There is Nothing Gay About Hastert's Hypocrisy

The "godly folk" who are always in the vanguard fighting against LGBT rights and equality ALWAYS trying to conflate being gay with being a child molester.  The reality, of course, is that the majority of child molesters are straight males, not gays.  I would further argue - as I have in past posts - that it is almost always the repressed, closeted individuals who seem to get caught up in sex scandals.  Further, the molestation of minors often, if not always, involves an adult in a position of power taking advantage of minors unable to  fend off such advantages or who fear no one will believe them as Steve Reinhold reportedly stated to his sister.  The real hypocrisy, therefore, is that it is more times than not "family values" Republicans or their allies who are preaching to others about how they should be living their lives while not walking the walk, if you will, themselves.  A column in Washington Post looks at the real nature of Hastert's hypocrisy.  Here are excerpts:

In discussing the scandal engulfing former House speaker Dennis Hastert, who is due in court this week, one thing must be made absolutely clear. What he is alleged to have done to young boys has absolutely nothing to do with being gay or gay rights.

Almost immediately after the news broke of Hastert’s indictment, folks looked to Congress for signs of hypocrisy. Former representative Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who is gay, made an assertion during an appearance on Huffington Post Live last Monday that was flat-out inappropriate.

He is wrong to make a link between gay rights and the accusations of immorality against Hastert.

What Hastert allegedly did has nothing to do with being gay or the push by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Americans to ensure that equal protection under the law applies to them. What he allegedly did — sexually abusing a number of underage boys — was criminal. The same goes for reality television star and conservative moralist Josh Duggar, who admitted sexually molesting young girls, including several of his sisters, when he was a teenager. His sexual orientation doesn’t factor into the scandal coverage because it is irrelevant.

LGBT adults do not pose an automatic danger to children. Some people still refuse to accept this. That’s why branding Hastert a hypocrite now because he opposed LGBT rights as speaker is a leap I refuse to take.

[W]here Frank gets it right is on the moral hypocrisy displayed by Hastert and so many other holier-than-thou Republicans thundering about values. Frank reminded “Hardball” host Chris Matthews that Speaker Hastert followed a line of flawed House leaders who pushed for the impeachment of President Bill Clinton in 1998.

Hastert was the third guy to be speaker. First, you had Newt Gingrich, who was having an affair with his third wife cheating on his second wife with whom he cheated on his first wife. And you then … had Bob Livingston who had to quit because he had had sex with a lobbyist. So…these people leading the charge against Clinton. Clinton was the choir boy.

Alleged sexual abuse of minors is at the center of the Hastert scandal. And that’s where the focus should remain.