About that List of top-level closeted gay Republican men in the hallowed halls of Congress, the plot has thickened.
David Corn - of The Nation - reports that gay politicos have sent The List to a slew of social conservative groups with the mission of provoking a civil war within the gay-loathing and hypocrisy-lovin' GOP.
What's the point? The senders--gay people of a non-Republican bent--seem to be hoping to set off a civil war within the GOP, to turn the anti-gay social cons against the GOP's Velvet Mafia. These Washington gays have been seething for years about gay Republican staffers who serve a party that opposes gay rights and that welcomes the support of people who demonize or dehumanize gays and lesbians. "Maybe now the social conservatives will realize one reason why their agenda is stalled on Capitol Hill," says a gay politico. Another says, "The inherent inconsistency of a coalition that shelters both gay loathing 'Christian' conservatives and conservative gays will soon suffer its final rupture."
Will it? We shall see, as the Foley scandal continues to unfold, and The List continues to circulate.
Washington's gay Republican community is said to include: "at least one member of Congress, more than a dozen high-ranking congressional aides, current and former White House staffers, advisers to the Pentagon, press strategists for prominent conservatives, several well-known journalists, and a legion of influential lobbyists."
Recipients of The List include: the Christian Coalition, Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council, the Alliance for Marriage, Concerned Women of America, the Eagle Forum, and the Southern Baptist Convention.
Meanwhile gay activist and blogger Michael Rogers says, Get me this list and I will publish it. Here's why:
'I don't actually call it outing. I call it reporting,' explained Michael Rogers, whose Web site, www.blogactive.com, has reported on Foley's homosexuality for three years.
'I put it there because Foley had a record that was against the gay community. He refused to denounce his vote on the Defense of Marriage Act. It's not about being gay.'
'It's about the hypocrisy stupid.'
Rogers has his own list (in the sidebar), and apparently he's been working on exposing closeted gay Republicans since 2004. His list includes 4 Reps., 1 Senator, 2 Bush staff, and 4 senior senate staffers employed by gay haters Frist, Allen, Santorum, and Lott. Gawd. I know I'm biased, but hypocrisy seems to be the defining feature of conservatism.
But back to the gay plot. According to the Conservative Voice, it's not a gay plot, it's a Democratic plot:
By Sher Zieve – Democrat groups are reported to be compiling a list of gay Congressional staffers and elected officials. The list is said to predominantly be comprised of Republican gays.
Rush Limbaugh advised Friday that this list may be released and published on the Internet, sometime next week. The move is said to be an attempt to suppress the Republican Christian vote in the upcoming 2006 November elections.
Finally, a commenter sums up my own wishes, thusly:
The List Gay Fordham Foley Mark Foley Republicans Hastert Politics Pedophile Email Sex Scandal Foleygate News Homophobia
