Ihad been out of
high school only a short time when The Advocate ran a
story about Florida congressman Mark Foley and the
congressional closet in 1996. I don't remember
it. Nor do I recall similar reports that followed on
his alleged homosexuality. I have never lived in Washington,
D.C., or Florida or worked on the Hill, so I did not know
that Mark Foley is gay. In fact, I didn't know
much about him before September 29, when he resigned
amid allegations that he made inappropriate sexual advances
to underage male pages over the Internet.
Now it has come
to light that many far-right Republicans knew about Foley
and did nothing. That's not surprising. Foley is the
kind of gay person they have always loved. As far as
we know, he hasn't provoked gossip among
coworkers by bringing his same-sex partner to a political
fund-raiser. He has not publicly advocated pro-gay
legislation or protections for gay and lesbian people.
Now he has confirmed what every gay-hating person in
America believes: that all gay men are really
pedophiles.
But our national
gay leaders almost certainly knew about Foley as well,
and they must now share the blame for what will be a new
round of fund-raising letters by far-right groups
linking homosexuality and pedophilia. How could they
have let this happen? Did they enable Foley by looking
the other way in hopes that he might one day evolve behind
the scenes into an advocate for our rights?
The piper is paid
for this by people like me, who get to wonder if the
16-year-old lesbian I mentor will not be calling me back
about our planned "gay Atlanta weekend"
trip because her father has been watching ABC News.
Every day, gay and lesbian folks like me are the ones who
suffer the consequences of Foley's self-destruction.
We get to read about a "homosexual pedophile
congressman" in our
newspapers--again--and watch as our local
TV anchors play and replay footage showing the
"sexually explicit" text-message
exchanges of the former congressman with a 16-year-old
boy. Great. This is exactly what I want the neighbor
kids' parents to watch on TV tonight.
When I came out
10 years ago, four of my five siblings wrote me letters
from church camp about how much they loved me but feared for
my soul. It has taken me nine of those 10 years since
to foster acceptance and understanding within my
family and to repair those relationships. Finally, I
am a meaningful part of my siblings' lives again. And
every newscast or article that appears in their local
media linking Foley to me tears at that progress.
If Foley's
homosexuality and his fondness for underage boys were so
widely known, shouldn't someone other than the
predictable GOP homophobes, who encourage people to
stay in the closet, be held accountable for this? I
want leaders from each of our national gay
organizations to raise their right hands and swear they had
no idea that Mark Foley has an
appetite for
adolescent boys. Then I want them to say, "We do not
claim him. Further, we will no longer keep secrets
about the private lives of elected officials."
Perhaps our
political strategists need to think about the effect of the
Foley debacle on a gay youth from, say, rural Georgia. I for
one would be happy to forgo the slim chance of any
"behind the scenes" help from a closeted
politician on some elusive legislation, in exchange for not
having to face the fallout we rank-and-file queers
experience when suddenly everyone at work is looking
at us funny and our kids' friends can't
spend the night after all.