Friday, October 06, 2006
The Lavender Bund (revised)
It looks like the GOP is about to throw their gay acolytes under the bus. Gay lawmakers, presumably Republican, (10/6) Non-Republican "politicos" compiled and are circulating a partial list of gay staff who they accuse of having aided Foley.
Billmon:
In my day (the '80s) we didn't have a list, but the gay GOP underground in DC did have a name, one that as far as I know the members invented for themselves: the Lavender Bund. That ironic sensibility, you know.
It was common knowledge, at least among the journalists I drank with, that certain mid-level Reagan appointees were bundists, as were some of the rising young studs in Gingrich's House insurgent movement, and a rather larger number of the conservative foot soldiers in the think tanks and on K Street. Some of the names have since appeared in print, some haven't. On the whole, though, the bund has been fairly successful at keeping the closet door closed. When the Washington Times (which wasn't exactly butch central itself) started poking around in the political and sexual dealings of lobbyist Craig Spence in the summer of 1989, the episode was hushed up fairly quickly -- making it something of a role model for the strange story of Jeff/Jim Gannon/Guckert.
David Corn:
What's interesting about The List--which includes nine chiefs of staffs, two press secretaries, and two directors of communications--is that (if it's acucurate) it shows that some of the religious right's favorite representatives and senators have gay staffers helping them advance their political careers and agendas. These include Representative Katherine Harris and Henry Hyde and Senators Bill Frist, George Allen, Mitch McConnell and Rick Santorum.
UPDATE I: David Corn says one version of the list was compiled by someone who calls himself a gay activist. Democrats seem to be doing their best not to publicize it. Also, this list, which I am not going to link in the interest of not invading the privacy of the staff members in question, is so incomplete that it doesn't look as if it's for real.
UPDATE II, 10/6: David Corn says it is non-Republican gay "politicos" who are circulating the List. I don't know what a "politico" is, but if it's the guy Corn flagged yesterday, he's more like a "guy" than anything else.
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