Ugly Turn on Gay Rights Debate

The debate over gay rights threatens to inflame state politics, with opponents already sponsoring a vitriolic public campaign. For them to continue would be a grave mistake, risking new divisions among Californians not just on the issue of sexual orientation but along religious and ethnic lines as well.

The first salvos were fired in the Assembly last Thursday when Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) presented her bill to prohibit discrimination against public school students on the basis of sexual orientation, just as racial or gender discrimination is banned. After bitter debate, the bill failed, one vote short of passage.

“The war has begun,” vowed Assemblyman Bruce Thompson (R-Fallbrook), an opponent of the bill. “This issue will be the issue that will divide this country and this state more than any other.”

Thompson and his allies are guilty of the worst kind of fear-mongering in this cause. Anti-gay groups have launched a nasty advertising campaign against the Kuehl bill in districts of lawmakers--many of them Roman Catholic Latinos--who face difficult reelection contests.

In the Assembly debate, opponents waved the Bible and argued that homosexuality is a chosen lifestyle that does not merit civil rights protection. Some suggested that being gay was linked to bestiality or pedophilia. They implied that Assemblywomen Kuehl and Carole Migden (D-San Francisco), both openly lesbian, intended to promote “the gay lifestyle” in the schools. An irate Migden retorted, “How do you look at me [and] Ms. Kuehl and believe we are depraved?”

In fact, Kuehl and Migden are among Sacramento’s ablest lawmakers, but the abuse they received in the Legislature has set the stage for some ugly politics to come. For instance, a ballot issue in next March’s election has the effect of banning gay marriages and is sure to stir new ugliness. Nationally, the far right already has threatened political assaults on President Clinton for his recess appointment of James C. Hormel, a gay San Franciscan, to be ambassador to Luxembourg.

Harassment of gays, particularly young people, is persistent and damaging. We support free speech, but political battles must be waged responsibly, not with hatred and outrageous lies. As with previous battles over discrimination, this will take patience and tolerance to overcome.