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1997

At the end of the summer growing season it is traditional among some cultures to take stock of the harvest in terms of accomplishments and experiences, along with its more concrete products, such as fruits, vegetables and grains. But while it has been a great year in the fields for grapes, tomatoes and apples, the courtrooms and legislative chambers of this country have produced a bitter harvest indeed.

Our federal law makers have given us anti-immigrant legislation, which gave impetus to a recent INS sweep through the local Latino/Latina population and trailed a host of human rights abuses in its wake. The new law also leaves legal immigrants without the financial safety net of government money, and the children of illegal immigrants without public education. "Send me your poor, your huddled masses," be damned.

This same congress also voted in the so-called "Welfare Reform Act," which does not actually improve the welfare system for poor families, but rather slices $60 million from its funding, and will likely leave millions of children and parents without adequate food, shelter and a home situation conducive to educational and employment opportunities.

In case these new laws aren't a big enough kick in the butt for poor people and minorities, the University of California system has decided to dispense with the affirmative action policies that brought more women and people of color into the mainstream of education. There is also a measure to dispense with affirmative action in hiring on the state-wide ballot for November.

And while the big picture appears pretty grim, the horizon for gays, lesbians, and other sexual minorities is not looking any better. A file of lesbian and gay-related news clippings I began collecting recently reveals such headlines as: "Court chooses killer dad over lesbian mom," "Anti-gay pact" (It opposes any "proposal that sexual orientation be affirmed and included in all public school curriculum," and is datelined Palmdale), "Lesbian quit battle for son," and "Anti-gay marriage bill OK'ed."

"What a world," as the Wicked Witch of the West so aptly puts it. What a world, indeed, where children are wrenched from the arms of loving and capable mothers to be raised by fathers who have never lifted a finger in their behalf, or grandmothers who allowed their own daughters to be molested by the grandmothers' live-in boyfriends. For two judges in the southeastern part of this great nation anything is apparently better than being raised "in a lesbian world."

I am referring here to two cases, one in Tallahassee, Florida, in which a judge awarded custody of an adolescent girl to her father, a convicted murderer because her mother, Mary Ward, who had raised her without assistance from the father, is a lesbian. A state appeals court upheld the decision.

The other case involves a Virginia court decision that awarded custody of a now five-year-old boy to his grandmother, also based on his mother's lesbianism. A state appeals court reversed the decision, sending the child back to his mother Kay Bottoms, but the Virginia Supreme Court upheld the original ruling, and grandma got the boy again. A recent court ruling in the case allows the child to visit Bottoms in her home, but only if Bottoms' lover, April Wade, is not present. It also prohibits Wade, who has co-parented the child since his infancy, from speaking to the boy at all.

If you cannot fully comprehend what it means to lose a child because of your sexuality, imagine what it would be like if the law took away whoever you love most because of the color of your eyes.

Back in the congressional arena, lesbian and gay rights also suffered a couple of set-backs. In early September the US Senate passed a bill that would allow states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages that have been performed in other states. Currently no state allows such marriages, but Hawaii is considering it.

Only 14 senators, including California's Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, voted against the legislation entitled the "Defense of Marriage Act. On the same day senators rejected a bill that would have granted gays, lesbians and bisexuals the same job protection as other minority groups and women, by only one vote. In fact, it would have passed if Senator David Pryor, a Democrat from Arkansas, had not been called away to the bedside of his ailing son before the vote was taken.

Interestingly, of the 14 who voted against the Defense of Marriage Act only one, John Kerry, D-Mass, is up for re-election. Even a usually trustworthy lefty like Paul Wellstone of Minnesota was afraid to alienate his supporters by voting against the bill because he is waging a tough electoral campaign against a right-wing Republican.

Not to pick on the good Senator Wellstone, since he did manage to vote for the anti-discrimination bill, but it is this kind of election-time maneuvering that is infinitely more disheartening than genuine bigotry. What is most truly despicable is watching so-called moderates like Bob Dole and Pete Wilson, and supposed gay friendly types like President Clinton, swing down the path of anti-gay bigotry when it seems like the shortest route to winning an election. With only two months to go before the big election day, former anti-war activist Clinton dumped a pile of bombs on Iraq and agreed to sign the noxious Defense of Marriage Act into law. As the old saying goes, "With friends like these..."

But while it seems like this year's political crop came to market with nothing but rotten apples in the barrel, I don't believe it is time to trade in the good fight for a seat on the stock exchange, even if that is an option. Stuck in among all the depressing clipping in my file I found a little ray of hope. It's a short article from the church pages of the Press Democrat dated January 20 and titled, "Santa Rosa church OK's open stand on gays.

According to the article, the First Congregational United Church of Christ on Humboldt Street in Santa Rosa became the 19th church in the California/Nevada conference of its denomination to ratify the national church's "Open and Affirming statement" welcoming gays and lesbians as members, and not attempting to change their sexual orientation.

Quoting from the article, the church's pastor, Rev. Dorothy Brooks, said, "First Congregational lost some members during the process, but gained some 'wonderful gay and lesbian members and some heterosexual people - families, retirees and others - who want to be part of a church that speaks for openness.'"

The article concludes with another statement from Brooks. "The easiest thing to do is have a church where everybody is very similar and not a challenge, but that's not what Jesus was talking about."

Now there's a woman whose attitude can make the world seem like a place worth inhabiting. Maybe it was a good year, after all.