Sarah Brady and her husband, former White House press secretary James Brady, during a news conference in 2000. The Bradys will be honored by the Delaware Stonewall Democrats for their work to support gays in Rehoboth Beach. (Photo by Marta Lavandier/AP)
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KATHERINE VIOLIN
Friday, August 04, 2006
A former aide to Ronald Reagan may not seem like an obvious choice for the Delaware Stonewall Democrats to honor at its annual fundraiser.
But that’s precisely what the gay political group is doing for James Brady and his wife, Sarah Brady, at a fundraiser that will also honor Virginia House of Delegates member Adam Ebbin and gay rights pioneer Barbara Gittings.
The Bradys were basically “shoe-ins” says Peter Rosenstein, who sat on the committee to select this year’s honorees.
“I think they are examples of courage, number one, and number two, they have been incredibly supportive of the gay community in Rehoboth,” Rosenstein says.
Rosenstein emphasizes the importance of straight allies for progress in the gay civil rights movement.
“We couldn’t have better allies than Jim and Sarah Brady,” Rosenstein says.
The Bradys have lived in Rehoboth for nearly eight years.
“I think we were part of the big city where we’d always lived and we wanted to get out and see life from a different angle and take life a little easier,” Sarah Brady, 64, says.
JIM BRADY, NOW 65, served as press secretary during the length of the Reagan administration, despite suffering a gunshot wound to the head when John Hinckley attempted to assassinate Reagan only two months after Brady’s appointment. The injury left Brady confined to a wheelchair. He was not available this week for an interview.
After Reagan left office, the Bradys focused on lobbying Congress for stricter gun control laws. In 1993, the Brady Bill, which required a five-day waiting period and background check on handgun purchases, was passed.
“The Bradys have never been afraid to speak out about the things they care about,” Rosenstein says. “That says something the gay community should look to in how we handle our own lives.”
Sarah Brady announced she had lung cancer in a 2001 interview with Larry King, but says that it currently “seems to be under control.” She now heads up gun control non-profits the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and the Brady Campaign to End Gun Violence.
“We both grew up strong Republicans and worked in the Republican Party for many years, but after Jim was hurt, party politics seemed not as important as working on issues we felt were important,” Sarah Brady says.
Gay civil rights have become one of those issues for the Bradys.
“We have to remember where Jim came from, which was the Reagan administration, and that was not always a beacon of support for the gay community,” Rosenstein says.
Sarah Brady says that gay rights were not always on the Bradys’ agenda, although civil rights generally always were.
“I feel like, and I feel like Jim feels the same way, that we’ve always stood for civil rights, going back from today to the ’60s,” Brady says. “It’s just sort of in your nature. You either are or you aren’t in that mode or way of thinking.”
AS GAY CIVIL rights have become an increasingly public issue, the Bradys have become more involved.
“I think there were times where you never thought about [gay rights],” Sarah Brady says. “As time has evolved and the issue has really been on the forefront, we become more outraged when we’ve seen injustice or anything of that type.”
Their personal politics have superseded any party prejudice, according to Rosenstein.
“They have spoken out and supported gay candidates for the Rehoboth Beach Commission, they have made contributions to and supported CAMP [Rehoboth], which is part of the gay and lesbian community center in Rehoboth,” Rosenstein says. “I know of one case where a young gay man got into some trouble and the Bradys just made it a point to speak with him and be supportive of him and what he needed.”
Party affiliation has ceased to have much impact on the issues the Bradys support.
“It’s a shame in this world that both in the area of gay rights and in the area of gun issues that these should be political issues,” Sarah Brady says. “These should be common sense, human decency, public safety issues, not political footballs.”
The bipartisan approval that the Brady Bill ultimately achieved is something that she would like to see occur in the realm of gay rights, Sarah Brady says.
“We were able, in the ‘80s and ‘90s, to bring the two parties together for public safety and that’s something which is beginning to happen in the gay community as well,” she says. “It should not be a hot-button issue. It should be common sense and the right thing.”
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