A Councilman’s Coming Out: The Yawn Heard ‘Round Los Angeles

It’s a good thing Los Angeles City Councilman Joel Wachs isn’t in the military. He was asked, and he told.

And the military might profit from noting that it was no big deal. When Wachs answered a straightforward question--”Are you a gay man?”--with an equally straightforward reply--”I am”--the sky, didn’t fall, his constituents didn’t plan any candlelight vigils and the announcement doesn’t seem to be creating a danger that L.A. will collapse for having an openly gay council member running for mayor.

How can this be? Shouldn’t this sort of thing cause a public uproar? When Ellen DeGeneres announced that she was a lesbian, headlines across the country went into hyperdrive, and her show, not to mention her career, were in real jeopardy. Politicians who choose to come out can be even more vulnerable than entertainers. When Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) revealed that he was gay several years ago, there was genuine concern that he could not be reelected.

While California has two openly lesbian Assembly members, Carole Migden (D-San Francisco) and Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) represent reliably liberal districts. Wachs’ council district includes more conservative areas like Van Nuys and Sunland-Tujunga. And unlike many liberals, Wachs prides himself on being a fiscal conservative, though he has a strong record in support of gay rights.

That may provide a clue to the Mystery of the Missing Outrage. In our sex-obsessed culture, it is hard to keep the matter of sexual orientation--heterosexual or homosexual--off the table entirely. Few politicians are immune from questions and gossip about their spouses, partners, dates or even liaisons. Unmarried candidates know that there may be an extra measure of interest in their personal lives. In that context, any unmarried man over a certain age knows that there is speculation about his sexual orientation. Wachs was no exception. Rather than try to counter rumors that he might be gay by opposing any proposal that tried to achieve equality for L.A.’s lesbians and gay men, Wachs voted his conscience.

Even the most conservative of Wachs’ constituents knew that he might be gay. But they know him well enough from his 28 years in public service to put his sexual orientation into a perspective that includes much more than just votes on gay rights bills.

That is the best news about the lack of news. Wachs’ constituents have greeted his announcement with an impressive indifference.

After years of exposure to a variety of openly gay people, we know that sexual orientation by itself doesn’t really tell anyone that much about a person. Like heterosexuals, homosexuals are aware of their sexuality, but they put it in a context that includes politics, religion, culture, family and everything else that goes into being a human being. And the resulting human being can come out in an infinite variety of ways. Wachs is a good example of someone who is independent in more than just the purely political sense of that term. He is nobody’s stereotype.

No openly gay man has ever run for Los Angeles mayor before. But Wachs is not the only gay rights supporter in the race and may not even have the best leadership record. Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles) this year led passage of some of the most significant gay rights legislation in the nation dealing with domestic partnership, discrimination in schools and an overhaul of employment and housing protections.

In that sense, Wachs and Villaraigosa present an interesting variation on the mayoral choice San Francisco residents face between gay Supervisor Tom Ammiano and incumbent Willie Brown. Brown has called himself the most gay-supportive mayor in the country, and the claim isn’t far from wrong. However, Ammiano isn’t just gay supportive, he’s actually gay.

The twist is that many in San Francisco are concerned about casting their final ballot for Ammiano because he’s too far to the left. In L.A., the concern may be the opposite--an apprehension that Wachs might be too conservative.

These permutations are wonderful to think about because they show how irrelevant sexual orientation is. The collective yawn that greeted Wachs’ coming out is the prelude to a much more interesting debate about actual issues.