Achtenberg, has already indicated that he will not attempt a filibuster to prevent a vote on her nomination. But an aide said that the senator wants to keep the debate going long enough “to have a thorough discussion of her nomination” in the hopes of persuading more than just a handful of Senate conservatives to vote against her.

Achtenberg’s nomination was recommended by the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee in a 14-4 vote May 5. Although that suggested that enough Republicans would vote for her to prevent any attempts at a filibuster, Helms’ opposition meant that the debate was likely to extend at least into early next week.

As they took to the floor in the highly charged debate, Achtenberg’s supporters and critics painted sharply contradictory portraits of the 42-year-old woman and her suitability to head the office that enforces the nation’s fair housing laws.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), a former mayor of San Francisco, recalled Achtenberg’s role as a city supervisor in pressing to end housing discrimination against families with children, minorities and gays and said that as an assistant secretary at HUD “she will speak out to make sure our housing laws are fairly enforced.”

But Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) argued that Achtenberg was unfit for the nomination because of an activist record of “intolerance, discrimination and vendettas against those who do not share her beliefs.”

Lott and other conservative Republicans took particular issue with Achtenberg’s stance against the Boy Scouts and the resolution she sponsored as a city supervisor urging San Francisco to withdraw $6 million in deposits from the Bank of America because it had donated money to the Boy Scouts, which she said discriminated against homosexuals as Scoutmasters.

“The Boy Scouts are not exactly a subversive organization . . . yet Roberta Achtenberg used her public position to threaten and extort any organization that had ties with the Boy Scouts,” Lott said.

But Boxer had a different interpretation. Rather than spearheading a battle for homosexual Scoutmasters, Boxer said, Achtenberg was one of 59 members of the United Way board who supported a suggestion by a task force, which she did not participate in, to drop funding to the Boy Scouts because of its discriminatory rules.

One of the most heated moments in the early debate came when Banking Committee Chairman Sen. Donald W. Riegle Jr. (D-Mich.) demanded to know of Helms whether he had been quoted correctly in referring to Achtenberg earlier this month as a “damn lesbian.”

Helms said he could not recall whether he used the word damn . But pressed by an angry Riegle, Helms added he “may very well have said” that and he challenged Riegle to “make what you will of that.”

Helms then left the hall, but the debate continued with Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun (D-Ill.) lashing out at him and the other conservatives for employing tactics of “fear and divisiveness.”

“It demeans our body to have a member taking credit for being quoted as a bigot,” Moseley-Braun said, referring to Helms.