BY TIM CAMPBELL
© JUNE 11, 2004
<
Photo here
Dale Carpenter, a professor at the University of Minnesota who specializes in sexual-orientation law, gets quoted a lot these days in articles about the fight for legal gay marriage. Unfortunately, a lot of Carpenter's facts and analysis are simply wrong.
For example, Carpenter told Jack Spillane, a reporter for the Standard-Times in South Florida, "Even gay activists who endorsed the concept [of gay marriage] in the 1970s and '80s saw it as a longer-term goal....It was seen as a loser, a guaranteed loser."
Who in hades does Carpenter mean by "gay activists?"
I lived through those years as an instructor at the University of Minnesota. Jack Baker and Mike McConnell were known as "gay activists." I was known as a gay activist. Koreen Phelps was known as a gay activist.
We all believed we would win gay rights, sooner, not later.
People who were out of the closet were activists. People who were not out insisted they were not activists. They hated that word.
The people who called gay marriage a "loser" were low-level, local Democratic politicians seeking public office. They were trying to coopt the gay-rights movement by promising they would take care of gays eventually. They thought "gay activist" was a dirty name.
The primary culprit was University of Minnesota history professor Allan Spear. He also liked to call Baker and McConnell "the lunatic fringe." Ironically, Spear won his first election to the Minnesota Senate only because Jack Baker endorsed him. (See correction below.)
I can't believe Carpenter is now canonizing Spear as a gay historian and a "gay activist." That's really queer.
Spear was no activist. He was dragging his feet back then. Today, his tail is in Jurassic Park. Why, he's been in a relationship with the same guy about 20 years and never lifted a hand to protect that relationship legally.
In many places, Carpenter predicts that the courts are going to leave gay marriage up to the states. He claims McConnell v. USA, the new lawsuit filed by McConnell and Baker against the Bush Administration and the IRS, is a "loser."
Sound familiar?
Two things are self-evident.
First, the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act has already federalized the gay-marriage issue. It's too late for the courts to leave it to the states. Second, the current U.S. Supreme Court already bit the bullet on the hardest gay-rights issue: the sodomy laws. Nobody bats an eye over sodomy anymore. We call it a "Lewinsky" and chuckle. Clinton did at least that for gay rights!
Let me predict that long-term gay relationships like Baker and McConnell's are simply not going to freak out this Supreme Court. It may even be impressed with their 38 years together, as are most fair-minded people today. Baker and McConnell dignify the very idea of marriage.
Most importantly, I do not buy Carpenter's analysis of gay history.
Yes, AIDS may have helped gay marriage gain popularity. Yes, a lesbian baby boom may have helped lesbian marriage gain popularity. Still, Carpenter misses the biggest cause: Gay marriage is popular now because closetry is dead. Contemporary gays and lesbians instinctively seek recognition of their relationships, just like all other lovers.
Hallelujah!
Correction: Jack Baker endorsed Allan Spear the first time he ran for officer, that was for the Minnesota House, not the Minnesota Senate.
Allan Spear's Letter
Friday, June 25, 2004
Letters/Lavender June 25, 2004
I am never quite sure where Tim Campbell is coming from. Several months ago, he called me from his home in Houston, and we had a long, cordial conversation. I assumed that our disagreements were in the past.
Now, apropros of nothing I have done or said in the past 30 years, he has written a vitrolic and inaccurate attack on me [Lavender, June 11].
Let me correct a few of his statements.
First, I never opposed gay marriage.
I admired Jack Baker and Mike McConnell's pioneer efforts, and worked with them in 1972 at the DFL State Convention to pass a gay marriage plank in the party platform.
I did believe that it was premature in the 1970s to push gay marriage at the State Legislature, and I remain convinced of the soundness of that judgment.
It is true that Jack Baker endorsed me for the State Senate in 1972, and I welcomed and valued his support, along with that of hundreds of other people who worked in that campaign.
But to suggest that I was elected "only" because of Jack's endorsement is ludicrous. If that were true, it would be hard to explain how I won by a much larger margin in 1976, when Jack was actively working for my opponent.
Finally, Tim knows nothing about what my partner and I have done to legally protect our relationship.
That is a personal matter that I certainly have never discussed with Tim Campbell.
Tim, from one aging gay activist to another: Isn't it time to call a truce? You and I have both, in our own different ways, worked hard for many years for GLBT rights. Why rehash these ancient disputes? We have far more dangerous enemies to fight than each other.
—ALLAN H. SPEAR
Tim Campbell resonds to Allan Spear
(Expected to appear July 9, 2004 in Lavender)
Let me refresh Allan Spear's memory of our telephone conversation. I specifically asked him whether he and Jun had gone anywhere where gay marriages are allowed or done anything similar to protect their relationship. He said "No." Allan then went on to add some time later. "We don't need anything like that."
Allan, you even told me you and Jun had thought about doing something, but never had, saying "Just laziness, I guess." Does this jog your memory now?
The first thing I learned about Allan Spear was from Steve Endean who told me Allan strongly opposed Jack and Mike's marriage. I heard Allan himself refer to that marriage and Jack Baker as the "lunatic fringe."
I keep attacking Spear and Endean because people continue quoting them saying nasty things about Baker and McConnell. Usually the quotes are anonymous, off the record, however, and I have to suppose it's Allan.
I do admit that Spear has rarely criticised me in public. But then, I've usually had the power of the press in my hands.
Like Allan Spear, I'd like to let by-gones be by-gones. To this end I extend this invitation to Allan and to Jun. Join the First Gay Couple Fan Club. This means nothing more than that you hope Baker and McConnell win "McConnell v USA" and finally get their same-sex union recognized.
The Fan Club wants to tell the press, if ever asked, how many supporters Jack and Mike have. We want to be able to give a hard number, not just something like "under 250 million."
Allan, to end old feuds and move on, please send an email with the words "Count me" or "Count us" in the subject line to firstgaycouplefanclub@yahoo.com. Jun, you can do so also. We'd love to have you both.
Kisses,
Tim Campbell
No comments:
Post a Comment