Aug 13, 2004  |  By: ADRIAN BRUNE  | COMMENTS     

Outraged over the endorsement given by a progressive PAC to a Senate candidate who shares President Bush’s views on same-sex marriage, one gay activist is placing a spotlight on the sexual orientation of its founder, a lesbian.

EMILY’s List, whose sole mission is to help elect Democratic women who favor abortion rights to political office, listed Inez Tenenbaum from South Carolina among its recommended candidates for U.S. Congress, even though Tenenbaum supports the constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.

By sanctioning Tenenbaum’s endorsement, grassroots organizers say that EMILY’s List founder Ellen Malcolm ignored the common ground between the pro-choice, feminist and gay rights movements.

“I don’t believe anyone can claim to be a feminist — which I believe she does — and support Inez Tenenbaum, who approves of President Bush’s position on the marriage amendment. It’s a disgrace,” said lesbian comedian-turned-activist, Robin Tyler. “We now have a multi-millionaire lesbian supporting a woman who would forever write discrimination in the Constitution.”

Tyler helped organize two of the national marches on Washington for gay rights and now heads up DontAmend.org, which is lobbying for marriage equality.

Unlike other reproductive rights groups edging toward a broader social agenda supportive of gay rights causes, EMILY’s List CEO Joe Solmonese said the organization has always voted to keep a narrow focus on abortion rights. Solmonese, who is also gay, contends that activists critical of the Tenenbaum endorsement are missing the “bigger picture.”

“If you work in the business of politics, you understand that, in this situation, two people are running for Senate in South Carolina,” Solmonese said. “If one of them comes to Washington, he will be in lockstep with the conservative right.

“You cannot say the same thing about the other. But if they think this is the right way to effect some kind of dialogue with her, they are mistaken.”

Another lesbian activist criticized Tyler’s tactic of calling attention to Malcolm’s sexual orientation.

Outing is not just an “outrageous and irrelevant” tactic, but a borderline dangerous activity in this politically charged election, said Torrie Osborne, the former director of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force. “There is a childish pleasure that one takes in pointing out personal contradictions, but [they’re] ill-timed and petty.”

“My greatest concern is that they are inadvertently playing into eager reactionary right-wing hands, who are looking for everything they can to discredit leaders of political groups,” Osborne said. “The honest to God’s truth is that organizations do what organizations do for policy reasons. EMILY’s List has consistently stuck with a narrow litmus test and that is its choice in this country.”

A week after Bush made his remarks about the Federal Marriage Amendment in February, Tenenbaum angered many South Carolina gay residents when she publicly stated that she believed the “word marriage should be reserved for the union between a man and a woman.”

Many Beltway insiders believe Tenenbaum’s move was political, and Solmonese said that EMILY’s List, with Malcolm’s consent, backed Tenenbaum before she made the remarks. All parties agree, however, that Tenenbaum, the current state superintendent of education, is a far better candidate on gay rights than conservative Congressman Jim DeMint, her GOP competitor for the seat vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Ernest “Fritz” Hollings.

Malcolm, who now heads the anti-Bush 527 (a reference to its tax code exemption) Americans Coming Together, has also raised significant awareness for gay causes, at one time serving on the board of the Human Rights Campaign.

A frequent dinner guest of former HRC Executive Director Elizabeth Birch, and her partner, Hilary Rosen — whom the fellow lobbyist reportedly counts among her close friends — Malcolm also participated in HRC-sponsored forums, dinners and other events. Her sexual orientation has been widely known but not widely reported.

All the more reason for Malcolm to actively oppose her organization’s support of Tenenbaum, Tyler says.

“Here Hilary is fighting the marriage amendment, and Malcolm has chosen to come out against her community,” she said. “She has the influence, she has the power.”