The Center of the Universe

In which our man in Washington dines with dairymen, ponders politics with gay Republicans, and investigates interns.

Michael W. Lynch from the October 1999 issue

(Page 2 of 3)

Archer got to the nut of the issue. "What this debate is really about," said the soon-to-be-retired Texas congressman, who is responsible for writing tax legislation, "is whether we are going to downsize the power of Washington and upsize the power of the people." He then proclaimed that "broad-based tax relief" will be the dominant item in his tax relief plan, which will also address the marriage tax penalty, education capital spending, capital gains tax cuts, the death tax, and incentives for health care.

This announcement might seem mundane, but to budget and tax policy watchers, and to Republican publicists, the news was unexpected and exciting, tantamount to Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's taking time out from reading a prepared statement to scratch his head. "We expected [Archer] to just show a little ankle," Hastert press secretary Pete Jeffries told me after the event. "He went up over the knee."

Jeffries may have sensed belatedly that Bill Archer's naked knee is not necessarily an image that sells. He was soon onto his next point. "If the market goes up today, it's because of the capital gains announcement," he said with a self-satisfied smile. "What if it goes down?" I retorted. After a brief pause, he said that would be because it was worn out from the runup the day before. (For the record, the Dow closed up 96 points. Reuters cited a "good outlook for second quarter earnings," not political promises of tax cuts, as the reason.)

Date: Fri, July 23, 1999 3:47:53 PM
From: [e-mail]
Subj: Log Cabin Libertarians

Two and a half years in Washington and I've finally found the free marketeers in the Republican Party--they're gay.

The second Wednesday of each month, in the basement of the Rhodeside Grill in Arlington, Virginia, anywhere from 30 to 60 gay men, a few straights, and a couple of women gather under the auspices of the Log Cabin Club of Northern Virginia. I dropped by yesterday to catch the featured talk, "Freedom for All: The Case Against Employment Non-Discrimination Laws," by Nigel Ashford, a professor of American politics in England.

I assumed they had to go all the way to England to find a gay conservative willing to argue against making homosexuality a protected class under federal discrimination law. But this hunch was wrong. The vast majority of the 40 or so gentlemen and two ladies present appeared to agree with Ashford. This puts them at odds with the national Log Cabin Club and probably every other gay advocacy organization.

Bookended by a dartboard and a TV showing local news, Nigel began his talk by saying he had 15 minutes to give 12 reasons why the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), was a bad thing. "Start with a principle," he said. It is wrong to discriminate, but it is wrong to force people not to discriminate. Since he has no right to a particular job, being denied it is not a denial of his rights. Said Nigel, "Even bigots have rights."

Nigel then laid out three more specific reasons to oppose ENDA: It's a threat to civil liberties, to society as a whole, and to gays. "It is intended to increase opportunity, but perversely, and I said perversely, not perversity, it will have the opposite effect," he said. This is because employers will be less likely to hire openly gay individuals if they fear they cannot let them go without risking a lawsuit.

So what is the proper agenda for politically active gays? Gays should work for equality before the law, Ashford said, by attacking sodomy laws and promoting gay marriage, gays in the military, and gay adoption laws. That's not exactly a Republican agenda, but then, Ashford has the benefit of being British.

Not everyone agreed with Ashford's libertarianism. A dissenter said he supported equality and therefore he wanted to be equal with minorities and women. Someone else in the audience clapped. Nigel answered that such group rights were damaging to America, adding that he thinks anti-discrimination laws for other groups should be abolished as well.

The second, and last, question, was about internal Log Cabin Club politics. A man asked Ashford to address the contradiction of people like Log Cabin Club President Rich Tafel, who call themselves libertarians but lobby for ENDA. "It's a good thing he sees himself as a libertarian," Ashford responded. "What he needs to do is read some literature to see what that means. He needs to read David Boaz's book." Boaz was sitting, looking satisfied, to my left. The room erupted in claps.

Outgoing chapter president Dan Blatt rose to give his farewell address, the only barrier between us and dinner upstairs. Blatt's vision is not of pushing a gay-friendly agenda like Nigel's. It's to work with Republican candidates on shared issues, such as lower taxes, while letting them know you're gay and that there are good gays dedicated to the party. Familiarity over time will produce acceptance.

Blatt gave an example of how this could be done. A fellow Log Cabiner had purchased one of those $1,000 tickets to George W. Bush's recent fundraiser in D.C. He made it to the rope line, and when he shook Bush's hand, he didn't advocate gay marriage, gays in the mili-tary, or any of those good things Ashford talked about. He simply said, "I am a gay Republican. We want to work with you."

Blatt added, "My vision for Log Cabin is this: Be openly gay and proudly Republican." I wish him luck.