Gertrude Stein June 6, 1990 JUN 12 RECO DEMOCRATIC CLUB P.O. Box 21067, Washington, D.C. 20009 The Honorable David E. Clarenbach Speaker Pro Tem of the Assembly 422 North State Capitol Madison, WI 53702 Dear David: On behalf of the members of the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, I want to thank you for being our keynote speaker at our annual banquet on May 12, 1990. Your remarks were very well received in our community, and we received many compliments on our selection of you as our keynote speaker. My belief is that you started many minds thinking about the possibility of running for office. I am sorry you were unable to join us at the after-Banquet party in our suite. We are grateful that you were able to attend our Banquet on such short notice, and greatly appreciate your willingness to participate. Over 300 people were in attendance, and everyone at our table was excited about your recent HIV legislation because most of them are living with HIV. The candidates I spoke to were very impressed with your accomplishments. Of course, many of them are hoping to follow in your footsteps and be state legislators in the new state of New Columbia... Maybe we can work together on getting this through at least one state legislature? I have enclosed a check for your tuxedo and transportation expenses. Please call whenever you are in D.C.; I'd like to take you to dinner and spend more time talking with you. Thank you again for your willingness to join us. Sincerely, Mauro A. Montoya, r. President Enclosure --- David E. Clarenbach SPEAKER PRO TEM OF THE ASSEMBLY GERTRUDE B. STEIN DEMOCRATIC CLUB SPEECH May 12, 1990 Washington, D.C. We gather here today to celebrate difference, to celebrate accomplishments, to celebrate human rights. For the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club its 10 years of celebrating pride. As I look out across the broad political landscape of our nation, I can point with pride to Wisconsin's historic standing in the forefront of the Gay and Lesbian civil rights movement. Known by many as the "Gay Rights State", we have legalized and legitimized Gay and Lesbian relationships, we have defended the principles of sexual privacy and we were the very first state to extend full civil rights guarantees based on sexual orientation by flatly prohibiting by law discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations. 422 North, State Capitol Madison, Wisconsin 53702 608-266-8570 --- In this decade, Wisconsin has enacted special criminal penalties against Gay-bashing. Our hate crimes criminal statute sends a clear message that violence motivated by bigotry is not only wrong, but in our state illegal as well. We have enacted laws to stop discrimination based on AIDS status, we've totally banned involuntary AIDS testing, we've limited the use of AIDS anti-body tests for insurance purposes. And, just last month, we enacted a bill of rights for people with AIDS and HIV infection to guarantee medical care and treatment for each of the estimated 10,000 Wisconsin residents who are HIV positive. That is the Wisconsin record. And that, my friends, is just a beginning. Yet you might ask: why out there, why in Wisconsin of all places, have we made this kind of singular progress? After all, Wisconsin is a middle-sized, mid-western, agricultural state not exactly your ideal model for Gay rights organizing. 111 One distinct advantage, (not to get off the subject), admittedly, is that we are a state. We have homerule and our laws are not subject to arbitrary override by the federal government. --- (Parenthetically, another Wisconsin first of which I was proud to be the author the first legislature to adopt the DC statehood amendment! But I digress....) --- Let's face it, our experience nationally has been at times discouraging: the eight years of Reagan and now four more years of Bush administration policies; a Supreme Court with an increasingly right wing view on individual rights (whether it's the Hardwick decision or the Webster decision); the almost criminally inadequate funding for AIDS research and education, and medical care for people with AIDS; or the painfully slow progress in the Congress on federal civil rights legislation. How did Wisconsin do it? More than 10 years ago we set out to create a political and religious and community base of support to make Gay and Lesbian rights a mainstream issue. With In Wisconsin, we found elected officials willing to take political risks to advance the cause of human rights. enough Republican support, we made Gay rights a bi-partisan issue and thereby created a secure political environment for officeholders to act. It is worth note that enactment of our civil rights law was secured in both houses of the legislature with Republican votes providing the margin of victory. And was signed into law by a Republican Governor. Gay rights is a bi-partisan issue in Wisconsin. --- In Wisconsin, we successfully isolated the moral majority as the lunatic fringe that they are. Which means we had support from every major denomination, Protestant, Jewish and Catholic (including Archbishop Weakland). The Wisconsin Baptist Convention endorsed our bill. We even had on file a telegram from God Almighty. In the mainstream religious community, we defined the terms of debate: we did not ask the religious leaders to resolve whether homosexuality was good or bad, we asked if bigotry and discrimination could be tolerated against any minority group in our society? And to that question, the answer is a resounding "NO!" You can image how helpful it is to have on the day of the big vote the galleries packed with priests and nuns in support of our bill. And, in Wisconsin, we had the most important part of the equation. We had people like you: a Gay and Lesbian community; men and women, active and aware and involved, leading the way, calling the shots, demanding basic human rights - the right to live and let live, love and let love. --- In the final analysis, in Wisconsin these series of historic civil rights protection are in the process of working. Increasingly, they affect the real lives of real people, making it easier and safer to live, to work and to come out. Well, what of it? Of what relevance is this to all of you? but you It is important because you are not just DC activists, are our national leadership as well. And you've got to hear from an outlander like me. We need a new, vigorous commitment to state and local efforts to compliment the national strategies already in place. We need to put the radical right and fundamentalist extremists on the defensive not only in the halls of the Congress, but in every statehouse and in every nook and cranny of every state in the nation. We must confront them and beat them at their own game. We can and we will. --- We gather this evening to celebrate, yes, but also to plot our future: to move ahead, to set agendas, to accept challenges, to take risks, to win battles and yes, to lose some as well. 111 The heart of the question is whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights. Toward that goal, let us move forward, together. ---