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Why Reagan Was a Better Friend to Gays Than Obama
 by 
John T. Simpson
I really thought my Republican platform piecehere at BH would have been my last for awhile. Plenty for readers of allstripes to chew on. And I got too many other things to do. The reason for my reluctant return is yet another critical issuethe Obamamedia and our LibDem government are completely flat-lining on: the officially sanctioned exterminations of LGBTs in Iraq, and on our dime. Not to mention State’s cold and lame response. More on that later. Too much more,actually.First, the one of the main points of this fact-based opinion piece. And I know I’m going to catch hell from the Streisandand Brolin crowdon this one! Ronald Reagan was a hero to gays, and Obama has not been to date. I know, I know. The Evil Ronald Reagan, who practically invented AIDS? Reagan, the Adolf Eichmann of the Gay World? Not true. Not by acountry mile!In fact, Ronald Reagan was a better friend to gays and lesbians in his age than Barack Obama has been to gays in his.But don’t even go by what I say. I’m a right wingextremist, and very biased to what I believe. I admit it. Who isn’t thesedays? The press?LOL! But here are some irrefutable facts on The One and The Gipper I thought I’d throw out there. Agay buffet for thought, if you will. With swimming pools. Andmovie stars.You may not know this, but like former presidential candidate Barack Obama, then-candidate Ronald Reagan faced a polarizing gay-related California ballot referendum of his own in 1978. It was called the Briggs Initiative, better known as Prop 6, and would have banned all gays and lesbians from teaching in California schools.This, in an America not nearly as tolerant of homosexuals or gay issues back then as now. Just ask ‘em. I remember. Ireadthe far left Boston Phoenix. It was free, why not? And I knew fag haters. Too many, actually. But I digress. Back to1978 California, presidential candidate Ronald Reagan, gays and the Briggs Initiative, better known as Prop 6.As Prop 6 appeared to be gaining steam as the vote neared, with State Senator  John Briggs stoking fears of gay teachers in the classroom with the full backing of California’s right wing, gays and lesbians were terrified that Prop 6 mightactually become law. In their darkest hour, they turned to a most unlikely hero and savior: former California governor and conservative Republican Ronald Reagan, then gearing up for his 1980 presidential run.After hearing the group’s concerns, candidate Reagan not only agreed with them, but became the bill’s most publicdetractor, even penning a scathingop-edagainst it in the now-defunct Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, in which he saidthe following:
 
“Whatever else it is, homosexuality is not a contagious disease like the measles. Prevailing scientific opinion is that anindividual’s sexuality is determined at a very early age and that a child’s teachers do not really influence this.”Ronnie also stated that the same laws regarding the safety of schoolchildren applied to ALL teachers in the state. How’sTHAT for progressive thinking from a conservative Republican, in an America not eight years removed from theStonewall Riots? With former two-time Governor Reagan’s stern and vocal opposition, Prop 6 lost by a million votes.And John Briggs lost his race for governor in the primaries.In taking the bold stand he did, candidate Reagan completely alienated the right wing in California, which blamed himfor both the Prop 6 defeat and John Briggs’ primary loss. It was an act of political courage on Reagan’s part that mightnot only have cost him electoral vote-rich California, but the Presidency itself.As it turned out, Ronald Reagan took California by a handy seventeen points in his 1980 landslide pummelingof JimmyCarter, sending the President back to his peanut farm in Georgia (if only he hadstayed there). And you can bet a lot of  grateful gays and lesbians remembered Ronnie’s championing their cause, and pulled the lever for The Gipper. Butdespite all that, Ronald Reagan was a conservative of his time. Tolerance did not mean acceptance.Again, from theIndependent Gay Forum:Reagan: “My criticism is that [the gay movement] isn’t just asking for civil rights; it’s asking for recognition andacceptance of an alternative lifestyle which I do not believe society can condone, nor can I.”Aside from his tolerant personal attitude, Reagan’s actual record on civil liberties for gays was surprisingly good.Cannon reports that Reagan was “repelled by the aggressive public crusades against homosexual life styles which became a staple of right wing politics in the late 1970s.Though liberals may harangue Ronald Reagan as I’ve indicated, the fact remains. When gays and lesbians desperatelyneeded him as they faced REAL institutionalized homophobia, Ronald Reagan was there for them, and in a major waythat turned the tide completely in their favor. In fact, the openly gayLog Cabin Republicanswere spawned from thishuge political victory. Now let us move on to candidate Barack Obama and his wishy-washy stand on Prop 8, the gay California ballotreferendum of his time:“I’ve stated my opposition to this. I think [Prop 8 is] unnecessary. I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. Iam not in favor of gay marriage. But when you start playing around with constitutions, just to prohibit somebody whocares about another person, it just seems to me that’s not what America’s about. Usually, our constitutions expandliberties, they don’t contract them.”The main point that seemed to escape candidate Obama at this time was that they WERE playing around with theCalifornia Constitution. I believe candidate Obama missed an opportunity here to take a bold stand on gay issues likeReagan did, and speak out against Prop 8 from the liberal Democrat POV. He was, and is, a very charming and
 
charismatic candidate and President. No denying that. He could have used that charisma and charm to sway many mindsover, and with a very simple statement that could have swung the Prop 8 vote the 3 points it needed to pass.Example:“Though I myself oppose gay marriage, I cannot let this Constitutional ban go unchallenged. Amendments that restrictrights instead of expanding them are un-American. Therefore, I oppose the passage of Proposition 8, and I hope you will,too. I will further state that I only support this measure as civil procedure.“Churches and individuals that are morally opposed to gay marriage should not be compelled under legal threat or duressto participate. That is their right under freedom of religion. I would no more want gays invading the rights of churches,than I would want churches invading the rights of gays.”But, no. What we got was candidate Obama wetting his finger and sticking it in the air. Just like Bill Clinton with his poll-driven morality, trying to have it both ways. Not much Hope For Change there with regard to Democratic presidents, it would seem. Even in office, the Obama Administration has been wishy-washy on pushing gay issues likeDon’t Ask, Don’t Tell. But I don’t really care about that. Obama and gay advocates can hammer out DADT, among manyother issues.But even as a straight man, I am VERY concerned about the officially-sanctionedexterminationof LGBTs in Iraq on our dime, what I now call the Gay Holocaust in Iraq. What else do you call a specifically targeted pogrom, with the expressgoal of exterminating a segment of the population? If this were merely a death squad issue, that would be matter for theIraqi government.Unfortunately, the Iraqi government is neck-deepin the gay butchery themselves. Interior Ministry police hunt down gays in Baghdad, raid parties, hunt them online by using fake foreign IP addresses (as Iran does), then tortures andexterminates them in the worst possible ways. Just as Iraqi Spiritual Leader Ali al-Sistani declared they should be, in his2006 fatwa of deathagainst Iraqi LGBTs. Though removed from his website after controversy, the fatwa is still in full effect.Allow me at this point to question the spirituality of a religious leader favoring any pogrom, or stating that ANYONEshould die in the ‘worst possible ways’.Here is one former Mahdi Army member who now makes acareer  of being a gay death squad ’surgeon,’ cutting out the cancer of homosexuality the Americans brought with them to Iraq. His words, not mine. Also, one particularly subhumantechnique of killing gays, now quite popular with Iraq’s most pious Shiite extremists, is to super-glue a gay man’s anusshut, pump him full of a diarrhea-inducing compound, and have a few laughs as the victim suffers unbelievable agony before dying. The Iraqi tribes also now havecarte blancheto exterminate any Iraqi LGBTs they find.Unfortunately, this Gay Holocaust of Iraqi LGBTs, which has already claimed nearly 500 innocent lives in the mostgruesome of ways since the 2003 invasion, and is now ramping up in violence and horror by the day, enjoys wide publicsupport in Islamic Iraq. Just take a look at this recent report, also fromCommon Ills:This morning 
 AFP 
is reporting
 
that signs are going up around the Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad threatening to killa list of people alleged to be gay. The posters are put out by the Brigades of the Righteous and AFP translates the postersas stating, “We will punish you, perverts” and “We will get you, puppies” has been scrawled on some posters — “puppies” being slang for gay males in Iraq. The Australian carries the
 AFP 
report here. These posters are going up around Sadr City. Where is the United Nations condemnation? Where is the White House, where is the US State Dept?Very good questions, to which you may not like the answers. I know I don’t. Here’s State’s response to this worseninggay horrorshow in Iraq, again from the Common Ills blog: Noel Clay, a State Department spokesperson, said U.S. officials “condemn the persecution of LGBTs in Iraq,” but he
couldn’t confirm whether the violence they’re facing in Iraq is because of their sexual orientation
. Clay noted thatwhile homosexuality is against the law in Iraq, the death penalty is not the punishment for homosexual acts.
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