On Friday morning, Gov. George W. Bush spoke to a crowd of some 20,000 at Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a school that subscribes to Biblical teachings about human sexuality, including disapproval of homosexual relations.
The media - as it is wont to do - sounded its opposition, even amidst the DUI feeding frenzy. Salon's Jake Tapper pegged it as a Bob Jones redux.
The gay and lesbian advocacy group the Human Rights Campaign was, of course, horrified. Spokesman David Smith told Tapper, "That he would appear at a school that discriminates against gays to this degree illustrates how phony his compassionate conservatism is." He continued, "There's nothing compassionate about barring gays and lesbians from receiving an education, and that's clearly what this school is about."
In December of 1990, however, Tennessee's then-senator Al Gore spoke at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee. Like Cornerstone University, Lipscomb believes "that it is unbiblical for any sexual activity to take place outside of the heterosexual marriage relationship. That covers homosexuality, it covers adultery between heterosexual partners. The only sexual relationship that is approved by Scripture is the heterosexual marriage relationship. That's our stand here."
"Bush either has a short memory or finds nothing wrong with courting those who discriminate - which undermines his claim to be a 'compassionate conservative,'" said HRC Political Director Winnie Stachelberg. "Unless Bush finds the political courage to take Cornerstone University to task for its anti-gay policies, this visit may be remembered as a sad sequel to his Bob Jones University speech that severely damaged his campaign." Bush visited the Greenville, S.C., school in early February.
The Human Rights Campaign sees no hypocrisy in its stand. In a phone interview with NRO on Friday, spokesman David Smith dismissed the question of hypocrisy. "I don't think it is comparable. That was ten years ago. This is the year 2000 and Bush claims to be compassionate and he visited a school that clearly has anti-gay policies in the middle of his presidential campaign. I don't think it is comparable."
He added, "Gore spoke at Union University in April 2000. Union University has similar policies, but they are not as draconian. You can be expelled at Cornerstone. At Union you get a reprimand of some kind. But he was honoring his mother in that speech, his mother has received a law degree from the school in 1934 and the school was honoring her and he came to speak on her behalf. But, again, it is not comparable to Bush in the middle of a presidential campaign choosing to speak at another Bob Jones University type school."
Smith did say that he would have a problem with Gore speaking at Union today, during the waning days of the presidential campaign. "But if Bush had gone to Cornerstone to honor his mother who had received a degree there, no, we wouldn't have released a press release about Bush today."
The Gore campaign did not return NRO's calls requesting a comment.