Former New York Representative Eric
Massa, who resigned his House seat amid allegations that he groped
several male staffers, refuses to say whether he's gay.
In at least two interviews, Massa, a
Democrat, has dodged the question.
Speaking with CNN's Larry King, Massa
said the question “insults every gay American.”
When King asked, “Are you gay?”
Massa replied, “Well, here's my answer. I'm not gonna answer that.
Ask my wife. Ask my friends. Ask the ten thousand men I served
with in the Navy.”
“It insults every gay American,” he
added. “It somehow classifies people. Why would anybody even ask
the question in this day and age?”
“Because you said you groped someone
who was a male,” King answered.
Massa averted the question in a similar
fashion during a 90-minute interview on radio station WKPQ.
According to Massa, House ethics
investigators “took my staff members into a room, and they grilled
them for 31/2 to four hours. And the first question that they asked
them was, 'Do you think Congressman Massa is gay?' Let me ask you
something: So what if I was? … That's an issue between me and my
wife, and trust me, she knows the answer.”
The western New York congressman
announced Friday he would step down and has since suggested that
Democrats forced him out because he was a “no” vote on President
Obama's health care reform bill.
“Mine is now the deciding vote on the
health care bill,” Massa said in his radio interview. “And this
administration and this House leadership have said, quote-unquote,
they will stop at nothing to pass this health care bill. And now
they've gotten rid of me, and it will pass. You connect the dots.”