Congressional Page Scandal

[Steven E. Webster]

Friends,
I wonder if one of the ironies here is that gay men like Fordham recognized that Mark Foley's fondness for very young men was bound to lead to trouble and they tried to warn Hastert's office. Now the gay GOP'ers will be blamed for Foley's actions.

I'm reminded of an incident in the Wisconsin Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church in which I was part of "blowing the whistle" on a Pastor who was molesting young, underage men. Two of his victims were friends of mine (though I never met or knew the Pastor in question himself). I know my two young friends were damaged by this man, and was happy to assist them in pressing their case to a successful resolution. My role was simply to introduce them to each other when I realized that they had both been victimized by the same Pastor.

I'm a little disappointed in Andrew Sullivan who keeps bringing up that the pages involved were 16 or older and therefore "legal" in D.C. My two friends would have been "legal" in D.C. (but not Wisconsin), and yet they were very much damaged by this man who held a position of power and trust.

Steven Webster