Oct 13, 2006  |  By: KEVIN NAFF  | COMMENTS     

WITH THE MAINSTREAM media engaged in wall-to-wall Mark Foley scandal coverage for a solid week, attention turned awkwardly (and predictably) to the subject of gay Republicans.

Who are these people? How can they work for a party that demonizes them? Is D.C. controlled by a Velvet Mafia? And, most importantly, what about “The List,” a compendium of closeted Republicans that is rumored to be circulating on the Hill?

The salacious story of “The List” emerges every year or two, usually before an election, to vex the Hill’s closet cases. The ironic twist this time around concerns the strange bedfellows seeking to out those closeted Republicans.

Some conservative Christian activists last week were pushing to expose gay Republicans, who they view as damaging the party by conspiring to protect one of their own — Foley. Meanwhile, some decidedly left-of-center gay rights activists, most notably Mike Rogers of blogactive.com, have been working for years to out closeted Hill Republicans. Strange bedfellows, indeed.

As usual, though, the flat-Earth Christians have the story all wrong. From most accounts so far, it appears that the gay Republican Hill staffers, including former Foley aide Kirk Fordham, did the right thing. They reported Foley’s inappropriate e-mails sent to teenage male pages to the Speaker’s office and confronted Foley himself. When the story exploded last week, Fordham immediately resigned as chief of staff to Rep. Thomas Reynolds (R-N.Y.) and agreed to cooperate in the investigation.

And it should be noted that Fordham isn’t closeted.

The New York Times weighed in on the plight of the lonely, persecuted gay Republicans in a noteworthy front-page story this week, quoting unnamed sources whining about their predicament.

“You learn to compartmentalize really well,” said one GOP strategist who was granted anonymity by the Times “for fear of adversely affecting his career.”

It sounds like the Times, which got into trouble over its policies on granting anonymity to sources, is backsliding. Protecting the anonymity of a whistleblower that faces real and immediate retaliation for revealing government wrongdoing to the media is one thing. Granting such privilege so that a source can continue to live comfortably in the closet is quite another.



BRIAN BENNETT, A gay GOP consultant who worked as chief of staff for the notoriously anti-gay Rep. Robert Dornan (R-Calif.), is quoted in the story delivering the standard line of gay Republicans — that they agree with the party on the principles of national security and small government and are working to change the party from within.

All of that would be perfectly reasonable, of course, under just about any other Republican administration. But the fact is the Republican Party under President Bush and Karl Rove has elevated gay bashing to an art form, using anti-gay ballot initiatives in states across the country to demonize gays and motivate conservative voters by appealing to their most base instincts. It’s a cynical and destructive strategy that has caused untold pain to scores of gays and lesbians.

The New York Times article goes on to describe the atmosphere on Capitol Hill for closeted gay Republicans as one of “don’t ask, don’t tell” and “don’t flaunt.”

“You just don’t wear it on your sleeve, bottom line,” one gay GOP staffer is quoted as saying.

That’s a cowardly compromise and a sad commentary on the integrity of those who would sink to live under such circumstances. Surely, the straight colleagues of these gay Republicans who know their place would never deny their sexual orientation.

In fact, they do quite the opposite by wearing wedding bands signaling their commitment or displaying photographs of husbands or wives or holding hands in public. Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) last week unveiled a campaign ad that prominently features his mindlessly grinning, doting wife. No one complained that he was “flaunting” his sexual orientation.

Although the current atmosphere of finger pointing and guessing who’s gay has a disconcerting “gotcha” feel to it, in the long run the coming out of all gay Republicans would represent a huge victory for the gay rights movement.



FORTUNATELY, THERE ARE some gay Republicans with the fortitude to live honestly and confront the party’s hurtful anti-gay policies. Former Log Cabin Republicans President Patrick Guerriero demonstrated real political courage by refusing to endorse the re-election of President Bush. David Catania, a well-respected gay member of ...