First Clinton, now Condi... Murdoch papers go lesbian mad

Washington is beginning to wonder whether Rupert Murdoch's British newspapers have a bee in their bonnet about powerful American women being lesbians. Ten days ago, as reported here, the London Times elevated blog tittle-tattle about Hillary Clinton having an affair with her glamorous aide, Huma Abedin, to mainstream status. Yesterday, the paper's London stablemate, the Sunday Times, claimed that gay rumours about Condoleezza Rice had "eclipsed" the effort she put into the Annapolis peace talks.

The Sunday Times was reporting the fact that the US supermarket tabloid the National Enquirer had dragged Condi's name into an article headlined 'Who's Gay and Who's Not'. Its reason for including Condi - apart from the fact that she is single and appears to have no time for love affairs - was the report of an unnamed blogger that during her years as provost of Stanford University in California, Rice "was completely out as a lesbian and it was not a scandal, just a reality". The Enquirer also referred to reports that in 1998 Rice had bought a house with another unmarried woman, a Stanford film-maker called Randy Bean.

Neither the Times nor the Enquirer chose to report an easily findable statement from Randy Bean to the American online magazine Radar back in October. "Condi and I have been friends for 25 years," she said. "We co-own an investment property in Palo Alto. We do not share a home."

Bean added: "The insult to my integrity is not that I'm gay but that I'm closeted. For the record, I'm straight. Anyone who knows me knows how strongly connected I am to my values and political beliefs. If I were gay, I'd be out, loud, and proud."

A Washington media watcher told The First Post: "I don't know which is worse - the fact the Sunday Times reported a National Enquirer story as though it should be taken seriously - or that they have suggested that the publication of the Enquirer article has over-shadowed Rice's Annapolis moment. It simply isn't true."

The online rumours about Clinton being gay have been around for ages - but again, few in Washington give them much credence. In September, Clinton gave an interview to gay magazine The Advocate. "How do you respond to the occasional rumour that you're a lesbian?" asked Sean Kennedy, the editor. "People say a lot of things about me, so I really don't pay any attention to it," replied Hillary. "It's not true." ·