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The Democrats talk like gay rights supporters, but they haven’t actually accomplished very much. They just sound good . . . Clinton and Gore made a calculation. If they went a certain distance, they would get support from the gay rights movement. But if they went too far, they would lose support from other voters. Do you think they would have done anything if gay rights supporters were not organized to the limit? The key test of politicians is whether they will do the right thing whether or not they get votes. . . You can’t be a transactional president, cutting deals. You have to say, “This is a country dedicated to equal rights and equal responsibility, regardless of race, gender, sexual preference, whatever. That is the basic touchstone from which all other policies flow.” When you rise to that level, you force the opposition to say, “Oh, no. We don’t want equal rights.” The civil rights movement forces the bigots to either recede or display their bigotry. When you start cutting deals, that’s when you slow down rights and put yourself in a credibility gap.
-- Ralph Nader, interviewed in The Advocate, October 24, 2000
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