Worst Case scenario.

A contribution to a right-wing school leaves gay activists wondering where the sympathies of AOL chairman Steve Case and wife Jean lie

When Mark Aguirre joined the staff of America Online in 1995, he immediately felt at home in the liberal corporate environment. The company offered generous domestic-partner benefits and antidiscrimination protection to its dozens of gay and lesbian employees. Steve Case, the dynamic chairman and chief executive officer, was a "friendly, all-American guy who put everyone at ease."

So Aguirre, who retired from the company last year, was shocked to leant in October that Case and his wife, Jean, had made an $8.35 million donation to Westminster Academy, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., religious preschool-through-12th-grade institution founded by D. James Kennedy, a well-known antigay crusader and champion of the "ex-gay" movement. The donation led to complaints from the Human Rights Campaign and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

"At my [previous company], I used to get sideways glances because I was openly gay," says Aguirre, who, like many early AOL employees, has watched his stock soar in value. "It was exciting to be in such an open-minded place where not only was it OK to be different, it was actually encouraged. But if the Cases were aware that their donation could be used to help ex-gay ministries in any way, I think it was an unfortunate choice. There are so many worthwhile charities out there."

Jean and Steve Case declined The Advocate's interview requests. But in statements and in a letter to Elizabeth Birch, executive director of the Human Rights Campaign, the Cases defended the contribution as a gift to Jean Case's alma mater, not Kennedy's political activities. They made a donation of a similar size to Punahou School, an elite private school in Hawaii, of which Steve Case is a former student.

"In no way was the gift intended to send a message of intolerance," Jean Case said in the statement. "Steve and I strongly oppose discrimination in any form. We have worked to ensure that the Internet medium has given a voice to all communities--including the gay community."

In an October 26 letter to Birch, Steve Case added that "needless to say, it has been difficult for us to be tagged by some as `antigay' simply because we were supporting our alma maters--and it is especially difficult given our long-standing records of opposing discrimination in any form, including discrimination based upon sexual orientation. We are proud of what we've done with the AOL service to provide gays and lesbians with a supportive online community--and to stand with gays and lesbians and protect their rights and freedoms even when we were harshly criticized (and sometimes even threatened) by antigay forces for doing so."

The letter did not completely satisfy Birch, who responded in an October 27 letter to Case that "this gift has created a very real problem of perception that will continue to raise concerns due to the antigay nature of the institution. We sincerely hope you will take whatever steps you deem necessary to absolutely assure yourselves that your hard-earned dollars are not used in a manner inconsistent with your well-established values."

In the end, the crossfire over the donation may be a lesson in corporate sensitivity in a time when big business generally comes down on the side of gay rights. The stakes are high because AOL is set to merge with Time Warner Inc., making it one of the most powerful media companies in the world.

By signing up in large numbers and flocking to AOL's chat rooms, gay and lesbian Internet users have played a major role in the company's extraordinary growth. At times, however, the relationship has been a bumpy, with some gay men complaining that their sexual interests were banned from their online profiles. And in a episode that AOL says was a violation of its own policy, the company outed sailor Timothy McVeigh to naval investigators who called for details about his profile.

"The gay community was a godsend for the company," says Kara Swisher, author of the book AOL.com: How Steve Case Beat Bill Gates, Nailed the Netheads, and Made Millions in the War for the Web. "AOL offered a `live and let live' online space where gays and lesbians could chat and meet, and gays responded by generating huge amounts of revenue for the company."

In researching her 1998 book, Swisher got to know the couple so well that when she and her partner, Megan Smith, the CEO of the gay Web portal PlanetOut, held a commitment ceremony, Swisher sent the Cases an invitation. (AOL also owns a stake in PlanetOut. A letter of agreement for a merger between PlanetOut and Liberation Publications, the publisher of The Advocate, was still in place as this story went to press.) The Cases were unable to attend, but Jean Case sent "one of the loveliest notes I received," Swisher says. "I just don't think anyone who is antigay sends you a note saying how happy they are you are getting married to your same-sex partner. They would just ignore it."

Swisher, who reports for The Wall Street Journal about the Internet, believes the Cases are being labeled antigay because they are churchgoing Christians. "When I was researching my book, several people outside the company suggested that because of her religious beliefs, Jean Case was antigay," she explains. (Jean Case was formerly head of corporate communications at AOL.) "I talked to between 20 and 30 people who had worked for her. They had typical issues with her--she was a tough boss, for instance--but absolutely no one thought she was antigay. She was very aware of how important gays were to the company. A lot of religious people simply get tarred with the stereotype" of antigay bigotry.

The debate over the donation hinges in part on the relationship between Kennedy's political activities and Westminster Academy. The bulk of the gift, $7.2 million, is earmarked for construction of a new high school building in Lauderdale Lakes, Fla. The rest of the gift will provide scholarships for low-income students and establish computer training centers for young people in the area. Officials at Westminster Academy did not return telephone calls from The Advocate seeking comment. On Kennedy's Web site, however, the school is listed next to a link for Worthy Creations, an ex-gay ministry run by his church. The site brags that each teacher is a member of Kennedy's church.

There is no debate about Kennedy's antigay credentials. In 1998 the Center for Reclaiming America, an outreach of Kennedy's Coral Ridge Ministries, was a sponsor of a national advertising campaign titled "Truth in Love," which sought to recruit gays and lesbians to ex-gay ministries. "For the gay community, Kennedy is probably one of the most dangerous because he is so smooth," says Jerry Sloan, director of Project Tocsin, a group that monitors the religious right. "He sounds more reasonable and knowledgeable than other right-wing leaders even as he is attacking homosexuality. He is the very picture of what a distinguished minister should look like."

At least one person is thrilled by the gift: D. James Kennedy. "That gift was from Steve Case and his wife out of gratitude for the wonderful education his wife received from Westminster Academy," Kennedy told The Miami Herald. As for the protests by gay activists, he concluded: "I really think [it's] none of their business."

Find more on America Online's gay connections and links to related Internet sites at www.advocate.com

THE ADVOCATE POLL SPONSORED BY SAAB 

Have you thought of canceling your subscription to AOL because of the Case's donation to Westminster?

Sign on to The Advocate's Web site before December 5 to cast your vote and leave your comments. Results will appear in the January 30 issue.

www.advocate.com