Gay Today: World

Dick Cheney:
Anti-Gay, Anti-Choice, Pro-Military Ban

Compiled By GayToday

Washington, D.C.--Former Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney, who according to a report posted Monday afternoon on the website of the Washington Post is Gov. George W. Bush's pick for the Republican vice presidential nominee, has a lengthy conservative record that includes opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment, opposition to reproductive choice, and opposition to lifting a ban on gay, lesbian and bisexual people being able to serve in the military.

That's the finding of background research produced by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and released yesterday. For a printable copy of the one-page report on Cheney, please visit www.ngltf.org/federal/cheneyVP.htm.

Cheney in 1993 opposed President Clinton's effort to lift the military ban and openly gay, lesbian and bisexual servicemembers. At the height of the debate, Cheney warned that defense cuts and the proposal to lift the ban "have led to a decline in the quality of military recruits." He added that "the whole reduction in defense spending, the controversy over gays in the military, has led to an unwillingness to serve and low morale."

According to the NGLTF research, Cheney opposed the Equal Rights Amendment, opposes reproductive choice and supports prayer in public schools.

Cheney also serves as a trustee of the arch-conservative American Enterprise Institute, where he was a former senior fellow. The American Enterprise Institute is home to many right-wing thinkers, such as former Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Charles Murray, author of The Bell Curve, a book which suggests that differences in intelligence exist between blacks and whites and that these differences are genetic and immutable. American Enterprise Institute scholars have also been outspoken in their opposition to equal rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

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National Gay & Lesbian Task Force

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"George W. Bush has flubbed the most important decision in his presidential campaign," said Elizabeth Toledo, NGLTF executive director.

"His compassionate conservatism holds out no compassion whatsoever for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. Furthermore, it sends a chilling signal to women, to people of color and to those concerned with fairness and equality that a major political party would offer up a candidate with such a background to the voters. This selection demonstrates that right-wing, religious extremists are still a powerful force on the political landscape."