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View Full Version : do you think the Mark Foley thing has hurt gays in the US ?


txbarefooter
10-05-2006, 03:05 AM
just wondering if you think all this concerning Mark Foley has hurt gay issues ?

for those not in the US, Mark Foley is a Republician congressman from Florida who was confronted with sexually explicit electronic messages he had sent teenage male pages and has resigned from Congress as a result.

what is a Congressional page ?

Since 1839, the Congress has employed young people as pages who serve as messengers and perform administrative tasks. Currently, the House of Representatives has 72 pages, while the Senate has 30. These pages are high-school juniors from around the country, and competition to become a congressional page is fierce.
Page applicants must be in their junior year of high school for the year they wish to serve and must be at least 16 years old at that time. Pages must be U.S. citizens with a minimum 3.0 grade point average. Applicants usually need to write an application essay, submit a list of extra-curricular activities, along with letters of recommendation. Before new pages start work, they must present a certification of immunization and a general health assessment from their doctor, and they must be covered by health insurance.

SageDreamer
10-05-2006, 04:34 PM
The damage is probably only temporary. The people who are most vocal and upset about it are people who were not terribly pro-gay to begin with. My suspicion is that Foley's party will be hurt more than gay people will be hurt because it's being said that they knew about his activities for quite some time and did nothing to intervene.