OK, I have a question for any gay men here on DU.

[napi21]

I just heard a report that the Mayor of Spokane Wa. has admitted that he is a gay man, and was caught making offers to 17 & 18 year olds in a gay chat room, including an internship at city hall. He admits to being gay and having sex with other grown men, but no teenagers. He has a long history of voting AGAINST any gay rights.

WHY would someone do this? I can see why you would detest people who are vehimently against gay rights, but for goodness sake, would you ever expect them to be one of you? I don't understand.

[TNOE]

1. Politics baby

welcome to GOP politics.

Opps - sorry - edited to add I'm not a gay man, I'm not even a man so perhaps my opinion won't count.

[napi21]

2. If it's only politics, it's real stupid politics!

Do these people really think thye can get away with that kind of double standard shit and never get caught??? There are still a lot of newbie reporters out there looking to get their first real scoop!

[sui generis]

3. you're right - politics

also remember that a lot of these guys "came of age" at a time when it was really really uncool to be out. The kinds of people they did come into contact with were the underbelly of the gay community - something they probably despised in themselves.

Anyway, my soap box moment, "gay rights" is silly. "Gay" is a sexual orientation. Rights for "gays" mean protection from discrimination based on your sexual orientation, and some straight people are known to be sexually oriented in a hetero sort of way.

Any protection for your sexual orientation also protects heterosexuals, so it's not complete to just call these "rights" gay rights alone.

They protect anyone from being fired for being gay or for being straight.

[Atman]

4. Swaggart Syndrome

When someone like this guy is so adament, so vocal about something so harmless to him -- gay rights, in this case, prostitutes in Swaggarts -- they tend to think that if they publicly cry out in protest of it, loudly, often, that people won't suspect them of that very behavior. History is filled with falled heros who doth protest too much.

[xfundy]

5. Self-hatred, for one thing

Also, the louder homophobes scream against gays, the more they believe they're making sure no one would ever think they were gay. Remember, several studies have shown that many homophobes are actually hiding gay feelings.

You should have seen me in high school, picking on kids that were percieved to be "fags," even as I was doing lots of "stuff" on Boy Scout camping trips.

[Bouncy Ball]

6. I wish I could find that study.

They actually did a study in which they got guys who were admitted homophobes to watch gay porn and they gauged their physical reaction.

They found a correlation between the most strident and vocal homophobes and the most marked physical reaction to gay porn.

Things that make you go hmmmm.

The men I know who aren't homophobes have a "meh" reaction to gay sex. They really don't care about it one way or another.

[mondo joe]

7. I think a lot of homophobes are secretly gay

In fact some studies have shown that those who are the most violently anti gay are aroused by homoerotic images.

I think one of the most important distinctions is our gay men / closeted gay men.

[Sparkly]

8. I've always thought those who say it's a "choice" are probably gay.

For me, there's no such "choice." I'm not gay, and couldn't choose to be. (Besides, why would someone choose to be discriminated against?) So I suspect those who claim it's just a choice feel they could make that choice. Know what I mean?

[xfundy]

10. Disagree.

They're probably bi, or somewhere near center on the Kinsey scale.

[Sparkly]

11. True enough.

Could be bi.

[cboy4]

12. Yes and they're aroused because they're probably gay.....

However they tell themselves, "maybe if I keep telling myself that I'm not gay, I can trick my brain into thinking I'm straight."

Why would some of these people be soooooo F'ing obsessed with gay people if they didn't have at least a little gay in them!?!? :eyes:

[mondo joe]

15. I actually think SOME of them have their wires crossed and confuse

sexual arousal with violence - some of the physical symptoms are similar to begin with.

Others I think are simply covering up.

[BigBearJohn]

9. I remember when the group Exile had a hit called "Kiss You All Over"

and a minister in the South started a campaign to have it taken off the air. I casually made a comment to a friend that the minister probably molests little boys. Two weeks later my friend called me and said, "You are not going to believe this. Remember that minister who was complaining about "kiss me all over"? Well, he was just arrested for child molestation." True story.

[Imagine My Surprise]

13. A Look at the Life of Roy Cohn might help answer this...

...he was McCarthy's right-hand man during all the cold war witch-hunts. He died of AIDS in 1985. But I believe someone has already said it best: It's politics, baby!

[warrens]

19. "I'm not gay. I just like to fuck boys."

Cohn actually said that.

[HEIL PRESIDENT GOD]

14. I'm not gay but...

I think there is a strong element of "old guard" gays in the anti-gay movement. These are very disturbed individuals who want to bring back the days when gay sex was totally underground. Obviously, anytime something is highly illegal, it opens up the possibility for strong, predatory individuals to exploit, abuse, and even turn a profit.

We can compare this hypothesis to the WELL-ESTABLISHED FACT that the top anti-drug warriors in politics are also the nation's biggest dope dealers.

There have been gay sex scandals in every Republican white house since the fifties. I also wonder if RW politicians are routinely seduced and photographed and blackmailed to maintain party discipline.

[im10ashus]

16. Was he on the down low?

Meaning: married? There are LOTS of those types out there in politics. I am a gay man and can't see NOT standing up for myself in politics and life regardless of the situation. As long as it's my words that do the talking, and not some political machine. Another question, being "caught" making offers to 17 and 18 year olds in chat rooms. Who "caught" him and did the teens identify themselves as such? Now, if he was in-the-know, then he may have some problems. Voting against gay rights when one is gay is counter-productive and hypocritical. He will have some 'splaining to do, Lucy.

[napi21]

20. The Spokane newspaper hired some comupter "expert" to

confirm the story of this Mayor being gay. This hired gun registered with the gay website, portrayed himself as being 17, and waited for the Mayor to contact him. I'm assuming when they said the Mayor contacted 17 & 18 years olds, this guy wasn't the only contact made. Some are already protraying the newspaper's action as being entrapment, and I guess it could be. I don't know if just offering the bait constitutes entrapment or you actually have to make offers yourself.

I guess we'll see. I just find it mindboggling that someone who was a State Senator who constantly voted against any gay rights issues turned out to be guilty of everything he was claiming to find so wrong in others.

I think everyone here who said this is one way to hide your own activities is a valid point. Sure makes me question a lot of the loudmouths out there now, like Robertson, Swaggert, etc.

[Deja Q]

17. Self-interest. The guy sounds like a repukey-dukey, out for himself.

So he can vote against gay rights...

But when he is outed, and in such an obvious way, people aren't going to forget. Well, for REAL issues people don't give a damn or get brainwashed. But for piddle like this, the media makes IT seem like life-or-death.

The guy is toast come next election.

[napi21]

21. He might not make it to mext election. I heard they're calling for his

resignation already. Right now he's saying no, but you know how that goes.

[pinto]

18. You'd have to ask him, I suppose. It's not like we get a script, or a

playbook...we're pretty average, for the most part. So I don't know.

[Fleshdancer]

22. because the closet is a dark, scary place

well, I assume it is anyway. Sorry, I'm not gay or a man, but I'm a DUer so I can't help but give my opinion even when it's not asked for! :D

[jackelope72]

23. Some people value other things more highly than honesty...

and self-awareness. Money, power, fame, prestige, position, security, safety. It's people like that who are usually more likely to sell out themselves - and their compatriots - and deny who they really are in the name of whatever higher power (politics, religion, money, career) they worship.

[Occulus]

24. 17? 18??

Um....

How do I say it....

THEY'RE 17 AND 18! THEY'RE GONNA START AT SOME POINT!

16 is the age of consent in MI, I believe. What is it in WA?

18? Or 17?

If 17... what's the big deal, if it wasn't a rape?

[napi21]

26. Image is the difference. I saw the interview the mayor gave,

or better called a press conference, and he admitted he was gay, had sex with adult men, but totally denied anything with minors. I have no idea what the age of majority is in Wa. but I think that's the point. It's just trying to prove him a worse lier.

Please understand, I'm not putting the guy down for being gay, but for being yet another Republican hypocrite!!! I just hope the nuts that supported him realize what he is.

[Morning Dew]

27. apparently the mayor was offering a job

or internship of some sort... that puts it in the public realm.

[napi21]

29. That's what the legal begals are saying in Wa. He crossed into

the illegal side when he offered to use his power as Mayor and the taxpayers money to suggest a quid pro quo. I think this puppy is in legal trouble and political suicide!

[ruggerson]

25. Think about it

society is virulently homophobic. This guy, trust me, has known since he was a little kid that he was gay. But some people don't have the inner strength to say, hey wait a second, it's SOCIETY that is screwed up on this issue, NOT ME. Instead, they internalize all the bigotry, the homophobia and the lies and they "pretend."

This guy tried pretending for his whold adult life.

And look what happened.

[Singular73]

28. Just another self-hating homosexual?

"WHY would someone do this? I can see why you would detest people who are vehimently against gay rights, but for goodness sake, would you ever expect them to be one of you? I don't understand."

Look at Log-cabin Republicans...you will find roomfulls of these guys.

Remember that some people only care about their own rights...hell, look at everything Republicans have done over hte last 5 years.

They are voting against their own "kind" as well (as in humans, heterosexuals, etc..)...this is not different.