"While pro-homosexual activists like to claim that pedophilia is a completely distinct orientation from homosexuality, evidence shows a disproportionate overlap between the two," Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said this week in a message to supporters.
David Catania, who serves on the District of Columbia city council and is gay, said he left the Republican Party over its opposition to gay marriage. He expressed sympathy for his gay friends who remained active Republicans.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday October 08, 2006 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 58 words Type of Material: Correction
Gay Republicans: An article in Friday's Section A about the political risks of homosexuality in the GOP's ranks contained erroneous information about the Advocate, whose website posted an interview with Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.). Its website is Advocate.com; it is a national gay and lesbian newsmagazine, not a newspaper; and it is based in Los Angeles, not Boston.
"They've hitched their stars to the party, hoping to hunker down and ride out the Taliban-esque wing, hoping their views will come back into the mainstream," Catania said. "It's got to be very demoralizing for them."
A gay Democratic staffer said gay Republican friends tended to walk a narrow line.
"It's difficult for them," the staffer said. "For the most part, they grew up in Republican households and families. It's like a religion to them. They may even be out to their families. But they are not out professionally."
Early in Foley's congressional career, friends and associates say, he took measures to deflect attention from his sexual orientation. He showed up at parties with a woman on his arm, made references to girlfriends, and used photos of himself with his sister and niece in campaign literature. Many voters assumed the photo showed him with a wife and daughter.
In Florida, Foley had a host of glamorous and wealthy female companions, including Petra Levin, a former model and philanthropist, and Nancy Jean Davis, the Miami heir to the McArthur Dairy fortune.
"He always had a knockout woman on his arm," said Jack Furnari, president of the Boca Raton Republican Club. "People would say, 'See that woman Mark was with?' and chuckle. It was all a show."
At times and in certain circles, however, Foley was less reticent about being seen with his longtime male partner, friends and associates say. In Palm Beach, the luxury winter resort island that some describe as fiscally conservative but socially liberal, Foley would arrive at fundraisers and galas with his companion, a local dermatologist. But they always sat at separate tables.
Sid Dinerstein, chairman of the Republican Party of Palm Beach County, who says he saw Foley a month ago at a restaurant with Foley's companion as well as his sister and her husband, said the congressman's sexuality was not an issue in Palm Beach.
