Congressman David Dreier - Closeted Gay Neocon Rises in the Ranks

This from AlterNet this morning is a good read on the ascension of closeted gay Congressman David Dreier within the leadership of the Republican majority in the House of Representatives.

Wonder how James Dobson of Focus on the Family views this curious game of musical chairs engendered by the indictment of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay for campaign sleaze?

I, like many of my gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, generally respect any person's decision to remain in the closet. But, quoting from the AlterNet piece:

Is it right to out a closeted gay politician? Doug Ireland follows the openly gay Democratic Congressman Barney Frank's (D-Mass.) rule: "Outing is only acceptable when a person uses their power or notoriety to hurt gay people."

And David Dreier's record fully qualifies him for public exposure. Ireland writes:

He opposed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would have banned discrimination against gay people in hiring; voted for the gay-bashing Defense of Marriage Act; voted for banning adoption by gay and lesbian couples in the District of Columbia (3,000 miles away from Dreier's district); voted to allow federally funded charities to discriminate against gays in employment, even where local laws prohibit such bias; and voted against the Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

The AlterNet piece also reports:

It is widely assumed that Dreier's partner is none other than his chief of staff, Brad Smith. Janice Nelson, Dreier's Democratic opponent in 1998 and 2000, was aware that Dreier and Smith were living together at the time, saying, "Brad was like an invisible presence. They really have the routine down slick." As Byrne of Raw Story discovered, Smith makes $156,000 a year -- only $400 less than Andrew Card, who runs George Bush's shop in the White House. It's also been reported that Dreier and Smith traveled to 25 countries together using taxpayer funds. Doug Ireland provided a corollary to this kind of arrangement: "New Jersey Democratic Governor Jim McGreevey was recently forced to resign when it was about to become public that he had put his boyfriend on the public payroll at a salary slightly less than the one which Dreier pays Smith."

No, just become someone shares my sexuality, it is not okeydokey for them to celebrate their hypocrisy, their sleaze, their Roy Cohn mentality, their demagoguery within the safe clutch of the Republican party.