Ashcroft Confirmed

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by Barbara Dozetos
Above the Fold News Service

The United States Senate’s 58 to 42 confirmation of the right wing pillar John Ashcroft as Attorney General last month has the gay community looking ahead and preparing for the consequences.

Vermont’s senate delegation was split on the Ashcroft vote. In spite of protests staged outside his local offices, Republican Sen. James Jeffords voted to confirm Ashcroft, with whom he has a close personal relationship. Ashcroft and Jeffords were known as two of the “Singing Senators” along with Senate President Pro Tempore Trent Lott and Larry Craig.

Democrat Patrick Leahy, however, was outspoken in his criticism of Ashcroft’s record on many issues. Throughout the confirmation hearings, which Leahy chaired, the senior senator raised the specter of the nominee’s open disapproval for the GLBT community.

Leahy questioned the former senator from Missouri pointedly about his reasons for thwarting the appointment of openly gay James Hormel as ambassador to Luxembourg.

In the end, Leahy was amongst the minority who voted against sending Ashcroft’s nomination to the full Senate. From the Senate floor, Leahy gave a speech urging his fellow Senators to vote against Ashcroft, during which he reiterated the nominee’s anti-gay stance, among other things.

“We’re just sick about John Ashcroft,” said Vera Martin, a spokesperson for Old Lesbians Organizing for Change. “I’ve struggled my entire life for civil rights, and I’m sure he will set us back by years.”

Charles Mehler, former president of the Chicago Log Cabin Republicans, called Ashcroft a “24-karat bigot.” He said he hopes that Ashcroft’s nomination was a “loss leader to placate the far right wing of the party” in anticipation of Bush’s offering a centrist candidate for the Supreme Court. “If this is not the case,” said Mehler, “then Ashcroft signals the beginning of the end of George W. Bush’s presidency.”

“This was one of the most divisive nominations in our nation’s history, at a time when our country needed healing from the bitterly contested presidential election,” said Elizabeth Birch, director of the Human Rights Campaign. “Now is the time for Bush to send assurances that he intends to follow through on his campaign promise to serve all Americans.”

“We want to know which John Ashcroft will be doing this job,” said David Elliot of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, “the newly reinvented moderate we saw in the confirmation hearings, or the more familiar one who sometimes falls to the right of Jesse Helms.” Elliot said the gay community should be watchful of Ashcroft’s choices as he fills staff positions in the Justice Department and the White House office of Legal Counsel. “There are indications that some very right wing attorneys will be getting those jobs,” he said.

Another of the Attorney General’s primary functions is vetting of candidates for federal judge positions. “There are hundreds of vacancies on the federal benches now,” said Elliot, “and Ashcroft will play a key role in filling them.”

Martin Ornelas-Quintero, executive director of LLEGO, the national Latino gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered organization, is concerned about Ashcroft’s Justice Department and immigration issues with regard to HIV status.

“There are significant travel restrictions on people who are HIV-positive,” said Ornelas-Quintero. “They can come in the country, but must have their passports stamped noting their status, and are restricted to staying only a certain period of time.”

Under the Clinton administration, LLEGO was able to easily obtain waivers allowing people attending its congresses to enter the country without having their documents permanently labeled with their HIV status.

“The ideal is that HIV would no longer be treated as a communicable disease by the department,” said Ornelas-Quintero. However, his concern with Ashcroft is merely holding ground gained under Clinton; he holds little hope of making advances.

Not everyone in the gay community sees Ashcroft’s confirmation as unavoidably dismal.

Bennett, an openly gay member of Bush’s transition team and spokesperson for the newly formed Republican Unity Coalition (RUC), said, “A cabinet member is supposed to reflect the president’s views. The battles ahead — and there will be battles — will be reflective of the administration as implemented by John Ashcroft.”

Bennett said it is incumbent upon the gay community to get its message heard by the administration, which is the mission of the RUC.

“The proof is in the pudding,” said Kevin Ivers, spokesperson for the National Log Cabin Republicans. “You can’t characterize people’s actions before they make them.”