LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
CAMP Out |
by Fay Jacobs |
How do you solve a problem like Mark Foley?
I am a gay American and I'm disgusted. Naturally I'm talking about the Mark Foley scandal. What was he thinking??? I know what the conservative commentators are thinking, because they're shouting it. No matter what words they use to discuss the scandal, they are really just shouting "See, we told you gay people are perverts!!!!!" WE ARE NOT. There is exactly the same percentage of perverts in the straight community as on our sidetoo many to take any comfort in that, by the way. If you've been floating in a hyperbolic chamber for two weeks, Mr. Foley, a Florida Republican, resigned his House of Representatives seat last Friday after journalists discovered he'd been sending sexually explicit e-mails to teenage boys in the Congressional Page program. Ugh. Thank you, former Congressman Foley, for giving the religious right another gay boogeyman. Thanks, too, for staying in the closet during your whole freakin' legislative career. All your buddies in the Party knew you were gay, all my friends in Florida knew you were gay, but when you got caught doing something really, really disgusting you hold your coming out party. Go ahead, pile "gay" on top of "alcoholic" and "I was abused" as part of your "I'm a victim" defense. How dare you. Same goes for Tom "I'm a Gay American" McGreevy, the ex-governor of New Jersey. While I'm happy that he now has a steady boyfriend and peace of mind, I'm furious at him for waiting until he was caught in a sleazy nepotism scandal to announce his membership in our club. The usual suspects had a field day with that one despite the fact that McGreevy didn't resign because he was gay, but because he was corrupt. Although I have to hand it to himflinging himself from the closet on the national news probably took some of the spotlight away from his specious hiring practices. But being gay had nothing to do with it. Unless, of course, you factor in repression. The closet. The stress of leading a double life. When people, especially very public people, spend their whole lives hiding in the closet, it takes a toll on their mental health. Voila! Some of these people finally crack up and do "inappropriate things." Let's not forget the very repressed members of the clergy, shall we, both homo and hetero. As for "inappropriate things," Mr. Foley, farting loudly in public is inappropriate. Pedophilia, even with someone close to the age of consent, is reprehensible. And then there is the Nixonian question of WHAT DID THEY KNOW AND WHEN DID THEY KNOW IT. Let me pose a question here. Picture somebody telling the Speaker of the House "I think one of your Congressmen is typing inappropriate e-mail messages to boys in the Page program." Picture the reaction. Would the Speaker say: 1. "Gee. Go tell him to knock it off. How 'bout those Redskins" and promptly forget the conversation, or 2. "I knew that little fag would embarrass us some day. I want his head on a platter. Get him to resign immediately for personal reasons and then pray the truth doesn't come out. You have 24 hours to take care of this or you are toast." Now there's a forgettable conversation. One of the Speaker's spin masters even had the nerve to suggest the delay in addressing this issue (we call that a cover up, by the way) was because they didn't want to seem homophobic. I can't stop laughing. The party that is trying to write discrimination against gay people into the Constitution says they were afraid they'd be called homophobic if they ratted on Foley? Puleeeeeze. That ship has sailed. They dream of being called homophobic so their voter "base" will stay with them. Being seen as homophobic is their reason for getting out of bed in the morning. So what's to be done, besides cringing at every mention of the scandal on TV? Attention Family Values crowd: I have a plan. You can start by opening your hearts and minds to the idea that all people ARE created equal. What a concept. I know it won't be overnight, but sooner or later, society might become a more welcoming place for closeted gay people. Ergo, by eliminating bigotry and hatred, more people might have the freedom to live honest and open lives. And some in that small but insidious contingent of homosexual perverts might not be tortured into the kind of mental tizzy causing at best, poor choices and at worst predatory behavior. Flash! Helping to root out homophobia and making the world safe for gay people is one way to actually PROTECT YOUR CHILDREN! It's a lot better than your current protection plan, which relies on demonizing homos and abortion providers while teaching youngsters Hatred 101. So there you have it. A plan for rooting out homosexual predators. But what should we do about heterosexual predators? I cannot say. That problem will have to be tackled by the straight team. And all those repressed and predatory priests? The Church better look those statistics in the eye and make some changes. One slight comfort in all of this has been certain media reactions. I notice that the usual game of "blame the homosexuals," is being played only by spokespeople and talk show hosts from the right side of the aisle. Many journalists and left aisle commentators have gone out of their way to focus on the facts and the possible cover-up rather than buying into any gay bashing. In fact, one commentator, upon hearing Foley's statement announcing that not only is he an alcoholic, but that he had been abused as a child, and is, in fact, gay, said, "That statement is so insulting to gay people." That's progress, I think. In the meantime, I'm sick and tired of seeing unhappy, repressed lives, gay or straight, unravel on TV. I am a gay American. And I am pissed. Fay Jacobs is the author of As I Lay Fryinga Rehoboth Beach Memoir and can be reached at www.fayjacobs.com. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 16, No. 14 October 13, 2006 |