The View From The Hill - gay members of Congress

Present and past gay members of Congress talk about the changing state of gay politics

BARNEY FRANK AND TAMMY BALDWIN

On the wall opposite Barney Frank's desk in his private office is a large framed photograph of the congressman sliding into home plate during a softball game. The picture could serve as an apt metaphor for the veteran Democrat's long political journey. If the Democrats recapture the House in November as some pundits predict, the ten-term veteran from Massachusetts and senior member of the Banking and Judiciary committees will stand to gain an even more influential post from which to outmaneuver the GOP's far-right wing.

Despite the possibility of Frank's advancement, the gay movement still has a long way to go. There are currently only three openly gay members in the 435-seat House and none in the Senate. The notion of an openly gay member of the Supreme Court or the president's cabinet is little more than a gleam in an activist's eye. The main piece of federal gay rights legislation, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, appears to be years away from passage.

On a crisp day in early March, Frank and Wisconsin representative Tammy Baldwin, who in 1998 became the first woman elected to Congress from her state and the first out lesbian elected to the House, met in Frank's cavernous private office to discuss the gay state of the union. They were joined via speakerphone by former Wisconsin representative Steve Gunderson, who retired in 1996. (The third openly gay member of Congress currently in office, Republican Jim Kolbe of Arizona, declined to participate in this discussion.)

Gunderson made history in 1994 when he came out in an interview with The Advocate, becoming the first gay Republican congressman to volunteer that he was gay while in office. Today, he is managing director of the Washington, D.C., office of Greystone Companies, a strategic planning and communications firm. He is also a senior official of the Republican Main Street Partnership, a moderate Republican organization, and the Family AIDS Network, which is an advocate for AIDS research and education. Gunderson and his partner, Rob Moms, are members of the board of the Human Rights Campaign, a Washington, D.C., gay rights group.

In a surprisingly civil exchange, Frank, well-known for his partisan barbs, found more agreement than acrimony in his conversation with Gunderson, a GOP loyalist. The soft-spoken Baldwin, regarded as a rising star of the House freshman class, countered Frank's criticism of the Millennium March on Washington.

A lot has changed since the last march in 1993, just after Clinton took office. Is the country a better place for gays and lesbians?

Baldwin: That's the same year I was elected to the Wisconsin state assembly--I became the first openly gay person elected to that body. From that perspective, it was refreshing to me that we finally had a president who could say the words "gay" and "lesbian." I watched all the appointments of gay people to the Administration. It made me feel like I wasn't the only one out there.

Frank: The movement in this society against homophobia has really advanced since then. By now we not only have millions of openly gay, lesbian, and bisexual people, we also have tens of millions of relatives and friends of gay people, and I think that's why gay bashing in politics has diminished.

Bill Clinton has done three things by his own executive authority to protect gays and lesbians: banning discrimination in the federal civil service; abolishing the notion that gays and lesbians are security risks; and allowing gays and lesbians overseas to get asylum in this country if they are being persecuted.

Gunderson: I would add that corporate America today is dealing with these issues in a way that they would not have eight years ago. That's why we are seeing changes in the private sector--like antidiscrimination statutes and domestic-partner benefits--that we have not seen on a large scale in the public sector yet.

Baldwin: One of the things that domestic partnership and the marriage lawsuits have done is create visibility for gay families. Depicting us as parts of families and communities has helped us gain politically.

What will Clinton's legacy be?

Frank: Clinton will play in history a role comparable to--but better than--John F. Kennedy on race. While he did not do everything I would have liked--for example, his refusal to make the military carry out even the minor changes in the military policy he made--he is the first president to act on the principle that sexual orientation discrimination is wrong.

Gunderson: We in the gay community often want to be critical. Because of that, we're going to focus on the failure of "don't ask, don't tell." The truth is, Bill Clinton has been a great moral leader in regard to justice and respect for the gay and lesbian community. He deserves much more credit than criticism.

Steve, as the resident Republican, do you think Clinton's record will cause gay Republicans to vote for Vice President Gore in November?