FOLEY ARTISTS

For those of you who have asked, and anyone who might wonder, Foley is in the GOP leadership, albeit on the second tier. He’s a deputy Majority Whip. He is also Co-Chairman of the Missing and Exploited Childrens Caucus.

Obviously, the current scandal may prove somewhat irrelevant to this, but while Foley has never admitted being gay, there has been much media speculation about whether the never-married bachelor’s orientation may be.

In 1994, when he first ran for Congress, his hometown newspaper the Stuart (Fla.) News asked him his orientation and Foley responded: "I like women."

During the debate over the Defense of Marriage Act — the law allowing states to only recognize heterosexual unions — Foley’s orientation came under question by gay and lesbian media. In 1996, when asked by The Advocate, a gay magazine, about his private life, Foley said, "Frankly, I don’t think what kind of personal relationships I have in my private life is of any relevance to anyone else. I know one thing for certain: When I travel around the district every weekend, the people who attend my town meetings and stop me on the street corner certainly are a lot more concerned with issues like how I voted on welfare reform or whether or not Medicare is going to be there when they need it — not the details of whom I choose to have a relationship with."

In May 2003, the New Times of Broward-Palm Beach, in a story titled "Out With the Truth: With His Voting Record at Issue, Why Won’t U.S. Congressman Mark Foley Just Say That He’s Gay?" That story prompted a cover story in the Washington Blade, a gay and lesbian newspaper in D.C. "Newspaper Outs Fla. Congressman," read the Blade’s headline. "Republican Mark Foley’s Staff Says Sexual Orientation Irrelevant to Senate Bid." That month, Foley held a conference call for Florida reporters and refused to answer the question, calling it "revolting and unforgivable."

– jt