In the aftermath of the Mark Foley sex scandal, accusations flew around Washington as political leaders struggled to figure out just who to blame for Foley’s cyber-exploitation of congressional pages. The real culprit, many in the conservative movement insist, is none other than their favorite scapegoat. “Neither party seems likely to address the real issue, which is the link between homosexuality and child sexual abuse,” wrote the Family Research Council in a press release.
This all hits Georgetown in the midst of Coming Out Week, a time for gay and lesbian students to stress their equal place in a supposedly welcoming society. The bright “i am.” t-shirts wandering campus that highlight the week, in the eyes of the uninformed, might read “I Am Going to Molest Your Children” as well.
It is sad enough that the self-proclaimed leaders of family values have willingly turned a blind eye to sexual predation of minors to help their electoral prospects. What is truly damaging is that the Family Research Council and their ilk continue to peddle one of their greatest myths in their arsenal: that there is any scientific evidence of a link between gay men and pedophilia or sexual abuse. Is the Georgetown community a paragon of homophobia? Of course not. But an insiduous idea, reinforced by news events, can creep into the progressive mindset held by many Hoyas. Georgetown students must not buy into, or even worse, propagate such falsehoods.
The fact is that the only researchers who claim to have evidence saying so are in the same boat as scientists who fight for intelligent design or argue against global warming: they have connections to the conservative movement with agendas to fulfill. The American Psychiatry Association has repeatedly made statements debunking this myth.
Yet the “gay men go after young boys” argument has been used as a rallying cry to block gay and lesbian people from teaching in schools, from adopting children—in short, to force them into second-class roles. Imagine if this line of thinking ruled the Georgetown community: would an openly gay student have ever been elected president of the student body, as Luis Torres was three years ago?
The emails from Foley to pages that were presented to the Speaker of the House and others should have set off warning bells not because they knew that Foley was discreetly gay, but because of their content, whether the member was gay or straight, or whether the page was male or female. While condemning gays is standard fare for conservative groups, these same groups were either silent or came out in defense of Republican leaders.
Georgetown students aspire to reach the pinnacle of leadership, political or otherwise. To do so requires a commitment to be good members of society and a repudiation of the morally bankrupt attitudes that seek to harm their fellow Hoyas and citizens. Don’t let the harmful rhetoric that’s emerged from the scandal ruin the open culture of acceptance we must foster on the Hilltop.
