Shrink in the House?

So much for the slick politician playing both sides. In Tallahassee, Florida, two college students meeting with Florida House Representative Alan Hays found that, at least on some topics, the lawmaker is willing to turn off the charm and lay his cards on the table—no matter how slight a hand he’s holding.

According to Jessica Osborn, a student at the university of Central Florida and member of the Florida Safe Schools Coalition, when she and a confrere met with Hays to discuss including persecution for sexual orientation in an anti-bullying bill, Hays’s response wasn’t just contrary, but out-and-out insulting.

“After telling [Hays] my story,” Osborn recalls, “he proceeded to say he was repulsed by homosexuals and we needed extensive psychological treatment.”

While Hays admits having met the students, he says he doesn’t recall saying homosexuality repulsed him.

“I listened to their beliefs and then asked them if they wanted to hear my beliefs,” Hays says. And his belief was that “they needed some psychological treatment.”

by Scott Saxon