Foley Case Upsets Tough Balance by Capitol Hill’s Gay Republicans - NYT

[WillyT]

<snip>

Every month or so, 10 top staff members from Capitol Hill meet over dinner to commiserate about their uneasy experience as gay Republicans. In a wry reference to the “K Street Project,” the party’s campaign to build influence along the city’s lobbying corridor, they privately call themselves the “P Street Project,” a reference to a street cutting through a local gay enclave.

For many of those men and other gay Republicans in political Washington, reconciling their private lives and public roles has required a discreet, heads-down existence. But in the last week, the Mark Foley scandal has upset that careful balance. Since Representative Foley, Republican of Florida, resigned after sending sexually explicit electronic messages to a male page, gay Republicans in Washington have been under what one describes as “siege and suspicion.”

Some conservative groups blamed the episode on the “gay lifestyle” and the gathering force of the “gay agenda.” Others equated homosexuality with pedophilia, a false link that has long outraged gay men and lesbians. Conservative blogs and Web sites pointed out that gay staff members played principal roles in investigating the Foley case, suggesting that the party was betrayed by gay men trying to hide misconduct by one of their own. Some gay activists even began circulating a document known as “The List,” a roster of gay Congressional staff members and their Republican bosses.

“You can see where it would be easy for some people to blame gays for something that might bring down the party in Congress,” said Brian Bennett, a gay Republican political consultant. He was a longtime chief of staff to former Representative Robert K. Dornan, Republican of California, who regularly referred to gays as “Sodomites.”

“I’m just waiting for someone in a position of authority to make this a gay issue,” Mr. Bennett said of the Foley incident.

<snip>

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/08/washington/08culture.html?ei=5094&en=a13a3dac6d27c8cb&hp=&ex=1160280000&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print

Mr. Bennett, haven't they tried that already, and how much "authority" is enough for you???

:shrug:

[williesgirl]

1. I don't understand how gays can be Repukes, must less work for them

with all their gay bashing and hateful attacks on gays.

[Spazito]

2. I don't understand, can't understand how a gay man or woman

can work for someone who publicly promotes hatred toward them:

"Brian Bennett, a gay Republican political consultant. He was a longtime chief of staff to former Representative Robert K. Dornan, Republican of California, who regularly referred to gays as “Sodomites.”

Why would they help someone who hates them?

[TechBear_Seattle]

3. Frankly, I don't give a rat's tail how miserable their lives might become

They are QUISLINGS, working to further the agenda of a group that has clearly stated that they are horrific monsters, a terrible disease that must be wiped from the face of the earth. They DESERVE every moment of misery they get.

If the heat gets too hot for them, then maybe -- just maybe -- they will find some sense, stop enabling their enemies, quit, come out and start working FOR equality and justice rather than against it.

[aquart]

4. Yep. They have happily, giddily inflicted misery on others.

Not just other gays. I don't give a damn what happens to them.