Comments on: Was Ronald Reagan anti-gay? Part 2 – The CPAC boycott https://wthrockmorton.com/2011/02/09/was-ronald-reagan-anti-gay-part-2-the-cpac-boycott/ A [retired] college psychology professor's observations about public policy, mental health, sexual identity, and religious issues Mon, 15 Jun 2020 16:22:07 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.3 By: ken https://wthrockmorton.com/2011/02/09/was-ronald-reagan-anti-gay-part-2-the-cpac-boycott/#comment-94065 Wed, 30 May 2018 21:09:52 +0000 http://wthrockmorton.com/?p=8580#comment-94065 I think in all this glamorizing of Reagan, people forget that he was a politician. A very skilled one at that. And that means whatever his personal views about gays, gay rights was not a significant enough issue in the 80s for him to take a stand on. Further, if he did take a stance it would have been whatever was politically expedient. If gay marriage had come up in the 80s I have no doubt Reagan would have been trumpeting the same “I believe marriage is between a man and woman” and “it should be up to the will of the people” that his successors did.

]]> By: Frank https://wthrockmorton.com/2011/02/09/was-ronald-reagan-anti-gay-part-2-the-cpac-boycott/#comment-90677 Wed, 30 May 2018 19:48:32 +0000 http://wthrockmorton.com/?p=8580#comment-90677 C Everett Koop, a Reagan administration official famously said that reagan’s administationwasn’t guilty of homophobia, it was guilty of outright homohatred.

At presidential news conferences, Presidential spokesman Larry Speakes joked about the death rate of gay men from AIDS and implied that anyone who cared about it was gay.

Gary Bauer, another Reagan official, used his news conferences to accuse homosexuals of church arson without any evidence whatsoever.

To be gay during the Reagan administration was to be treated as a non- citizen at best and an enemy of the state at worst.

]]> By: Frank https://wthrockmorton.com/2011/02/09/was-ronald-reagan-anti-gay-part-2-the-cpac-boycott/#comment-46665 Sat, 12 Feb 2011 21:47:51 +0000 http://wthrockmorton.com/?p=8580#comment-46665 C Everett Koop, a Reagan administration official famously said that reagan’s administationwasn’t guilty of homophobia, it was guilty of outright homohatred.

At presidential news conferences, Presidential spokesman Larry Speakes joked about the death rate of gay men from AIDS and implied that anyone who cared about it was gay.

Gary Bauer, another Reagan official, used his news conferences to accuse homosexuals of church arson without any evidence whatsoever.

To be gay during the Reagan administration was to be treated as a non- citizen at best and an enemy of the state at worst.

]]> By: ken https://wthrockmorton.com/2011/02/09/was-ronald-reagan-anti-gay-part-2-the-cpac-boycott/#comment-46664 Thu, 10 Feb 2011 16:50:09 +0000 http://wthrockmorton.com/?p=8580#comment-46664 I think in all this glamorizing of Reagan, people forget that he was a politician. A very skilled one at that. And that means whatever his personal views about gays, gay rights was not a significant enough issue in the 80s for him to take a stand on. Further, if he did take a stance it would have been whatever was politically expedient. If gay marriage had come up in the 80s I have no doubt Reagan would have been trumpeting the same “I believe marriage is between a man and woman” and “it should be up to the will of the people” that his successors did.

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