Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, sent a letter today to Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert following the Speaker’s news conference today on the Mark Foley scandal. In part, the letter says:

Your decision today to accept full responsibility for the inaction of the House to protect the Pages for the United States House of Representatives is long overdue. Mark Foley’s actions are inexcusable and everyone involved should be accountable for his or her actions. We have, however, been deeply troubled in recent days to hear voices in the Republican Party publicly scapegoat gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans for this inappropriate and immoral conduct.

This is not a gay or straight issue; it is an issue of inappropriate behavior that regardless of one’s sexual orientation, political affiliation or any other characteristic is dead wrong.

The letter goes on to say that the HRC fully supports an investigation into the matter, that it is completely inappropriate that members of the Republican Party are attempting to shift blame onto GLBT individuals.