This week’s column: So much for the ‘Party of American Values’
My column in this week’s Carolinian (UNCG):
So much for the ‘Party of American Values’
by Matt Hill Comer, Don’t Ask (I’m Telling)
October 17, 2006Mark Foley. Mark Foley. Mark Foley. Turn on the news recently and that is pretty much all you see, along with North Korea and the every-so-often update on Iraq and the other failures of the Bush Administration.
If you haven’t followed the news on Mr. Foley, a now former Republican Congressman from Florida, here is a quick (and nowhere near complete) run-down:
At the end of September, news reports surfaced detailing Mr. Foley’s possible involvement in online sexual solicitation of 16- and 17-year-old, male pages in the House of Representatives. The communications ranged anywhere from what the House Speaker Dennis Hastert called “over-friendly” emails to out-right and purely sexually explicit AOL Instant Messenger conversations. While Mr. Foley was at first silent on the accusations (many of which came through ABC News), he eventually resigned from his position.
Since then, Mr. Foley has dropped several bombshells on the American public: He’s an alcoholic. He was molested by a Catholic priest as a child. He’s gay.
Uh oh� Let the Irreligious Wrong and media roll with it now! Ever since Mr. Foley’s bombshell announcements (which happened during one single press conference by his attorney) the media, the Republican leadership and the American public in general has been quick (and more than willing) to use the words “gay” and “pedophilia” side-by-side.
Just for the record, in case you didn’t know: Gay does not equal pedophile. On top of that, Mr. Foley isn’t even a pedophile. He didn’t commit pedophilia. He wasn’t attracted to pre-pubescent children; instead he was attracted to sexually, albeit not mentally, mature, older-aged teens. There is a huge - magnificently huge - difference between being attracted to sexually and mentally immature kids and teens who are sexually, although not mentally mature (and, in reality, teens who aren’t much younger than a lot of teens here at UNCG).
Matt, 22, is an LGBT journalist, activist and youth advocate currently living and working in Charlotte, N.C., where he serves as the Editor of Q-Notes, the Carolinas' LGBT news source. A native of Winston-Salem, N.C., Matt attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and is still continuing to pursue his bachelors degree. He is the Owner & Editor of InterstateQ.com and has been active in LGBT advocacy work since the age of 14.
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