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"A particularly vicious kind of hypocrisy": How do gay politicians like Spokane, Wash., mayor James West justify their vocal support for antigay policies--even after they've left the closet?


"I'm being destroyed because I am a gay man." In an era when preachers and politicians regularly demonize de·mon·ize  
tr.v. de·mon·ized, de·mon·iz·ing, de·mon·iz·es
1. To turn into or as if into a demon.

2. To possess by or as if by a demon.

3.
 gays and lesbians in an effort to rally their supporters and consolidate their power, this is not a surprising complaint. But when the complaint comes from one of those politicians who has built his career in part on blocking all legal paths to equality, it's more than surprising; it's stupefying stu·pe·fy  
tr.v. stu·pe·fied, stu·pe·fy·ing, stu·pe·fies
1. To dull the senses or faculties of. See Synonyms at daze.

2. To amaze; astonish.
.

The gay man speaking was James West Each of the following persons may be referred to as James West and/or Jim West:
  • James E. West (best known as Jim West) was the former mayor of Spokane, Washington, who was recalled in December 2005 amid controversy
  • James E.
, the embattled anti-gay Republican mayor of Spokane, Wash., whose cruising of gay chat rooms--allegedly luring young gay men with promises of gifts and city jobs--was revealed in a sting by The [Spokane] Spokesman-Review. West was talking to Noun 1. talking to - a lengthy rebuke; "a good lecture was my father's idea of discipline"; "the teacher gave him a talking to"
lecture, speech

rebuke, reprehension, reprimand, reproof, reproval - an act or expression of criticism and censure; "he had to
 the newspaper's editor, Steven A. Smith, shortly after the story broke. It was an odd, tear-filled early Sunday morning Sunday Morning may refer to:
  • "Sunday Morning (radio program)", a Canadian radio program formerly aired on CBC Radio One
  • CBS News Sunday Morning, a television news program on CBS in the United States
  • Sunday Morning (TBS TV series)
 telephone call, later detailed in the paper.

"I'm being destroyed because I am a gay man, which is fine," he told Smith. "I've been in public life; I can accept that. Because I am a gay man, because of this double life, it has been hell." Later in the same phone call, West contradicted himself. "Yes, I know it's not about being gay, I know that," he said. "There are other things."

There are indeed other things. There are the swirling accusations of sexual abuse of two boys in the late '70s, a period when West was a sheriffs deputy and Boy Scout leader A Scout Leader generally refers to the trained adult leader of a Scout unit. The terms used vary from country to country, over time, and with the type of unit. Roles
There are many different roles a leader can fulfill depending on the type of unit.
. (West denies the accusations, and the statute of limitations A type of federal or state law that restricts the time within which legal proceedings may be brought.

Statutes of limitations, which date back to early Roman Law, are a fundamental part of European and U.S. law.
 for molestation molestation n. the crime of sexual acts with children up to the age of 18, including touching of private parts, exposure of genitalia, taking of pornographic pictures, rape, inducement of sexual acts with the molester or with other children, and variations of these  charges has expired.) There are questions about whether West abused the power of his office to procure sexual favors. (The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating.)

But most of all, there is the hypocrisy. This reluctantly self-described "gay man"--West has said he does engage in consensual sex with other adult men--spent his 20-plus-year political career building a virulently antigay record. As a Washington State representative in 1986 he sought to bar gays and lesbians from working at schools and day care centers. He also voted to stifle AIDS education efforts and to fire openly gay state employees. In 1998 he adamantly supported a so-called defense of marriage act, which passed and enshrined marriage discrimination in state law. In 2003, as state senate majority leader, he effectively acted to stall a gay rights bill in committee.

As mayor he sought to deny equal benefits to the domestic partners of city workers. And all this time, apparently, West was leading his double life--gay man at home (despite a five-year marriage to a woman that ended in 1995), antigay politician at the office. As New York New York, state, United States
New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of
 Times columnist Frank Rich observed, "This is more than hypocrisy-it's pathology."

"There is something psychologically off with people who attack other people who share their identity," Rich tells The Advocate. "It is hypocrisy that goes beyond normal hypocrisy. It's a particularly vicious kind of hypocrisy."

West is not an anomaly. He is simply the latest example of a privately gay man who has dedicated his public life to bolstering antigay causes and antigay public figures. In fact, he's at least the third example just this year. Republican political consultant Arthur Finkelstein--an obsessively private man whose Massachusetts marriage to his partner of 40 years was revealed in April--was a longtime adviser to former North Carolina North Carolina, state in the SE United States. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean (E), South Carolina and Georgia (S), Tennessee (W), and Virginia (N). Facts and Figures


Area, 52,586 sq mi (136,198 sq km). Pop.
 senator Jesse Helms Jesse Alexander Helms, Jr. (born October 18, 1921) is a former five-term Republican U.S. Senator from North Carolina, and a former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was considered one of the leading figures of the modern "Christian right". , perhaps the most notoriously hateful antigay U.S. senator in recent history. Then there's faux journalist Jeff Gannon James Dale Guckert (born 1957) worked under the pseudonym Jeff Gannon as a White House reporter between 2003 and 2005 , representing the virtual organization Talon News. , the Republican partisan who spent more than a year posing Bush-friendly questions in the White House press room while Web sites advertising his services as a gay escort were still attracting potential clients. The 2004 election, in which the Bush campaign used homophobia to increase right-wing voter turnout, didn't seem to change Gannon's mind one bit.

Then there are the less publicized examples, such as Steve Kreseski, chief of staff to Republican Maryland governor Robert Ehrlich
For the entrepreneur and businessman, see Robert Ehrlich.


Robert Leroy "Bob" Ehrlich, Jr. (born November 25, 1957) is an American politician who served as the 60th Governor of Maryland from 2003 to 2007.
, who in May vetoed a bill that would have allowed the state's gays and lesbians to register for the right to make medical decisions for their domestic partners. Ehrlich reportedly said that the measure "will open the door to undermine the sanctity of traditional marriage."

"Why does Ehrlich have an openly gay chief of staff if Ehrlich claims to support the family values family values
pl.n.
The moral and social values traditionally maintained and affirmed within a family.
 agenda? If gays threaten that agenda, then how can he have a gay as chief of staff?" activist John Aravosis John Aravosis (born November 27, 1963) is a Democratic political consultant, gay activist and blogger. Aravosis, an attorney who lives in Washington, D.C., is the founder of Americablog and a co-founder of StopDrLaura.com.  wrote on his Americablog Web site. "Both Ehrlich and Kreseski have some answering to do." (Governor Ehrlich's office did not return a phone call from The Advocate seeking comment.)

Other Republicans who have been widely reported to live openly gay lives in their off-hours while dedicating their political lives to limiting GLBT GLBT Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered  rights include a Bush favorite, congressman David Dreier David Timothy Dreier (born July 5, 1952), American politician, has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since January 1981, representing California's 26th congressional district (map). He was first elected to the U.S. House at age 28 in 1980.  of California, and another U.S. representative, Mark Foley Mark Adam Foley (born September 8, 1954) is an American politician who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 until 2006, representing the 16th District of Florida.  of Florida, who is a Senate wannabe. Dreier, who shares a home with his male chief of staff, refuses to comment on his sexuality; Foley went so far as to call a press conference to demand that the media stop asking about his.

But hypocrisy is not limited to the GOP. When New Jersey governor James McGreevey, a Democrat, resigned last August, famously saying, "I am a gay American," activists in the state quickly pointed out that the governor was a steadfast opponent of marriage equality.

So is all this apparent hypocrisy simply shameless political expediency, or is this really, as Rich put it, pathology? Can gay men really believe that the world will be a better place if people like them are cheated out of equality? Perhaps former president Bill Clinton formulated this question most succinctly when he commented on Finkelstein's nuptials. "I was sort of sad when I read it," Clinton told reporters. "I thought, one of two things. Either this guy believes his party is not serious, and is totally Machiavellian in his position, or there's some sort of self-loathing."

But psychologist Rhonda Linde says that throwing around terms like "self-loathing" and "pathology" is too easy when it comes to closeted clos·et·ed  
adj.
Being In a state of secrecy or cautious privacy.
 people and their seemingly hypocritical actions. Internalized homophobia "makes people feel terribly bad about themselves and can lead someone to do things that are very self-destructive, but it's not the only factor," says Linde, coordinator of mental health training and research at Boston's Fenway Community Health. "You have to put it in context of the other issues in a person's life. A person may decide not to come out for many reasons, everything from a fear of losing one's job to a fear of being beaten up."

In political terms, then, Linde's analysis suggests a hypocrisy born out of self-interest: The politician's priority is the protection and advancement of his career above all else. The suffering he may cause his fellow gays and lesbians simply doesn't register--or, more ominously, he may resent the freedoms enjoyed by gays who live openly when he is convinced he can't. At that point, the hypocrisy of the closet begins to look a lot like revenge.

Patrick Guerriero Patrick Guerriero is an American politician.

A gay Republican, Guerriero was the executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans (LCR) from January 1, 2003 to September 1, 2006.
, executive director of the gay group Log Cabin Republicans The Log Cabin Republicans (LCR) is a federated gay and lesbian political organization in the United States with state chapters and a national office in Washington, D.C. The group consists of gays and lesbians who are supporters of the Republican Party. , sees the issue as one of a generational shift. Older gays, such as West (who's 55) and Finkelstein (who's 59), grew up in a time when being gay came with much more shame than it does today. "Thankfully, today there is a growing number of gay conservatives, and progressives for that matter, who can be open and honest," Guerriero says.

One such example is gay Republican Mike Gin, 42, the mayor-elect of Redondo Beach, Calif., who won a landslide victory in May despite an antigay campaign on the part of his opponent and a Republican activist group [see box]. "Being gay wasn't even an issue for me or others during my eight years on the city council," Gin tells The Advocate. "It's just part of who I am. I have to be gay and I have to be a Republican."

Gin says he doesn't see West's problems as "a gay Republican issue. It's an individual's issue."

Gin and Guerriero agree that if West is guilty of misconduct, he should resign. The Spokane city council voted unanimously on May 31 to ask for his resignation but does not have the power to remove him. West, who can be recalled only by a special election that results from a petition drive--one is under way--was sitting tight at press time.

Rich says he feels some sympathy for the mayor but adds, "It would be easier to feel bad for him if he made amends and didn't continue to propagate public policies against people like himself. All people are capable of reforming, but I have no sympathy for West if he doesn't lift a finger for change."

Kuhr is editor at large of Boston-based GLBT newspaper In Newsweekly.
COPYRIGHT 2005 Liberation Publications, Inc.
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 2005, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Title Annotation:NEWS ANALYSIS
Author:Kuhr, Fred
Publication:The Advocate (The national gay & lesbian newsmagazine)
Geographic Code:1U9WA
Date:Jul 5, 2005
Words:1454
Previous Article:Florida sprees halted?(CRIME)
Next Article:Mike Gin.(SHORT ANSWERS)(Interview)



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