The reaction by leading Republicans to questions about the sexual orientation of a
Republican candidate for the United States Senate is further evidence of just how
dismally behind the times the Republican Party is when it comes to gays and
lesbians. It also points out a crucial hypocrisy in the Republican Party and the way it
plays the gay card. Gay and lesbian people must speak up and tell the Republican
Party it can't have it both ways.
Congressman Mark Foley of West Palm Beach is seeking to be a U.S. senator from
Florida. That he is gay has been an 'open secret' for years. Though he is known as
a strong conservative on most issues, his voting record on gay and lesbian rights is
now considered to be fairly good. That wasn't always true. When he voted for the
anti-gay federal Defense of Marriage Act in 1996, The Advocate named him as one
of two closeted gay Congressmen. (The other was Jim Kolbe of Arizona, who was
prompted to come out due to the story.)
Another media report recently re-ignited a frenzy of debate around Foley's sexual
orientation. A columnist for the Broward New Times, an alternative paper, asked in a
column titled 'Out with the truth; With his voting record at issue, why won't U.S.
Congressman Mark Foley just say he's gay?'
Instead of coming out, however, Foley used the occasion to hold a press conference
and say that all the talk about whether or not he is gay is 'revolting and unforgivable.'
He blamed the Democratic Party for the uproar, saying they'd started the debate in
an attempt to try and derail his candidacy. On the question of his sexual orientation,
Foley was mum. He said it wasn't anyone's business, and he wasn't going to
answer. When asked at his press conference if he was in fact gay, Foley said that
kind of question was 'inappropriate.'
In response to the hullabaloo, a parade of Republican Party bigwigs trotted out their
public support of the party's closeted homosexual. Among them was House Majority
Leader Tom DeLay, who called the point-blank questions about Foley's sexual
orientation 'underhanded rumormongering.'
OK, all that means Foley is gay.
But the issue isn't really whether or not he's gay, but why he and the Republican
Party have their panties in such a twist over it. The answer, of course, is that the
Republican Party is not only overwhelmingly anti-gay, but that the Party itself often
uses the gay issue as a wedge one to rally its most conservative elements.
When Foley calls something as simple as stating you are gay to be 'inappropriate,'
and DeLay says the talk about sexual orientation is 'underhanded
rumormongering,' what they are really saying is that they still find homosexuality to
be bad. If they didn't, it wouldn't be such a big deal.
To be fair, the Democrats only have two out representatives in Congress (Tammy
Baldwin and Barney Frank), and if there are any gay senators, they remain closeted.
To deny that being gay is an issue for any candidate would be unrealistic.
However, it's hypocritical of the Republicans to point a finger at the Democrats about
this, particularly in Foley's case. The voters the Republicans are so worried about in
the Florida elections are not people who would tend to vote Democratic. The Party is
worried about its hardcore right-wingers, who certainly don't want a homo
representing them. You can bet if the Democratic candidate was gay—and
especially if he was closeted—the Republican Party would seize on the issue and
make the most of it in order to win votes.
The Republican Party does play the gay card politically. They harp on 'family
values'—as if we have neither families nor values—and woo conservative and
fundamentalist groups of all kinds. Their national policies remain unapologetically
anti-gay. And one of their top-ranking Senate leaders—Rick Santorum from
Pennsylvania—just made a name for himself as a courageous defender of
Republican values by spouting off at the mouth against homosexuals.
The Republican Party's dilemma is about much more than the single candidacy of
Mark Foley. Its real quandary is this: The Republican Party often offers up the gay
issue as bait, clearly saying it is morally wrong and against the Party's agenda. So
when a gay U.S. Senate candidate comes along, how does the Party cope with
backing a known homosexual? And how do you have a known homosexual in your
ranks, and yet still be able to pick gay issues out of the political grab bag to rally your
troops when you need to in the future?
The answer, apparently, is to try to keep your gay candidates in the closet.
Mr. Foley and the Republican Party may want this to fade and for everyone to just
keep quiet. But the press and the gay community have a duty to keep raising the
issue until the Republican Party ceases its incredible hypocrisy.
Mubarak Dahir receives e-mail at MubarakDah@aol.com
