christian grantham
Christian Grantham was a student activist in the late 90s and later was a consultant to domestic policy forums for the Clinton Administration as well as events for HRC and GLAAD.
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December 14, 2004

Yesterday, Alabama state Rep. Gerald Allen met with President George Bush. Before boarding his flight home today, I spoke with Rep. Allen about whether his proposed bill to ban homosexual content from public libraries and schools ever came up.

"The President is strong on moral values. I don't think anyone has a question about that," Allen said. "But my bill never came up, and I won't have anything more about that for another two months."

Another two months? Allen dismissed my question of whether the White House asked him to tone down his rhetoric in favor of higher priorities.

"The bill simply didn't come up. Now, we talked a lot about tax reform, but had the issue come up, I'm certain the President would have a lot to say about the moral values that got him elected."

The fact that the White House didn't bring up Rep. Allen's desire to burn books should tell him something about Republican Party priorities. Last week, Rep. Allen told the Guardian there was no higher priority than the "moral values" his proposed bill represents.

Last month, "14 states passed referendums defining marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman". Exit polls asked people what they considered the most important issue, and "moral values in this country" were "the top of the list".

"Traditional family values are under attack," Allen informs me. They've been under attack "for the last 40 years". The enemy, this time, is not al-Qaida. The axis of evil is "Hollywood, the music industry". We have an obligation to "save society from moral destruction". We have to prevent liberal libarians and trendy teachers from "re-engineering society's fabric in the minds of our children". We have to "protect Alabamians".
['We have to protect people' - Guardian - 12-09-04]

Only time will tell if Rep. Allen's visit to the White House helped him focus on more important Republican priorities than burning books.

also read: Stonewall Democrats United, Talking Points