NEW YORK — AIDS activists disrupted the carefully
scripted Republican National Convention on Wednesday, as about 10 protesters blew
whistles and chanted “Bush kills!” and “Bush lies!” interrupting
remarks by White House chief of staff Andrew Card.
Card stopped speaking as police removed the protesters. At least one delegate
was slightly injured in the incident and at least one arrest was made. The AIDS
protest group ACT UP later claimed responsibility.
Elsewhere around the city, gay rights activists joined hundreds of thousands
of other protesters in demonstrating throughout the week against Bush and the
GOP. About 1,700 people were arrested as of mid-week.
Apart from the ACT-UP protest, the scene inside Madison Square Garden was celebratory
this week, as delegates and speakers from around the country praised President
Bush’s response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Speakers were mostly mum
on gay-related issues, despite the GOP’s adopting anti-gay language in
its party platform last week.
North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole alluded to the same-sex marriage controversy
in her remarks Tuesday.
“Marriage is important not because it is a convenient invention or the
latest reality show,” Dole said. “Marriage is important because
it is the cornerstone of civilization, and the foundation of the family. Marriage
between a man and a woman isn’t something Republicans invented, but it
is something Republicans will defend.”
On the eve of Vice President Dick Cheney’s speech, Republican U.S. Senate
candidate Alan Keyes criticized Cheney’s lesbian daughter, Mary.
Interviewed on Sirius OutQ Radio, Keyes called homosexuality “selfish
hedonism.” Keyes was asked if the description “selfish hedonist”
applied to Mary Cheney.
“Of course she is,” Keyes said. “That goes by definition.”
Patrick Guerriero, executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans, assailed
Keyes for his remarks.
“Attacking politicians’ children is beyond the pale, even for an
extremist like Alan Keyes,” Guerriero said in a statement. “Alan
Keyes is good at two things: losing elections and dividing Americans.”
Some of the loudest cheers of the week came when California Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger discussed the American economy on Tuesday.
“To those critics who are so pessimistic about our economy, I say: Don’t
be economic girlie men,” Schwarzenegger said, repeating a line that has
been described by some as anti-gay.
“It’s an obvious reference to ‘Saturday Night Live,’
and it’s nothing more than that,” said gay New Mexico alternate
delegate Pat Killen. “It’s part of entertainment culture in America.
For anyone to suggest that Governor Schwarzenegger was being derogatory against
gay men is ridiculous. He’s a strong supporter of our equal rights.”
The convention opened with the passing of a party platform that is rife with
language that has raised the hackles of gay rights advocates.
Bush announced his support for the Federal Marriage Amendment in February.
The platform language on same-sex marriage reiterates party support for the
president’s call for a constitutional amendment.
“We believe that neither federal nor state judges nor bureaucrats should
force states to recognize other living arrangements as equivalent to marriage,”
the platform states. “We believe, and the social science confirms, that
the well-being of children is best accomplished in the environment of the home,
nurtured by their mother and father anchored by the bonds of marriage.”
The “marriage plank” also opposes other forms of legal recognition
for gay couples, including civil unions and domestic partnerships.
The platform also endorses the Marriage Protection Act, passed by the GOP-controlled
House, that would strip federal courts of the authority to decide whether the
anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act is constitutional.
Members of the Log Cabin Republicans, the party’s principal gay group,
had said they were planning to mount an offensive on the floor of the convention
Monday to strike the language from the platform. But to bring the issue to the
convention floor for debate, Log Cabin needed a majority vote in six different
state delegations.
At a news conference, Guerriero acknowledged that he didn’t have the
votes for a floor fight and the platform would stand as written.
Instead, Log Cabin launched a TV ad campaign featuring images of Ronald Reagan.
The ad challenges the social conservative wing of the party and appeals to voters
to choose “hope, not fear.” (Please see related story on page 25)
The Human Rights Campaign also responded by hiring four large billboard trucks
with the message “George W. Bush: You’re Fired!” to drive
through the streets of Manhattan during the convention this week. Earlier this
year, HRC endorsed John Kerry’s presidential bid.
While disheartened by the anti-gay language in the platform, Carl Schmid, a
gay delegate from Washington, D.C., said that some hope did come out of the
platform meetings. He said language was stricken from the platform that would
have supported the Boy Scouts of America, which bars gay members; the party’s
2000 platform did contain such an endorsement.
Schmid said the platform committee or Bush campaign operatives also pushed
back several other anti-gay platform amendments. Schmid said he worked to keep
the language about the FMA restricted to marriage, leaving open the possibility
for civil unions.
But despite that effort, the Family Research Council and other conservative
activists successfully proposed language that opposes not just marriage for
gay couples but any “legal recognition and the accompanying benefits afforded
couples.”
“We were not there in force,” he said.
At their convention in Boston, most Democrats were similarly quiet about same-sex
marriage, though their platform did repudiate the Federal Marriage Amendment
and sought to define marriage at the state level.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
