Posted by: Chris

What basis is there, then, for lumping Crist with Foley into the "closeted" category, when Crist has flatly denied being gay? 

My favorite denial came when a country music DJ (and Crist supporter) delicately asked: "Are you a homo?" "No, man," a suddenly hip Crist replied. "No, I love women. I mean, they're wonderful."  I can picture Jon Stewart having a field day with that one:  "Yeah, they like have breasts.  And pretty hair and make-up.  And they're just really great, aren't they?"  Color me unconvinced.

As Linn has pointed out, every time Crist gets "the question," he's been asked, "Are you gay?" (or a homo).  No one has asked if he's bisexual.  If he is, or if that's his story and he's sticking to it, then his answers are Clintonian half-truths, he of the drug-use denial: "I have never broken the laws of this country" (turns out he smoked pot, but famously never inhaled, in England); and "I never had sex with that woman" (turns out he didn't consider fellatio to be oral sex).

I count myself among the politically incorrect gay men who are skeptical over many claims of male bisexuality, especially from politicians who seem to have a woman on their arm only when it's politically convenient, as with Crist's "girlfriend," who's made a number of recent public appearances. But my guess is that if Crist has in fact used Clintonian rationalizations to "the question" as Linn suggests, it's a short leap to an outright lie if he's asked if he's bi.

The media thus far has played the Crist coverage about right, asking the question, printing Crist's answer and otherwise largely avoiding the issue until Linn came forward.  Despite Linn's obvious political motives, his story doesn't violate Crist's sexual privacy the way the "outing activists" do, digging up tattle-tale tricks to spill the dirt.

But Crist's mixed gay rights record, and backing from anti-gay Christian conservatives, isn't the only basis for raising his sexual orientation as a legitmate campaign issue.  As Floridians have seen up close and personal with Foley-gate, secrets surrounding sexual orientation can have a debilitating effect on the judgment of their elected officials. 

And Foley isn't the only example.  Openly gay, former Wilton Manors mayor Jim Stork abandoned his congressional campaign in midstream two years ago after raising $2 million and even speaking at the Democratic National Convention.  He cited health reasons, but it's accepted among political insiders that Stork dropped out after being threatened with embarrassing revelations about his life in the closet, before he first sought public office.

There's no indication that Crist has any sort of sexual skeletons in his closet, but Linn has raised the vulnerability to extortion as a valid question for a closeted candidate for high office to answer.  As former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey (D) related in his recently published memoir, "The Confession," every secret affair entered into by a closeted public official carries with it the risk of lapsed judgment and blackmail.

Yes, the specter of "homosexual extortion" is an old saw used in the past to deny gays security clearances, but it's a justifiable issue to raise in a campaign for high public office, and one Crist should address.  Right after someone asks him squarely, "Are you bisexual?"

Posted at 02:31 PM in Elections, Foley-gate, Media, Outing | Permalink