Since this whole Foley thing opened up, I have realized that the Republicans are right. They are right when they say the problem with Foley is his being gay. Of course the reason for me agreeing with the Republicans is probably not what they would expect.
For years it has been “rumored” that Foley was gay. He would never publicly comment on it. His sexual preference became more agreed upon across the aisle only after his lewd messages with young male pages was uncovered. Interesting how it takes such a scandal to make people agree.
So why did the Republicans get this one right? Well it is very simple. They are right because it is their own hatred towards gays that prevent people like Mark Foley from living an open life that they had chosen. They can not come out and be openly gay because that would cause them to be shunned by their party. Instead they have to live with this secret and when you have to live with something like that as a secret, you might as well have other secrets.
This is not something I have just come up with; this is a trend that the evidence already points to. Remember Mayor Jim West of Spokane? He was a Republican hero as he championed against gay marriage, only to later find out he was gay and accusations arose of him even having sex with minors.
If that isn’t enough proof, then consider this list I published on Sunday. There are 50 Republicans on that list who have been involved in scandals of sex with minors (and some very disturbing and violent cases). Of that list, seven cases involved same sex. But that is not all that list tells. That list also shows that being gay does not mean being a pedophile. Why? Because less than 1/5 of that list involved same sex encounters. The remaining 43 were crimes committed with the opposite sex. So that also shows that being gay does not mean being a pedophile.
This needs to be brought up in the wake of the Washington Times’ editorial calling for the resignation of Dennis Hastert. While I agree that he should resign, I have to disagree with the argument the Washington Times is taking in it. This one paragraph has had me thinking:
Now the scandal must unfold on the front pages of the newspapers and on the television screens, as transcripts of lewd messages emerge and doubts are rightly raised about the forthrightness of the Republican stewards of the 109th Congress. Some Democrats are attempting to make this “a Republican scandal,” and they shouldn’t; Democrats have contributed more than their share of characters in the tawdry history of congressional sexual scandals. Sexual predators come in all shapes, sizes and partisan hues, in institutions within and without government. When predators are found they must be dealt with, forcefully and swiftly. This time the offender is a Republican, and Republicans can’t simply “get ahead” of the scandal by competing to make the most noise in calls for a full investigation. The time for that is long past.
Of course the Democrats have had scandals, but those scandals do not compare in number to the ones Republicans have had. But consider this simple fact that occurred with in the ultra-conservative Washington Times’ own offices:
Metropolitan Police today charged the director of human resources at The Washington Times with one count of attempting to entice a minor on the Internet.
Randall Casseday, 53, was arrested at 9:45 p.m. yesterday in the 1300 block of Brentwood Road NE, where police said he had arranged to meet who he thought was a 13-year-old girl. He had actually exchanged Internet messages and photographs with a male police officer posing as a girl.
Here we have a case of a Washington Times’ employee being arrested for soliciting sex from an underage female on the internet. No gay involved there. Now I understand the Washington Times is not coming out and saying Foley’s actions were synonymous with his sexual preference, but I can’t help but think they feel the same as the other conservative organizations out there.
While I am not a gay male, I have had the joy of having numerous gay friends throughout my life. These are some of the nicest and most responsible people I have ever had the privilege of knowing. They are upstanding members of society and open about their sexuality. Of course they are not Republican politicians, or they might have to hide that sexuality. Also none of these friends have ever gone after young children. They don’t look at young kids and say “wow he is hot”. They would rather spend time with someone their own age, and they can because they don’t have to hide their sexuality from their peers.
So all these Republicans out there blaming Foley’s sexuality as the cause of his problems are only telling half the story. They are forgetting the key part – that his sexuality had to be hidden from his own party because of their hatred. I know the religious right uses the Bible as their excuse for being against gays, but the Bible also is against adults preying on children. As matter of fact I would bet the farm on God being more upset over a man pursuing a child sexually than pursuing someone of their own sex. And he would be thoroughly pissed off with the fact that the hatred these people use in his own name is driving people like Foley underground to commit actual crimes.
Just remember. If someone like Mark Foley would have been able to openly live his chosen life style without fear of chastise from his own political party then there is a great chance none of this would have happened. It wasn’t Foley who put these children at risk – it was the hatred of his own party that did.
UPDATE
I want to address some things posted in the comments.
I am in no way saying that being gay means being a pedophile. Take a moment to read through what I posted and you will see where I talked about the list of Republican involved sex scandals involving minors. I pointed out that only 7 of those incidents, out of 50 involved same sex. Pedophilia is a problem that does not discriminate by sexual orientation. It occurs with gay as well as straight people.
Also there is much more evidence to prove that pedophilia is something that mostly occurs between the opposite sexes. I follow the cases of predators being busted on the internet very closely. Almost everyone you read about involves a man (a lot of times a married man), talking to what they think is an underage girl on the internet. They then arrange to meet this girl only to find out it was a police officer they had been chatting with. Why is that? Because the biggest threat of pedophilia comes from the opposite sex.
As to the issue of not knowing that Mark Foley is gay. That is true. He has never admitted it. The problem is that the jury is in with the right. They are using this hideous incident to try and promote their agenda against issues like gay marriage. That is the really bad part. They see something like this and instantly decide that it becomes the poster-child (no pun intended) for their own political agenda. They also need to be asked if this would have happened if Foley could have openly admitted being gay without the threat of repercussions from his own party. If Foley could have been open about being gay, then possibly he would have been able to have companionship in his life and not spend his time chatting to minors on the internet.