From CNN:
If you've been watching cable news shows, his name may sound familiar because Former Representative Mark Foley is always compared to Studds by Republicans. It's usually something along the lines of, "Well, Studds had sex with a page and never resigned from Congress!"
The difference is of course the fact that Studds and Republican Congressman Dan Crane (who had a sexual relationship with a page) were immediately censured. This is in contrast to the House Republican leadership which knew about Foley's sexual advances toward pages for years while allowing him to remain on the Committee for Exploited Children and encouraging him to continue running for reelection.
I wonder if Studds' death had anything to do with stress from the guilt that has perhaps resurfaced following the Foley scandal? Pure speculation but it seems like quite a coincidence otherwise.
Former U.S. Rep. Gerry Studds, the first openly gay person elected to Congress, died early Saturday at Boston Medical Center, several days after he collapsed while walking his dog, his husband said.
Studds fell unconscious October 3 because of what doctors later determined was a blood clot in his lung, Dean Hara said.
[snip]
Studds was first elected in 1972 and represented Cape Cod and the Islands, New Bedford, and the South Shore for 12 Congressional terms. He retired from Congress in 1997.
In 1983, Studds acknowledged his homosexuality after a former Congressional page revealed he'd had a relationship with Studds a decade earlier.
Studds was censured by the House for having sexual relations with the page. He acknowledged having sex with a 17-year-old male page in 1973 and making sexual advances to two others and admitted an error in judgment, but did not apologize.
If you've been watching cable news shows, his name may sound familiar because Former Representative Mark Foley is always compared to Studds by Republicans. It's usually something along the lines of, "Well, Studds had sex with a page and never resigned from Congress!"
The difference is of course the fact that Studds and Republican Congressman Dan Crane (who had a sexual relationship with a page) were immediately censured. This is in contrast to the House Republican leadership which knew about Foley's sexual advances toward pages for years while allowing him to remain on the Committee for Exploited Children and encouraging him to continue running for reelection.
I wonder if Studds' death had anything to do with stress from the guilt that has perhaps resurfaced following the Foley scandal? Pure speculation but it seems like quite a coincidence otherwise.
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