James Kirchik at The Plank writes:

Here’s an interesting tidbit buried at the end of Kevin Naff’s exclusive Washington Blade piece on Jeff Trandahl, the former clerk of the House of Representatives who says he confronted Mark Foley “dozens” of times about his inappropriate behavior towards pages: He said he had long planned to retire after 20 years of government service and noted that his departure was set well before the scandal broke. Trandahl thanked former House Speakers Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and current Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for supporting him during his tenure in the House. But he said former Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) had long sought to oust him from the job because he is openly gay. Looks like the GOP’s attempts to purge gays extends to more areas of public life than just the military.

Me: A reader sent me a note in complaint:

So, a gay former clerk thanks two Republicans for supporting him (and Pelosi) but notes that DeLay tried to oust him and this demonstrates that there was a GOP attempt to purge gays. First, since DeLay served under two Republicans presumably if they wanted to purge him they could have but apparently Gingrich and Hastert told DeLay to pound sand. Second, why are DeLay’s efforts imputed to the GOP as some official policy while Gingrich and Hastert’s support not considered relevant to this assertion. Finally, I clicked on the link in the Blade thinking there was more there that this quote did not capture but there was not.

Sounds to me like the reader’s got a good point.

Update: Delay’s folks deny the allegation.