It’s official: Mark Foley really is gay, after years of rumor and speculation–so says his attorney while Foley is busy in rehab. Well good for him…but I sure hope he doesn’t expect much sympathy as a result of his disclosure.
Foley doesn’t deserve anyone’s sympathy. While closeted and enjoying all the perks of being a Congressman, he voted for the Defense of Marriage Act. It’s true that later, after being “outed” despite his continuing denials as a result of that DoMA vote, he became a generally pro-gay GOP congressman. He had a non-discrimination policy in his office, he voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment, he favored anti-discrimination measures, and voted for AIDS funding.
Why, then, should we not have sympathy? An editorial at thephoenix.com puts it well:
[Foley's 2003 run for Senate was] when Foley said the speculation about his sexuality was “revolting and unforgivable.” Here’s what’s revolting and unforgivable: Mark Foley’s calculated political decision to refuse to discuss his homosexuality in order to better present himself to the hateful right-wingers who dominate GOP politics. Here’s what’s revolting and unforgivable: Mark Foley’s silence about his homosexuality even as US Senator Rick Santorum, the third-ranking senator in the GOP, has compared homosexuality to incest and bestiality. Here’s what’s revolting and unforgivable: Mark Foley’s description of speculation about his sexuality as “revolting and unforgivable” in order to make himself palatable to voters from the only state in the nation that bans gay and lesbian people like Mark Foley from adopting children.
Furthermore, he has chosen the worst possible time to finally come out: at a time when he and the GOP are engulfed by a pedophilia scandal. That’s what the gay rights movement needs like a shot in the head–it’s a field day for the Radical Right to gleefully make the connection between pedophilia and homosexuality when the two have absolutely nothing to do with one another.
Foley belongs in the same category as former New Jersey governor Jim McGreevey, who came out only upon his resignation and upon news of an affair he had with a man behind his wife’s back. It’s great that you’ve both come to terms, but you picked a really crappy time. Why not come out when times are good, to show people what a happy gay person looks like instead of during scandals that make gay people look perpetually miserable?
With “friends” like this, the gay rights movement sure doesn’t need enemies.
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