Won't Somebody Think Of The Children!?!
I have only questions for this post.
1) To what degree is the current attention being given to the Mark Foley affair a function of popular homophobia and lack of any reasonable discussion of teenage sexuality and autonomy?
2) What does it say about the Republican party that it will adopt rampantly anti-gay policy positions while retaining open and not-so-openly gay people in the party? What does it say about those gay people?
1) To what degree is the current attention being given to the Mark Foley affair a function of popular homophobia and lack of any reasonable discussion of teenage sexuality and autonomy?
2) What does it say about the Republican party that it will adopt rampantly anti-gay policy positions while retaining open and not-so-openly gay people in the party? What does it say about those gay people?
posted by manoverbored at
2:24 AM
2 Comments:
i think this is part and parcel to the republican anti-gay policies. gay people are pedophiles with uncontrollable and unprofessional urges, right? they're incapable of holding leadership positions because they can't keep it in their pants. and they have a thing for teenagers.
i've been dismayed at foley's actions as well- rather than saying "yes i did something people find inappropriate in their elected officials" he seems to be throwing every stereotypical "but i couldn't help it" defense out there that he can: "but i was abused! by a priest! he came onto me first! i thought he was of age! nothing happened! i'll quit, but really, this whole thing wasn't my fault!"
i'm less interested in foley because i don't think he's gay necessarily, just a chickenhawk. i'm more interested in people like mary cheney. but from what i can tell, the GOP's position seems to be in the "love the sinner hate the sin" category of justification.
By
kommishonerjenny, at 9:34 AM
okay, apparently i was totally wrong:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/06/MNGPULK6UO1.DTL
in that the GOP knew he was gay, and he does accept responsibility for his actions. that is, however, if you call saying "but i was molested!" and (the one i forgot) "but i'm an alcoholic!" taking responsibility.
while foley's travails could definitely be fairly attributed to the homophobia he clearly experienced and lived in fear of (note the chronicle's mention that foley "hit the glass ceiling"), i maintain still that he's kind of a poster child for republican anti-gay policies.
By
kommishonerjenny, at 10:04 AM
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