October 4, 2006
I'M NOT A PEDOPHILE, I'M JUST GAY CHATTING...:
Boy Crazy: Mark Foley: Bad for the gays? (Kevin Arnovitz, 10/04/06, TNR Online)
Invariably, it's a pedophile-obsessed pedophile who will set the dialogue on gay rights back a decade. Anti-gay Internet legislation will surface on the floor of the Capitol before investigators have a chance to sponge off Foley's keyboard. Access to gay chat sites will be so guarded that they'll cease to offer any allure for users. It's true that there are rare instances when that allure is rooted in something nefarious. But gay chat is an important resource that was crucial in opening up the closet--in allowing kids and young gay men who wouldn't otherwise be comfortable coming out to hear themselves think with a sympathetic audience and to put themselves in conversations that otherwise would be unavailable to them.I'm certain there are high school kids today in Hagerstown, Macon, Wichita Falls, and Greeley for whom this access is vital to their development as healthy gay men. Their insufferably small universe is a little bit bigger because of what the net offers. The prospect of those resources being compromised because of a latent gay man-child who couldn't get the Abercrombie & Fitch lacrosse-boy obsession out of his system before age 25 like the rest of us is maddening. And look for an amplified version of the Deleting Online Predators Act of 2006--which passed the House in late July but has been sitting in committee in the Senate--to arrive shortly on the Senate floor. It denies minors access to chat rooms and sites like MySpace in schools and libraries (unless used for educational purposes), and it could very well be further extended. It's not far-fetched to imagine a world in which such sites could "card" kids before admitting them.
Anyone care to explain how Mr. Foley deviated from standard gay behavior as advocated here? Posted by Orrin Judd at October 4, 2006 11:58 AM
The prospect of those resources being compromised because of a latent gay man-child who couldn't get the Abercrombie & Fitch lacrosse-boy obsession out of his system before age 25 like the rest of us
So, it's okay for gay men to lust after minors of the same sex until the gay men reach the age of 25, but after that it's no go?
Do I have that right?
Posted by: kevin whited at October 4, 2006 1:31 PM. . . healthy gay men . . .
Isn't that a bit from the old George Carlin routine about "jumbo shrimp" and "military intelligence?"
Posted by: Mike Morley at October 4, 2006 1:35 PM"Kevin Arnowitz..collaborated with The New Republic on its World Cup blog"
Check.
Posted by: h-man at October 4, 2006 1:48 PMDon't forget "fun run".
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at October 4, 2006 1:56 PMWouldn't want to see their "resources" compromised.
Posted by: jdkelly at October 4, 2006 5:50 PMOJ:
I'm curious about your take on this:
The prospect of those resources being compromised because of a latent gay man-child who couldn't get the Abercrombie & Fitch lacrosse-boy obsession out of his system before age 25 like the rest of us is maddening.
It's of course frequently true that some adolescents worry that they might be gay, and I remember Paul Fussell writing about a kind of "puppy love" (basically nonsexual) that was common among British soldiers during World War I. It also shows up in memoirs about boarding schools, although I personally never saw anything like that, despite jokes about it being frequent.
Not to mention that some people claim to have dropped their homosexuality after undergoing controversial psychological treatments.
In other words, while certain folks may be predisposed towards homosexuality, there is good reason to suspect that it's more a state of mind than anything else. Or am I allowed to say that?
Posted by: Matt Murphy at October 5, 2006 8:36 PMEveryone's first great love is a friend of the same sex--because, after all, girl's have cooties. It generally only becomes sexualized in a hothouse atmosphere like boarding school, the British Navy, or soccer camp.
However, if gay men can get to boys when they're in that undefined state they can mess with their minds. That's why gays seek jobs that give them access to the kids: teacher, priest, counselor, scoutmaster, etc.
Posted by: oj at October 5, 2006 9:08 PM