|
WASHINGTON,
D.C.
—
The
voicemail
came
on
a
Thursday
afternoon,
in
between
busy
committee
meetings
and
at
the
end
of
a
hectic
week
for
Senate
staffer
Jonathan
Tolman.
It
was
a
confusing
message
—
the
demands
vague,
the
voice
unidentified
and
unrecognizable.
The
call
had
asked
for
“some
updates”
for
an
article
involving
Tolman,
the
staffer
recalled,
and
left
a
number.
Tolman
simply
assumed
the
caller
wanted
a
revised
version
of
a
report
on
environmental
policies
he
authored
while
working
for
a
downtown
Washington
thinktank.
As
it
turned
out,
that
wasn’t
the
article
in
question.
Tolman,
a
senior
aide
for
the
Senate
Committee
on
Environment
&
Public
Works,
chaired
by
conservative
Republican
Sen.
James
Inhofe
of
Oklahoma,
was
about
to
become
the
first
Capitol
Hill
staffer
publicly
outed
through
a
campaign
led
by
two
activists.
The
“article”
was
a
profile
of
Tolman
three
years
ago
in
Metro
Weekly,
a
local
gay
and
lesbian
magazine,
a
story
that
Tolman
said
he
had
long
forgotten
about.
“My
appearance
in
the
magazine
was
a
mistake
on
my
part,
mostly
because
I
didn’t
know
what
it
involved.
I
know
now,”
Tolman
said.
After
word
of
Tolman’s
outing
reached
Inhofe,
the
senator’s
office
released
a
statement
emphasizing
that
the
Senate
Environment
&
Public
Works
Committee
employs
Tolman,
and
not
the
senator
personally.
“Senator
Inhofe
does
not
hire
openly
gay
staffers
due
to
the
possibility
of
a
conflict
of
agenda,”
an
official
statement
said.
The
Human
Rights
Campaign
gave
Inhofe
a
“0”
score
during
the
last
two
sessions
of
Congress.
Tolman
said
he
questioned
the
morality
of
the
outing
campaign.
“The
agenda
behind
this
outing
seems
to
be
kind
of
fascist.
It
says
to
me:
Because
you
don’t
subscribe
to
our
personal
idea,
because
you
don’t
choose
to
push
sexual
politics
over
environmental,
we’re
going
to
punish
you.
“The
senator
knows
I’m
gay
and
it’s
not
changing
his
position
and
he’s
not
firing
me.
So
my
question
to
them
is:
Are
you
going
to
let
it
drop?”
Not
likely,
say
Mike
Rogers
and
John
Aravosis,
the
two
men
loosely
heading
an
ongoing
outing
campaign
on
the
Hill.
As
the
date
nears
for
a
Senate
vote
on
the
Federal
Marriage
Amendment,
which
would
ban
gay
marriages
in
the
Constitution,
Rogers
said
the
outings
have
picked
up
steam
—
from
13
documented
offices
to
nearly
20
currently
on
a
target
list
provided
by
Rogers
to
the
Blade.
In
addition
to
Tolman,
Rogers
and
Aravosis,
working
in
tandem
but
not
together,
claimed
in
the
last
week
to
have
outed
via
the
Web
Democratic
Sen.
Barbara
Mikulski
of
Maryland
and
Republican
Congressman
Mark
Foley
of
Florida.
While
Tolman
confirmed
he
is
gay,
Mikulski’s
office
refused
to
comment
on
speculation
she
is
a
lesbian,
something
Aravosis
implied
last
week
on
his
site.
A
spokesperson
for
Congressman
Mark
Foley
(R-Fla.)
also
declined
to
comment
after
Aravosis
specifically
asserted
that
Foley
is
gay
on
his
Web
site
last
week.
Both
members
of
Congress
have
long
been
the
subject
of
rumors
about
their
sexual
orientation.
Aravosis
continued
to
defend
the
outing
campaign.
“An
acquaintance
of
mine,
a
Southern
Republican,
worked
for
a
member
who
was
not
anti-gay
personally,
but
he
signed
on
to
the
amendment
[banning
gay
marriage],”
Aravosis
said.
“My
friend
quit.
I’m
basically
saying,
‘You
know
what,
you
have
a
choice.
It’s
2004.
You
can
work
for
pro-gay
Democrats,
and
now
you
can
work
for
pro-gay
Republicans.’”
Aravosis
said
he
decided
to
target
Mikulski
after
the
67-year-old
senator,
who
has
never
married,
declined
for
months
to
state
her
position
on
the
Federal
Marriage
Amendment.
Within
days
after
Aravosis
claimed
on
his
Web
site
that
Mikulski
is
a
lesbian,
the
Maryland
Democrat
issued
a
statement
declaring
her
intention
to
vote
against
the
amendment.
But
Mikulski’s
staff
declined
to
otherwise
remark
on
any
other
aspect
of
the
controversy,
according
to
spokesperson
Amy
Hagovsky.
“A
constitutional
amendment
is
not
about
helping
families.
It
is
about
helping
George
Bush
get
re-elected,”
Mikulski
said
in
a
statement.
“Congress
has
already
spoken
on
this
issue.
There
is
a
federal
law
—
and
state
law
in
Maryland
—
that
defines
marriage
as
being
between
a
man
and
a
woman.
With
our
country
at
war
in
Iraq,
we
do
not
need
a
cultural
war
here
at
home.”
...
 |
 |
| The
following comments were posted by our readers and were
not edited by floridablade.com. We ask that you
treat others with respect; any post deemed offensive will
be removed. |
|
| 
