“I have a vision for America and you’re part of it,” candidate Bill Clinton told awe-struck gay fund-raisers in his first run for the presidency eight years ago. And it’s true that, at the time, few presidential candidates had ever reached out to gay voters as explicitly as Bill Clinton did. He was rewarded with unprecedented gay funding and gay support. Like many other groups wowed by Clinton’s instant empathy, homosexual Americans soon learned their lesson.
On the plus side, it’s undeniable that Clinton appointed more openly gay men and lesbians to positions in his administration than any previous president. With Congressman Barney Frank’s support, he outlawed antigay discrimination in federal employment, met frequently with gay groups, appointed a political liaison to the gay community, and made an openly gay man ambassador to, er, Luxembourg.
