Is Lindsey Graham a security risk?

One of the arguments used 50 years ago to expel homosexuals from government service was that they were vulnerable to blackmail and couldn’t be trusted to keep secrets. Washington-based gay activist Franklin Kameny turned that argument on its head in the 1950s when he said he couldn’t be threatened with outing because he wasn’t hiding. He still lost his federal job, but he was on to something.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina made a big fuss this week about backing off from cooperation on a climate change bill, ostensibly because he wasn’t being treated nicely enough by the Democrats. But the timing is suspicious. Graham was publicly gay-baited in recent days by tea-bagger elements indignant about his occasional less-than-reactionary positions. They demanded to know if someone was threatening Graham with exposure—and in the process, did their best to expose him.

Funny that this should be happening in the same week that Archie Comics decided to introduce a gay character, another sign that high school just ain’t what it used to be.

I don’t know if Graham is gay or not although when I worked in South Carolina, I met people who swore they knew his boyfriend. But if he’s that sensitive about being called out as a happy cocksucker, maybe someone should be reconsidering his security clearance. When people who are privy to important national secrets are running around doing things they’re ashamed of, it makes them vulnerable to ruthless blackmailers like the righteous warriors of the Palin brigades.