Kevin Naff raises an interesting observation in his New York Blade editorial “Gay Republicans in the Hot Seat”:
WITH THE MAINSTREAM media engaged in wall-to-wall Mark Foley scandal coverage for a solid week, attention turned awkwardly (and predictably) to the subject of gay Republicans.
Who are these people? How can they work for a party that demonizes them? Is D.C. controlled by a Velvet Mafia? And, most importantly, what about “The List,” a compendium of closeted Republicans that is rumored to be circulating on the Hill?
The salacious story of “The List” emerges every year or two, usually before an election, to vex the Hill's closet cases. The ironic twist this time around concerns the strange bedfellows seeking to out those closeted Republicans.
Some conservative Christian activists last week were pushing to expose gay Republicans, who they view as damaging the party by conspiring to protect one of their own — Foley. Meanwhile, some decidedly left-of-center gay rights activists, most notably Mike Rogers of blogactive.com, have been working for years to out closeted Hill Republicans. Strange bedfellows, indeed.
Naff's piece is among scores of articles and blog posts that have appeared recently (in anything other than the mainstream press) with references to Rep. David Dreier (R-Pomona) being gay, probably being gay and, hey, why doesn't he just come out already. Here's a partial list:
“Rep. David Dreier of California–who incidentally was voted the best-dressed Congressman on the Hill in September's Washingtonian magazine with Foley finishing second–was outed in the alternative publication L.A. Weekly after he stringed together a record of anti-gay votes on DOMA, gay adoption, hate crimes and employment discrimination. Bloggers have been sniping ever since, but mainstream outlets haven't touched it.” A different New York Blade article
“Mike Rogers, president of Proud of Who We Are and the nation's top gay activist blogger, last night reported that U.S. Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.) is a gay hypocrite, during an evening drive-time radio interview on KABC in Los Angeles.” U.S. Newswire
“It is in the closet where people like Rep. David Dreier, Mark Foley, ex-Rep. Ed Schrock and Sen. Lindsey Graham all reside, where morals and values are corrupted.” WorldNetDaily letter
“The mainstream American press (and a good portion of the blogoshpere) has played a huge role in supporting this coalition by refusing to discuss the homosexuality of Republican Party leaders like Ken Mehlman, head of the Republican National Committee; Lindsay Graham, Senator from South Carolina and one of the prosecutors in the Clinton impeachment trial; and David Dreier, Representative from California and head of the House Rules Committee.” Xavier, commenting on “Barney Frank: Gay GOP Like Secret Jews” on Towleroad (“a blog with homosexual tendacies”)
Pat Buchanan “gets hysterical about Republican congressmen David Dreier and Michael Huffington both being pole-smokers, accuses Rove and Mehlman of being a homos and goes off on Jeff Gannon.” Howie Klein's DownWithTryanny! blog
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Funny story: As near as Clockwork can remember, David Dreier was the first congressman we met in person. He was actually making his first run for the state Assembly, if memory serves, and he spoke to one of our college PoliSci classes. The first thing he asked for was a show of hands from Republicans (not many in college PoliSci classes in those days) and how many were Democrats. As the Dems put their hands down, without missing a beat, we shot our arm up and yelled, “Socialist!”
After class was over, Dreier took us out back and banged us good. Ah, those were the days …
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.