Clinton, Gays, and the Truth
Bennett, William J.
Clinton, Gays, and the Truth by William J. Bennett Much of official Washington has been mulling over what the "Clinton legacy" will be. On the second Saturday in November, President Clinton may...
...if Bill Clinton has a genuine concern for the well-being of homosexuals, why doesn't he speak out against the promiscuous lifestyle that is devastating so many of them...
...Rotello's argument is supported by a recent CDC study charting the dramatic rise in gonorrhea among homosexual American men...
...I don't know a single person who would choose to go through the hell of being a gay person in a society that despises you...
...For example, pederasty has been advocated by the Sentinel, a gay San Francisco publication, whose editors have said that "the love sex between men and boys is at the foundation of homosexuality...
...To be sure, there are instances of bigotry and discrimination against homo-sexuals—and when they occur, they should be condemned...
...Indeed, during Elizabeth Birch's introduction of the president at the Human Rights Campaign event, she approvingly quoted the president's adviser Bob Hattoy, who said, "It Takes the Village People to Raise a Child...
...Virtually no civilization accords to homosexuality the same status (moral or legal) as heterosexuality...
...They exercise enormous influence in the worlds of higher education, art and theater, literature, the news media, and entertainment...
...And by his silence...
...Although a minority of gay men attends these parties, "the highly visible and doctrinaire aspects of the circuit affect all of gay culture, and ultimately, each one of us individually...
...And we certainly should not hold up the misfortune as a model for society...
...But they are inescapable—if gay rights are the moral equivalent of civil rights...
...Gabriel Rotello, the founding editor of Outweek Magazine, has written an even more chilling insider's account...
...The average life span of an American man is 73...
...Consider, too, the rhetoric used by many homosexuals themselves...
...In the public debate, of course, many homosexual advocates insist that it is...
...Bruce Bawer, a prominent homosexual writer, criticizes fellow gay activists for being "more comfortable condemning the Log Cabin Republicans than . . . condemning the North American Man-Boy Love Association...
...William J. Bennett is the author, most recently, of Our Sacred Honor: Words of Advice from the Founders in Stories, Letters, Poems and Speeches (Simon & Schuster...
...Now, "circuit parties" are not the chosen lifestyle of most homosexuals...
...After all, the grisly reality is that promiscuity, disease, and death shadow and stalk much of the homosexual community...
...In his November 8 speech to the Human Rights Campaign dinner, Bill Clinton made a startling claim...
...Former congressman Steve Gunder-son once told Newt Gingrich that the "far Right" is wrong when it says that being gay is a choice...
...The core assumption of Clinton's speech is that they are...
...Rotello, citing Centers for Disease Control data, points out that "the first several hundred gay men with the disease [AIDS] had an average of 1,100 lifetime partners...
...And there are prominent homosexuals who stress responsible, non-promiscuous lifestyles...
...to act out our anxieties over masculinity, assuage our fears about being perceived as 'fags,' and help deaden the pain and loss we're experiencing from the effects of a relentless plague...
...For many parents, it is a deep concern—and it is by no means an irrational one...
...But the president misses the point: The real threat to homosexual Americans is not discrimination but physical devastation...
...Thus, the threat facing homosexuals is bigotry and discrimination...
...In that book, he recounts his experiences as a homosexual man and surveys the scene of the so-called circuit parties: "The drug-fueled parties of the circuit, weekend-long events attended by men who make pilgrimages from places far and wide, are spiritual retreats for the most devoted...
...In Sexual Ecology: AIDS and the Destiny of Gay Men, Rotello reveals a world neither Ellen DeGeneres nor Bill Clinton acknowledges...
...Then there is perhaps the most explosive issue of all: homosexuality and pederasty...
...On the second Saturday in November, President Clinton may have provided the answer...
...We do that by getting high, flexing our muscles, and having a lot of sex...
...Forty-three...
...Many of us believe the answer is no...
...They are the evangelical or fundamentalist wing of the cult of masculinity...
...The remark elicited loud, sustained applause...
...Their misfortune does not merit a response of callousness, flippancy, hatred, or mistreatment...
...By any objective measure, the gruesome plague of AIDS, as well as other sexually transmitted diseases, is far more of a threat to homosexuals than employment discrimination...
...To prove that homosexuality is solely determined by genetics, homosexuals often make the point that no one would choose a lifestyle filled with so much misery...
...At the heart of this debate is whether we want homosexuality to be considered normative, and treated with complete indifference...
...He argues that male homosexual promiscuity has not only not receded but that it is now experiencing a "Second Wave...
...Homosexuals are entitled to compassion, as well as the rights owed all Americans as Americans...
...Bill Clinton was silent on another question: whether the homosexual lifestyle is, in general, a contented and fulfilling one...
...One of ACT-UP's chants is, "We're here, we're queer, and we want your children...
...The average smoker lives to 66 years of age...
...Many practice restraint...
...We know that many homosexuals live in a world filled with anguish, loneliness, and much early death...
...Still, the misfortune itself ought not to be denied...
...For it was on that day that, for the first time, an American president conferred upon homosexuals the blessing of the highest office in the land...
...You've got to know that I spent years desperately trying to change my orientation," Gunderson said...
...Gay men," Rotel-lo writes, "are experiencing a form of extinction as devastating as that inflicted upon any dying species . . ." These are words from honest homosexual men who understand the carnage wrought by lies and deception...
...Either way, by their own testimonies, many practicing homosexuals do not find life to be joyful...
...Not surprisingly, both Rotello and Signo-rile are under attack by "queer theorists...
...Why did he not tell that influential gathering in Washington that so much of its misery has been self-inflicted—and could easily be prevented...
...President Clinton shies away from these conclusions...
...But unlike the Marlboro Man or Joe Camel, Ellen has the president (and the vice president) on her side...
...Homosexuality should not be socially validated, for reasons rooted in custom and tradition, natural law and teleology, morality and faith...
...When sexual relativism becomes the norm, there are no lines that cannot be crossed...
...But for all the talk of homosexuals-as-vic-tims, the president is surely aware of the privileged position of homosexuals in America...
...Gunderson would undoubtedly argue that the "hell" of being gay derives from living in a homophobic society, whereas I would argue that the unhappi-ness most often derives not from bigotry but from things associated with the lifestyle itself...
...The best available research suggests that the average life span of male homosexuals is around 43 years of age...
...They are, as a group, wealthy and well educated...
...Bill Clinton has repeatedly spoken out against smoking because of the early death associated with that act...
...And their lifestyle is celebrated in much of the popular culture...
...President Clinton now appears to believe the answer is yes...
...The television character Ellen is as accurate a representation of homosexual life as Marlboro Man advertisements are of a life of smoking...
...He equated today's homosexual movement to the struggle of blacks during the time of legal segregation...
...One of the most compelling accounts of homosexual life comes from Michelangelo Signorile, a monthly columnist for Out magazine...
...Still, Signorile worries that this is what "the gay movement has come to: We've been temporarily allowed to take over three chain hotels in the desert...
...The concern is born out of the recognition that many of the most militant and active spokesmen for the homosexual movement seek liberation from all sexual constraints...
...Of course, if the gay-rights movement has, in fact, the status of the civil-rights movement, there is a moral imperative to treat it similarly in every relevant regard—school curriculum, adoption, marriage, and the like...
...Signorile is the author of Life Outside...
...A lack of authentic compassion is revealed by the president's lack of honesty...
...Why, then, did he not speak truth to power that night...
...But this claim seems tenuous...
Vol. 3 • November 1997 • No. 11
