US:"THE THING is, Hillary's been a victim," says Leo Bartlett, taking a drag of his cigarette. "Hillary's a real fighter." She's been picked on, ridiculed, bullied. Those haircuts, that laugh, the clothes. Oh, and Monica. But she never gives up. She's got good policy positions. She bullies when she needs to. She's "a diva". And that about sums up why gays - not all, of course, but many - are such ardent, long-time and downright defensive backers of Hillary Rodham Clinton.
This historic primary race has turned the American electorate into a demographic pizza pie. Alongside white women and Hispanics, blue-collar workers and Catholics who currently form Clinton's core constituency, count gays and lesbians, too. Hillary's their gal, that reliable, ubiquitous straight girl who hangs out with the gang.
"We Shoot Straight With You" is the slogan of this quiet, conservative town of 5,000 about 50 miles southeast of Dallas. This puts a wry, sardonic smile on the faces of the patrons of Friends, known throughout this lakeside area as the "friendliest gay bar in Texas".
Defiant is one way to describe the joint. Gay bars usually hang a rainbow flag to signal that, well, this is a gay bar. At Friends, the flag is not mere cloth: it's painted on a piece of wood nailed to the building - which, by the way, is bright turquoise.
Far from the primped-up, tight-jean-wearing, eternally- single-and-loving-it vibe of Oak Lawn, Dallas's gay neighbour- hood, Friends is a more laid-back, welcoming place. It's full of older, middle-class and mostly couples wearing T-shirts that read "I love cowboys" and baseball caps with a small rainbow flag.
"This is like a community centre. Or a retirement home," jokes retired teacher Bobbie Aldridge (67), who like most patrons here wears a button that reads "Out for Hillary".
Last October the Advocate, a gay publication, put Clinton on the cover with the headline: "The Object of Our Affection".
"It's her experience. She's been through every category of any- thing that could happen to an individual and has come out strong," says Bartlett (42), who owns Friends. Barack Obama is seen as "untested", "too new", "too young". Many patrons here recall an Obama rally in South Carolina last autumn where one speaker was Donnie McClurkin, a conservative preacher who has said homosexuality can be "cured" through prayer. Faced with criticism, Obama said he "strongly disagrees" with McClurkin.
Jim Gribben (64), who directs musical productions at the bar, names Clinton's contributions to the gay community: the first first lady to march in a gay pride parade. She's fought for more HIV funds. She wants to repeal "don't ask, don't tell", though it was her husband who signed the controversial military policy toward gays. She's for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and supports civil unions.
Gribben wishes she were for gay marriage but will take what he can get since gays have no domestic partnership rights and can't adopt children in Texas, where a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage was overwhelmingly approved almost three years ago. "Gays have a history with the Clintons - and when I say the Clintons, that's because I think Hillary was as much a president as Bill was - and most of it was good." -