NATIONAL

Birch denies speech outed anti-gay congressman
‘Duke’ Cunningham denies meeting Birch or questioning whether he is gay

LOU CHIBBARO JR.
Friday, July 04, 2003

It began as a remarkable vignette about a virulently anti-gay congressman who reached out in private to gay activists with questions about how people know if they are gay. But last month, retold before an audience of nearly 200 at a Gay Pride town hall meeting, a remembered encounter from eight years ago has raised questions about whether the leader of this country’s largest gay rights organization has on several occasions effectively outed a member of Congress.

The most recent occasion was a Gay Pride forum on June 3, where a panel of gay rights leaders was addressing whether there was “a gay agenda.” Elizabeth Birch, executive director of the Human Rights Campaign, began her presentation, which focused in part on reaching out to gay rights foes, with an example about a private meeting she and an HRC colleague had in 1995 with an unnamed conservative Republican congressman who opposes gay rights.

The congressman startled her, Birch said, when he ushered his staff members out of his Capitol Hill office, closed the door, and asked Birch and Daniel Zingale, then HRC’s political director, just how it was that they came to know that they are gay.

“You know, how do you know you’re that way?” Birch quoted the congressman as asking.

In hushed tones, Birch told the audience that the congressman leaned back against his desk and revealed that he was asking the question because he had “loved men” in his past.

“[T]his guy’s got three tours in Vietnam, and there were a lot of guns on the wall,” Birch told the audience, which laughed in response. “Whips and stuff like that. … I looked at Daniel and I went, ‘Oh my God.’”

Birch described how she and Zingale told the congressman how they and other gay people struggle with their own feelings until they come to terms with who they are and affirm to themselves that they’re gay.

“And finally, he said, ‘Because I’ve loved men,’” Birch recalled the congressman saying. “And I said, ‘Was that in a military setting?’” Again, the audience laughed, acknowledging how awkward the conversation was for Birch and Zingale. “He said yes,” Birch recalled. “He said, ‘Yes indeed, on the field of battle, but I’ve also loved men.’”

Birch did not identify the congressman but said the meeting took place a short time after the congressman created a controversy in 1995 when he referred to gays as “homos” on the floor of the House of Representatives.

Media reports and other background facts indicate that Congressman Randall “Duke” Cunningham (R-Calif.), an archconservative from San Diego, fits many of the details in Birch’s story.

The news media in San Diego reported at that time that in a speech on the floor of the House, Cunningham decried the presence of “homos” in the military. He appears to be the only member of the House to call gays “homos” on the House floor at that time, and most likely at any time since then, according to a review of news media reports and the Congressional Record.

Two gay Democratic activists in San Diego this week confirmed that Birch told members of that city’s gay Democratic club a nearly identical story in 1996, and on that occasion directly identified Cunningham as the congressman in question.

Congressman denies meeting
Harmony Allen, Cunningham’s press secretary, said Cunningham never met with Birch and never made any such comments about gays or his feelings toward men.

“He has never had a conversation with that woman,” Allen said. “The meeting did not take place.” Allen added, “He is a heterosexual.”

Birch has since refused to comment about whether she has met with Cunningham and whether she based her story on Cunningham’s private comments to her and Zingale. She said she never reveals the identities or remarks made by members of Congress in private meetings.

Zingale said he had no recollection of a meeting with both Cunningham and Birch.

Allen said several of the facts in Birch’s story don’t fit Cunningham’s background. Birch said the congressman in question had five children, while Cunningham has three children, Allen said. Birch noted that the congressman in her story served three tours in Vietnam. Cunningham, a decorated fighter pilot and acclaimed pilot instructor, served just two tours, according to Allen.

“He never had guns on his walls,” Allen said.

Regardless of whom she referenced, Birch said, the subject of her story never actually said outright that he was gay, Birch told the Blade. The person in question merely inquired about how someone knows he or she is homosexual, Birch said.

“There was more than one person who has expressed curiosity about being gay,” Birch said. “I scrambled the facts. I created a composite.”

Added Birch, “You have a multitude of experiences in Congress. I was teaching a lesson about how difficult it is to grapple with this issue.”

A full transcript of Birch’s remarks can be found on this page.

Record of hostility toward gay rights
Cunningham has long been considered one of the most ardent adversaries of gay rights advocates in Congress. His reference to gays as “homos” surfaced during a May 1995 debate on the House floor over renewing the Clean Water Act. During a heated debate, Cunningham said Democrats who opposed changing the water pollution control law are “the same people who would vote to cut defense $177 billion, the same ones who would put homos in the military.”

When Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.) rose to protest Cunningham’s remarks, Cunningham told her, “Sit down, you socialist,” according to an account by the Los Angeles Times. Cunningham later apologized for his comments.

In 1998, Cunningham drew further condemnation in the San Diego press for insulting gay Congressman Barney Frank (D-Mass.). In an appearance before prostate cancer survivors, Cunningham discussed the rectal procedure he had undergone for the condition, describing it as, “just not natural, unless maybe you’re Barney Frank,” the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. Cunningham once again offered an apology for the comment.

Called for comment by the Union-Tribune, Frank suggested Cunningham’s remarks fit a pattern.

“He tends to frequently blurt out stuff on gay issues,” Frank told the paper at the time. “He seems to be more interested in discussing homosexuality than most homosexuals.”

Despite Birch’s denials about referring to any one congressman, at least two members of San Diego’s gay Democratic club say she made it clear to them that Cunningham was the subject of a similar story she told them.

“She told us that same story, but she said it was Cunningham who said those things,” said Craig Roberts, former president of the San Diego Democratic Club, a gay Democratic group.

Doug Case, another one of the group’s former presidents, said he remembers vividly that Birch told the story about how Cunningham asked her at a meeting in Cunningham’s Washington office how gay people know they’re gay. Case said he doesn’t recall Birch saying that Cunningham also disclosed that he “loves men.”

“I recall her saying he made more comments, but I just can’t remember what they were,” Case said.

Charlie McKain, another member of the San Diego gay Democratic Club, said he remembers someone from HRC or another gay organization telling club members this story, but he doesn’t recall Birch telling it.

“I heard this story,” McKain said. “I don’t connect it in my mind with Elizabeth. But it’s possible. I can’t recall who told it. But it certainly was a story about Cunningham.”

Allen, Cunningham’s press secretary, dismissed the comments by the San Diego gay Democrats, saying they are longstanding political opponents of Cunningham and lack credibility.

“Isn’t it interesting that this is coming up just before an election year?” she said.

HRC spokesperson David Smith said the organization would have no further comment on the claims by the San Diego gay Democrats that Birch told them Cunningham was the subject of her story.

Reiterating Birch’s assertion that she never meant to imply the congressman in question is gay, Smith pointed to the part of Birch’s speech in which she explained her reason for telling her story.

“[T]here was a moment when we touched each other,” Birch said of the congressman, noting that he returned to the House floor the next day and apologized for his “homos” remark.

“And we believe there can be a human-to-human contact at some form that will break open something inside someone,” Birch said.

Birch also indicated in her remarks at the town hall meeting that the congressman in question continued to vote against gay rights, although the organization has kept in touch with him in the years following. Birch also acknowledged at the meeting that the event was being videotaped but indicated that she would go ahead with telling the story because she was in her final months as director of HRC.

“What do I have to lose? Nothing,” said Birch, who plans to step down from her post at the end of the year.

Cunningham scored 17 points out of a possible 100 in HRC’s current congressional scorecard, which rates how supportive congressmen are of gay rights issues.

Activist ‘surprised’ by Birch speech
Several gay activists who saw Birch deliver her speech at the town hall meeting said Birch conveyed the clear impression to them that the congressman she talked about was struggling with his own sexual orientation at a time he referred to gays in a derogatory way.

“Not knowing who she was talking about, I got the impression that this was a closeted congressman struggling with his sexuality,” said Craig Bowman, executive director of the National Youth Advocacy Coalition, which advocates for gay youth.

Bowman said it was “surprising she gave enough information that, if someone wanted, they could figure out who it was.”

Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, who was among the other speakers at the town hall meeting, said he, too, drew the conclusion from Birch’s remarks that the congressman in question was “questioning” his sexual orientation.

“That kind of culture of hiding is in every legislative body,” Foreman said. “I think the story was extremely sad. The relevant part was he did not change his voting record.”

Added Foreman, “I have no sympathy with a person like that. Because their actions harm millions of people.”

Patrick Guerriero, executive director of Log Cabin Republicans, a national gay GOP group, who also spoke at the town hall meeting, did not return a call seeking comment about Birch’s speech.

MORE INFO
Congressman Randy ‘Duke’ Cunningham
2350 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-5452
www.house.gov/cunningham

Human Rights Campaign
1640 Rhode Island Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20036
202-628-4160
www.hrc.org

The following is a partial transcript of Elizabeth Birch’s remarks delivered at the Capital Pride town hall meeting on June 3, 2003. Birch is executive director of the Human Rights Campaign.

You know, I thought what I’d do is just start by telling a story. Because I’m going to be leaving the Human Rights Campaign at the end of the year, so what do I have to lose? Nothing.

I think what it does is it reveals how we work at the Human Rights Campaign, what we care about, and perhaps, provides some insight into the kernel of what we try to do — reverse engineer, dissect or open up, to really get at the human spirit. But I’ll tell this story — as it was from my first year and it was one of my first introductions to Congress.

I had come out of corporate America. And there was a member of Congress who took to the floor of the House and was just horrible — railed against gay people, calling us homos and went on and on, saying we’ve got to get those homos out of the military, and just derisive and really demeaning.

And so at that time, the political director [of HRC] was Daniel Zingale. So we said, OK, let’s make an appointment. And we went and saw this member of Congress. He happened to be a Republican. He happened to be a very conservative Republican.

We sat down with the staff and discussed a variety of issues, disagreed on all of them. But at least we had a discussion and worked through the issues for 45 minutes. And then his staff began to make its way out of the room. We said, ‘Goodbye, Congressman, thank you for your time.’ And we started to move toward the door. And he said, ‘Elizabeth and Daniel, will you hold up?’

And we said, well, yes sir, we will. And he said — and he shut the door. And I mean, I don’t know, this guy’s got three tours in Vietnam and there were a lot of guns on the wall. Whips and stuff like that. I went, ‘OK.’ And he leaned back against his desk.

[Pauses and looks toward television cameras in the audience]
I’m just wondering if they’re going to run this on CNN.

But he leaned back against his desk and he said, ‘So how do you know?’ And I looked at Daniel and I went, ‘Oh my God.’ And I said, ‘How do you know what?’ He said, ‘You know, how do you know if you’re that way?’

And I went, ‘Well, you’re really, really little and you’re scared and all the billboards don’t make sense, and all the commercials, and you have no cultural cues, and you’re a little lost and you try to find your way. You think you’re a little different. Then, you get a little self-esteem and grow up. Then you become a teenager and you really figure it out. You keep building up your strength and your self-esteem and you leave home and you become an adult. You become well adjusted and stronger and stronger. And you know you’re gay.’

Then I looked at Daniel. He goes, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah. You’re really little and then you grow up and then you have to get some self-esteem and you grow and you grow.’

And finally, he said, ‘Because I’ve loved men.’ And I said, ‘Was that in a military setting?’ He said yes. He said ‘yes, indeed, on the field of battle, but I’ve also loved men.’

Five children. You know, married. And I said, ‘You know, these feelings are healthy. Those feelings are good feelings. They come from a good place. It’s what the world does to them. It twists them and makes them ugly.’

And we said we would be in contact. And we said we would always protect him, and we always have. He went to the floor the next day and apologized for his comments. Since then, he has voted almost always wrong. But he’s still, I’m sure, still living in his own personal hell. But there was a moment when we touched each other. And we didn’t forget him. We check in on him.
(Videotape for transcript courtesy of Cheryl Spector)

national | local | world | arts | classifieds | real estate | about us

© 2008 | A Window Media LLC Publication | Privacy Policy