Progressive Revival

Conservative GOP Congressman + his earmark for gay porn flick = interesting times in VA

By: Eric Sapp

Wednesday October 15, 2008

OK, I'm not making this up.  But it just came out that Rep. Virgil Goode, notorious for leading the protest against Rep. Ellison's desire to be sworn in on the Koran and for being an outspoken opponent of gay rights, was involved in the making of a soft gay porn film...and earmarked $150K to the writer and producer of the film!  Goode's press secretary had an acting role in the film as well.

 

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.  The film, Eden's Curve, for which Goode gets special thanks in the credits, describes it's plot thusly:

 

It is 1972 and muscularly handsome blond Peter heads off to an exclusive Virginia university, unsure of what to expect. He joins a fraternity house where he meets William, a classics major who has a strong attraction to him. Despite their flirting the reserved Peter becomes romantically involved in a menage a trois with his roommate Joe and Joe's girlfriend Bess. When the trio's social blis is disrupted by a violent episode Peter is taken in and protected by Ian, his poetry professor. Recuperating at Ian's idyllic country house, Peter soon falls in love with his hunky professor. Of course, their hot and heavy affair which includes skinny dipping, passionate sex and bathing outdoors is taboo. When jealousy rears its ugly head, Peter and Ian's happiness is threatened.

 

And this is a film that gives Goode and his wife special thanks in the closing credits.  The local paper, The Danville Register and Bee broke the story today, and you can read the entire thing HERE.

 

The Democratic challenger, Tom Perriello, was closing in on Goode...and my guess is that this will put him over the top.  The values issue Southside will be huge (Goode's first attacks against Perriello were over Perriello not being a strong enough opponent of gay marriage!), but Goode also has a long history of misusing earmarks to help cronies and was involved in the MZM scandal that brought down Duke Cunningham.  Interesting times in VA!

Advertisement
Comments
Dan
October 15, 2008 2:08 PM

...not that there's anything wrong with that. Seriously though, demagoguing is bad enough without the hypocrisy on top. Awful and terrible.

Rev. Maxwell Grant
October 15, 2008 10:27 PM

Maybe Rep. Goode can be a guest lecturer at the Larry Craig School of Government....

frank
October 16, 2008 10:19 AM

Isn't this the blog that week after week after week has been full of hand wringing about negative campaigning, cheap shots, gutter politics. Hasn't the message of this blog been - oh the Republicans are negative nasty unchristian scum and the Democrats are a Matthew 25 loving incarnation of Jesus.

Well the mask has slipped (again). This blog, like the Obama campaign (the campaign that has spent more money on negative ads than any other campaign in world history), is nothing short of hyocritical nonsense. This blog is unloving and nasty. You accused sarah Palin of damaging her soul - well all the writers on this blog should look at the speck in their own eye.

eric
October 16, 2008 12:58 PM

I respectfully disagree with frank's frank critique. The issue here is the hypocrisy of the entire situation. Rep. Goode is one of the most reactionary and bigotted members of Congress. He blames pretty much every problem we have (even the Wall St meltdown!) on either gays or immigrants.

He said that if he could ask one question of Obama, it would be about gay marraige. And his first TV ad was attacking his opponent for not being a strong enough opponent of gay marriage....and then it comes out that he is involved in this film and earmarked tax-payer dollars to support its creation.

It is completely appropriate to call him out on his hypocrisy and misuse of taxpayer dollars to help out his friends and cronies. I think it would have been different, and I would not have written on it, if Goode hadn't earmarked the funds and began his TV campaign by attacking his opponent on this issue. GOP strategists will not stop their campaigns of fear and division unless they realize they are backfiring politically and that they will be held to the same standards.

frank
October 16, 2008 5:00 PM

I am sorry you misunderstood what I was saying. call him out by all means, but don't go around claiming to be purity itself, calling McCain negative, calling McCain this that and the other. You lack credibility when you do what you criticise others for doing. This site is the most hypocritical bile on the web - and thats saying something

Thats the problem with the liberal elite - they are right all else are wrong - do they not see this makes them bigots? of course not. This blog is just plain bigoted bile written by a bunch of hypocrites

Read All Comments

Post a Comment

By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.



Please type the text you see in the box below to verify your post and help us prevent spam. You have a limited time to type - you may wish to compose your comment in a separate document and paste it here upon completion.

Type the characters you see in the picture above.

Advertisement

Search This Blog

About Progressive Revival

Diana Butler Bass and Paul Raushenbush both stand firmly within the Mainline Protestant tradition and, along with guest bloggers of all religious backgrounds are dedicated to the revival of religious progressivism and its influence in American politics.

Contributors

Diana Butler Bass
Diana Butler Bass is a commentator and scholar in American religion. She is the author of seven books including A People's History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story (HarperOne, 2009).
» Posts by Diana Butler Bass
Paul Raushenbush
Moderator of the Progressive Revival blog and the Associate Dean of Religious Life at Princeton University.
» Posts by Paul Raushenbush
More »

feed icon Subscribe

RSS Feed

Receive updates from Progressive Revival

Calendar

Advertisement

Advertisement


About Beliefnet

Our mission is to help people like you find, and walk, a spiritual path that will bring comfort, hope, clarity, strength, and happiness. More about Beliefnet.

Legal

Copyright © Beliefnet, Inc. and/or its licensors. All rights reserved. Use of this site is subject to Terms of Service and to our Privacy Policy. Constructed by Beliefnet.

Advertisement

Report as Inappropriate

You are reporting this content because it violates the Terms of Service.

All reported content is logged for investigation.