Reporter's Notebook: Sexuality and Secrecy [gay reporter's take on Foley]

ABC News ^ | September 29, 2006 | J. Jennings Moss

[madprof98]

Sept. 29, 2006 — Mark Foley now finally knows what former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards meant when he said, "The only thing that will cost me the governorship is if I am caught with in bed with a dead girl or a live boy."

ABC News found the live boy in the form of an e-mail and exchange between the Florida Republican congressman and an underage male page. And now, finally, Foley can no longer cajole the media into keeping his private life a secret.

Ten years ago, I outed Foley as a gay man for The Advocate, the national gay and lesbian newsmagazine. But aside from one story in the St. Petersburg Times, no other Florida or national publications would touch the tale, either because Foley and his camp did a great job of shooting the messenger or because of the inherent fear the media have to delve honestly and without judgment into a person's sexual background.

Foley got tagged as gay in 1996 because he voted for the Defense of Marriage Act, the first federal law that sought specifically to define marriage as a male-female thing. He wasn't the only one. I also reported that Rep. Jim Kolbe, an Arizona Republican who also voted for DOMA, was a closeted gay man. I based these assertions on extensive interviews with gay men who knew the congressmen, who could speak to their personal associations and who had seen them in private settings where there was no doubt as to their sexuality.

I wrote the story not as an activist seeking to punish someone for not being who I thought they should be. I wrote it as a journalist seeking to dig deeper into a topic that was at the top of every newspaper in the country. If Congress was getting involved in deciding who could and could not be married, then it was relevant to ask lawmakers about their personal lives. I remember that former GOP Rep. Bob Barr, the congressman who was the chief sponsor of DOMA, got asked once which of his three previous marriages he was defending, and no one raised a stink.

But asking a lawmaker if he was gay and how his sexuality affected his vote was just not acceptable. It wasn't in 1996, and I doubt many reporters would do it today. It's not homophobia per se. It's really more like homo-aversion.

Foley was a master of aversion. For The Advocate story, as I recall, Foley didn't grant a face-to-face interview but instead answered written questions. "Frankly, I don't think what kind of personal relationships I have in my private life is of any relevance to anyone else," he said.

In contrast, Kolbe sat down with me to talk. Like Kolbe, I was from Tucson. I had followed Kolbe's career since my days as a college journalist. Kolbe was sincere, and he was scared. He worried what would happen to his career and he feared what his family would say. And he didn't want a magazine to do what he realized in that moment that he needed to do himself.

Kolbe went public with his sexual orientation before the magazine hit the stands. He was praised for his honesty and he went on to win re-election handily in every election since. I ran into Kolbe at a University of Arizona homecoming game a few years ago. He told me that though he didn't like having someone pry into his personal life, he understood why I went after the story. And he said that in the long run, he was happier because he didn't have to hide anymore.

This year is Kolbe's last in Congress. He's retiring after a distinguished 22-year career in the House. It's a little odd for me to think that it's also Foley's last, but for very different reasons.

By staying so deep in the closet and browbeating others to keep his secret for him, Foley probably thought he was invincible. But secrets have a way of bringing down the powerful.

Just ask Edwin Edwards. He was never caught with a dead girl or a live boy. But he was caught shaking down riverboat casino owners and sent to prison after he'd left office.

J. Jennings Moss is a freelance journalist based in New York City and Tucson, Ariz. A former senior editor for ABCNews.com, Moss spent 18 months as Washington correspondent for The Advocate, the national lesbian and gay newsmagazine.

[litehaus]

"But aside from one story in the St. Petersburg Times,"

I would note they usually SUPPORT gays Bigtime, also atheists,and Always --Dimocrats.

[Just mythoughts]

Sorry I do not understand your word 'humiliating'. The author knows the gay mind and in his world it is not humiliating to be gay.

Oh just so you know I find no difference in Foley and Clinton so I am NOT gay bashing.

[wideminded]

Did you ever notice that outed Democrat Gays get re elected and Republicans get fired???

The article discusses Jim Kolbe, a Republican who was outed and not fired.

[n230099]

"Foley got tagged as gay in 1996 because he voted for the Defense of Marriage Act..."

The reporter is showing the worst aspect of "queer-think".

"Foley" did not vote for the Defense of Marriage Act; His Constituents, through him, did.

[JimSEA]

ABC News found the live boy in the form of an e-mail and exchange between the Florida Republican congressman and an underage male page.

Foley and the writer of this garbage article can both go to Hades. From another article, the boy reacted with horror and disgust at the content of Foley's emails. This young person, through no fault of his own, is going to have a difficult time for the foreseeable future. I hope he has a lot of strength to put up with the assault that the media and folks like the author of this garbage article throw at him. Getting rid of Foley is a good thing however.

[cripplecreek]

I told my career counselor that I wanted to be a pornographer so he signed me up for a photography class.

[ronnieb]

Libs amaze, they scream what happens in hte bedroom is private when it suits, when it doesn't they supply photos and details. I continue to be amazed they can even look themselves in the mirror. Mr Jennings is a one man lynch mob. The Dem's I suspect, had this info months ago, and waited till now, for obvious reasons. Ted Kennedy can literally murder a woman, Barney Frank can have a male whore house run out of his apartment, and a Louisiana rep, can have tens of thousands of cold cash in his freezer, and there are no resignations. No, there is sympathetic presentation of fact, along with distortion of perspective and totally different conclusions. I don't understand how anyone can vote for them.

[Just mythoughts]

Wonder what the finder of this at ABC News knew and when they knew it. Would not surprise me to find out considering what this reporter has reported more than Foley were have some entertainment.

[Obie Wan]

Never mind Studds,how about good old Barney Frank ? How many terms have Masshole voters sent him back to Congress? And this guy was caught running a male prostitution ring from his residence in Washington !!!

[trisham]

I wrote the story not as an activist seeking to punish someone for not being who I thought they should be. I wrote it as a journalist seeking to dig deeper into a topic that was at the top of every newspaper in the country. If Congress was getting involved in deciding who could and could not be married, then it was relevant to ask lawmakers about their personal lives. I remember that former GOP Rep. Bob Barr, the congressman who was the chief sponsor of DOMA, got asked once which of his three previous marriages he was defending, and no one raised a stink.

****************

Right. I wonder if there is anyone out there who buys this swill, other than the author.

[Paradox]

I wrote the story not as an activist seeking to punish someone for not being who I thought they should be.

This is absolute B*llSH*T. He punished the guy for voting for the DOMA. Whats worse, this guy, as part of the Liberal mental disease, believes his own BS. Imagine, a gay person who believes that marriage should be between a man and woman! Oh my goodness, whats next, a black person against affirmative action?

[HawaiianGecko]

Everything about this stinks to high heaven. Foley is in a solidly Republican district. No chance in hell that he'd lose and instead of having the token opposition or NO opposition this Timothy Mahoney has been surprisingly well funded and aggressive even after months of putting 'no dent what-so-ever' in Foley's lead.  Makes you wonder if he has known all along this was going to come out.

We know for a fact by the St. Petersburg Times' own admission that they knew about this very episode in Nov 2005 and didn't bring it public until yesterday.

[raccoonradio]

And Ted Kennedy, in office since the year of my birth ('62),
talking about the evils of "waterboarding"...named his dog
"Splash"...and still gets re-elected even after the Chappaquiddick incident. He's up for re-election again this
year, vs. Republican Ken Chase. Will this finally be the year we send Ted back to the Kennedy Compound to cry in his Chivas?
Not holding my breath (but wouldn't it be sweet!)

[JRochelle]

Gays can get married.

Jim McGreevy.
Need I say more?

:)

[marajade]

" ... OR what Bill Clinton did with his intern and a few cigars ..."

And it wasn't that either. It was the fact that he lied about it in a court case.

[Miss Marple]

Here's a question I have after serious thinking. Are the e-mails and the IM both confirmed from Foley? Has someone been augmenting the evidence?

Perhaps this is wishful thinking on my part, because I am just appalled at someone being both so predadory and so STUPID. I just wondered if some of this is not what it seems.

I guess probably so or he wouldn't have resigned, but gosh darn it, I am just dumbfounded at this.

[hosepipe]

[ For J. Jennings Moss, the only "sin" in this affair is apparently dishonesty. I suppose it would have been OK for Foley to try to seduce a teenage boy if he had let it be known in advance that he was gay. ]

Good point.. and maybe the WHOLE point of this piece..

[Zeppo]

I wrote the story not as an activist seeking to punish someone for not being who I thought they should be. I wrote it as a journalist seeking to dig deeper into a topic that was at the top of every newspaper in the country.

BS alert... Moss is clearly a liar...

[marajade]

"Libs amaze, they scream what happens in hte bedroom is private when it suits ..."

The Libertarian Party wouldn't even have a problem with what Mr. Foley did.