That time Dennis Hastert covered up a gay GOP sex scandal… while hiding an even darker one of his own
This was quite a time...
Mark
Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert infamously stepped down in disgrace over his cover-up of a GOP member’s lecherous exchanges with teenage boys. Little did people know at the time, the longtime GOP leader was covering up his own sexual misconduct with underaged boys.
Hastert died this past weekend at 84, a decade after he admitted to sexually abusing teenage boys as a high school teacher and wrestling coach. The Illinois congressman was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison in 2016 for having made millions in hush money payments to keep his sex crimes secret.
Hastert’s passing has propelled his salacious story back into the headlines, along with one of the most infamous sex scandals in GOP history.
Mark Foley
Politics, but make it gay!
Stay woke with our briefing while staying informed on all things LGBTQ+ entertainment, life, and more!
Subscribe to our Newsletter today
The congressional pager who busted Mark Foley re-shared his story in light of Hastert’s death. In a 2015 Politico piece, Zack Stanton recounts in great detail his experiences as a page and how Foley’s lewd conduct was known for years.
The story serves as a profound retrospective for a very specific time and place in American politics.
Stanton was a congressional page in 2001 and 2002, when AOL instant messaging was ascendent. During that year, Foley sent sexual messages over AIM to three of his classmates. Stanton describes them not as “flirtatious,” but “out and out lewd.”
A six-term Republican from Florida, Foley played the part of an old school D.C. power broker: tanned, vivacious, amicable. In other words, he was a good politician.
Staton recounts how Foley was one of the few congresspeople who developed relationships with the pages, typically high school students who worked as legislative messengers.
In 2006, the world found out just how close those relationships were–or more accurately, how close Foley wanted them to be. That fall, a 16-year-old House page went public with inappropriate emails he had received from Foley.
Foley attempted to explain away the emails, in which he asked for a photo of the page. But Stanton knew there would be no explaining away the messages that he knew existed.
“An ugly smear campaign? I knew that was a lie,” he said. “And I knew that there was incontrovertible proof.”
Stanton obtained the messages from a classmate and sent them to ABC News. In them, Foley makes explicit sexual references to then-teen, who interrupts their graphic sexting exchange to tell Foley that his “mom was yelling.”
Foley resigned when the messages became public.
But the GOP unraveling was just beginning.
Related
Darline Graham’s Senate hopes might have just gotten tanked… by her greatest ally
Graham really hitched her wagon to the wrong star
Hastert’s cover up
After Foley’s resignation, Hastert requested an investigation into Foley’s conduct. But the truth is, he already knew.
Republicans legislators said they were aware of Foley’s behavior in 2005, and then-Majority Leader John Boehner said he informed Hastert in Spring 2006.
Over the ensuing months, Hastert tried to distance himself from Foley. “I’ve never had a conversation with him,” he said, per NBC News.
A few weeks later, the Democrats romped Republicans in the 2006 midterms, and Hastert was out at Speaker. He resigned from the House the following year.
The fact that Hastert covered up Foley’s pursuit of teenage boys sullied his political record.
Allegations that he sexually molested a high school student himself destroyed it.
In 2015, Hastert was indicted for illegally withdrawing large sums of money from his bank account. A source came forward and said Hastert was withdrawing the money to pay a former male student who says he was molested by him. Hastert was a teacher and coach at Yorkville High School in Illinois from 1965 to 1981.
In his guilty plea, Hastert acknowledged that he gave money to a person called “Individual A.” He apologized to the boys he “mistreated” when he was a coach. “What I did was wrong and I regret it,” he said.
Disgraced GOP legacy
George W. Bush ran for re-election in 2004 in part on his opposition to same-sex marriage. Republicans like Hastert and Foley were more than happy to back him up, taking votes against gay marriage and LGBTQ+ rights themselves.
But clearly, there was a closeted problem within the GOP caucus. One year after Foley, former Idaho Senator Larry Craig was busted for trying to solicit sex in a men’s airport bathroom.
Nearly 20 years later, the legacy and suspicions over closeted Republicans carries on. Just last week, Darline Graham was asked about her late brother’s alleged rendezvous with male escorts.
While there’s no concrete proof that Lindsey Graham played with guys–all while voting against LGBTQ+ rights–there was plenty of evidence with Hastert and Foley. And if there’s any doubt that their stink doesn’t rub against MAGA, think again.
Sean Spicer was Foley’s comms director.
Related
Do NOT ask Lindsey Graham’s sister about his rumored gay past: “I’m not even gonna entertain that question!”
Darline Graham is not up to the task.
Sign up for the Queerty newsletter to stay on top of the hottest stories in LGBTQ+ entertainment, politics, and culture.
