The More Things Change The More They Stay The Same …

This week openly gay Congressman Mark Pocan, a Wisconsin Democrat, posted a story to Twitter—I refuse to call it X—that emphasized just how different things were for LGBTQ+ people not even three decades ago … and how much the same things are today.

Pocan has a framed pair of rubber gloves in his office due to an incident that occurred in 1995, when he and 49 other out gay elected officials were invited to the White House:

“While serving alongside now-Senator Tammy Baldwin on the Dane County Board of Supervisors in 1995, we were invited to the Clinton White House for a celebration of openly gay elected officials.

We headed to Washington and after some sightseeing, finally got to take a tour of the White House. As we came through the metal detectors, we noticed the security personnel wearing rubber gloves.

This took place shortly after the Oklahoma City Bombing, so we assumed security was taking extra precautions to protect themselves from increased radiation.

Not thinking much of it, we continued through the afternoon of meetings where we ultimately discovered the real reason for the gloves.

The security officials were wearing gloves out of fear that they would contract AIDS from one of the openly gay elected officials visiting the White House.

In 1995, there was still a lot of ignorance surrounding the AIDS epidemic and LGBTQI+ individuals on a larger scale.

Later that evening, Vice President Gore made a point to come around and shake all of our hands, demonstrating that this was not the official position of the Clinton White House.

A few weeks later, I received a signed letter from the president apologizing for what we had encountered at the entrance.

It’s been more than 25 years since that historic meeting of out elected officials at the White House. I held onto the invitation and the apology letter — neither of which said the word “gay” — and still have them framed in my office with a pair of those rubber gloves.

This year as we celebrate LGBTQI+ History Month, I look at them and remember how much progress we’ve made and the work we still have to do.

Whether it’s a pair of gloves, or a slew of educational gag orders seeking to ban conversations on sexual orientation and gender identities, our work to protect LGBTQI+ individuals will not be done until equality is finally and fully realized.”

The Washington Post reported on the incident in 1995 and noted that Secret Service Director Eljay Bowron regretted the “unfortunate actions” of the Secret Service agents, saying it was “not the policy of the Secret Service to wear gloves merely based on known sexual preference,” and promised a “special training session directed specifically at these matters.”

Refusing to touch people in normal and socially accepted ways has long been one of the many microaggressions faced by LGBTQ+ people, whose bodies have often been labeled disgusting or toxic. More than half of the LGBTQ+ respondents to a 2009 Lambda Legal survey on medical discrimination said that they had experienced microaggressions in a medical setting that included, among others, “health care professionals refusing to touch them or using excessive precautions.”

Sidenote: back in the 1990s Carlos was trying to get life insurance and took a physical as part of the process. His doctor called him and told him he needed to come in for a talk. Carlos arrived at the office, the last appointment for the day, and the nurse talked to him from behind the glass partition—he thought it was because the office was closing. He sat and waited to see the doctor and when he was finally called in he sat across the desk from his doctor scarcely looked at him and said:

“I’m sorry, Mr. Harris, you have AIDS and there’s nothing I can do for you.”

And that was it; nothing can be done for you. Carlos got up and left the office while a nurse came in with gloves to clean the chair he sat in, the part of the desk he touched. In the waiting room a nurse was cleaning the doorknobs and the counter and where he sat while waiting to see the doctor.

On the upside, Carlos instantly found a doctor who deals with HIV and was prescribed medications; after we moved to South Carolina, he found a doctor here who is managing his HIV. He is, and has been, undetectable for thirty-plus years.

And these Don’t Say Gay laws and anti-trans laws and banning drag laws are still doing that today, making us feel like we don’t belong, like we are somehow dirty and dangerous and riddled with disease and not worthy of being touched.

The march goes on …

LGBTQ Nation