THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

Part 17. Politics Get Personal

Jack Adams, the Secret Service agent charged with assassinating President George W. Bush and being held for psychiatric evaluation. After telling the doctor about a campaign meeting in which the administration decided to 'go after' gay marriage and 'homosexual adoptions' Jack tells about a visit he had a few nights prior to that meeting, which was what caused him concern.

A few nights before this meeting in which the Republican bigwigs decided to go after gay people with adopted children, Quincy and Jackson appeared at my door at 10:00 p.m. I let them in, took their coats, and went to put on the tea. 'Would you prefer something stronger?' I asked Jackson.

'I might take a scotch if you have it.'

'You'd better pour yourself one, too, Dad,' Quincy said. 'You might need it.'

We settled in by the fireplace with our drinks. Finally Jackson spoke. 'Look, Mr. Adams, we'll get straight to it.'

'Oh-oh,' I said.

'What?' Quincy said, halting his pouring.

'If it's 'Mr. Adams' I have a bad feeling about this. Should I get the whiskey bottle back?'

They looked at each other again and Jackson sighed loudly.

'Come on, boys, it can't be that bad.'

'It's not bad at all,' Quincy said, smiling for the first time since he arrived. 'In fact it's just the opposite. At least we think so.'

'Well then out with it.'

'We're going to have a baby,' Quincy announced, handing me a teacup.

I choked and the cup clattered on the saucer, spilling the tea. Jackson laughed and handed me his napkin.

'What he means, Mr. Adams, is that we have applied to adopt a baby and the first phase of the application process was approved this afternoon.'

'Now,' Quincy continued, 'they're going to start the second phase and that will involve you one way or the other, so we needed to give you a 'heads up.''

'We were planning to tell you, Pop; we just didn't think things would proceed quite so quickly. Because, of course, we want your…your…' Jackson looked to Quincy for help.

'What we want is for you to be happy for us and to say something like, 'Yippee! I'm gonna be a grandpa.'

'Yippee?' I said.

'Don't be a fart, Pop.'

I stood, went to the fireplace, and stared into the flames as I ran down the long list of problems this would create for them. But as I listed them I realized I was living in a 20th century mindset, not a 21st century one. Things had changed, especially in places like New York and California and Massachusetts. People were becoming enlightened, or politically coerced. Hell, I had become enlightened as far as homosexuality was concerned. Or perhaps I should say I was being dragged along.

'Well?' Quincy was anxious for my reaction.

I turned from the fireplace, looked at Jackson, then at my son, and said, 'I can't think of two people who would make better parents.'

If the constitutional amendment passed in New York, along with a state law prohibiting gays and lesbians from adopting children, Quincy's and Jackson's family would evaporate like electronic votes in Ohio. The part of the New York proposal, the mean part, was that the law would be retroactive to the year 2000.

Five days later the president announced he would support a constitutional amendment defining marriage as being between one man and one woman.

'I'm a conservative and I don't feel this way,' I said to Jackson over the phone the evening after the president's announcement.

'Mr. Adams, I hate to be the one to tell you, but you would be considered a Goldwater conservative, which means you are no longer a conservative at all. You're a moderate Republican at best and probably a liberal Republican—if there is such a thing these days.'

'Yeah, Dad, you'd better keep your mouth shut at work or they might fire you,' Quincy chimed in on the extension. 'It's not bad enough they have to hate us, now they want to legalize their discrimination.' Quincy was ratcheting up his emotions. 'I have to hang up, Dad. Thanks for calling. It was very sweet of you.'

The receiver clicked and I said to Jackson. 'Is he going to be all right?'

'Yeah, he'll be fine. But tell me something, Mr. Adams. Do you think they're serious? Do you think they're actually going to try to pull this off?'

I was quiet for a moment, trying to decide whether to tell the truth or buoy Jackson's spirits. I figured he'd know if I was bullshitting him. 'Frankly, son, I think it's soon going to be out of their hands. It's going to take on a life of its own. Only the Democrats could kill it in the House and the Senate—if they even have the votes in their own party to do that—and the Democrats, as we know, aren't in the majority.'

'Maybe there will be a miracle in the election. Maybe Kerry and Edwards will win.'

'Well, that's what it would take. A miracle.'

Follow this 44-part serialized book in Windy City Times for the next several months. See www.WindycityMediaGroup.com for past columns.