Dennis Hastert Hid His Skeletons As He Helped Push GOP's Anti-Gay Agenda

[RandySF]

WASHINGTON -- During the 2004 elections, George W. Bush's campaign, managed by a closeted gay man, pushed a series of anti-gay ballot initiatives across the country. The House of Representatives, led by a male speaker who allegedly sexually assaulted a male minor, moved a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage after beating back attempts to strengthen hate crimes legislation. And the White House, led in part by a vice president with a lesbian daughter, eagerly encouraged a conservative evangelical base hostile to gay rights.

Though only slightly over a decade ago, that election seems increasingly like the relic of a far-off era as the country moves closer toward acceptance of legalizing marriage equality nationwide. But it's being revisited in light of recent revelations that former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) may have sexually abused at least two male students during his time as a high school teacher and wrestling coach, and later lied to the FBI about the hush money he was paying one of them.

Hastert wasn't a strident culture warrior during his time in Congress. But he was a vital cog in the anti-gay political machinery that the GOP deployed for political benefit. And now it appears his involvement carried the same elements of duplicity and deceit as that of other Republican operatives of that era.

"The hypocrisy is breathtaking in its depth," said Elizabeth Birch, former president of the Human Rights Campaign, which advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/06/dennis-hastert-anti-gay-_n_7521394.html

[Egnever]

1. Often I find it is the ones screaming the loudest

That are trying to cover their own behavior.

[Purveyor]

14. Over and over again it is the case, indeed!

[underpants]

2. Look I understand the article's purpose but he isn't gay

He is a molester an abuser. As with most pedophiles and molesters (from all that I have read) he is hetero and he abused children - 2 different things

[RandySF]

3. He's gay.

Edit: I was about to say that it was one of the worst kept secrets in Washington but that wasn't the case. However, I do remember it was widely rumored in the blogosphere about ten years ago.

[underpants]

4. Ok

I was not aware of that

[DURHAM D]

5. Earlier this week Barnie Frank said

there were no rumors. I think he was in a pretty good place to know.

[RandySF]

8. Yes there were

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/10/11/256043/-Is-Dennis-Hastert-Gay



http://politicalconundrum.lefora.com/topic/19423669

[LiberalElite]

9. Frank now believes Hastert

is bisexual. https://www.advocate.com/politics/2015/06/05/sister-alleged-sex-abuse-victim-dennis-hastert-was-his-abuser

[MADem]

16. I think he might not be telling the whole truth.

I think he probably heard the same unsubstantiated gossip I did.

John Aravosis alluded to this during the Foley mess. It was out there but it wasn't like there was anything one could hang one's hat on.

[MADem]

15. He had a decades long relationship with his chief of staff.

They lived together in a DC townhouse. When MRS. Hastert came to DC, she stayed at the Willard. And she rarely bothered. She showed up when absolutely necessary.

That was,apparently, a marriage of convenience. I don't think she was deceived--NO one can be that stupid.

If anything, he is bi, though I think his spousal relationship is strictly for cover.

This was an open secret. Always wondered why no one in the press picked up on it. I heard about it in the nineties.

[Hekate]

6. "The hypocrisy is breathtaking in its depth..." Goddam those are sickening people. nt

[6chars]

7. Why does this always happen?

The Clinton impeachers, the Duggars, it is just so predictable - the ones with something really nasty that they did are the angriest about what other people do.

[Strelnikov_]

10. Premise of article is fundamentally flawed

It assumes that Hastert actually did something.

(ed. not to make light of what the article is addressing, but Pelosi v Hastert, the vehemence of the media toward Pelosi vs. the acceptance of Hastert as competent 'steady' hand . . . )

[RandySF]

11. He was Speaker of the House during the height of the GOP's anti-gay campaign.

[Strelnikov_]

12. I apologize

I was making a joke regarding Hastert's complete incompetence, it was inappropriate considering the subject.

[Thinkingabout]

13. I do not have the facts to prove this but I don't think LGBT has a designated political party.

[gratuitous]

17. Interesting what stories the media will run, isn't it?

Because it's "out there," the allegedly responsible media will run with all kinds of innuendo and unsubstantiated nonsense from the national assignment desk better known as the Drudge Report. But Jolene Burdge contacts ABC News and other media outlets about Denny Hastert and her late brother, and nobody can be bothered to call her back, let alone publish or air anything.

[gopiscrap]

18. Give Hastert a break, he can't help himself:

He's a republican!