It's good for the gays.

• Author: Clinton, Kate
• Position: How sex scandal involving Pres. Clinton affects gays - Column - Brief Article

When discussing any political matter, my friend Leslie's grandmother Sophie always asked, "Is To it good for the Jews?" The clarifying nature of the question was lost on my own grandmother, Mary Monica Monahan Moore, who was off saving civilization. But it's not lost on me, especially concerning the most recent Whatevergate. I ask, "Is it good for the gays?" And I answer, to paraphrase good golly Miss Molly Bloom, "Yes. Yes. Yes."

First, FYI, the debate du jour raging in coastal urban gay communities and a small suburb of Chicago is between the normal-hearted Larry Kramer and Michael Warner (no relation to Time Warner). The Kramerites say that gay men must be monogamous, married, and better behaved. Additionally, in a New York Times op-ed piece, not titled "Deconstructing Larry," Kramer decries the silence of the lesbians, whom he thinks should be monitoring gay men's sexual lives. Meanwhile, the Warner Brothers say that gay men must not be restricted in their sexual activity by considerations of marriage, monogamy, or even health risks. They call their group "Sex Panic," they mouth solidarity with women, and then they hog the microphone. It's a boys' schoolyard brawl, pitting the Hair Shirts against the Foreskins.

The real sex panic was big enough to knock Pope J.P.'s Cuban tour to the lower left of the page. Crazy enough to make Ted Kaczynski look like a sane man, only with bad grooming. And slimy enough to make the Super Bowl a sideshow. Big. The net effect of Whatevergate is to contextualize Gay Sex Panic into the larger Straight Sex Panic. That's the first yes.

Second yes: After my one hour and fifteen minute Double Entendre Watch of the Straight of the Union Address (was that "fiscal" or "physical" discipline?), it's clear that President pro tem Bill Clinton loves his job and often does it well. (OK, OK--think four years of Bob Dole teamed with Jack Kemp and the now lean and mean, third in line, "I don't wanna stand up" Speaker Gingrich and try to imagine any...