A FEW MONTHS ago, no one would have believed that Louis Farrakhan would be chatting with gay and lesbian leaders on a conference call while William Weld would be distancing himself from the LGBT community. But that’s exactly what happened over the summer.
Farrakhan, the historically homophobic Nation of Islam leader, found himself reaching out to black gays to encourage them to attend his Millions More Movement March in October. On the other hand Weld, the traditionally gay-friendly former Massachusetts governor, found himself wiggling out of his state (and his past) in an attempt to carpetbag his way to the Republican nomination for governor of New York.
We’ve seen this before. Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton promised as a candidate to lift the ban on gays in the military and then compromised into “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” as president.
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So it’s not enough to vote on Election Day. We also have to write letters, send e-mails, make phone calls and speak up on our blogs to get our voices heard. Let’s take a lesson from the Arnold Schwarzenegger of 1977 and remember to flex our muscles.
http://www.southernvoice.com/2005/9-16/view/columns/columns_BOYKIN.cfm