The Michigan Daily
Edited and managed by Students at the
University of Michigan
Tuesday, June-8, 1976
News Phone: 764-0552
Wallace: Down and out
A long time ago George Wallace decided he wanted -
to be president, and after four long campaigns - during
one of which he nearly died in a Maryland parking lot
-his fiery desire has ebbed, for it is obvious that it can
no longer bear fruit. He has admitted that he will not
run for the presidency again, "unless it's for reelection,"
and Wallace is clearly aware that that state of affairs,
with his present 170-odd delegates, is a rudely-shattered
dream. Today's are undoubtedly his last primaries.
Wallace was not only a thinly-veiled racist, but, by
many estimates, an incompetent governor under whom
Alabama's state services and programs sunk to the bot-
tom of the fifty states. Thus, we are relieved that Wal-
lace, a bigoted demagogue with little skill at anything
other than flamboyant red - necked rhetoric, is fin-
ally at the end of his political road. The South has been
charmed away by the born-again Jimmy Carter, and
while that worthy has not gained our esteem, he is cer-
tainly a welcome replacement for Wallace.
But relief that Wallace is through cannot turn to
ridicule, for Wallace's effect upon the electorate and the
politicians of the last two campaigns has been profound.
His recent claim that the candidates-at-large are now
saying what he has been saying for years is well-
grounded: from Gerald Ford to Jimmy Carter to Edmund
Brown to Ronald Reagan, the presidential aspirants are
waging the anti-bureaucracy battle that Wallace began
so long ago, and it is indeed probably the major issue
of 1976.
He will be gone but not forgotten, and his 1968
resolve to "Send them a message!" has been well-heeded.
Gays and the'U'
Minority Commission
Dan Tsang, a moenher of the GEO Fair Practices Committee,
led a moe this year to include gays on the University's Minority
Commission. Joseph Wright, chairperson of the Cmnmission, ex-
plained the romnmnision's rejection of gay representation in a reply
to Tsang. Wright's letter and an open response from Maureen
O'Rourke, one of the University's itunman Sexual;t-y advocates, are
reprinted here.
To: Daniel Tsang. From: Joseph Wright. Date: April 22
In reply to your letter of March 29, 1976, 1 have discussed
your request with President Fleming and with the Minority Com-
mission.
The feelings of both were rather sympathetic yet negative. The
unanimous conclusion was simply the desire of the Minority Com-
mission to limit their involvement to racial and ethnic problems
that are confronted as a result of one's racial heritage rather than
the personal adoption of a different lifestyle.
I appreciate the possible disappointment you may have from
receiving this information, however, I am sure you appreciate the
Commission's limited scope.
We are told that we will not be represented on the Minority
Commission because, to quote Fleming and the commisson, we
have "personally adopted this lifestyle." For some gay persons
this is true. Many have "chosen" to break through their fears
and express their true sexual, emotional, and spiritual desires.
However, I know no gay people who have personally chosen to be
rejected and ostracized. This statement by the commission and
Fleming reflect their total lack of sensitivity to and understand-
ing of the oppressive climate in which gays exist in this country.
In a year in which we are celebrating our freedom as a peo-
ple, gay people have no cause for celebration. Gay people have
not chosen a life style that includes rejection, loss of loved ones,
institutionalization, insanity, suicide or death. Society, through its
ignorance and fear, has "chosen" to reject, to isolate, to lock up, to
kill gay people. This statement by Fleming and the commission is
another example of the ignorance and fear that results in the op-
pression of gay people. We must begin to break through this
ignorance and fear. To do so, we need your support. The GEO
proposal for a Commission to look into the present discrimination
of gay graduate student assistants and GSA applicants is a begin-
ning toward the end of oppression of gays.
Jerry and Ronnie
return to the fold
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