A look back at Doug Drummond's anti-gay comments

As was reported in today's Press-Telegram (see the article here), former Long Beach councilman Doug Drummond has been removed from the state Parole Board because of anti-gay comments he made in 1993. I dug through our archives to find the original Press-Telegram article from Sept. 30, 1993, after Drummond's comments were first made public. Here it is:

Councilman Doug Drummond told a conservative political group that people with AIDS should have been quarantined to prevent its early spread, and he said he doesn't worry about gays gaining political power because the disease is killing their leaders.

Drummond also told the Long Beach Chapter of the Eagle Forum of California Sept. 21 he supported the military's homosexual ban and opposed gay adoptions.

According to a tape-recording made of his talk, Drummond told the audience, ``Do you want to know why I don't worry about gay activity? I'm gonna give you a clue. So far in San Francisco, over 10,000 have died. In Long Beach, over 1,000 have died.''

He noted that many gay leaders have died of AIDS and added, ``I'm not concerned about that community in terms of being a political threat.''

In a telephone call from Evanston, Wyo., where he is on a hunting trip, Drummond said, ``I spoke those words, and if anyone wants to further discuss my meanings, I would be happy to.''

However, he said he had not expected a tape of his comments to be circulated publicly and complained about the nature of some of the audience questions.

``The interest was to humiliate me....The manner of the questioning was really pointed and intended to get me to make comments that were improper,'' he said, adding, however, that he said nothing improper.

Gay leaders are denouncing Drummond and plan a news conference today to call for his resignation and his censure by the City Council, said Paul Self, president of the Long Beach Lambda Democratic Club.

``Bigotry is bigotry, and it goes beyond just lesbians and gays,'' Self said. ``He probably thinks in his own mind that we are a safe target.''

Drummond said he would not resign.

``Have I been a vocal advocate of gay rights in the community? I have not,'' Drummond said.

Packets containing an eight-minute excerpt of his hour-long talk and a two-page transcript of his comments were anonymously delivered Friday and Monday to the media and several civic leaders.

Although Drummond denounced the excerpt as doctored, a reference to its editing, a comparison of the excerpted tape to the complete one shows that he made all the comments.

On the tape, he endorsed Cuban leader Fidel Castro 's quarantine of people with AIDS. He defended the comment Wednesday, saying it is too late now to attempt a U.S. quarantine.

He said homosexual people don't reproduce but engage in dangerous and deadly recruiting.

And he endorsed efforts in Congress to keep gays in the military from openly declaring their sexuality.

Drummond also said it was pitiful for courts to allow homosexual people to adopt children.
Dick Gaylord, former head of the local Realtors board and the city planning commission, said he was a longtime Drummond friend and supporter.

``I'm very disappointed. I thought he represented everyone in the 3rd District,'' said Gaylord, who is gay. ``I thought he was very tolerant of gay individuals...and understood the AIDS crisis and wanted to resolve some of the problems.''

Wayne Trevathan, executive director of The Center, a community services center for gay and bisexual people, said, ``I cannot imagine that an elected official in this day and age, especially in Long Beach, with one of the strongest gay populations in the country, would make such homophobic remarks.''

Jeanne Goodin, director of the Eagle Forum of California Long Beach Chapter, which hosted the discussion, said a nonmember in the audience, whom she declined to identify, distributed the tape without the group's permission or involvement. The group routinely tape-records the comments of its speakers.

Eagle Forum is a nationwide organization that advocates ``traditional, natural family values,'' a strong defense, excellent schools and private enterprise, Goodin said.

She sent the original tape to Drummond 's office and said she would have no further involvement.

``We're not going to involve ourselves with whoever has a vendetta against the councilman,'' she said. ``We'd never try to embarrass any of our public officials. Whoever put that eight-minute excerpt together is very unprincipled, unprofessional and unethical.''

Goodin and other members of the Eagle Forum were angry at Drummond in March when he voted for a city statement expanding the definition of the family to include nontraditional groupings, including gay couples.

Gay activists, meanwhile, were disappointed with Drummond in June when he led a council vote to cancel any consideration of extending city employee benefits to domestic partners, including straight or gay unmarried couples.

And another item from 1993 that listed Drummond's comments and his later explanations of them:

Here are some of Councilman Doug Drummond 's taped statements and his explanations Wednesday.

Quarantines

* Tape: Fidel Castro ``isolated his AIDS population. The ones that are remaining are quarantined, as we would quarantine under public health law people with problems of that kind. And as a result, Cuba has not had the spread we've had. And I'm not concerned about that community in terms of being a political threat.''

* Explanation: ``I did not advocate that policy for the U.S.A. I think it is way too late.''

Homosexual rights

* Tape: ``In rural America, gays are not accepted, they are not employed, they are cast out.''

* Explanation: ``I did vote for the city's family policy statement (broadening the definition of family to include nontraditional groupings). If it comes to (the) basic rights issue, then I am a very strong advocate of rights.''

On local gay political power:

Tape: ``I see some on the Board of Realtors who think of themselves as being powerful, but I only see them being strong in their own circle....I see them not respected.''

Explanation: He declined to name the people he meant.

Gays in the military

* Tape: ``I'm glad that Congress and the Senate have held the line in the military because if they claim it's privacy as an issue, then it should be kept private.''

* Explanation: Supports the ``don't ask, don't tell'' policy to avoid identifying homosexual people in the military.