Posted on 06/24/2002 10:16:26 AM PDT by doug from upland
A bewigged, dejected, haggard -- and urine soaked -- Hillary Rodham Clinton is seen being led into Central Booking at the Washington, DC jail. Indicted for federal campaign funding violations, she had eluded authorities for several weeks. She was apprehended while attempting to hop a westbound Amtrak freight in the switching yards behind Union Station.
Oh Baby, this just ain't the thread for that.
Heck, I like the bumps on your bumps.
. . . . .
I thought I knew what it was like to be on the outside. Most of us gay and lesbian people think we do. After all, we live our lives, out or not, knowing we are on the fringes of society. As a very out feminist gay woman, former leader in the National Organization for Women, I thought I knew what it was like to be at odds with the Establishment. Boy, was I wrong!
You see, it wasn’t until I came out as a dissenter against certain policies of the left-wing political establishment that I learned what it is like to be on the “wrong side” of an issue. These days to be a dissenter from inside the Left means to be isolated, questioned, and distrusted by our own. We know the terms: “self-loathing,” “right-wing shill,” with the cruelest cut meant to be “conservative.”
In my book, The New Thought Police, I challenge the hypocrisy in the feminist and gay establishment on issues of freedom of expression and liberty. When it was released I came face-to-face with the “accusation” of being—gasp!—a conservative. As soon as the book hit the shelves a friend and current leader in NOW, Carol (a pseudonym), called me at home. “What happened to you?” she cried, truly hurt by what she thought was my embrace of conservatism. “I knew talk radio would ruin you!” she proclaimed, referring to my being a radio talk-show host and revealing the fear the Left has of unbridled discussion of the issues. She hadn’t read my book, but even the fact that I had the gall to publicly announce the emperor was stark naked was, for her, indeed a betrayal.
Carol’s reaction was not unique, and that was especially troubling. I spent almost a decade in the trenches working on civil rights issues for women and gays. I’m the same pro-choice feminist I always was. So why were some who knew me so ready to presume I had been abducted by aliens and transformed into the dreaded conservative?
To label someone conservative in our community is meant to cross a line through that person’s name—to associate us with religious fanatics and fundamentalists. Ironically, in all my work I have found that the genuine conservative, who champions the traditional American value of individual liberty, is upholding the values that make it possible for everyone, especially gays and lesbians, to live our lives as we choose.
I am a lesbian, I am pro-choice, and I am a gun owner. Carol is pro-choice, straight (well, none of us is perfect!), and an ardent gun-control advocate. The heart of our conversation revolved around the fact that individual liberty doesn’t necessarily mean being different from everyone else nor marching in lockstep—it means being free to make the choices that best suit us. We knew we would always disagree on certain issues, but this time it was different for her.
"You voted for Reagan!” is how Carol articulated that last straw, that thing that exposed my supposed dangerous conservative underbelly. I told Carol that the same principles that compel me to be pro-choice also oblige me to vote my conscience. Yes, I voted for Reagan in 1984. I also voted for Michael Dukakis in 1988 and (now to my dismay) Bill Clinton. Twice. In 2000, I voted for George W. Bush (with pride). What does all that make me? I hope a thoughtful person.
Funny, isn’t it? The values that allow us to be us—belief in personal liberty and freedom of expression (think Dr. Laura)—are now labeled as conservative ideals by the left-wing establishment. I support Dr. Laura because she has the right to say whatever she pleases, without having to face a gay gestapo for using an unauthorized word to describe us.
I told Carol that if she wants to call me a conservative, fine. But I asked that she should be aware of what principles she and the establishment are throwing into that bucket. In truth, if those who defend liberty are to be defined as conservative in today’s political climate, then I’m proud to wear that label—as proud as I am of “feminist,” “gay,” and “pro-choice.”
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Author of The New Thought Police (Forum), Bruce is a former NOW chapter president and former talk-show host for Los Angeles’s KFI radio.
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