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Jewish World Review Jan. 27, 2000 /20 Shevat, 5760
Chris Matthews
One of our group that autumn of '68 was a soft-spoken
guy whose manner made most of us figure he was gay.
He never did anything that suggested his sexual
orientation, and to us it was no big deal. But if the training
staff was looking for some people to dump, thereby
earning their pay, we just assumed that he would be a
prime candidate.
Irony of ironies, three other volunteers and I were the
folks singled out for probation because we didn't quite fit
the Peace Corps profile. We won this meaningless
designation for being "too middle class" or "too
opinionated" — me? — or whatever.
As for the fellow we all figured to be in the trainers' cross
hairs, he breezed to "selection" without admonition or
comment.
Later, in Africa, the scuttlebutt got around about how our
fortunate fellow volunteer got through the Khyber Pass of
Peace Corps correctitude.
Rather than risk "de-selection" under some vague
assessment of personality, some weasel words typed out by the training staff
for the purpose of meeting their quota of rejections, he made a proposition: If
any of the training staff had a problem with him being a Peace Corps volunteer,
he wanted that person to spell out that problem to his face. No clever notations
or P.C. jargon, no long Latinate words, just tell him what it is about him — his
voice or manner or build — that made them think he was not up to the task of
teaching high school in a Third World country.
Apparently, it did the trick. Through sheer guts our fellow volunteer had
managed a legendary rite of passage.
I was reminded of this vital, little memory by something John McCain said
recently: that he knew certain fellow Navy officers to be gay by their "behavior
and attitudes."
Under pressure, McCain said this week, "It's clear to some of us when some
people have that lifestyle."
Fair enough. We all have fellow workers and friends who have not declared
their sexual orientation. Some people send signals in more subtle ways. I knew
one government official who simply posed for a picture with the Washington
Gay Men's Chorus. I knew a newspaper reporter, hung out with him, drank
with him, traveled with him, and he never told me that he had AIDS. I found
out when it was too late.
As long as there are differences among people, there will be some ignorance,
some mistaken identities.
The question here is not the reliability or intensity of John McCain's "gaydar"
but the fairness of his heart. And there is nothing in his public record to suggest
he's the kind of guy who has ever, or would ever, single out a gay person for
01/25/00: This time, candidates get 'authenticity' check
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