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.
