A Kinder, Gentler, Republican Party

U.S. House leaders may have delayed taking action against former Florida Republican Rep. Mark Foley because they were afraid of appearing anti-gay, according to Sen. Orrin Hatch.

Utah’s senator called Foley’s sexually explicit e-mails and instant messages to congressional pages “abysmal” and inexcusable, but he also defended House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who has drawn repeated criticism for not acting on concerns brought to his office earlier.

Hatch’s defense, presented to the Tribune editorial board earlier this week, centered on how busy Hastert is as the Republican leader in the House.

But he also said: “I don’t know anybody today in the Congress who wants to act or be homophobic, so that may be part of the problem here.” (source)

So, the Republicans would rather let a pedophile (who happens to be gay) remain free, so that they won’t be labeled “homophobic”? Do I have the logic right?

If they were really worried about being homophobic, perhaps they should have put a damper on trying to amend the U.S. Constitution to keep marriage out of reach for gay couples. I suppose they will say that they are “protecting the sanctity of marriage”. Well, you know what? That “protection” comes at a big price for gay couples who are also denied the financial benefits of marriage. And those benefits are quite substantial.

But you won’t hear them talking about that. They will say that it’s “up to the states” to determine if each state wants to afford gay couples any recognition what so ever. Not one Republican has made an effort to address these issues. So, for Senator Orrin Hatch to say that they didn’t go after Foley for fear of being “homophobic” just doesn’t really hold much water.

So why didn’t they go after him? What’s the real reason? It’s quite simple. In fact, it’s the same reason the Catholic Church kept moving pedophiles around to begin with; to hide the fact that there were pedophiles in their midst, and they happen to be Catholic. Or, in this case, Republican. So what did the Republicans do? They swept the issue under the carpet as if it didn’t exist, just like the Catholic Church.

And what do you think they will do from here on out? I’ll tell you. They will blame pedophilia on gay men.

Some conservatives have reacted to former Rep. Mark Foley’s sexual messages to teenage boys and announcement he is gay by suggesting homosexuals are more likely to molest children, a link that psychiatric groups say has no basis in fact.

Yet the stereotype seems to be sticking, repeated in the conservative and mainstream media. A columnist for the Wall Street Journal suggested that homosexuality exists on a continuum stretching from “just another gay guy” to “a compulsive, predatory sex offender.” (source)

It would seem that the Republican Party is full of homophobes. But we already knew that. What I find amusing is how they are now trying to deal with it. For example, today in USA Today, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice swore in Mark Dybul, the nation’s “new global AIDS coordinator”. Not only that, she recognized his partner Jason Claire, and referred to Claire’s mother as Mark’s “mother-in-law”. In other words, Rice acknowledged them as a gay couple. Does the Republican Party even realize how transparent they are?

Hey, maybe this would be a good time to go after immigration rights for gay partners? Perhaps they could develop a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy for the partner of a gay couple who lives in a foreign country who wants to immigrate to the United States to stay with his partner? Don’t say you are the partner of a gay person living in the U.S., and we will let you in. Kind of like the don’t ask, don’t tell policy in place for our military now. And we all know how well that policy is working.

At a State Department ceremony this week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warmly acknowledged the family members of Mark Dybul, whom she was swearing in as the nation’s new global AIDS coordinator.

As first lady Laura Bush looked on, Rice singled out his partner, Jason Claire, and Claire’s mother. Rice referred to her as Dybul’s “mother-in-law.”

The celebratory moment for a gay couple was emblematic of the political identity crisis facing the Republican Party, two years after an election the GOP won in part by making gay marriage an issue and less than two weeks after revelations about a Republican House member’s advances toward teenage boys.