Copyright©2000
The Hanover Review, Inc.

Editorial: Heteropatriarchal Gynophobes!

Colleges' Housing Hypocrisy
by Steven Menashi
At the first Democratic debate of the primary season, Bill Bradley mused, “If a gay American can be a bricklayer, a doctor, an athlete, a lawyer, a painter, why can’t a gay American be a sergeant and a lieutenant colonel? It does not make sense to me.” Al Gore, appearing with Bradley at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, agreed. At a later debate at the University of New Hampshire, Gore even said that allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the military would be a “litmus test” for prospective members of the Joint Chiefs. The candidates received applause at both universities, themselves longstanding combatants in the assault on the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy—the policy crafted by President Clinton in 1992 that prohibits open homosexuality in the ranks.

Rainbow Intolerance
by Matthew Tokson
This past spring term’s Voces Clamantium speaker was chosen, not by the usual unanimous vote, but by a 5-4 margin after a lengthy and emotional debate.  And thus began Dartmouth’s troubled relationship with Yvette Schneider, Policy Analyst in Cultural Studies for Washington, DC’s Family Research Council and self-identified former lesbian. Schneider’s visit to campus on May 23 spawned campus-wide debate on issues of homosexuality and freedom of speech.

Ramblin' Roadshows
by Alexis Jhamb
Campus activists rarely prompt meaningful dialogue (they usually just shout down people who disagree), but they’re awfully fond of cheap stunts and empty gestures. A case in point was “Sister Spit’s Ramblin’ Roadshow,” an event sponsored by the College’s Women’s Studies Department, the Office of Residential Life, and some student groups. Sister Spit, an acting troupe, is an all-lesbian, “free-wheeling gaggle of loudmouthed girls,” who travel the country to hold performances of spoken-word poetry Schneider’s visit to campus on May 23 spawned campus-wide debate on issues of homosexuality and freedom of speech.

Sexual Politics, Biological Consequences
by Andrew Grossman
A routine operation—a circumcision—gone horribly wrong sparked one of the greatest debates in the gender wars. It took a publicity-crazed sexologist to give the feminist-led sex-as-a-social-construct movement ammunition to overpower, for a time, traditional notions of biologically-determined sex. And it took over twenty years for the real story of Bruce/Brenda/David to emerge and strike back against the movement that replaced nature with nurture and science with gender politics.

Uncivil Unions
by Emmett Hogan
Forty years ago, few would have guessed that the small, rural, and traditional state of Vermont would hand gay rights activists their biggest legal victory to date. Throughout the years, seemingly forgotten by the rest of the country, Vermont clung to its traditional values, and gave no foretaste of the liberal paradise that it would become. In recent years, however, leftist activists have found a home in the Green Mountain State, pulling its political sentiment forcefully in their direction. The liberal infusion isn't particularly discriminating: environmentalists, socialists, and gay activists have all found a home. The latter have fared particularly well of late.

NEWS AND COMMENT:
Gore's Computer Demagoguery by Jeffrey Hart
NH Senators Judge Judge by Alexander Talcott
In Memoriam: William E. Simon by R. Emmett Tyrrell

BOOKS AND ARTS:
The Playground of Europe by Christian Hummel
Radiohead: A Few Surprises by Andrew Pease
Soap Fiction by Karen Parkman

A Letter from Stan

by Gordon Haff

“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win great triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.” —Theodore Roosevelt