David Corn: "The List" (of Gay GOP Aides on the Hill)

http://www.davidcorn.com/archives/2006/10/the_list_of_gay.php

October 04, 2006

"The List" (of Gay GOP Aides on the Hill); Hubris on Bloggingheads.tv

There's a list going around. Those disseminating it call it "The List." It's a roster of top-level Republican congressional aides who are gay.

On CBS News on Tuesday, correspondent Gloria Borger reported that there's anger among House Republicans at what an unidentified House GOPer called a "network of gay staffers and gay members who protect each other and did the Speaker a disservice." The implication is that these gay Republicans somehow helped page-pursuing Mark Foley before his ugly (and possibly illegal) conduct was exposed. The List--drawn up by gay politicos--is a partial accounting of who on Capitol Hill might be in that network.

I have a copy. I'm not going to publish it. For one, I don't know for a fact that the men on the list are gay. And generally I don't fancy outing people--though I have not objected when others have outed gay Republicans, who, after all, work for a party that tries to limit the rights of gays and lesbians and that welcomes the support of those who demonize same-sexers.

What's interesting about The List--which includes nine chiefs of staffs, two press secretaries, and two directors of communications--is that (if it's acucurate) it shows that some of the religious right's favorite representatives and senators have gay staffers helping them advance their political careers and agendas. These include Representative Katherine Harris and Henry Hyde and Senators Bill Frist, George Allen, Mitch McConnell and Rick Santorum. Should we salute these legislators for being open-minded enough to have such tolerant hiring practices? After all, Santorum in a 2003 AP interview compared homosexuality to bestiality, incest and polygamy. It would be rather big of Santorum to employ a fellow who engages in activity akin to such horrors. That is, if Santorum knows about his orientation.

Let's be clear about one thing: the Mark Foley scandal is not about homosexuality. Some family value conservatives are suggesting it is. But anytime a gay Republican is outed by events, a dicey issue is raised: what about those GOPers who are gay and who serve a party that is anti-gay? Are they hypocrites, opportunists, or just confused individuals? Is it possible to support a party because you adhere to most of its tenets--even if that party refuses to recognize you as a full citizen? The men on The List might want to think hard about these questions--as they probably already have--for if I have a copy of The List, there's a good chance it will be appearing soon on a website near everyone.

(snip)

link: http://www.davidcorn.com/archives/2006/10/the_list_of_gay.php

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This sounds similar to the circles of high-ranking Catholic gay clergy who protect themselves from exposure in a church that despises them, and who also seem to protect pedophiles.

What's with that?

Being gay is NOT the same as being a pedophile, but there seems to be a tolerance for pedophiles among these closeted gays in positions of authority, just as we're seeing now in positions of power in Washington. Are these men afraid that exposure of child molestors will draw undue attention to other sexual "outlaws"? Or are they so divorced from their emotions -- having spent their entire lives in denial or heavy skulking -- that they have no empathy left over for the children who are harmed?

The dynamic puzzles me completely. I haven't seen anything analogous to this among gay women. Of course, I've never spent any time with closeted Republican lesbians, so maybe they're just as dysfunctional as closeted Republican gay men.

The only reason the list is so short is because its limited to senior republican staffers. You cannot walk down the halls of the congressional office buildings without noticing how many staffers are gay. Eat in one of the cafeterias sometime.

Those people are just capable of publishing that list.

sound so rational.

So did, denny know or not?

Even if you could authenticate it, it's not relevant to the Foley story--sexual predation of children is. And think of what a field day the Rethugs would have it you got something wrong. As for the "network of gay staffers and gay members," maybe those "angry" House Republicans should out THEM!

:headbang:
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