THEY'VE ALL GOT NEWT'S TALKING POINTS. As I scrolled through my e-mail this morning, I was greeted by one with this charming subject line: "Pro-Homosexual Political Correctness Sowed Seeds for Foley Scandal." It was from Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council. Perkins uses the Mark Foley scandal to assert the following: "While pro-homosexual activists like to claim that pedophilia is a completely distinct orientation from homosexuality, evidence shows a disproportionate overlap between the two." The problem with this is that it isn't true. Many molesters of boys identify as heterosexual and have adult sexual relations with partners of the opposite sex. (The source of Perkins' assertions is one Timothy J. Dailey, an anti-gay theologian and a senior research fellow at FRC.) However, it does seem that the right-wing leadership is employing a form of strategic jujitsu here, trying to pin the Foley scandal on Democrats and gay activists while adding it to the right's developing anti-gay narrative. As mentioned yesterday, queers are the domestic equivalent of al-Qaeda according to a number of speakers at last month's FRC Values Voters Summit. Pink is the new black -- black as in Prince of Darkness, pink as in triangle.
--Adele M. Stan
