Christian Crusades Against Republican Gays

Nation: Right-Wing Leader Wants Gay Hill Staffers Purged

(The Nation)  This column was written by Max Blumenthal.

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Immediately after the Mark Foley scandal broke, some anti-Republican gay-rights activists composed a memo containing the names of closeted gay Republican Congressional staffers and sent it to leading Christian-right advocacy groups. The founder and chairman of one of those groups, the Rev. Don Wildmon of the American Family Association, told me he has received that memo, which he referred to simply as "The List." Based on The List's contents, Wildmon is convinced that a secretive gay "clique" boring within the Republican-controlled Congress is responsible for covering up Foley's sexual predation toward teenage male House pages. Moreover, Wildmon calls on the Republican Party leadership to promptly purge the "subversive" gay staffers.

"They oughtta fire every one of 'em," Wildmon told me in his trademark Mississippi drawl. "I don't care if they're heterosexual or homosexual or whatever they are. If you've got that going on, that subverts the will of the people; that subverts the voters. That is subversive activity. There should be no organization among staffers in Washington of that nature, and if they find out that they're there and they're a member, they oughtta be dismissed el pronto."

Wildmon claimed that an investigation by Congressional Republican leaders into the gay menace lurking in their midst will clear House Speaker Dennis Hastert of allegations that he repeatedly ignored warnings about Foley's behavior. "I think the identification of the members of the homosexual clique is going to come out," Wildmon declared. "I think it's going to come out whether or not Hastert knew what he says, and at this point I'm inclined to believe he's telling the truth. I'm beginning to think that the homosexuals shielded their former Congressman Foley and that Denny Hastert did not know the depth of what's going on up there."

Wildmon's defense of Hastert dovetails loosely with Hastert's own explanation for his actions, or lack thereof. Hastert did nothing after being warned last spring by House majority leader John Boehner and Representative Tom Reynolds about Foley's explicit exchanges with House pages. Yet during an October 10 press conference, Hastert deflected blame onto his own staffers, who he said may have engaged in a "cover-up." (In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Hastert also blamed his woes on "ABC News and a lot of Democratic operatives, people funded by [liberal billionaire philanthropist] George Soros.")

While Hastert has never suggested his staffers were part of any gay Republican "clique," openly gay Hill staffers who had contact with Hastert's staff and his Congressional allies have become subjects of a House Ethics Committee and FBI investigation into Foleygate. One of the gay staffers, Kirk Fordham, former chief of staff to Foley, was serving as Reynolds's chief of staff when the news broke of Foley's activities. Another, Jeff Trandahl, served as House Clerk from 1999 to 2005 and oversaw the page program.

Hastert's chief of staff, Scott Palmer, has confirmed he was informed by Fordham of Foley's lurid instant messages in 2005. Fordham, however, alleges that Palmer knew of Foley's behavior much earlier than 2005. Trandahl, for his part, was presented with Foley's instant messages in 2003 and, together with Illinois Republican Representative John Shimkus, told Foley to break contact with the teen.

Even though Fordham and Trandahl are key figures in the Foley scandal, the disclosure of their actions does not absolve House Republican leaders of their own roles in keeping Foley's licentious and possibly illegal behavior from the public. Yet Fordham and Trandahl are tempting targets for the gay-obsessed Christian right. In their desperate effort to stave off a Democratic takeover of Congress and preserve their political agenda, Wildmon and his allies have volunteered as Hastert's surrogates, casting him as the victim of a gay Republican cabal.

Family Research Council president Tony Perkins first laid out the strategy on October 9, writing in FRC's newsletter: "Has the social agenda of the GOP been stalled by homosexual members and/or staffers? When we look over events of this Congress, we have to wonder." Perkins continued: "Does the [Republican] party want to represent values voters or Mark Foley and friends?" Though a portrait of Trandahl appeared beside Perkins's missive, Perkins stopped just short of calling for a purge of gay GOP staffers.

Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, a co-founder of the FRC and a close ally of Wildmon, has taken a different tack. During the October 6 broadcast of his radio show, syndicated on more than 3,000 stations worldwide, Dobson dismissed Foley's explicit e-mail exchanges with a former House page as "sort of a joke by the boy and some of the other pages." Dobson then suggested that the liberal media concocted the entire scandal in order to depress turnout by so-called "values voters."

Five days later, Dobson returned to the airwaves to give the liberal media another tongue-lashing. After accusing Media Matters for America and the Huffington Post of "spinning" his earlier comments downplaying the Foley scandal — "These folks can always be counted on to give the most extreme liberal interpretation of everything," Dobson exclaimed — he recounted an upsetting inquiry from a reporter from the St. Petersburg Times.

"She [the reporter] said, 'I heard late yesterday that Dr. Dobson had asked House leadership to fire all gay staffers,'" Dobson recalled in a voice brimming with indignation. "That's crazy too. That, first of all, would be flat-out illegal. You can't fire people just because somebody says so, and they're certainly not going to do it because James Dobson says so. That's crazy! They're trying to make us look like extremists and people who do ridiculous things, and there's absolutely no basis in this."

With Wildmon brandishing The List and demanding a gay purge, which in Dobson's words would be a "crazy," "flat-out illegal," "ridiculous thing," the chaos and panic among the House leadership has spread to the Christian right. As Election Day draws nearer, the movement's most influential leaders are markedly off-message, contradicting one another, and on the defensive. And their rhetorical fusillades have made gay Republican House staffers, some about to testify before the Ethics Committee and the FBI, fear for their careers.

Meanwhile, the so-called "values voters," cultivated to propel the Republicans into control of the White House and Congress, appear to have lost the faith. An October 5 poll by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center found that 57 percent of white evangelicals plan to vote for Republican Congressional candidates in the midterms — a twenty-one-point drop in support from 2004. With such a large portion of the GOP's core constituency likely to stay home on November 6, the results could be devastating.

Yet Wildmon remains confident that the Christian right can somehow snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. "This [scandal] might backfire in that if the 'values voters' see the methodology being used here, that could irritate them more than ever and motivate them to vote," Wildmon assured me. "George Soros and his wrecking crew might have made a tactical mistake."

[LowFlyn]

"urgent medical assistance"? Has the medical community developed developed a procedure for emergency gay-ectomies?

[englander22]

This is not a question for misuse by Pseudo-Christian politicians. A real Christian will always accept the right of a "Gay" to be regarded as a human-being. Nevertheless Homosexuality is an illness and should be treated as such. To try to create out of an illness a new "culture" will not in anyway help these people, who need urgent medical assistance.

[gossimer]

Apparently g-a-y-s is a tabooed word, as well!

[gossimer]

First of all, Foley claimed to be "gay" only AFTER he also went into treatment for "alcoholism", kinda strange when you really think about it. However, whether he is gay or straight makes no difference, the crux of the matter is that he is a pedophile, of which 97% of pedophiles are STRAIGHT!

As for so called "value voters", the religious right, Christian Coalition, etc, they are nothing more than hypocrites, and Jesus despised/despises hypocrites as much as he despised/despises Pharisees, which most of the time are one and the same.

DON'T malign all *** because of the actions of one, or the 3% who are pedophiles! Pedophilia has nothing to do with whether a person is gay or not. However, if you just can't help yourself, consider this, the 97% who are straight INCLUDES "value voters", the religious right, Christian Coalition, etc!

Those of us who are gay are just as outraged at pedophiles as our straight counterparts are!

Also, it makes no sense at all for *** in politics to cover up or hide Foley's actions, for the very reason of what's now being said and directed at them now. It's utter nonesense!

[rbird8728]

Ho..Hum...I see that it's business as usual on the Hill. Never run out of someone to blame in the event something goes wrong. And, those cornpone wnnabe jumped-up preachers need to be entirely banned from Washington, D.C.

[Syndicate]

The age of consent in washington dc is 16. So how can this be a crime? No law was broken. If clinton can get a.... Then whats the big deal with foley get'n a little. I wish this on all these bigots I hope your children are gay.

What next, the dunking stool? The rack? The Iron Maiden? Forearm tattoos?

When did "witch-hunting" replace baseball as the all-American sport?

I blush for my countrymen. How thoroughly bizarre we have become!

[nativewoman]

Oh my! The censor blanked out the word "s-e-x"! It will probably blank out my attempt to get around it!

Goodness, even the word is too abominably wicked to print!

Too ridiculous!

[nativewoman]

Values voting?

This article states the Christians want to deny homosexuals the right to work? Which, if one can't work, that pretty much denies them the right to live, doesn't it?

Hmmm, Citizens for Community Values support domestic violence between heterosexuals? http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2006/10/15/ddn101606carswell.html

Why do Christians seem to be so focused on ***?

What about helping the poor to eat, have clothing, have a safe roof over their heads, have medical care?

What about speaking against torture against other human beings?

Oh Lord. Please protect me from the "values" of your fan club.

[ianw32]

Defining the word 'politics': In latin, 'poli' means 'many' - 'tics' means 'blood sucking creatures'...is the muddy water clearing now?

Notable quote from the film "The hunt for Red October" (National security advisor speaking to Alec Baldwin):

"....Listen, I'm a politician, which means I'm a liar, and a cheat; When I'm not kissing babies, I'm stealing their lollipops - BUT: It ALSO means, that I keep my options open..."

This, more than anything, I think describes the individuals who are now holding public office....
'nuff said...

[mjv2944]

Repubs, the party of corruption and perversion, but me thinks maybe the dems are not any better. We used to be the home of the free and the brave, but it seems like freedom is being taken little by little and the brave has turned into the screwed, thanks to both parties, what abunch of zeros, but we are the dumb ones, as we re-elect them time and time. VOTE OUT ALL INCUMBENTS!!!!!

[bluestardad]

Remember the Republicans will stress the need for %u201CValues Voters%u201D to enlist hate against *** when they are supporting and Protecting Pedophiles in their midst and making fun of Christian People. If you like this type of behavior in your elected officials Stay the Course and Vote Republican.

[mjv2944]

Repubs, the party of corruption and perversion, but me thinks maybe the dems are not any better. We used to be the home of the free and the brave, but it seems like freedom is being taken little by little and the brave has turned into the screwed, thanks to both parties, what abunch of zeros, but we are the dumb ones, as we re-elect them time and time.

[naturalctx]

bigots. pure and simple. i'm just glad that my husband and i will be married with children and happy for years after you crazy old hipocrites are dead. yes i am a man, and your moral integrity is nowhere near the level of my boyfriend's.

[jw218389]

RE: Proverbs 25:4-5

You're talking about the False Prophets currently in control of the Republican Party right?

You're right we should remove them (by voting them out) and according to your proverb, it seems God is on our side too - how handy...

[jw218389]

Hey Thumpers:

"Gay" doesn't equal child molestor anymore than "straight" equals child molesting.


While it certainly is amusing that the male equivalent of the GOP's "church lady" got caught in a gay pedophillia scandal it really has nothing to do with the "gay" part and everything to do with being a FELON.

P.S. Ann C. really is a man isn't "she"?

[hermit22]

"Remove the dross from the silver,
and out comes material for the silversmith;

remove the wicked from the king's presence,
and his throne will be established through righteousness.

Proverbs 25:4-5

The problem with homosexuals is that they are basically prejudiced against the entire other
half of the species.

[observantx]

I'm beginning to think that the homosexuals shielded their former Congressman Foley and that Denny Hastert did not know the depth of what's going on up there." Rev. Don Wildmon

Yeah. Sure. Uh-Huh. You betcha. NOT!

After deluding the evangelicals to get their votes and playing them for total suckers, they hush up the damning evidence of predation in their midst. Doesn%u2019t the reverend get it? YOU%u2019VE BEEN PLAYED! (Unless the Rev Wildmon is in on the game for his own purposes)

Hastert & company have to go. Get them out of the halls of Congress. They stink up the place so badly that we%u2019ll have to call in a major fumigation company to eradicate the stench.

DENNY: LEAVE NOW! Do the right thing!

[hermit22]

How did Mark Foley get on a committee that was supposed to be for protecting people from perverted behavior?

WHO reccommended him? Did people ask questions?Are people getting afraid of crossing homosexuals?

Why isn't the media mentioning the case in PA where a 40's homosexual is up for murdering a 23 year old young man for rebuffing his advances?
Another Sheperd case....this time Jason Shepherd.
Why when he was killed the media are mute?

[djconklin]

"Both parties are beyond repair, we need a new start. Bring on a third party with some people who care about America, not big business and special interests."

I agree! I think we need 3 parties in this country:

One for the dimwitted liberals, one for the nitwitted conservatives, and one for the intelligent, reasonable, rational, logical, practical, pragmatic and as moral as we can be considering we are all sinners, moderates.