now held by a Democrat, not a Republican.rnBut that’s what Republicans thoughtrnwould happen after the 1990 Census,rnand it didn’t work out that way.” Backrnthen, the Michigan Republican Partyrnchair was Spencer Abraham.rnGreg Kaza served three terms in thernMichigan House of Representativesrn(J993-J998). He returned to his nativernMidwest recently after working onrnCapitol Hill analyzing the votingrnpatterns of members of the U.S. Housernof Representatives.rnLetter From Romernby Alberto CarosarnAl Gore and the Feces-EaterrnVice President Al Gore did not bother tornanswer the letter in which a dozen or sornprominent Italian pro-family leaders, intellectuals,rnand politicians called for himrnto withdraw his endorsement of the recentrnWorld Gay Pride parade in Romern(see “Letter From Rome,” August), butrnhe did respond to a similar message fromrnthe Catholic League for Religious andrnCivil Rights. On June 1, William Donohue,rnpresident of the League, sent a letterrnto Gore asking him to renounce his supportrnfor the parade and urging him to demandrnthat the event be moved or delayed,rnsince its venue and timing were chosen tornoffend the Roman Catholic Church.rnAlthough Italians do not vote in U.S.rnpresidential elections, Americans do, andrnthis time Gore replied. In a letter datedrnJuly 3, Gore said that he would not rethinkrnhis position. Despite his respect forrnthe Catholic Church, he believed thatrnthe larger issue was one of “tolerance.”rn”Just as I will stand by you whenever yournare working to fight intolerance on religiousrngrounds, I also believe we need tornbe tolerant when it comes to sexual orientationrnas well,” wrote Gore.rnDonohue replied that his letter to thernVice President was occasioned by the intolerancerntoward Roman Catholicismrndisplayed by the leaders of the WorldrnGay Pride march. He added that Gore isrnso wedded to the radical homosexualrnagenda that he did not bother to commentrnon what the lesbian president ofrnCircolo Mario Mieli, the main organizerrnof the event, said of the Pope: “F—you.”rnIn Donohue’s opinion, “Gore’s letterrndemonstrates how selective his commitmentrnto tolerance really is.”rnThe parade, held on July 8, featuredrnan impressive lineup of anti-Christian andrncommunist militants. The participantsrnranged firom the heads of the three rumpsrnof the old Italian Communist Part)’ andrneco-terrorists to anarcho-communists andrnMarco Pannella and Emma Bonino, twornleaders of the Radical Party and trailblazersrnof the homosexual-rights movement.rnHigh-ranking Muslim and Masonic representativesrnwere also present.rnDespite triumphant claims, the marchrnwas a flop. Two years of groundwork, virtuallyrnunlimited funds, favorable mediarncoverage, and the formal support of a vastrnarray of prominent international figuresrnproduced a parade through ancientrnRome totaling only 70,000 people, accordingrnto the official figure released byrnQuestura di Roma (Rome’s police headquarters).rnThe fact that many of the participantsrnwere simply fellow travelersrnmeant that the actual number of homosexualsrnconverging on Rome from aroundrnthe world was much, much lower.rnThe media’s bias could be gauged byrntheir ridiculously inflated crowd estimates,rnranging from 200,000 to 500,000.rnThe Reuters online newswire was a notablernexception; its report mentionedrn”thousands of homosexuals” marchingrnthrough Rome. Even the official figurernwas probably an exaggeration: Italy’s communist-rndominated government openlyrnsided with the homosexual activists.rnThe event’s flop infuriated the parade’srnorganizers and their leftist sponsors,rnwho blamed their failure on an antiparadernbacklash triggered by grassrootsrnpro-family groups. The secular newsmagazinernL’Espresso reported that therngay-pride march was officially announcedrnin early 2000 amid a calm, debate-rnfree atmosphere, which radicallyrnchanged within a few months. L’Espressornalso noted that the confrontation betweenrnsupporters and opponents of thernparade had taken on crusading overtones.rnThe anti-gay-pride protests were madernpossible by the Italian parliament’s failurernto pass a bill outlawing any form ofrn”polihcally incorrect” opposition underrnthe pretext of fighting discriminationrnbased on “sexual orientation.” A Dutchrngay-rights group demonstrated how thernhomosexual lobby will use this type ofrnlegislation, by announcing plans to suernthe Pope on the grounds that his harshrncomments in the aftermath of a recentrninternational gay-rights demonstrationrnconstituted an incitement to hatied andrndiscrimination.rnWalter Veltroni, the leader of the communist-rnrump Left Democrats, has insistedrnon the need to enforce a law “introducingrnor extending” the ban onrndiscrimination based on sexual orientation.rnVeltroni’s stance was echoed inrneven stronger terms by the president ofrnCircolo Mario Mieli. Mario Mieli was arncommunist and homosexual who committedrnsuicide when he was 31. Corriererndella Sera’s weekly supplement “Sette”rnhas described him as an “intransigentrnmarxist” with “an absolute sense of transgressionrn. . . He wanted to destroy society’.”rnLa Repubblica, a pro-homosexual paper,rnreports that Midi’s family was compelledrnto put him in a mental hospital after theyrnfound out that, in London (where Mielirnhad joined the Gay Liberation Front), hernused to wear a frir coat with no clothes underneathrnand ask policemen to let him kissrnthem.rnMidi’s most famous book, Elementi dirncritica omosessuale (1977), stressed, accordingrnto the Catholic news agency CorrispondenzarnRomana, “the importance ofrnhomosexual liberation as part of humanrnemancipation.” Mieli believed that “thernfull disinhibition of homoerotic tendenciesrnis a prerequisite . . . for the establishmentrnof communism.” Mieli even consideredrnas “enemies” those homosexualsrnwho were reluctant to make their privaternlives public. Moreover, he argued thatrnthe triumph of the homosexual agendarnwould help bring about Marxist revolution:rn”the gradual liberation of the otherrnsuppressed tendencies of Eros will furtherrnstrengthen the revolutionary movement.”rnMieli did not simply propound theserntheories; he lived them. As La Repubblicarnreported, he toured Italy staging performancesrnin which he “elegantly ate fecesrnwith his fingers and then drank hisrnown urine, produced on the spot, in arnclose-up scene.”rnDoes Gore’s support of the gay-pridernparade’s organizers entail endorsing thisrn”alternative” culinary habit? And doesrnthe Vice President agree with what formerrnSpice Girl Geri Halliwdl did duringrnher concert in the Tor di Valle horseracingrncomplex? While singing, she wasrnapproached by a white-clad dancer playingrnthe Pope, who knelt down andrnhugged her hips in a sexual posture.rn36/CHRONlCLESrnrnrn