Strom Thurmond in Promise Me, Dad:, by Joe Biden

On Civil Rights: 1990s: Can't gays be converted so they're like other people?

Jeffery Levi, the executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, came to provide testimony at a Judiciary Committee hearing in 1986. The witness presented the statistic that about 10 percent of the American population is gay, which means something like thirty million Americans. Strom had a hard time processing this fact and wandered down a line of questioning that was not intended to be mean-spirited, but was nonetheless wounding.

"Does your organization advocate any kind of treatment for gays and lesbians to see if they can change them and make them normal like other people?"

"Senator, we consider ourselves to be quite normal, thank you. We just happen to be different from other people."

"You don't think gays and lesbians could be converted so they'd be like other people in some way?"

"We think we are like other people, with one small exception."

"A small exception? It's a pretty big exception isn't it?"

"Unfortunately, society makes it a big exception."

Source: Promise Me, Dad,by Joe Biden, p.213-4 Nov 14, 2017

The above quotations are from Promise Me, Dad A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose, by Joe Biden. Click here for main summary page. Click here for a profile of Strom Thurmond. Click here for Strom Thurmond on all issues.
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Page last updated: Apr 11, 2019