[nader-colo-students] Nader and Bush Agree On Fate of Roe vs. Wade

["Damon Haley " <dhaley@greens.org>]

TWO ARTICLES FROM THE SF CHRONICLE:

1. Nader and Bush Agree On Fate of Roe vs. Wade
2. Gay Community's Reminder -- Not Everyone's for Gore


Nader and Bush Agree On Fate of Roe vs. Wade
Both say 1973 decision won't be overturned under next president
By Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political writer
Saturday, November 4, 2000

It may be a sign of the the strange election at hand that both the 
Green Party's Ralph
Nader and the GOP's presidential candidate George W. Bush, who agree 
on so little, are
hand in hand on the future of Roe vs. Wade.

The former consumer advocate and the Texas governor both insist that 
the landmark 1973
Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion is in little danger of 
being overturned
by the Supreme Court, no matter who the next president is.

``All these people are concerned about the one be-all of this 
election, which is Roe
vs. Wade,'' said Nader, in a recent interview with The Chronicle. 
``It's as if there
aren't any cosmic, global, national, major issues of survival and 
environment and
health and safety.''

Nader has maintained there would be no difference for women on that 
issue were Bush or
Vice President Al Gore elected.

But that argument horrifies feminist leaders such as Gloria Steinem 
and pro-choice
advocates including Belle Taylor McGhee, president of the California 
Abortion and
Reproductive Rights Action League.

``To say there's no difference between the most anti-choice governor 
in the nation and
an ardent pro-choice supporter like Al Gore puts women's lives at 
risk,'' McGhee said.
``I don't think women in this country can afford four years of 
restrictions and
impediments on their access to safe legal abortion and reproductive 
health care.''

Mindy Tucker, a Bush spokeswoman, disagrees.

``If you want a candidate who has flip-flopped his position on 
abortion, vote for Al
Gore,'' Tucker said. ``If you want a candidate who understands that 
there are a lot of
different opinions on this issue and who will unite our country 
behind what we all can
agree on
-- reducing the number of abortions in America -- vote for George W.
Bush.''

With just three days to go before the election, the importance of the 
issue is
underscored by the political activity on both sides.

The California arm of NARAL will hold a rally at noon today in San 
Francisco's Union
Square in an effort to mobilize female voters.

The National Right to Life Committee and pro-life advocates like Pat 
Robertson are
convinced that Bush would support an overturning of laws legalizing 
abortion, and are
both endorsing him and working to get out the pro-life vote for Bush.

Indeed, groups on both sides of the abortion debate have put $3.5 
million into the
presidential race, new Federal Election Commission reports show.

The two sides agree that the gulf between the Texas governor and the 
vice president on
the issues of abortion and family planning is wide and deep.

Bush is strongly pro-life, and though he has said this is an issue on 
which ``good
people can disagree,'' he has also said, ``I will do everything in my 
power to
restrict abortions.'' He supports a constitutional amendment to 
outlaw abortion.

Gore, who acknowledges he opposed federal funding for abortion 
services early in his
career, is strongly pro-choice: he backs abortion rights, saying the 
decision should
be left to a woman, her doctor and her clergy. He opposes any 
constitutional amendment
banning abortion.

The next president is likely to choose two, possibly four, Supreme 
Court justices who
are appointed for life and who have the power to shape the laws 
regarding abortion.

He will be able to influence abortion and family planning policies in 
dozens of
judicial appointments to the federal courts. The next president will 
also nominate the
U.S. attorney general, who can decide prosecutions on crimes related 
to reproductive
rights, including violence directed at abortion clinics. He will 
choose a secretary of
health and human services, commissioners of the Food and Drug 
Administration, and the
surgeon general

--who all have influence over services and products available to 
women, including the
recently approved RU-487 abortion pill.

``This election is not about the next four years, it is about the 
next 40 years,''
Ralph Neas, president of People for the American Way, said recently.

The next president will also wield the considerable power of the veto 
to block
legislative efforts to restrict or expand certain procedures or 
funding programs, as
President Clinton has done in vetoing GOP efforts to block late term 
or so-called
``partial birth'' abortion.

Chronicle news services contributed to this report.

___________________________________

Gay Community's Reminder -- Not Everyone's for Gore
Gay Vote Is No Gimme for Gay-Friendly Gore
By Christopher Heredia, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, November 3, 2000

Frank Lopez and Brad Nelson will be the first to tell you they stick 
out like sore
thumbs in San Francisco's Castro neighborhood.

``We're probably not the people you want to be talking to,'' Nelson,
28, quipped to a reporter, while holding Lopez's hand as the two 
crossed Market Street
in the heavily gay district one recent afternoon. ``We're both 
Republicans, and we
plan to vote for George W. Bush.''

Truth be told, the couple, who were visiting from Alameda, are not an 
aberration in
gay America.

While the latest polls indicate that the vast majority of homosexuals 
support Vice
President Al Gore, campaign observers noted that many younger gays -- 
who have enjoyed
greater acceptance in the workplace and in society at large -- are 
apathetic or voting
Republican.

And while Gore can count on support from older gay Americans who can 
easily recall the
civil rights struggles of the past, neither party is taking the gay 
vote for granted.

Consequently, there has been a big get-out-the-vote push among gay 
rights
organizations across the country.

Gay Republicans say they like Bush's ``compassionate conservatism,'' 
while Democrats
tout Gore's pledge to fight for equal rights for gays in the 
military, the workplace
and family law.

Complicating matters is Green Party candidate Ralph Nader's strong 
third party bid.
Nader polls higher with gays than Bush, according to some surveys, 
but he also is
pulling votes away from Gore.

``With respect and humility, we ask Nader voters to step back and ask 
themselves, `Is
this the time for a symbolic vote of conscience?' '' said Elizabeth 
Birch, executive
director of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay 
lobbying organization.
``There is a tremendous amount of harm that could be done by a Bush 
presidency.''

Exit polls in 1998 put the gay vote at 5 percent, about the size of 
the coveted Latino
vote and larger than the Jewish vote. Exit polls that year also 
showed that 56 percent
of gays voted Democratic, 20 percent Republican and 24 percent 
independent.

A poll of gays and bisexuals in 39 states conducted last month by the 
Washington
(D.C.) Blade, a respected gay newspaper, showed 80 percent supported 
Gore, 11 percent
Nader, 2 percent Bush and 7 percent undecided.

``I think Bush would be good for the gay culture,'' said Nelson, a 
Kentucky native.
``I think in his heart, he welcomes gays. And he is moving the party 
toward the
center.''

But you won't convince Bobbie Kinn, of Connecticut, of that.

``The next president is going to shape the Supreme Court for years to 
come. I don't
want to step back 25 to 30 years,'' said Kinn, a
49- year-old park consultant, who helped reach out to gays for the 
Gore-Lieberman
ticket and was visiting San Francisco this week.

The younger gays who don't cast ballots or who vote for Bush, Kinn 
said, ``are at an
age when they don't remember what it was like to be able to lose your 
job because you
were gay or lesbian.''

Across the country, thousands of gays have been filling up Rainbow-
festooned voter
registration boxes as part of the gay Promote the Vote Campaign.

``It's going great,'' said Dan Willson of New York City's Lesbian and 
Gay Community
Services Center, which since 1992 has led the Promote the Vote 
campaign. This year,
the group has registration boxes and volunteers working at more than 
100 locations
across the nation.

Bush critics sternly warn of his opposition to gay adoptions, his 
stance against
adding sexual orientation to federal hate crimes laws and his less 
than sterling
record on AIDS and HIV health care and prevention and education while 
he has been
Texas governor.

But many are wary of Gore and question his ability to live up to his 
campaign
promises.

``If Gore's elected, gay rights are not going to be an overriding 
objective,'' said
Kevin W. Johnson, 52, a registered independent from Concord. ``He'll 
have a fractured
Congress to deal with. The best we can expect with Gore is stasis. 
With Bush, it'll be
a backward trend.''

The Human Rights Campaign has thrown a considerable amount of money
-- some estimates put the dollar figure higher than $2 million --
toward Democratic campaigns.

GOP candidates, meanwhile, are not snubbing gay dollars like 
candidate Bob Dole did in
1996 when he turned down a contribution from the gay Log Cabin 
Republicans. This year,
the organization's president said the group has given about $200,000 
to GOP campaigns.

But Miguel Bustos, a native of San Francisco's Mission District who 
is openly gay and
serves as Northern California director of Community Affairs for the 
Gore-Lieberman
ticket, said the choice is clear.

``Al Gore is a man who believes in equality,'' said Bustos, who 
served as Tipper
Gore's policy adviser between 1996 and 1999. ``For him, being gay is 
not an issue.
Eight years ago, no openly gay person could work at the White House.''

Kevin Ivers of the Log Cabin Republicans, which endorsed Bush after 
the candidate met
with its members in April, appealed to people to seek a middle ground.

``We need to move the ball down the field,'' Ivers said. ``We want to 
end
discrimination in this country. Federal legislation has to get both 
Republican and
Democratic support. We need to look at ways to get that support 
instead of demonizing
people.''


WHERE THE CANDIDATES STAND

The presidential candidates' positions on key gay issues:

APPOINTMENTS

Al Gore: Has said he will continue Clinton Administration policy of 
appointing gays
and lesbians to executive and judicial posts.

George W. Bush: Campaign spokesman said Bush will appoint people 
based on
``competence, qualifications and philosophy.'' Being homosexual would 
not be a
disqualifying factor.

Ralph Nader: Said he would appoint the best person, regardless of 
sexual orientation.
Would defend appointees who are challenged because of their sexual 
orientation.

WORKPLACE DISCRIMINATION

Gore: Supports the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would ban 
discrimination
based on sexual orientation in the workplace.

Bush: Opposes discrimination, but does not favor legislationgranting 
special legal
status or protections to people based on sexualorientation.

Nader: Supports Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

HATE CRIMES LEGISLATION

Gore: Has said he will advocate for a federal hate crimes law that 
includes sexual
orientation.

Bush: Supports pending Senate federal hate crimes bill that would 
leave hate crimes
statutes to the states.

Nader: No position.

HIV/AIDS EDUCATION AND PREVENTION

Gore: Supported expanded Medicaid coverage for people with HIV/AIDS 
and legislation
that preserve patient's health benefits once they returned to work.

Bush: Supported increases in state and federal funding for AIDS 
treatment and research
as Texas governor. Supports increased federal funding for teen 
abstinence programs.

Nader: Sex education proponent. Also wants to commit more resources 
to fighting the
epidemic abroad.

GAY ADOPTIONS, MARRIAGE

Gore: Supports gay and lesbian's ability to adopt children, also 
supports
Vermont-style civil unions in which same-sex couples receive the same 
benefits as
married heterosexuals, however opposes gay marriage.

Bush: Opposed to gay adoptions, believes marriage should be a union 
reserved for a man
and a woman.

Nader: Supports gay adoptions and Vermont-style civil unions for gay 
and lesbian
couples.

GAYS IN THE MILITARY

Gore: Has said he will do away with the ``don't ask, don't tell'' 
military policy and
allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in the armed forces.

Bush: Supports the current ``don't ask, don't tell'' policy and said 
he would not
appoint someone to the Joint Chiefs of Staff who would support gays 
serving openly.

Nader: Pledges to lift the ban on gays serving openly in the military.

E-mail Christopher Heredia at cheredia@s....




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