Rep. Barney Frank
talks about the Foley scandal

Even though at least two other members of Congress have dallied with pages in the past (Democratic representative Gerry Studds of Massachusetts, with a male page in 1973, and Republican representative Dan Crane of Illinois, with a female page circa 1983), Mark Foley's current scandal and admission of being gay seem to have set the D.C. closet on fire.

One of the few out politicians on Capitol Hill, Massachusetts congressman Barney Frank (who survived his own scandal involving a male prostitute in 1989) gives us his take on Foley and on being a gay politician in Washington.

What do you think will be the political fallout of the Foley scandal? This makes it very, very likely the Democrats will win the House back in November. It's easy to punish a party when it's not the presidency itself.

Was it common knowledge in Washington that Foley was gay?Both sides of the aisle knew; it was an open secret. Foley would get people in Florida thinking he was out up north, but that was not the case. Once, at a congressional Christmas party at the White House, my ex-boyfriend Herb went up to Foley, who was with a female date, and said to him, "Why don't you get a real date?" Foley didn't say anything.

It's funny how a lot of gay male politicians in Washington came with male dates to these events during the Clinton years, but then showed up with females under Bush.

What do you think was the role of gay Republicans in all this?Apparently, Kirk Fordham, Foley's ex-chief of staff and Rep. Thomas Reynolds's chief of staff, is a very active gay Republican [and] also had some role in the hush-up. [As of Wednesday, Fordham is no longer on Reynolds's staff.] There are others who were involved that I can't mention since they aren't out. They are all more like secret Jews.

How do the gay Republicans reconcile their consciences?A lot of them chose between their gayness and their party. I'm sure the group of gay Republican staffers hid Foley's actions as best they could.

This is a real crisis, since before, gays in the Republican Party were willing to be tolerated, but Republicans will now be more nervous having gay people in positions of power. They have been critical of people who are out and gay--there could be a real purge of gays in the Republican Party now. It's probably just enough for people to be perceived to be gay.

Do you think the media has unfairly exploited the gay angle to the scandal?Newt Gingrich said the Republicans couldn't have publicly reprimanded Foley or they would be accused of gay-bashing. That's just gibberish. There would probably be just as much uproar if it was an underage female, because of Foley's work with children. In fact, I think the media has been fairly good about not gay-bashing this scandal.