The blogger who
posted Rep. Mark Foley’s (pictured) nasty
e-mails helped to sweep change into Washington. Still,
this was a case of one gay man outing another. Does
Lane Hudson have any brotherly regrets? Um, not
really.
I was sitting on
the train to Baltimore/Washington International Airport
when my cell phone and BlackBerry simultaneously started
buzzing. The text message confirmed the e-mail. Mark
Foley had resigned from Congress. My heart nearly
stopped. What had I gotten myself into?
In the following
days Foley’s actions and the subsequent questions of
who knew what and when dominated the news. Before
long, the media discovered the mysterious blog that
had scooped ABC News. This set off a firestorm of
questions: Who was the mysterious blogger? Where did he get
the e-mails? Was this politically motivated?
The fallout of
exposing the Florida Republican showed the extent to which
the Washington culture allowed this behavior to continue.
Rumors of Foley’s being involved with male
pages had been around Capitol Hill for nearly as long
as he had. That no one did anything about it is pathetic.
More than a year
ago a 16-year-old page from Louisiana had the courage to
report Foley’s inappropriate behavior. What did that
get him? His parents prevented real punitive action. A
dozen media organizations ignored the story. The FBI
thought the e-mails were perfectly innocent. Louisiana
Republican representative Rodney Alexander slapped Foley on
the back.
We tell our
children to report any inappropriate activity from an adult.
In this instance the adults did nothing. So, after some
savvy computer sleuthing, here I am. I hope gay rights
advocates will stand up and say they’re proud
that it was a gay man who finally took action to stop Mark
Foley.
Where did I get
the e-mails? It doesn’t matter. They were floating
all around America in the hands of people who
didn’t care. Were my actions politically
motivated? Yes and no. I’m a romantic when it comes
to democracy; I expect a lot out of our politicians.
I’m also a Democrat and a political operative.
It’s rare that taking a risk and doing the right
thing reap tremendous political benefit. But that’s
what happened here. Mark Foley is a pervert who abused
his office. I am happy that my efforts brought justice
and helped to elect a more fair-minded majority to the
United States Congress.
I sleep well at
night.
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