I really hate all the over-the-top references to politician's private lives. Consenting adults are just that. I don't want to come to the defense of any hypocritical politician, regardless of party, but I am forced to this evening.
The hypocrisy, evidenced by Vitters, and now by another Florida state Representative irks the crap out of me. Bob Allen, of Florida's state House, has been arrested for soliciting a MALE police officer for oral sex - giving, not receiving. Worse, it happened in a public bathroom!
An undercover officer decided to go into one of the bathroom stalls, Hutchinson said. Moments later, Allen knocked on the stall door and offered to perform oral sex on the officer for $20, according to the police spokesman.I don't know if it's just Florida or if every other state has a problem with men seeking men in public park bathrooms. Trust me, it's a real problem here in Central Florida.
But, as much as I share my disgust in the fact that gay men cannot be gay in public and Republicans put themselves in a hypocritical situation, I hate the fact that gay men arrests are almost always implicitly linked to pedophilia:
Allen, 48, who chairs the House Committee on Energy, is married and has one child. He also is a former Little League volunteer and has donated time to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida.Why mention this if the Orlando Sentinel did not want to imply that a man who wants to perform oral sex on an adult male, albeit for money, must somehow have jeopardized the children he watched over.
Listen! There are men and women that are gay. Sometimes, their inability or their peer circle's inability to accept it, forces men (especially, but females also) into the types of hypocritical behavior that Allen participated in. It is a sad situation that is almost always a situational choice.
That said, however, gays and bi-sexuals are not necessarily endangering your children by having contact with them!!!!!!!! I want the Christianists and social conservatives to listen closely, in a language they can understand.
Being gay is NOT a "gateway drug" to real depravity and criminality!
Being gay does not equal being a pedophile, or any type of sexual predator. Gays are not raping and pillaging our children. You may want to link it in your minds but don't even though the media are certainly doing a good job of planting the ideas.
It. Is. Not. True.
Why people feel they need to hide their real sexual identity is a question that people like Vitters and Allen will have to answer. It is sad that they feel the need to find answers in venues that are not socially acceptable. But, it is reprehensible that public rhetoric and the press link very human conditions to very dangerous depravity.
UPDATE: in the category of too priceless, TPM says that Allen is connected to the McCain campaign. I guess, in McCain's language, there are desertions and voluntary leaves.
