Abbe Fletman and I are getting to be some team. Last Friday, we acted as co-chairs at a press conference to launch SpecterPride.
Here’s one of those behind-the-scenes tidbits. Before we strolled to the podium, we were huddled in a room to greet Sen. Arlen Specter. When he arrived, someone had a photo for him to autograph. He looked at the old photo and started to chat about it. The photo was taken during the Warren Commission’s recreation of President Kennedy’s assassination.
It was during that recreation that Specter came up with what’s now known as the single-bullet theory. At that point, he clutched me and all of a sudden he had me acting the part of JFK as he demonstrated the single-bullet theory, tracing the bullet. It was chilling, and CNN was taping it, no less.
At the start of the press conference of LGBT leaders, it was important to put Specter’s support of this community in perspective.
A headline from the Philadelphia Inquirer Oct. 10, 1973, read: “Gay Raiders storm District Attorney Arlen Specter’s office with free coffee and doughnuts, Specter shakes their hand.” Well, I was that Gay Raider and, in 1973, an elected official just shaking the hand of a gay man was news. Specter was one of the first.
Today, an overwhelming majority of LGBT leaders endorse our friend, Sen. Specter. We do so for many reasons, chief among them his long-standing support for equality as far back as 1973. No other elected official in all of Pennsylvania has such a long record of accomplishments on LGBT issues.
Stopping police harassment and extortion in the early 1970s. Testifying for nondiscrimination legislation in Philadelphia and getting the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association to support a statewide gay-rights bill.
Nationwide, there are elected leaders who have stood tall with this community. Chief among them was Sen. Ted Kennedy, and by Kennedy’s side from the very beginning was Specter. Together, they introduced the Kennedy-Specter Hate Crimes Bill, which after years of hard work was finally signed into law a couple of months ago by President Obama.
He’s been a co-sponsor of legislation to end discrimination and, a couple of weeks ago when legislation to end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was introduced, he was a co-sponsor once again.
Our support is meant to send another message. We believe strongly that the threat from the Republican candidate, a candidate who is far more conservative than ousted former Sen. Rick Santorum — a candidate who won’t even shake the hand of a gay man, and how can you govern if you won’t even meet your own citizens? — we believe that challenge can only be answered by the strongest Democratic candidate, who has a record of speaking for all Pennsylvanians. We stand with our friends in labor, those fighting for health-care reform, progressives, educators and those who feel strongly about civil rights.
In 1973, at a time when most gay lawyers were in the closet, the District Attorney of Philadelphia was embracing and working with this community.
And I’m proud to say that one of those gay men endorsing Specter is the former Chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association, its first openly LGBT chancellor, Andy Chirls.
Mark Segal is PGN publisher. He can be reached at [email protected].