Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 12, 1990 TAG: 9007120454
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/3 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
"I think it's important not only to have a founder of the modern conservative movement speak out against bigotry, it's important for American society as a whole for someone with a distinguished career to say, `I am a gay American and I am not ashamed,' " said Gregory King, communications director for the Human Rights Campaign Fund, a gay political lobby.
Urvashi Vaid, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, another lobbying group, said Liebman's statement is a welcome one.
"For years we've said there's an enormous diversity in the gay and lesbian movement," Vaid said Wednesday. "There are gay progressives and gay conservatives."
Liebman revealed his homosexuality this month in the pages of William F. Buckley's conservative National Review and The Advocate, a Los Angeles-based gay magazine.
In an interview Wednesday, Liebman, 66, said he decided to announce he is gay because he sees signs that the political right is becoming dangerously bigoted.
"The primary impact I wanted to have in this whole coming out was on the conservative community. Just to sort of alert them to the dangers of homophobia and all that comes with it," he said.
But Roger Stone, a conservative political consultant, said he did not think Liebman's statement would affect the conservative movement.
"I think it will be viewed as the actions of an individual," Stone said, adding that he did not believe bigotry was growing among conservatives.
by CNB