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	From Foley to Homophobia By Alexandra Walker TomPaine.com October 4, 2006 http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/10/04/from_foley_to_homophobia.php Florida Republican Mark Foley made sexual overtures to teenage pages over whom he had authority. To conservatives, this scandal isn't about Foley abusing his position of power or lacking impulse control. This isn't about those who were in a position to stop Foley dismissing his behavior as harmless. This is about Foley being gay. Because straight men never sexually abuse children, never sexually harass subordinates nor use their positions of power for sexual fulfillment (cough, Bill Clinton, cough). Just like they did when the Catholic priest sexual abuse scandal broke, conservatives are trying to make the Mark Foley scandal into Exhibit A for why homosexuality is immoral. The People for the American Way reports that right-wing morality guru Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council has said of the scandal, "When you hold up tolerance and diversity, this is what you end up getting." And that the real problem here is "the link between homosexuality and child sexual abuse ... Ignoring this reality got the Catholic Church into trouble over abusive priests, and now it is doing the same to the House GOP leadership." As was the case with the Catholic Church, Foley's sexual orientation has nothing to do with what he did. First off, what Foley engaged in is not, as many are calling it, pedophilia. A pedophile is sexually attracted to young children. There is no evidence of this pattern of attraction with Foley. (A person attracted to postpubescent youths is more correctly called an ephebophile.) More significantly, there is no evidence to support the dangerous myth that a link exists between homosexuality and sexual abuse of children. Most known sex offenders, even if they engage in same-sex acts, are heterosexual . Technically, Foley is guilty of violating a federal law which he co-sponsored. From my perspective, he is guilty of abusing his position of authority to gain access to a minor whom he may have been able to have perfectly legal sexual relations with in Washington, D.C (though not necessarily in the other states from which the pages were sending instant messages). Legally, Foley may be off the hook. Morally, he is not. Pages reportedly felt harassed by Foley. His actions were predatory and abusive. But Foley's inexcusable actions were not a result of his sexual orientation. They were a result of his poor judgment, lack of impulse control and utter inability to see how his behavior was affecting the pages whom he was soliciting. And they were the result of an old-boys' network that minimizes sexually predatory behavior—whether the victim is male or female—and chooses to protect the status quo over protecting victims. In this way, the Foley scandal is very much like the Catholic Church scandal. Because what is so heartbreaking about the Catholic Church scandal is how responsible authorities failed to stop predatory behavior even when they became aware of it. As for statements from Foley's lawyer that Foley was sexually abused himself and has an alcohol problem, we know the falsity of arguments that alcohol or a previous history of being abused causes someone to sexually abuse others. According to the Center for Sex Offender Management, the vast majority of those who are sexually abused do not go on to abuse others. And alcohol at best only increases the likelihood that someone already predisposed to commit a sexual assault will act upon those impulses. No, whether or not Foley is gay, had too much to drink or was abused by a member of the clergy has little bearing on the morality of his actions. As PFAW's Ralph Neas said in a statement issued yesterday, the anti-gay bigots are trying to shift the focus of the Foley scandal from where it should be—on Foley's personal responsibility and the GOP's lack of accountability: This is about Mark Foley engaging in extremely inappropriate behavior with minors, and about the failure of House Republican leaders to take action even though his behavior was reportedly common enough knowledge that pages were warned to watch out for Foley. It's about Foley's hypocrisy in making a name for himself pushing legislation against the very activities he was engaged in. And it's about the hypocrisy of party leaders who proclaim themselves the guardians of values but who failed a basic test when doing the right thing might have cost them a bit of political power.
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