Independent Gay Forum
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The Independent Gay Forum is an organization that sponsors a website featuring free access to articles and opinions penned by gay conservative, moderate, and libertarian writers. The Independent Gay Forum grew out of dissatisfaction by some gays with the left-liberal orthodoxy of the gay establishment.
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[edit] Rise of the new 'gay right' movement
In 1993 Bruce Bawer published his book A Place At The Table that criticized homophobic conservatives and gay rights activists who adopted a monolithic concept of gay identity and politics. Bawer called for full inclusion of gays in mainstream society and criticized what he considered an unrepresentative but highly visible gay subculture that equated homosexuality with promiscuity, hedonism, political correctness or stereotypes like being effeminate or "different" in general.
In 1995 Andrew Sullivan published the book Virtually Normal. Sullivan was a longtime critic of decadence in the gay community, but the book also did something that Bawer did not do. Sullivan criticized what he called the prohibitionist, liberationist, liberal, and conservative approaches to gay rights in favor of a more "classical liberal" or libertarian approach.
In 1996 Bawer edited a collection of writings by mostly gay men and women titled Beyond Queer: Challenging Gay Left Orthodoxy. The authors--including Sullivan, Jonathan Rauch, Stephen H. Miller, Paul Varnell, and Norah Vincent--covered a wide range of topics and did not have one political message. Some authors were critical of how the gay rights movement was trying to achieve its goals, some were critical of certain goals such as hate crime laws, and others were critical of both the ends and the means.
These books became labeled in leftist gay circles as the manifesto of a new "gay right," though many of the authors in these books would dispute being labeled conservative.
The Independent Gay Forum became the major online gathering of writers who wanted to think and write "beyond queer" or beyond the left-liberal orthodoxy that they felt dominated gay identity and politics. Additional writers include philosopher John Corvino, economist Deirdre McCloskey, activist Richard Rosendall and columnist Jennifer Vanasco.
The constantly updated website includes hundreds of articles on a wide range of political and cultural topics -- marriage, sex, religion, economics, law, politics, activism, books, and gay identity. It also includes the "CultureWatch" blog written by Miller.
[edit] Liberal criticism of the IGF
Critics of the Independent Gay Forum's writings tend to be drawn between a division between liberals and conservatives and a second division between conservatives and libertarians. The Independent Gay Forum mission statement is to forge a new gay mainstream that is committed to the following principles.
The commitment of the Independent [Gay Forum]link title writers to conservative theories about (1) limited government, (2) free markets, and (3) personal responsibility, prompted criticism from liberals who saw the Independent Gay Forum is being too closely aligned with the Republican Party and sharing a conservative philosophy that did not address liberal concerns about social justice and social responsibility. IGF writers would often endorse conservative Republican theories about the Second Amendment, welfare reform, Social Security privatization, abortion, and the neo-conservative theory about initiating military action in order to promote a freedom and democracy in certain nations such as Iraq. Much of the criticism focuses on Miller and an assertion, by liberals, that he is too partisan for an organization with the word "independent" in its name.
For example, Miller supported Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger's successful bid to become governor of California, praising his socially liberal, fiscally conservative philosophy. Gay leftists were upset when he opposed former Vermont Governor Howard Dean's bid for governor who ran on a similar neoliberal philosophy.
In another case, gay liberals also argued that the articles about the late, former U.S. President Ronald Reagan were too partisan and tried to rewrite the Reagan Administration's policies on AIDS and gay rights.
[edit] Libertarian criticism of the IGF
Libertarians criticism of the IGF tends to be tied to a belief that the writers do not go far enough in advocating for reducing government regulations that limit citizens personal and economic life. Yet, a second source of criticism, among libertarians is that the IGF writers do not advocate election law reforms that would allow the Libertarian Party to freely compete for votes in elections. When Miller defended the work of gay Republicans by using an analogy of the benefits to the consumer that occur when there is more than one grocery store in a town. The message was that gay voters, like consumers, would get a better deal with more competition for their support. This angered many Libertarians as the 'grocery store analogy' ignored the fact that government regulations as ballot access law make it hard for a third political party such as the Libertarian Party to compete for the support of gay citizens because they have to spend limited resources in order to obtain access on the general election ballot with a party affiliation. Thus some libertarians felt that Miller should have been a better advocate for greater voter choice.
[edit] IGF response to the criticism
Miller responds to accusations of partisanship by accusing liberals of being too partisan. He is often critical of the Washington-based Human Rights Campaign; in 2004 he criticized HRC for devoting most of its financial resources to defeating Republicans, rather than statewide ballot initiatives to ban gay marriage (of which 11 out of 11 passed on Nov. 2), and for giving its uncritical support to Kerry/Edwards despite the fact that both men, while supporting civil unions, had endorsed state ballot initiatives to ban gay marriage.
Miller responds to Libertarians by asserting that they should work to create change within the Republican Party, rather than pushing for election law reforms that would increase the level of voter choice.
[edit] The IGF message board
No fair discussion of the Independent Gay Forum could exist with a discussion of the online message board that once existed at the IGF website. The message board had attracted participation for gay people that identified as being classic liberals, conservatives, libertarians and moderates. The board was suddenly removed from the website. The official reason given for the removal of the message board was that the IGF wanted to move in a new direction, but many liberals and libertarians felt that the IGF was trying to silence online dissent in order to solidify itself as a notable organization for Republicans. The theory argues that the IGF message board was removed because of a scandal that erupted when a liberal writer named Michelangelo Signorile made public the sexual activity of conservative, gay writer Andrew Sullivan.
Sullivan had been a frequent critic of what he saw as the recklessness and insanity of liberal AIDS activists. As an openly gay conservative, Sullivan argued that the solution to fighting AIDS within the gay community was an emphasis on personal responsibility and persuading gay men to settle down with a monogamous and lifelong partner, with the expectation that the government would grant equal legal recognition to same-sex marriages. Yet, in 2001 Signorile released information on his own webpage that showed that Sullivan was a member of BarebackCity.com where under an assumed screen name he solicited for 'bareback' (anal sex with another consenting adult without using a condom) sex. Signorile argued that Sullivan's sexual behavior needed to be exposed because Sullivan was HIV positive. Thus his involvement in bareback sex, already a highly dangerous act, meant that he was engaging in irresponsible sexual behavior while suggesting that gay people adopt more traditional family structures. Gay liberals supported what Signorile had done. However, conservatives argued that Signorile had violated Sullivan's right to privacy not out of a concern for public health or to expose hypocrisy, but to try and destroy a conservative.
This was a huge issue for the gay community and it played out both on the web and in the gay media. The popular Showtime television series Queer As Folk ran an episode in its second season where a conservative, gay writer attends a private orgy where the men engage in bareback sex. Following that episode, the Independent Gay Forum's message board was filled with heated discussion. At the IGF website, people were discussing the philosophical issues that this scandal had raised. Soon the IGF started banning liberals from the message board. When the message board was removed from the website, liberals felt that it was because IGF writers wanted to win the favor of gay Republicans, open or in the closest, who feared that their own sexual orientation and sexual habits could become public information.
IGF never recreated another message board, but Miller's blog does allow for readers to post comments.
[edit] Topics
Aside from Miller, other writers have contributed to the Independent Gay Forum and written numerous articles about current events such as gay marriage, civil unions, the Marriage Protection Amendment, the "gay Lincoln" thesis, the religious right, the military gay ban, Social Security, the War in Iraq, and the Second Amendment.
