Hey Cy, are you going to march in Bill Simon's Gay Pride March?
Simon's gay outreach angers religious right
Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writer
Thursday, August 29, 2002
©2002 San Francisco Chronicle.
URL: sfgate.com
Gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon's outreach to gay Republicans has enraged high-profile supporters on the Christian
right, who charge the Republican with reversing a preprimary pledge to protect marriage between a man and a
woman.
"Bill Simon apparently tailors his message to his audience," said the Rev. Lou Sheldon, who heads the Anaheim
Traditional Values Coalition, in a blistering statement to supporters on Wednesday. Sheldon said he felt "misled and
conned" by Simon's "support for the homosexual agenda," adding, "he has forgotten he gave us his word on these
issues."
The angry reaction came a day after a Chronicle story detailed Simon's responses to a questionnaire from the Log
Cabin Club, the gay GOP group. Simon told the organization's members that, if elected, he would declare a "Gay
Pride" day, would not try to overturn current legislation on gay adoption, and is "supportive" of the idea of domestic
partnerships, as long as they were not based on sexual preference.
"This is such a shock," said Randy Thomassan, who heads the Campaign for California Families, a leading
conservative pro-family organization based in Sacramento, in a statement to followers Wednesday. "We never would
have believed that Bill Simon would sell out on this key family-values issue."
Thomassan charged that Simon's stated support for "domestic partnerships" and adding rights of marriage for
unmarried couples "is a contradiction of his Marriage Protection Pledge," which the candidate signed last February. In
signing that document, Simon promised that he would refuse to support any "domestic partnership" or "civil union"
rights unless they were within "the sacred bond of marriage between a man and a woman."
Simon's campaign argued that the candidate has not distanced himself from his conservative followers -- or shifted his
views.
"Bill Simon hasn't changed his position on any of these issues," said Simon strategist Sal Russo. "Perhaps things could
have been stated more artfully."
Simon opposed AB25 -- the landmark gay rights bill granting legal rights in domestic partnerships "because he thinks
it's a mistake for the government to make inquiries on people's sexual preferences," said Russo. "That continues to be
his view."
But "he also respects the fact that people may choose to entangle their lives legally . . . and there ought to be rules of
the road to provide for that," said Russo. Simon supports the concept of domestic partnerships not tied to sexual
preference, said Russo, adding that that "could be two sisters, or a father and son, or two friends."
"This is not designed to be a substitute for marriage," he said, "but the government ought not to be on the slippery slope
of asking questions about sexual preference."
The statements by Simon, who was touted as a "proud conservative" in the primary, appeared this week to be an
effort to move to the middle -- and mend fences with gay and lesbian Republicans, who have attempted to meet
publicly with the candidate. Simon, next week, is set to headline a Republican Unity Coalition event with Mary
Cheney, the lesbian daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, at an event to raise $1 million for "'gay and straight 'Big
Tent' Republican candidates" for the U.S. House and Senate.
Asked to address the issue of domestic partners on a local radio station Tuesday, Simon said he could be supportive of
such arrangements, as long as they were not based solely on sexual preferences.
"Let's not premise this thing on having the government go in your bedroom," he said. "What happens if my brother and
I . . . why couldn't we be domestic partners, if we both lost our wives?"
But Democrats quickly jumped on his statements -- charging Simon with flip- flopping on issues of gay rights.
"This is what happens when you speak out of both sides of your mouth," said Roger Salazar, a spokesman for Davis,
who said Simon's most recent statements to gay Republicans "completely contradicts" positions in the primary, when
he called AB25 "an affront."
"When you resort to pandering, as Bill Simon does, it eventually catches up with you," he said.
Chris Gilbertson, executive vice president of the Log Cabin Club, said Simon's outreach to moderate Republicans and
gay and lesbian voters is not only understandable -- but savvy.
"This is normal in the electoral process," he said. "During the primary, you go to the right -- and in the general election,
you move to the center. Bill Simon is making the swing to the center."
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