The Race to Make the Foley Scandal About "Deviant" Homosexuals

One thing I find very disquieting about the Mark Foley-tries-to-get-sex-with-underage-Congressional page story is that there is a race to make this about "deviant" homosexuals. To me, that's patently erroneous and just serves the Republican's line about gays as demons.

Last night, I actually heard some of Foley's so-called friends appear on talk shows saying it was pretty well known Foley was gay even though he never said he was. The LA Times has a piece up about how Foley's homosexuality was one of the worst kept secrets in Washington.

But being gay does not mean you're a pedophile. It just doesn't.

I've done a fair amount of research in psychology and I have to say there just isn't any study - not any decently executed study - that shows gay men are much more likely to go after children or be pedophiles than those who consider themselves heterosexuals.

However, there are studies that suggest that people who feel obligated to "hide" their sexual interests (gay or straight, again, one's sexual orientation here does not matter) are more likely to seek out those who have far less power than they do for sexual gratification. Those with less power include children, prostitutes, drug addicts, the poor, the infirm or mentally ill.

While the Republicans want to make the Foley thing about being "gay", it's not about that. It's about a man who talked one thing and did another. And it wouldn't matter whether he went after a girl OR a boy page.

And, even then, the bigger story is NOT what Foley did; it's what the Republicans and Congress specifically did to try to conceal it.