Conservative Gay Lawmakers Reject A Degrading Life In The Closet

I got to watch the Parliamentary debate over the first Iraq War when a friend of mine, a member of the House of Commons, invited me to sit in for the day and then have lunch in the members dining room. It was an enjoyable and stimulating experience, primarily dominated by Margaret Thatcher. My friend, though, was a gay Conservative. Honestly, I can't remember if he was in the closet or out of the closet-- at least politically. Everyone who knew him certainly knew he was as gay as wrapping paper. Of course the same could have been said of Mark Foley (R-FL), David Dreier (R-CA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) before they were outed. "Everyone" knows they're gay-- except the dullards in the Republican base who haven't a clue.

Today GOProud, the Republican Party's far right-wing version of the mainstream conservative gay Republicans (the Log Cabin Republicans), pointed proudly that the number of openly gay Conservatives in the House of Commons could treble. Nice that they're celebrating, but I wonder if they've ever thought about asking our own conservatives why it's such a taboo to embrace their sexuality on this side of the pond.

Lindsey Graham and David Dreier still think they're fooling someone about being straight. I don't see GOProud mentioning that South Carolina is on the verge of being the first state in the country with a gay Republican Governor and a gay Republican Lt. Governor, albeit two closeted ones. Of course not every gay conservative politician is from South Carolina-- even if they do have the most per square mile. Is GOProud proud of Adam Schock (R-IL)? Patrick McHenry (R-NC)? Adrian Smith (R-NE)? Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA)? Mitch McConnell (R-KY)? Or are they spending all their time cheering the Brits-- and violent and vicious Utah homophobe and anti-gay crusader rabbit, Jason Chaffetz?

GOProud members, if there are any, could do worse than reading Sarah Hepola's Gay Men Go To Hell, an interview with God Says No author James Hannaham about "religious repression, life in the closet and sex in the bathroom," at today's Salon. And while they're over at Salon, an even more direct must-read, Behind Washington's Closet Door which traces political closet queenery from American Conservative Union chairman Bob Baumann (R-MD)-- who was arrested for soliciting sex from a 16 year old boy while serving in Congress-- to more recently outed gay Republicans like Jim Kolbe (R-AZ), Larry Craig (R-ID), Jim McCrery (R-LA) and Charlie Crist (R-FL) is also available. Let's celebrate all the out conservatives in the British Parliament after David Dreier, Charlie Crist, Lindsey Graham and Patrick McHenry say "So what; there's nothing wrong with it-- and I'm terribly sorry for all the pain I caused gay families with my viciously homophobic votes in the past. I'll make up for it in the future."