USATODAY.com - Page scandal exposes GOP's gay identity crisis

USATODAY.com - Page scandal exposes GOP's gay identity crisis: "Page scandal exposes GOP's gay identity crisis"

What has been missing from the discussions in the media of the Mark Foley scandal is actually the central fact of the matter. Many of Foley's problems are not related to his being Gay, but rather to his being Republican.

"If wishes were horses then elephants would ride department" Notice that Fox News mis-labeled Foley a Democrat on the O'Reilly factor, screenshot at the left. Fair and balanced, n'est pas?)

Foley's alcoholism and totally inappropriate sexual behavior are a direct result of the repression of sexuality in our culture. The war on sexuality is the Republican's stock in trade.

The fact that his fellow Republicans routinely engage in baiting of gay issues creates a climate of shame. There are thousands of gay people in the Republican party (why I'll never know.) They live in a climate of self-hatred that is reinforced by their party's exploitive gay bashing agenda. They are, to an individual, the most miserable people I know.

Think of it this way - take a hose and turn it on full blast. Now try to stop the water flow with your hands. The harder you bear down the greater the pressure becomes. As you stop the flow in one place, the water spurts out somewhere else. Sexuality (of all kinds) operates this way - the more you try to suppress it - the more is flows out somewhere else. Mark Foley's inappropriate behavior is a direct result of a lifetime spent hiding and hating himself. His exploitation of those younger and less powerful is repulsive, but totally in keeping with the hypocrisy of his party.

I know hundreds of well adjusted, productive members of society who happen to be gay. The overarching characteristic we share is an adjustment to our sexuality that is open, freely expressed in healthy ways, and not closeted and hidden in shame.