Tag: Gay Politics

Foley Scandal Could Stymie GOP’s Gay-Bashing Agenda

Jon Ponder

On Oct. 5, we reported about the list of closeted gay Republicans that is being circulated in political media circles. It is likely that the names will be made public before the election this year. This could do permanent damage to the Republican anti-gay agenda, which has been one of its most reliable tools for getting out the votes of the Christian right:

Foley, his former chief of staff Kirk Fordham, former House Clerk and Hastert appointee Jeff Trandahl (at the center of the Foley page scandal) and Rep. Jim Kolbe of Arizona are openly gay. There are rumors about Rep. David Dreier (R-CA), RNC Chair Ken Mehlman and others as well.

The importance of FoleyGate is that it shines a spotlight on the simple reality that the party with the loudest anti-gay voices is also the party that’s filled with gays on every level, from staff member to Congressman to, as rumored, chairman of the party itself.

For over a dozen years now Republicans have presented themselves to America as the party of ethics, morality and family values. They’ve spent incalculable time, money and political currency trying to pass discriminatory legislation–on both the federal and state levels–against gays. They’ve told us that straight is right and gay is wrong. That straight is Republican, and gay is a by-product of the loosey-goosey amoral Democratic Party. Those days are over.

The Foley scandal has proven to America that gay life is just as much a part of Republican life as it is in liberal circles. The only difference is that among conservatives it’s more closeted and repressed. And that fact gave Republicans a false justification to spew their hypocritical venom towards gays and make them the scapegoats for everything wrong with the fabric of American society. Their overall message? That being gay is a liberal problem, not a conservative one. Well, guess again. Foley, his former chief of staff Kirk Fordham, former House Clerk and Hastert appointee Jeff Trandahl (at the center of the Foley page scandal) and Rep. Jim Kolbe of Arizona are openly gay. There are rumors about Rep. David Dreier (R-CA), RNC Chair Ken Mehlman and others as well. The true long-term significance of FoleyGate is that it proves to Mr. and Mrs. Joe America that the elephant is just as gay as his donkey colleague.

Secret List of Gay Republicans on the Hill Includes Staffers of Ultra-Rightwingers

Jon Ponder
Representative Katherine Harris and Henry Hyde and Senators Bill Frist, George Allen, Mitch McConnell and Rick Santorum — all of whom oppose gay rights — employ gay people in high staff positions.

Washington is astir over “The List,” a document that purportedly contains the names of every closeted gay staffer on Capitol Hill. David Corn at the Nation has a copy. While he won’t release the names of the gay staff members, he gives us their job titles and who they work for:

What’s interesting about The List–which includes nine chiefs of staffs, two press secretaries, and two directors of communications–is that (if it’s acucurate) it shows that some of the religious right’s favorite representatives and senators have gay staffers helping them advance their political careers and agendas. These include Representative Katherine Harris and Henry Hyde and Senators Bill Frist, George Allen, Mitch McConnell and Rick Santorum. Should we salute these legislators for being open-minded enough to have such tolerant hiring practices? After all, Santorum in a 2003 AP interview compared homosexuality to bestiality, incest and polygamy. It would be rather big of Santorum to employ a fellow who engages in activity akin to such horrors. That is, if Santorum knows about his orientation.

As Pam Spaulding pointed out, Santorum’s communications director, Robert Traynham, has already been outed. But publication of the list might do additional damage to George Allen, who lost the votes of antisemites, a core constituency in his base, when it was revealed that Allen is technically Jewish. On his staff, my sources tell me he actually has two gay employees. News like this could dampen turnout among another of key constituency — Republican homo-bigot “values voters.”

Sweden to Deport Gay Iranian to Iran Where He’ll Probably Be Hanged

Buck Banks

Don’t swish, don’t swing: A Swedish migration board ruled Friday to deport a gay Iranian back to his homeland despite the fact that he might be hanged by the Iranian government. The deportation would be the first since a moratorium was imposed a year ago after two gay teenagers were hanged after being deported from Sweden to Iran.

The moratorium was lifted after the Swedish embassy in Tehran was assured by the Iranian government that it would not hang gay deportees as long as they didn’t act gay. Right, and those guys aren’t developing nuclear weapons, either, right?

It sounds like the system is set up so that there’s almost no way a gay Iranian wouldn’t be caught, according to The Local, an English-language newspaper published in Stockholm:

The court referred to a 2005 report from the Swedish foreign ministry, which said that Islamic law as applied in Iran prescribed “terrible penalties” for homosexual acts. Men who are found to have had penetrative sex can face the death penalty.

But the report also said that most gay people in Iran managed to avoid danger by living “discrete and withdrawn” lives.

Sören Andersson [chair of gay rights group RFSL] said it was unreasonable for Sweden to demand that gay people live “hidden lives.”

The report also said that most gay people in Iran managed to avoid danger by living ‘discrete and withdrawn’ lives.

“We are very critical of the Foreign Ministry’s reporting,” he said.

He also pointed to a report from the United Nations’ Philip Alston, in which he detailed a number of cases in which men were sentenced to death for “private, consensual sexual conduct.”

Alston also described a Special Protection Division, which empowers police officers to conduct surveillance of citizens’ private sexual behaviour.

“There’s a certain cynicism in the foreign ministry, in the Migration Board and in courts — they don’t care whether people live or die,” said Andersson.

RFSL has also raised the case of a lesbian from Pakistan, who also faces deportation to her homeland. Andersson says she was raped by police with the aim of “rehabilitating” her.

Asked whether people claiming asylum due to persecution on the grounds of sexual orientation were treated less favourably than political asylum seekers, Andersson said he was “beginning to wonder whether that is the case.”

“People who seek political asylum do seem to be seen as more important. This is hair-raising reasoning about sexual orientation.”

The Iranian’s legal representative, Lars Lundin, said he would probably appeal Friday’s ruling.

“This case is of great interest on a point of principle, and the new migration courts lack a body of precedents,” he said.

It’s difficult to accept taht an open and accepting society like Sweden would treat victims of political sexual repression in such a manner. But then again, the country just elected a conservative government, so maybe this is just another sign of a lefty nation taking a disturbing turn to the right.

This Just In: Foley Resigns After Approaching Underage Male Intern

Trish

Just this morning, I was thinking there was nothing to the story circulating around Florida of U.S. Rep. Mark Foley (R-Palm Beach) being improper toward a male teenaged former page in email.

And when I’m wrong, I’m wrong big.

ABC is reporting Foley just resigned.

Here’s the background:

The boy served as a page to a Louisiana congressman last year and came to know Foley, 52. He sent the congressman a thank-you note when his term as a page ended. After the boy returned to his home in Louisiana, Foley used his personal e-mail account to correspond with the teen.

Under the AOL Instant Messenger screen name Maf54, Foley made repeated references to sexual organs and acts

In the exchange, Foley asked the boy about weathering Hurricane Katrina and wrote, “send me an e-mail pic of you.” In another e-mail, Foley told the boy he was on a break from Congress and was in Florida. He asked the boy, “how old are you now?”

The boy forwarded excerpts from the e-mails to congressional staffers and said, “Maybe it is just me being paranoid, but seriously. This freaked me out.”

The boy, who is not being identified because of his age, told the St. Petersburg Times in an interview last November, when the Times first learned of the e-mails, that he cut off correspondence with Foley.

“I thought it was very inappropriate,” the boy told the Times. “After the one about the picture, I decided to stop e-mailing him back.”

…ABC News reported that Foley’s office said he routinely asked interns and job applicants for photographs. But when the Times asked Foley about the e-mails nearly a year ago, he did not mention that practice. He said he was merely trying to be friendly and did not mean to make the boy uncomfortable.

Foley has had e-mail exchanges with at least one other former page who told the Times he was surprised to get an e-mail from a congressman.

So check this out:

Saying he was “deeply sorry,” Congressman Mark Foley (R-FL) resigned from Congress today, hours after ABC News questioned him about sexually explicit internet messages with current and former congressional pages under the age of 18.

A spokesman for Foley, the chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, said the congressman submitted his resignation in a letter late this afternoon to Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert.

Hours earlier, ABC News had read excerpts of instant messages provided by former male pages who said the congressman, under the AOL Instant Messenger screen name Maf54, made repeated references to sexual organs and acts.

In a statement, Foley said, “I am deeply sorry and I apologize for letting down my family and the people of Florida I have had the privilege to represent.”

Did you get that? The chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children?! Man, those Republicans are sick puppies.

Update: Here’s some of the text of the emails/instant messages. Maf54 is Marky Mark.

Maf54: You in your boxers, too?
Teen: Nope, just got home. I had a college interview that went late.
Maf54: Well, strip down and get relaxed.
…
Maf54: What ya wearing?
Teen: tshirt and shorts
Maf54: Love to slip them off of you.
…
Maf54: Do I make you a little horny?
Teen: A little.
Maf54: Cool.

Gay Israelis Demand Pride March

Buck Banks

Gay holy days: The Israeli Supreme Court is considering a case where a gay group is demanding a permit to hold its pride march on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, Sept. 23, according to the Jewish Telegraph Agency. Apparently, the recent dust-up in Lebanon led to cancellation of the originally scheduled parade.

Officials with Jerusalem Open House said they submitted the petition Monday in conjunction with the Association for Civil Rights in Israel after a proposed parade date was refused and police didn’t respond to requests for several alternate dates.

Police officials have said the initial proposed date in September was too close to the holidays.

“We are demanding that the police protect our freedom of speech and right of assembly, and not submit to violent threats,” said Noa Sattath, incoming executive director of Jerusalem Open House, a center for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people that is trying to organize the march.

Organizers said they postponed the parade in August due to Israel’s war with Hezbollah and following police warnings that they might not be able to ensure safety at the march.

Does It Matter That Karl Rove’s Father Is Gay?

Jon Ponder

Yes, it does matter that Karl Rove’s adoptive father is gay. It shows that Karl will pursue policies that will hurt people he cares about if the policies further his agenda:

Louis Rove had informed his wife that he was gay and that he was coming out of the closet and wanted a divorce. After he retired from his job in LA, Louis Rove moved to Palm Springs and befriended other retired gay men. He drank and socialized at the Rainbow Cactus and the Martini Burger and became part of a group of gay men who referred to themselves as “The Old Farts Club.” According to his close friend of many years, retired insurance executive Joseph Koons, Louis Rove was one of the best people he knew and that both Louis and his son Karl were comfortable with the father’s sexual orientation. Although Karl lovingly accepted his father as a gay man and treated Louis’ gay associates with respect, Louis Rove’s death was a private matter. His friends knew nothing of a memorial service and no death notice was published in the Palm Springs newspaper.

Tom Cruise Can Always Run for Florida Senate

Trish

Links to the Church of Scientology might work out better for a candidate for the Florida Senate than they are for Tom Cruise.

State Rep. Frank Farkas, whose senate run is based on being term-limited out of the Florida House, is making an issue of the ties rival Kim Berfield has with the church, whose “spiritual headquarters” is Clearwater, Florida. He is mailing flyers to voters warning them of how Berfield is funding her campaign.

In May Gov. Jeb Bush apologized for calling Scientology “some weird little group.”

Farkas said he is not criticizing the church but revealing that a political committee with ties to Scientologists might spend big on Berfield’s behalf.

…The mailing states:

“Key leaders in the controversial Church of Scientology make up the advisory board of this group which also helps directly fund Ms. Berfield’s campaign. Ms. Berfield has a history of visiting and participating in church events and fundraisers, often praising their efforts, so expect them to return her many favors. They are counting on her as a key ally in their current ambitious expansion plans across Tampa Bay.”

Unlike in Hollywood, where Cruise was recently sacked by Paramount for allowing his religion to overshadow his acting, Scientology is gaining acceptance among its former Florida detractors.

Scientology has been a hot-button issue in Clearwater since late 1975 when the church arrived covertly and purchased a city landmark, the Fort Harrison Hotel. Two years later, church documents seized by the FBI revealed plans to “take control” of Clearwater and discredit its “enemies” – political leaders, local police, newspaper editors and reporters.

Strained relations between Scientology and the community began to thaw in recent years. A watershed moment occurred in 2002 at the church’s 75th anniversary party at the Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater. The guest list was a virtual who’s who of local political, civic and business leaders. Since then, politicians have grown comfortable attending church events and taking Scientologists’ political donations.

And in May Gov. Jeb Bush apologized for calling Scientology “some weird little group.”

And as Jeb goes, so goes the Florida Republican party.

Farkas, a chiropractor by trade, would have greater credibility if he hadn’t been investigated last year for accepting gifts of travel and other favors from a gambling interest trying to set up shop in Florida. Farkas and three state senators were questioned about what amounted to money laundering after the funding was run through the state Republican Party’s treasury.

Across Florida, Republican voters are facing choices like these: a known sleezebag or someone who panders to Scientologists. Win or lose, it just makes me gladder I’m a Democrat.

Why Did Rush Limbaugh Take Viagra on Vacation with Four Guys?

Jon Ponder

When asked if his cigar was a phallic symbol, Sigmund Freud supposedly replied, “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.” Implied in this answer, of course, is the idea that sometimes a cigar is more than a cigar: It is a symbol for something else.

Keeping that in mind, the Smoking Gun has revealed that when renowned cigar smoker Rush Limbaugh was busted with someone else’s prescription of Viagra, he was returning to the United States from a vacation in the Dominican Republic with four other guys:

Rush Limbaugh was traveling with four other men–including the producers of the hit show “24”–when he was detained over a mislabeled bottle of Viagra found in his luggage during a Customs search.

Hugh Hefner once called Viagra “the best legal recreational drug out there.” Keeping that in mind, the four men in Limbaugh’s Dominican sex party included:

Joel Surnow, “24”‘s co-creator and executive producer and Howard Gordon, another of the Fox hit’s executive producers (Hollywood agent Jeffrey Benson was also part of the Limbaugh quintet).

And TSG asks, “With all those guys in tow, it is unclear what Limbaugh needed with those 29 100mg Viagra pills.”

Speaking for all the gays in Gaydom, I don’t think Rush is a homo. We don’t want him. He is one of yours. Ick.

If Limbaugh and his boys went to the Carribbean to trawl resort bars for dates, you might think having Rush in their party would be a dumb girl magnet. Evidence suggests otherwise: only one of the 30 pills in the prescription was missing.

Here’s the takeaway: A cigar may not always be a cigar, but Rush Limbaugh is always a dick.

Poll: Only 56% of Virginians Plan to Vote For Gay Marriage Ban

Jon Ponder

According to a new Mason-Dixon Poll, only 56 percent of Virginians are in favor of the ballot measure that would ban gay marriage in the state. Considering that a similar proposition passed with about two-thirds of the vote in California a few years ago, that is fairly astounding news.

It could portend that the saliency of gay-bashing as a wedge issue for Republicans is dwindling, or that Virginians are not as conservative as conventional wisdom would have it. Or both.

Mayor Newsom on Political Courage and Gay Marriage

Jon Ponder

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom on the Democratic Party’s faint heart on same-sex marriage:

Rolling Stone: Listening to the Democratic opposition to the federal anti-gay marriage amendment, the party’s senators sounded more like Dixiecrats — talking about marriage as a states’s rights issue — rather than Democrats, pursuing this from a civil-rights perspective.

Gavin Newsom: Where’s the moral courage? It’s lost. I have the luxury of saying this from San Francisco, I certainly respect what it’s like saying this in parts of Kentucky or North Carolina, but also believe this issue won’t go away for the Democratic party we stand up on historic principles.

We’ve never run the 90-yard dash on equality — ever. The history of this party is civil rights, women’s rights, human rights, labor rights, gay and lesbian rights. And for us to hold up civil unions and say that separate is somehow now equal — when just a-year-and-a-half we ago celebrated the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board — is transparent to the people. They see through the Democrats.