Eric Massa Seems To Be Blaming Ouster From Congress On “Gay Entrapment” In Sexual Harrassment Claim

03/09/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Congressman Eric Massa seems to believe that he has been the victim of political foul play by the besmirchment of his name with regards to an incident that even he admits happened. The Representative, who had already decided to leave office at the end of this year, departed from Congress this past Monday, and he is blaming the supposed sexual harassment of a man as the reason that he was ousted from Congress by the Obama Administration and the House Leadership. The problem with his defense is that other Congressmen have gone on to continue in their seats long after incidents like this- and worse- have occurred.

Representative Barney Frank could have taken Massa aside and explained to him that, in 1990, he was investigated by the House Ethics Committee for his involvement with a male prostitute. That not only had Frank paid the man for sex, but hired him and housed him. The scandal blew up when the prostitute brought clients to Frank’s apartment without the Representative’s knowledge. The cantankerous Representative is still in Congress to this date and has been reelected many a time since 1990.

Certainly what Representative Charles Rangel has been accused of doing is far worse than hitting on a male staffer while drunk at a wedding party. After all, Representative Rangel has been accused of major corruption.

Even Senator Larry Craig stuck it out in his seat after being arrested for trying to arrange a sexual encounter in a men’s bathroom.

Thus, it is baffling to try and fathom why Representative Massa decided to bolt out of Congress soon after the ethics complaint was lodged. He was retiring anyway, and it could take years for the case to finally make its way through the committee. In all likelihood, Massa would be off at home with his family by the time the Ethics Committee finally finished its work investigating this particular incident.

The possibility exists that Representative Massa is trying to hide his being gay, but it somehow seems rather a stretch. Even if he were gay, the only thing that Massa could be doing is trying to save his marriage. Unlike California State Senator Roy Ashburn, Massa has never been vehemently anti-LGBT. Indeed, Representative Massa has hardly been able to vote on LGBT issues other than the Matthew Shepard Act, but his political platform certainly does not indicate any real anti-LGBT bias.

In point of fact, no one would care if Eric Massa was gay other than his friends and family. What this smacks of is revenge for a slight or a bunch of slights that he is unwilling to mention. In some ways, Representative Massa is starting to sound like he is blaming this on a “gay entrapment” conspiracy, and that is the insulting part. What Massa should do is finally come clean over why he left instead of trying to dance around the real reason which certainly was not this flimsy excuse of a sexual harassment charge.