Basic HTML Version
PAGE 10
PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, JULY 27, 1984
Comparative statistics like these should properly refocus nation
al attention to what we can plausibly characterize as the "femin
ization" of the Democratic Party. It's not just a question of
feminist issues, but of perceived Democratic overattention to�
issues, of late-1970s insistence on holding up giant dams to save
rare fish, of unwillingness to crack down on crime, of tremulous
ness with respect to the application of U.S. military power •••and
of general U.S. international helplessness, affirmed so vividly
by the 1979-80 Carter Administration handling of the Iranian hos
tages crisis. A large majority of American men reject these pos
tures, and they identify with Reagan's reassertion of more mascu
line values and tougher diplomacy.
Morton Kondracke, executive editor of the NEW REPUBLIC, took the Democrats
to task, in particular for granting homosexuals officially recognized
status. He commented in the LOS ANGELES TIMES of July 18:
This year the Democrats have not only declared themselves opposed
to discrimination against gays, which is appropriate, but have
accorded them official status, guaranteed them representation on
all party committees and given them a chance to grow in power
witbin the party. Tacitly, but without any formal debate, the
Democrats� backing the� movement's goal of acceptance of
homosexuality as� fully appropriate life style•.•.
This
is a reversal of policy from four years ago, when the Rules
Committee laughed out of the hall an attempt to accord "outreach
group"--that is, affirmative-action--status to gays and les
bians. In a riotous moment at the rules session of the 1980 con
vention, Massachusetts House Speaker Tommy McGee, a gruff Irish
pol of the old school, demanded to know whether the resolution on
the floor "means we don't only not keep 'em out, but we have to go
lookin' for 'em?" He was informed that this was correct. "Then
how about ax murderers?" McGee shouted. "How about child moles
ters? Do we have to go lookin' for them, too?"•••
This year, however, the same resolution passed the Rules Commit
tee without dissent and was adopted by
the
convention on Monday.
The change requires that state parties "develop and submit party
outreach programs •••includin r recruitment, education and train
ing" in order to achieve ful part1c1pat1on by "lesbians and gay
men" in the delegate-selection process.
Steadily, the prophecy of Isaiah 3:9 and 12 is coming to pass: "And they de
clare their sin as Sodom; they do not hide it•.•• As for My people, children
are their oppressors, and women rule over them" (RAV).
--Gene H. Hogberg, News Bureau