The Last Thing to Bear Jesse Helms's Name
| Wed Jul. 16, 2008 7:46 AM PDT
Maybe Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) has a really wicked sense of humor.
How else do you explain her current attempt to rename an appropriations bill intended to provide assistance to foreign countries combating HIV/AIDS and other diseases after recently deceased Senator Jesse Helms?
Helms was a throwback to the period when bigots could serve openly and proudly in the U.S. Senate. He fought funding for AIDS research, saying, "The government should spend less money on people with AIDS because they got sick as a result of deliberate, disgusting, revolting conduct." At a different time, he contextualized his comments by saying, "Nothing positive happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, and nothing positive is likely to happen to America if our people succumb to the drumbeats of support for the homosexual lifestyle." He once said that AIDS prevention literature was "so obscene, so revolting, I may throw up."
Those his position on AIDS in Africa would soften over time, he remained a steadfast opponent of progress in the States. The man didn't mince words, and wasn't ashamed of his positions. "The Bible is unmistakably instructive on the sin of sodomy," he said in the mid-90s. "I confess I regard it as an abomination." He once admitted he voted against a Clinton appointee "because she's a damn lesbian."
And now an AIDS bill may carry his name. That's either an incredibly vicious way of marring the bill and insulting AIDS victims, or its an incredibly savvy way of tarnishing Helms's legacy. Which do you think it is?
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Comments
Do your homework. Jesse helms recanted his opposition to AIDS relief through the intercession of Bono, who actually became a friend. "Helms coauthored a bill authorizing $600 million for international AIDS relief efforts" (Wikipedia)after meeting with Bono. Again, do your homework.
Perhaps they're trying to re-write history in a small way. By naming the bill after him, future generations may look back and think, 'Oh, he wasn't that bad, look at this AIDS bill with his name all over it.'
Let's all hope that 50 years from now Jesse Helms will be remembered for the hard hearted bigot he truly was.
Jesse Helms' position on HIV/AIDS did evolve (as noted), but only as it regards the disease in Africa, among children and heterosexuals. He did collaborate with Bono to get funding to that group.
His opposition to helping westerners with any of the many lifestyle risk-factors he resented did NOT weaken over the years. The quotes seen in the original message very likely reflect comments he would still be proud of today.
Every commentary about this man points out his lifelong ideological consistency and "you know where he stands". To me, there's a corollary that requires a candid and undiluted judgment of his hateful positions, despite his recent death.
He served as an obstacle to progress in so MANY fields that they're hard to summarize ... but surely health science belongs on that list, along with human rights, international cooperation, public education, arts and humanities and disarmament.
I haven't yet read an obituary that was harsh enough in judging what he did to our society and to my home state.
