News

Log Cabin to Hillary: Stop Lying About Al D'Amato

September 30, 1998

(WASHINGTON, DC) – The nation's largest gay Republican organization criticized First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton for labeling Senator Alfonse D'Amato of New York, one of the most pro-gay U.S. Senators of either party currently in Congress, a "Jesse Helms clone" at a recent New York Democratic fundraiser.

"The First Lady is out of touch with reality," said Richard Tafel, executive director of Log Cabin Republicans. "When her husband was backsliding on gays in the military, Al D'Amato was on the floor of the Senate fighting to lift the ban. When her husband was flat-funding crucial AIDS drug assistance programs in his budget, Al D'Amato was out front passing record funding increases in the GOP Senate. He is a leading co-sponsor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and was the harshest critic of anti-gay comments this summer by Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott. To compare Senator D'Amato's leadership on gay rights with the record of Jesse Helms, the most anti-gay member of the Senate, shows that the First Lady is playing the partisan pit-bull and ignoring the facts. Al D'Amato is an extremely valuable and steadfast ally on the full spectrum of issues critically important to the gay community."

"The First Lady has a habit of blaming everything on imaginary right-wing conspiracies, and calling Al D'Amato an extremist only undermines her credibility even more," Tafel said. "Log Cabin will not allow the Democrats to label the gay community's Republican friends 'extremists' in this election. It's an old, desperate Democrat political game that has kept the gay community back for a generation. Al D'Amato is our friend and ally, and we won't let name-calling like this go unchallenged in this critical election year."

Log Cabin Republicans is the nation's largest gay and lesbian Republican organization, with 50+ chapters nationwide, a full-time Washington office and a federal political action committee.