The biggest oversight in the recent reporting on the Mark Foley affair(s) was that reporters seemed to miss the fact that this guy was a GAY REPUBLICAN. That should be the first clue right there. That’s sort of like being an African American Klan member. Why would any self-respecting gay man in his right mind want to be in the gay bashing party of the century?

So now Washington has become all about another witch hunt, finding and outing the gays. That could be a bigger blow to government than trying to throw out all of the gay priests would be to the Catholic Church. It’s just not going to happen. You see, disempowered minorities have a strange fascination for institutions of power. Truth is that most of the outing will probably be Democratic gays, and they are mostly outed anyway.

Why would anyone want to be a closeted, gay, Republican Congressman, supporting a party that sides with the gay-stomping Evangelical Christian Right every chance it gets? Any good Republican knows that the way to get people to turn loose of another hundred dollars for the “Grand Ole Party” is to mention “Clinton,” “Homosexual,” and “Gun Control” all in one sentence. It’s not Gays who keep bringing up gay marriage on Capital Hill, it’s the Republicans. It is a sure-fire money pump.

Foley could have been an “out” gay Republican. He could have been a member of that strange little group known as “Log Cabin Republicans.” Their motto is “Inclusion Wins.” They operate under the idea that being in the GOP helps to win the party over to gay rights activism. Whoops! Mark Foley just set that group back about 30 years. Perhaps they just want inclusion so badly they pretend to be included when they’re not. They actually are said to VOTE for Republican candidates. How stupid is that for a gay man? Probably no amount of freed slaves putting on white hoods and marching around with the Klan would have won them over to African American causes. Some day the disguise would have failed, and the hangman’s noose would have appeared. It should probably be considered an affront to every Democratic leader who ever stood up for gay and lesbian dignity and rights that any gay man would have the audacity to vote Republican.

It’s becoming clear that Republican leadership knew Foley was gay. Can it be that many of them are not the gay baiting homophobes they try to convince their evangelical constituency they have become? This time their hypocrisy, of being enlightened and pretending to be bigoted at the same time, backfired on them. The hypocrisy of Mark Foley overpowered the rest of the GOP leadership charade. Unfortunately, some very hard working, respectable gay staffers and members on Capital Hill will probably now take a beating because of one person couldn’t, for whatever reason, be authentically and openly gay.

Want to point at a Gay Congressman? Look at Barney Frank. Now there is a gay person’s Gay Congressman. If Barney Frank were going to diddle a young stud, it probably wouldn’t just be on the internet, and it surely would be an adult. It also would not have to be in the closet. He seems to know that, because of his “outness,” he is under such scrutiny he simply must rise to the challenge.

Here, from his web site, is what Frank says about morality:

"Democratic positions are fully consistent with values of patriotism, free enterprise, working hard for one's self and one's family, and holding people to a standard of behavior fully respectful of the person and property of others."

And what does Barney Frank think about as a Congressman? Here are a list of issues from his website: ”Issues” page:

• Civil Rights/Civil Liberties
• Congressional Reform
• Economy, Budget, Jobs, and Trade
• Environment
• Federal Response to Katrina
• Health Care
• Housing
• Judiciary
• Middle East
• Morality in Politics
• Social Security

(Find here a speech he made about morality.)

He also takes a stand for gay rights, but it does not top his list of issues.

A gay member of Congress is not new. A teen diddling member of Congress is not new. There have been plenty of heterosexual/under age sex scandals on the hill. So far as we know, there was never an attempt to find and eject all of the other heterosexuals from Capital Hill because one was caught with his pants down (and in a bad way).

The story that’s missing in all of the recent reports is that of Mark Foley’s failed gayness. His actions do not reflect poorly on gays, because he was simply refusing to be authentically and openly gay. It’s a sad waste, frankly. Some joking has been made of Foley's claims that he was sexually abused as a child. It is pertinent. Sexual abuse of children is spawned by childhood sexual abuse. It is contagious, and it seems like an epidemic.

Imagine the extra energy and resourcefulness it took for a guy to be in his position in his circumstance. Now imagine if all of that resourcefulness had been put to work in a more constructive way. Democrats should not be quite so gleeful over all of this. It is a sad outcome for a lot of reasons.