Commentary

Republicans more likely to be involved in (gay) sex scandals

Republicans more likely to be involved in (gay) sex scandals

Do you remember the 1996 film version of The Birdcage when Senator Kevin Keeley’s partner in the Coalition for Moral Order was found dead in the bed of an underage black prostitute? His last words were “your money’s on the dresser, chocolate.”

It’s funny because watching politicians take a spectacular fall off their moral high-horse is immensely satisfying. Wouldn’t it be just as satisfying to learn that politicians who categorize themselves as guardians of morality are in fact more prone to sex scandal?

Well, prepare to meet some satisfying numbers:

Methods: the number of sex scandals for politicians (both state/local and national) for the past 10 years was tallied from the list of political scandals provided on Wikipedia. Each scandal was scored as to if it involved a Republican or Democrat, if it involved a gay or straight affair, and whether or not the victim/participant was underage.

Results: Republicans were involved in 61% of sex scandals in the past 10 years, whereas Democrats were involved in just 39%. Moreover, 34% of the total number of scandals were gay scandals (i.e, involving an ostensibly straight politician and a same-sex partner), with Republicans accounting for 78.5% of all gay scandals. Republicans were also involved in 66% of the underage scandals.

Conclusion: If a sex scandal is going on in Washington, there is a 2 in 3 chance it will involve a Republican. And If it’s a gay scandal, it’s almost a sure bet that it involves a Republican.

Of course Barney Frank is an openly gay Congressman, so it wouldn’t really be considered ’scandalous’ if he were to be involved in a same-sex relationship. The true ’scandal’ in these numbers is that many of the Republicans involved have gone on record as being anti-gay rights, and voted against gay-rights legislation. And of course the GOP is the party of ‘family values’ so whenever a scandal crops up (gay or otherwise), they get smacked with the hypocrisy stick a bit harder than their Democratic rivals.

Science Duck says: if you are looking for scandalous gay sex in Washington, be sure to run as a Republican.

© 2010 Science Duck.
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