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From: David Smallberg <das@ucla-cs.ARPA> <das>
Newsgroups: net.motss
Subject: Re: Ronald Reagan's Homophobic Career: III
Message-ID: <1915@ucla-cs.ARPA>
Date: Thu, 1-Nov-84 00:39:26 EST
Article-I.D.: ucla-cs.1915
Posted: Thu Nov  1 00:39:26 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 3-Nov-84 05:46:21 EST
References: <1072@bbncca.ARPA>
Organization: UCLA CS Dept.
Lines: 28

...
  >                                                          ex-LA
  >sheriff Ed Davis, a brutal homophobe when he headed the LAPD, was "one of
  >a handful of Republican legislators who voted for a California gay civil
  >rights bill".

Ed Davis was Chief of Police of the City of Los Angeles, not sheriff of L.A.
County.

His stand on gay rights was a real surprise when I first read about it in the
paper.  [Background:  As police chief, Davis was famous for shoot-from-the-hip
remarks like "Gallows should be set up at airports and skyjackers tried and
executed there."  Obviously he wasn't serious, but like Reagan's joke, it said
a lot about his attitude.  He was and still is a right-winger.  The LAPD under
him went out of its way to harrass gays, as I recall from news accounts of the
time.]  State Senator Davis supported the recent bill (vetoed by Governor
Deukmejian, a fellow Republican) to prohibit employment discrimination based
on affectional preference, because "it's the right thing to do".

His reelection campaign is amazing.  From what I've read, many gays support
him, as do most Republicans (so, given his district, he'll win easily).  His
Democratic opponent is trying to pick up homophobic Republican support by
denouncing Davis's support of "fags and queers".  Those are his words, so
needless to say, the Democratic party has disowned him.  He has continued in
the same vein, though.  [At least in the San Fernando Valley, it seems that
opponents of shoo-ins are frequently crackpots -- I suppose it's because few
reasonable people would waste the money to win the primary, even for name
recognition for the future.]