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In June of 1993, Goldwater's famous editorial, “Ban on Gays is a Senseless Attempt to Stall the Inevitable,” was published in both the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. With his trademark wit, he wrote: “You don't need to be ‘straight' to fight and die for your country. You just need to shoot straight.”

Goldwater then described the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy as a “compromise that doesn't deal with the issue — it tries to hide it.”

He continued: “The only remaining questions are how much muck we will all be dragged through, and how many brave Americans like Tom Paniccia and Margarethe Cammermeyer will have their lives and careers destroyed in a senseless attempt to stall the inevitable.” It was Ross, Goldwater's grandson, who first introduced Paniccia to Goldwater. Paniccia had been discharged from his base near Tucson after revealing he was gay on national television.

Meeting Paniccia was key in Goldwater's decision to oppose the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. He felt it was his senatorial duty to help a local Arizona citizen voice a legitimate grievance against the military.

“It's time America realized that there was no gay exemption in the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in the Declaration of Independence” — B. Goldwater, 1994

In July 1994, Goldwater became honorary co-chairman of a drive to pass a federal law preventing job discrimination against homosexuals. Headed by the Human Rights Campaign, it was called “Americans Against Discrimination.”

In his July 13, 1994, Washington Post editorial, “Job Protection For Gays,” Goldwater stated: “Gays and lesbians are a part of every American family. They should not be shortchanged in their efforts to better their lives and serve their communities. As President Clinton likes to say, ‘If you work hard and play by the rules, you'll be rewarded' and not with a pink slip just for being gay.”

Goldwater also worked in his home state of Arizona to stop businesses in Phoenix from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation. Phoenix real estate entrepreneur and gay rights activist Charlie Harrison recalled a fundraising dinner for Arizona gay men and lesbians at which Goldwater received one standing ovation after another. “He was treated like God,” Harrison told the Washington Post in July 1994. “Like the Grand Canyon come to Phoenix.”

Harrison says that Goldwater told him, “Well, Charlie, I'm an honorary gay by now.”

In 1993, Goldwater addressed the Log Cabin Republicans National Convention via videotape and was given the group's Spirit of Lincoln Award. At the time of his death in 1998, an LCR press release stated: “Goldwater was our kind of Republican. It is a sad reflection of the state of our Party today, that some Republicans questioned the credentials of the godfather of modern conservatism because he supported fair treatment for gays. We can only hope that our Party can return to the conscience of a conservative — Barry Goldwater — whose ideals can lead us back to our basic principles and away from pandering to the religious right.”

In a 1998 statement released on Goldwater's death, HRC executive director Elizabeth Birch said: “Barry Goldwater exemplified honorable conservative principles such as respecting individual rights. Many of today's right-wing politicians, who mistakenly call themselves conservatives, can learn a lot about true conservatism by studying Barry Goldwater.”

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