VIEWSFROMVERMONT -BY SKEETER SANDERS

‘Skeeter Bites
Chews on Foleygate

The following is an excerpt
from The ‘Skeeter Bites Re-
port. To read the entire col-
umn, please go to Skeeter-bites.
blogspotcom.

DISGRACED FORMER
Representative Mark Foley
(R-Florida) said through his
lawyer in early October that
he is “a gay man,” days after
revelations that he exchanged
sexually explicit Internet
instant messages with teenaged
male Capitol Hill pages.

But contrary to attorney Da-
vid Roth’s vehement assertions
to reporters that his client “is
absolutely, positively not a pe-
dophile,” a mounting body of
evidence is emerging that the
52-year-old Foley has a pedo-
philic, rather than homosexual,
orientation. '

While many who knew Fol-

‘ ey had. assumed for years tliat

he was gay, they are only now
coming to the realization, as
the scandal unfolds, that the
former six-term congressman
never demonstrated behaviors
indicative of being attracted t

adult males. ’

Nor has anyone, to date,
come forward to say defini-
tively that Foley is, or has ever
been, in a relationship with an
adult male, despite a recent Los
Angeles Times story in which a
former page said he had a sex-
ual liaison with Foley in 2000 at
the age of 21, after he left the
Capitol Hill page program.

Several individuals close to‘

Foley told The ‘Skeeter Bites
Report on condition of anonym-

ity that Foley often attended

social fimctions in and around
Washington either alone or ac-
companied by an adult female
companion.

While this has often been
a tactic taken by closeted gay
men in positions of power and
influence, none of the individu-
als that this blogger spoke with
said they could recall Foley
even dropping the most subtle
of hints that he had any interest
at.a.ll'~in adult gay or bisexual
men.

Yet Foley has on several
occasions publicly expressed
a deep affection for the young
pages - with C-SPAN cameras
even "capturing Foley becom-
ing unusually emotional during

 
    
   
 

  

_'[-f- 5535 gl_l_ rtsltlurls oi‘

Vermorvl sho~\\ P°3 l“
px-o‘>aI4‘5'\ .,

    

——3Tm~TK l?usv~...I _

V

Some .‘lcrmorilef$L cm concemd 'fM«'l' ‘la-¥$'i\q

—-gégrialrx u)‘i\\ Ai-we -lkem cu-l cl‘ -llm. in-lute.‘
know 'l'l~n'l' vi’ Mk 4: ‘ an)
«eating 'b‘\\\t vm~«i"°P° §i°;.».. coiizlfilii‘-oil’. l’

tug-_\\... I'm ho‘l' 9“
\/exmoni. .ro>'i6c~i .'

l _. / X Z
Dc. ‘Sean Szifio. mo.\<:-.5 o. loco:-¢—¢-0-\\

 

  
 
   

  

..~ v//

¢.)\'\‘\\v Com?a{i5n\hq -gar $30-‘<6 RR"“““\"°'\“le

a speech honoring them on the
House floor.

The Foley scandal is giv-
ing the Republican Party ire-
mendous grief with its most
staunchly loyal constituency:
Christian conservatives. At the
same time, however, Foley is
becoming a pariah in the gay
community, which bitterly re-

‘sents conservatives’ longstand-

ing assertions associating gay
men with pedophilia.

[...]

The fact that Foley resigned
his House seat and claimed
days after the fact - through
his lawyer - that he's gay is in
sharp contrast to Representa-
tives Geny Studds (D-Massa-
chusetts), Barney Frank (D-
Massachusetts) and Jim Kolbe
(R-Arizona). They publicly
came out of the closet without
guilt or shame - and not only
stayed in office, they easily
won re-election. Kolbe decided
in February to retire at the end
of the year.

Even former Representa-
tive David Clarenbach (R-W1s-
consin), who waited until after
he retired from Congress in
1995 to come out, nonetheless
did so with dignity and grace
- even introducing his longtime
companion to reporters. Four
present and former members
of Congress — two Democrat,
two Republican - came out of
the closet as gay men at vari-

ous iimes in their lives without ,

any guilt or shame. Three of
the four went on to win re-e1ec-
tion. And all four have longtime
adult male companions.V

 
     

~ Reprinted with permission.

= Skeeter Sanders is a former
freelance journalist livingin
Plainfield.

Inthe

mlllllltlllllli

 

~ ~ — — - ~ ~ - - — — — — — — - - - — NOVEMHER -2066; l nutin the mountains -a

 

Don’t
let them
decide.

Vote.

 

Rep. Iason P. Lorber

wwwfriendsofiasoiiorg

 

Paid for by Friends of Jason. 231 Park St, Burlington, VT 05401

   
 

"One of the most
romantic lesbian
destinations on

the planet."
____ __ -Planet Out

highlandsinn-nh.com 9 Bethlehem, NH
877 LES-B-INN (537-246.6)

   
  

FROM THE ONNECTICUT RIV R
TO THE CANADIAN BORDER
REAL ESTATE INSURANCE

179 Main St., Derby - 800-243-2401
(802) 766-2401 - 766-4731 (f)
mick@realestatevermont.com

realestatevermont.c0m

to View our current listings

/Vsafi/\

 
 

6*‘ 90 Main Street
’ PO. Box 875
BL  Burlington, Vt 05402
802-863-251 7

& DANON, PC fax: 802-863-0262
-~----- sttameys — infc_i_@biackwoodlaw,org

Providing legal services addressing issues important to LGBTIQA
1 individuals and families — adoptions, wills, estate planning, employment and
education issues, civii rights, personaiinjuries, and small business matters.

1

“ “.