The American Spectator

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Freedom to Threaten

10.17.06 @ 12:01AM

(Page 3 of 4)

Nor was, as some claim, Hay ever the leader or a member of NAMBLA. All he did was advocate the right for NAMBLA to march in pride parades after Christopher Street West banned them, and express his beliefs that sexual active gay youth have certain rights as well.

It's both laughable and specious that Mr. Lord attempts to draw a straight line of endorsement between Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and NAMBLA by way of Harry Hay, simply because she was just one of hundreds of contingents marching in the parade that day. What about the other politicians in the parade? What about the Mayor? Senators? Representatives? Why single out Pelosi?

If I'm in the Mardi Gras parade, does that mean I support nudity and public drunkenness? If I appear in the Chinese New Year parade, who has banned Falun Gong groups, does that also mean I do not support Falun Gong? If I march in the Columbus Day parade in New York, does that mean I discriminate against Native Americans?

Nice attempt at deflection, but if you want to distract from the Foley scandal, you'll have to do better than dredge up something that happened years ago and has no basis of equitable comparison. Riding in a parade with someone who might support the sexual rights of sexually active gay youth is a far cry from actually soliciting a relationship with a minor and member of your staff.

Shame, shame.
-- Kasi Ceallach

Jeffrey Lord replies:
Thanks to reader Kasi Ceallach for the response to my recent article "When Nancy Met Harry." It certainly merits a response.

At no point did I suggest that Harry Hay did anything other than advocate in a very public fashion for the concept of older men having sex with boys. This is, in fact, why the North American Man Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) has given him so much laudatory space on their website. It also should be mentioned that Mr. Hay's talks include a highly favorable account of his own experience as a minor having sex with an older man. I was indeed aware of his relationship with John Burnside, but alas Mr. Hay is not a favorite of NAMBLA because he was nothing more than an ordinary gay adult man advocating adult gay relationships.

Nor did I ever say Harry Hay was a member of NAMBLA. He was not, and I have said so in various interviews. What he was, however, as I have correctly stated, was a fierce supporter of NAMBLA's raison d'etre -- older men having sex with minors...boys. He supported far more than NAMBLA's right to march in parades -- a questionable cause in and of itself. He actively supported, as his own words clearly demonstrate, the very reason for NAMBLA's existence.

As to my singling out Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi for marching right along with Harry Hay, I am afraid that Kasi Ceallach is being a bit disingenuous. Elected public officials of all political stripes are in fact routinely held to account for lending or appearing to lend their blessing and/or physical presence to a cause, whether in fact they agree with the cause or not.

For example, Then-Governor and presidential candidate George W. Bush spoke in February of 2000 at Bob Jones University. He gave a standard campaign speech with no reference to the University. Nonetheless he was instantly subjected to harsh criticism for failing to denounce the University's history of making not only anti-Catholic statements but also not mentioning the University's ban on inter-racial dating. Bush correctly apologized. He specifically wrote a formal letter of apology to Cardinal John O'Connor of New York for not denouncing the University's history of anti-Catholicism. Said Bush: "I make no excuses. I had an opportunity and I missed it. I regret that...I wish I had gotten up then and seized the moment to set a tone, a tone that I had set in Texas, a positive and inclusive tone." Bush specifically denied knowing of the school's policies on inter-racial dating, and apologized.

While I find it somewhat amazing that Representative Pelosi would have no idea of the identity and beliefs of the Grand Marshal of a major San Francisco civic event in her own district, she certainly knows now. To this instant she has not apologized for lending her prestige as a member of Congress to a man who argued strenuously for something that most Americans view as child molesting.

Kasi Ceallach points out very correctly, "what about the other politicians in the parade?" My point exactly. There is, apparently, a civic environment in San Francisco that endorses Harry Hay's views and never blinked at lending their prestige. One wonders what they would do if he were a vigorous supporter -- but not a member -- of the Ku Klux Klan or the Nazis or...say...John Mark Carr, a man who has not young boys on his mind but young girls. The notion that Mr. Hay's views were so unremarkable to all of these very prominent people is, outside of San Francisco, something that is truly remarkable in and of itself.

If one marches in the Mardi Gras, the Chinese New Year parade or the Columbus Day parade as an anonymous citizen, surely one knows that no one will know or care. But to be, say, the Mayor of New York and march in the Columbus Day parade if the Grand Marshal were the late mobster John Gotti -- and so on for other celebrations -- one would quickly and deservedly be the subject of loud demands for an apology.

Last but not least. The Foley scandal is a scandal. Let's say it again: 1) No adult should be preying on minor children of either sex. 2) No adult in a position of authority, particularly over a younger person, should be playing for sexual favors.

Really, this isn't hard to figure out. Mr. Foley is gone, and should be. His conduct was outrageous. But if one reads the words of Harry Hay, Mr. Foley is some sort of hero doing a favor for a minor. Indeed, even as this is being written the accolades for the just-deceased former Democratic Congressman Gerry Studds are pouring forth . Mr. Studds didn't simply send e-mails, he actually had sex with a male minor under his supervision. Sorry...I don't buy it. And a United States Congresswoman who doesn't have the moral courage to look her own constituents in the eye and say she doesn't buy it either certainly doesn't have the leadership qualities to be the third-ranking member of the government.

Letter to the Editor

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