It
began
as
a
remarkable
vignette
about
a
virulently
anti-gay
congressman
who
reached
out
in
private
to
gay
activists
with
questions
about
how
people
know
if
they
are
gay.
But
last
month,
retold
before
an
audience
of
nearly
200
at
a
Gay
Pride
town
hall
meeting,
a
remembered
encounter
from
eight
years
ago
has
raised
questions
about
whether
the
leader
of
this
country’s
largest
gay
rights
organization
has
on
several
occasions
effectively
outed
a
member
of
Congress.
The
most
recent
occasion
was
a
Gay
Pride
forum
on
June
3,
where
a
panel
of
gay
rights
leaders
was
addressing
whether
there
was
“a
gay
agenda.”
Elizabeth
Birch,
executive
director
of
the
Human
Rights
Campaign,
began
her
presentation,
which
focused
in
part
on
reaching
out
to
gay
rights
foes,
with
an
example
about
a
private
meeting
she
and
an
HRC
colleague
had
in
1995
with
an
unnamed
conservative
Republican
congressman
who
opposes
gay
rights.
The
congressman
startled
her,
Birch
said,
when
he
ushered
his
staff
members
out
of
his
Capitol
Hill
office,
closed
the
door,
and
asked
Birch
and
Daniel
Zingale,
then
HRC’s
political
director,
just
how
it
was
that
they
came
to
know
that
they
are
gay.
“You
know,
how
do
you
know
you’re
that
way?”
Birch
quoted
the
congressman
as
asking.
In
hushed
tones,
Birch
told
the
audience
that
the
congressman
leaned
back
against
his
desk
and
revealed
that
he
was
asking
the
question
because
he
had
“loved
men”
in
his
past.
“[T]his
guy’s
got
three
tours
in
Vietnam,
and
there
were
a
lot
of
guns
on
the
wall,”
Birch
told
the
audience,
which
laughed
in
response.
“Whips
and
stuff
like
that.
…
I
looked
at
Daniel
and
I
went,
‘Oh
my
God.’”
Birch
described
how
she
and
Zingale
told
the
congressman
how
they
and
other
gay
people
struggle
with
their
own
feelings
until
they
come
to
terms
with
who
they
are
and
affirm
to
themselves
that
they’re
gay.
“And
finally,
he
said,
‘Because
I’ve
loved
men,’”
Birch
recalled
the
congressman
saying.
“And
I
said,
‘Was
that
in
a
military
setting?’”
Again,
the
audience
laughed,
acknowledging
how
awkward
the
conversation
was
for
Birch
and
Zingale.
“He
said
yes,”
Birch
recalled.
“He
said,
‘Yes
indeed,
on
the
field
of
battle,
but
I’ve
also
loved
men.’”
Birch
did
not
identify
the
congressman
but
said
the
meeting
took
place
a
short
time
after
the
congressman
created
a
controversy
in
1995
when
he
referred
to
gays
as
“homos”
on
the
floor
of
the
House
of
Representatives.
Media
reports
and
other
background
facts
indicate
that
Congressman
Randall
“Duke”
Cunningham
(R-Calif.),
an
archconservative
from
San
Diego,
fits
many
of
the
details
in
Birch’s
story.
The
news
media
in
San
Diego
reported
at
that
time
that
in
a
speech
on
the
floor
of
the
House,
Cunningham
decried
the
presence
of
“homos”
in
the
military.
He
appears
to
be
the
only
member
of
the
House
to
call
gays
“homos”
on
the
House
floor
at
that
time,
and
most
likely
at
any
time
since
then,
according
to
a
review
of
news
media
reports
and
the
Congressional
Record.
Two
gay
Democratic
activists
in
San
Diego
this
week
confirmed
that
Birch
told
members
of
that
city’s
gay
Democratic
club
a
nearly
identical
story
in
1996,
and
on
that
occasion
directly
identified
Cunningham
as
the
congressman
in
question.
Congressman
denies
meeting
Harmony
Allen,
Cunningham’s
press
secretary,
said
Cunningham
never
met
with
Birch
and
never
made
any
such
comments
about
gays
or
his
feelings
toward
men.
“He
has
never
had
a
conversation
with
that
woman,”
Allen
said.
“The
meeting
did
not
take
place.”
Allen
added,
“He
is
a
heterosexual.”
Birch
has
since
refused
to
comment
about
whether
she
has
met
with
Cunningham
and
whether
she
based
her
story
on
Cunningham’s
private
comments
to
her
and
Zingale.
She
said
she
never
reveals
the
identities
or
remarks
made
by
members
of
Congress
in
private
meetings.
Zingale
said
he
had
no
recollection
of
a
meeting
with
both
Cunningham
and
Birch.
Allen
said
several
of
the
facts
in
Birch’s
story
don’t
fit
Cunningham’s
background.
Birch
said
the
congressman
in
question
had
five
children,
while
Cunningham
has
three
children,
Allen
said.
Birch
noted
that
the
congressman
in
her
story
served
three
tours
in
Vietnam.
Cunningham,
a
decorated
fighter
pilot
and
acclaimed
pilot
instructor,
served
just
two
tours,
according
to
Allen.
“He
never
had
guns
on
his
walls,”
Allen
said.
Regardless
of
whom
she
referenced,
Birch
said,
the
subject
of
her
story
never
actually
said
outright
that
he
was
gay,
Birch
told
the
Blade.
The
person
in
question
merely
inquired
about
how
someone
knows
he
or
she
is
homosexual,
Birch
said.
“There
was
more
than
one
person
who
has
expressed
curiosity
about
being
gay,”
Birch
said.
“I
scrambled
the
facts.
I
created
a
composite.”
Added
Birch,
“You
have
a
multitude
of
experiences
in
Congress.
I
was
teaching
a
lesson
about
how
difficult
it
is
to
grapple
with
this
issue.”
A
full
transcript
of
Birch’s
remarks
can
...
