Gay rights backlash hits home

In an opinion column, news editor Bill Lueders decries school board member Earl Kielley's homophobic crusade. Kielley, who calls homosexuality "aberrant behavior," sent the Rev. Pat Robertson a videotape of a fall workshop that encouraged Madison teachers to mention the role of lesbians in history. Robertson ran a portion of this on his 700 Club television show, along with flattering footage of Kielley. Writes Lueders, "What is happening, in Madison and elsewhere, is a tremendous backlash against the modest gains made by gay men and lesbians. Once schoolchildren freely taunted each other with homophobic slurs; now official discouragement of this behavior is decried as an effort to 'promote' homosexuality." In the spring election a few weeks later, Carol Carstensen polls 59% to unseat Kielley.