Ruby-Sachs: Is Laura Bush giving us too little too late?

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Laura Bush is touring with her new memoir. Inside are all sorts of Bushy juicy tidbits, but the interviews about the book have recently focused on her admission that she believes gay committed couples deserve the same legal rights as everyone. It’s incredible really, that the first lady from an administration famous for pushing for a Consitutional amendment banning gay marriage would come out for gay marriage.

Or maybe it isn’t.

We have seen a numbers of conservative politicians have come to Jesus moments after they are out of power. Colin Powell supported the repeal of DADT after his administration fell. John McCain’s wife came out for gay rights after the election run was over. And now Laura Bush decides that it is safe to admit that she disagreed with her husband when he used his Presidency to attempt to combat the gay rights movement.

The first question is, what does this do for them? The answer, they get the benefit of a progressive label, even if their position isn’t particularly radical, because of their previous conservativism. The alienation they might experience amongst the more conservative base doesn’t matter because they are risking nothing. Basically, they get all the credit with none of the risk.

The second question is, what does this do for them? Joe Solomnese from the Human Rights Campaign thinks it indicates a shift in the hearts and minds of Americans. I think fighting for hearts and minds, while important and valuable, has very little real value. What if we had waited for the hearts and minds of the racist Southern governors during the civil rights movement? We would never have made the strides in equality that we take for granted today. The same is true for gay rights. We don’t need Laura Bush’s heart and mind, we needed her to stand up when her voice had some power.

It’s not that Laura Bush should not vocalize her support for equality. She should. But we should hold off congratulating her for seeing the light. The gay community can turn around and say, “good thing you have your head on straight, wish you had a backbone to go with that quick analytical ability you are so keen to show off.”

It’s just not sufficient to believe in equality. You have to do something about it too.

*Credit for all the good ideas in here goes to Jane Saks – who is among the breathing!

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Gay-lesbian course at UoP sets an example for other universities

When the University of Pune (UoP) started a Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) course in 2007, it was the second university in the country, after University of Hyderabad, to do so. Then, the UoP initially even had to put a disclaimer saying that one doesn’t have to be gay to take the course.

Today even as two of its students take up LGBT topics for MPhil research, other universities are mulling over the possibility of getting the Department of English, that conducts the LGBT course, to hold a workshop on it for their teachers, reflecting a significant change in the academia’s mindset.

“The other day, two professors from outside Pune — PC Kar from the University of Baroda and CJ Jahagirdhar from Kolhapur University — visited us and were of the opinion that we should conduct workshop for college-level lecturers on the LGBT course on their campuses. It shows a welcome change in the attitude of the academic fraternity,” said Raj Rao, professor of English at the UoP, whose persistence resulted in the LGBT course seeing the light of the day.

See Gay-lesbian course at UoP sets an example for other universities Indian Express

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