Offering frequent news and analysis from the majestic Evergreen State and beyond, The Cascadia Advocate is the Northwest Progressive Institute's unconventional perspective on world, national, and local politics.

Friday, May 06, 2005

Gay sex scandal hits Spokane

Hypocrite:
Spokane Mayor Jim West, who championed an anti-gay agenda during his tenure as one of the most powerful Republicans in the Legislature, yesterday admitted to using the trappings of his current office to entice what he thought was a young adult man but denied allegations that he molested two young boys more than 20 years ago.
Well, well. One of the staunchest anti-gay legislators has suddenly fallen out of the closet.

With a loud thud.

His history in the state Legislature speaks for itself:
In more than 20 years in the Legislature, West had initiated legislation to outlaw sexual contact between consenting teenagers; supported a bill that would have barred gays and lesbians from working for schools, day care centers and some state agencies; voted to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman; and, as Senate majority leader, allowed a bill that would ban discrimination against gays and lesbians to die in committee without a hearing.
What happened to West is somewhat understandable. The GOP - and many religions - simply don't accept gays and lesbians. As Sen. Honeyford put it:
Sen. Jim Honeyford, R-Sunnyside, said from what he's read, "it's a pretty sad situation for Jim ... It will be very difficult for him, if these allegations are true."

Honeyford, a Republican leader in Olympia, said he and his party oppose issues such as gay marriage because, he said, homosexuality is immoral.

He said West "must have kept his personal life separate from his political life." If West is gay, Honeyford said, he would be at odds with GOP values.
It can be very difficult for people who are gay to live with that fact (and accept it) when their religion, or their party, or both, rejects such people and says "homosexuality is immoral". So West naturally tried his hardest to repress being gay.

And thus he stridently opposed rights for gays and lesbians as a state legislator. But he failed. Now that he has been outed, his political career is finished. The GOP is a party of discrimination. Gays and lesbians are simply not tolerated in the Republican Party, and as such, West will be politically homeless.

Make no mistake, molestation is simply intolerable. If the allegations are true (and it seems they might be) then West is a criminal. In any case, his activities in an online chatroom are wholly unacceptable. He should resign immediately and step down so that a new leader can take charge of Spokane.

It's not a crime to be gay. It is a crime to molest children and it is wrong to entice men into coming to the mayor's office through a gay chat room with special favors.

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