MA-1: Morse accused of inappropriate sexual relations with college students

[RogueBeaver]

https://twitter.com/MDCollegian/status/1291890108011028480

[WD]

Safe Neal.

[Mike Thick]

In the statement, Morse referenced the difficulties of growing up gay and closeted, and how he struggled with accepting his identity throughout high school.

“As I’ve become more comfortable with myself and my sexuality, like any young, single, openly gay man, I have had consensual adult relationships, including some with college students,” Morse said. “Navigating life as both a young gay man and an elected official can be difficult, but that doesn’t excuse poor judgment.”

Shades of Kevin Spacey. Being gay is not an excuse for sexual misconduct, people!

[NewYorkExpress]

Neal was already going to win this primary, but this makes it a lock for him.

That said, even Kevin Spacey agreed that his sexual encounters with minors weren't consensual.

It would be nice to know what the students in question have to say, since college students technically are at an age where they can give consent.

[Brittain33]

In the statement, Morse referenced the difficulties of growing up gay and closeted, and how he struggled with accepting his identity throughout high school.

“As I’ve become more comfortable with myself and my sexuality, like any young, single, openly gay man, I have had consensual adult relationships, including some with college students,” Morse said. “Navigating life as both a young gay man and an elected official can be difficult, but that doesn’t excuse poor judgment.”

Shades of Kevin Spacey. Being gay is not an excuse for sexual misconduct, people!

Kevin Spacey preyed on underaged kids, was a sexual harasser, and was also much older than Morse, who’s only 31. I’m not going to defend what Morse did as someone running for office or as an instructor at a school, because consensual relationships with 18-year-olds are a bad idea and not fully consensual in those circumstances, but if he planned to run for office, he needed to behave better.

[Mike Thick]

In the statement, Morse referenced the difficulties of growing up gay and closeted, and how he struggled with accepting his identity throughout high school.

“As I’ve become more comfortable with myself and my sexuality, like any young, single, openly gay man, I have had consensual adult relationships, including some with college students,” Morse said. “Navigating life as both a young gay man and an elected official can be difficult, but that doesn’t excuse poor judgment.”

Shades of Kevin Spacey. Being gay is not an excuse for sexual misconduct, people!

Kevin Spacey preyed on underaged kids, was a sexual harasser, and was also much older than Morse, who’s only 31. I’m not going to defend what Morse did as someone running for office or as an instructor at a school, because consensual relationships with 18-year-olds are a bad idea and not fully consensual in those circumstances, but if he planned to run for office, he needed to behave better.

Was referring to this, not comparing the obviously different levels of misconduct here

[Continential]

We should ask the people who Morse had sexual relations with about what they think and then decide if he should drop out.

[new_patomic]

This honesty sounds stupid more than it does abusive

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Markey and Lynch are now the only two potentially vulnerable incumbents in MA's Congressional delegation, IMO.

[YE]

Markey and Lynch are now the only two potentially vulnerable incumbents in MA's Congressional delegation, IMO.

After 2018, I don’t have real expectations for Lynch to lose. There’s a really good chance we are done with primary upsets this cycle though I’d say Markey is a small underdog.

[W]

In a letter sent back to the groups on Thursday and obtained by POLITICO, Morse wrote, “I want to be clear that every relationship I’ve had has been consensual. However, I also recognize that I have to be cognizant of my position of power.” He continued: “Navigating life as both a young gay man and an elected official can be difficult, but that doesn’t excuse poor judgment.”

I'd like to make this very clear, and I don't really think there is an exception to it. You cannot have an appropriate relationship with a subordinate, whether in the workplace or any other structured setting. Power dynamics are a real thing and they put pressure on people. That's what makes cases like these so wrong.

[Greedo punched first]

Lynch doesn't have a serious challenger. Neal was already favored to win.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Lynch doesn't have a serious challenger. Neal was already favored to win.

I'd assumed Lynch's challenger wasn't serious, but they've tripled his fundraising. I had both seats down as likely Lynch/Neal anyway, but I think Neal is now a lock.

[YE]

Lynch doesn't have a serious challenger. Neal was already favored to win.

I was fully expecting Neal to lose given how primaries had gone so far actually.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Lynch doesn't have a serious challenger. Neal was already favored to win.

I was fully expecting Neal to lose given how primaries had gone so far actually.

Neal had been taking his seriously since well before Engel's defeat. He fielded at least one private poll which we only know of because he leaked the district's results for Kennedy vs. Markey.

We have already exceeded the average number of Congressional primary defeats per cycle and at this point the only one I actively expect (in any state) is Markey's.

[NYSforKennedy2024]

According to the student-run newspaper, Morse, 31, who teaches political science at UMass, matched with...

Oh, they were consensual hookups, just with young people. I don't see the prob-

students as young as 18 on dating apps like Tinder and Grindr.

WHY DO LEFTISTS KEEP DOING THIS TO OURSELVES, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, PLEASE SLEEP WITH PEOPLE OUTSIDE OF YOUR POSITION OF INFLUENCE/POWER STRUCTURE, DAMN IT.

[Brittain33]

In the statement, Morse referenced the difficulties of growing up gay and closeted, and how he struggled with accepting his identity throughout high school.

“As I’ve become more comfortable with myself and my sexuality, like any young, single, openly gay man, I have had consensual adult relationships, including some with college students,” Morse said. “Navigating life as both a young gay man and an elected official can be difficult, but that doesn’t excuse poor judgment.”

Shades of Kevin Spacey. Being gay is not an excuse for sexual misconduct, people!

Kevin Spacey preyed on underaged kids, was a sexual harasser, and was also much older than Morse, who’s only 31. I’m not going to defend what Morse did as someone running for office or as an instructor at a school, because consensual relationships with 18-year-olds are a bad idea and not fully consensual in those circumstances, but if he planned to run for office, he needed to behave better.

Was referring to this, not comparing the obviously different levels of misconduct here

Ok, apologies for correcting you on something you didn’t say, I know that’s annoying.

[Adam Griffin]

Who care? This is straight ignorance of LGBT culture at best and homophobic at worst. I'm getting real sick of the puritanical socon BS coming from liberals lately. I guess this is what happens when you swallow the suburbs!

What many straights (and apparently some teenage gay Atlas virgins/incels) don't seem to get that when there is literally less than 5% of the selection available to gay men that is available to heterosexual/bisexual men & women, there's going to be a naturally higher tolerance for age differences in relationships and sex (or else many would just end up being celibate; we're not all attracted to each other, you know).

A guy in his late 20s bangs some guys in their early 20s: that's a Wednesday night in Gay America. An insane number of gay relationships have a decade or more of difference in them. The overwhelming share of my own partners have been a few years older than I (a trend that has stuck from the time I was a teenager until now, despite it being unintentional on my own part), but it's just how things work out; these are my preferences. It doesn't make my relationships "inappropriate", it doesn't make me a "victim" and I highly doubt any of his partners could be considered such, either.


Furthermore and with regard to "muh power structures and student/teachers":

1) When did these events happen? I'm doubting they happened this year.

2) Are these "students" actually his students or just happened to be on the same campus that he taught at (along with 28,000 other "students" at UMass Amherst)? I imagine had he had sex with college students from a university halfway across the country, the headlines would be the same ("'teacher' banging 'students'!").

3) How long has he been a teacher on-campus? As far as we know, he was 25 and banging 21 year-olds before he was even a teacher there. This is a guy who got elected Mayor when he was 22 years old: I'm sure even had it not been students, some of the usual suspects would've been telling him back then that having intimate relationships with people of his own age and gender would have been "inappropriate" for somebody "of his position".

Nobody can claim "POWER STRUCTURE" nonsense if the "students" weren't students of his - and even then and from the sound of it, this was a voluntary, consensual, mutual matching of individuals that was initiated off-campus/on a dating app. If he was banging children or coercing his own students in-person without mutual interest expressed prior, then it's "inappropriate". Otherwise, it's just relying upon most people's ignorance by using buzzwords to paint a portrait largely rooted in the female-centric objectified sexual victim mentality, to which gay men obviously aren't bound.

[Figueira]

Well this is the closest I've ever been to a political scandal. I live in this district and volunteered for his campaign, and I was in one of his classes at UMass.

When did these events happen? I'm doubting they happened this year.

Apparently some of them happened during his congressional campaign. I doubt they were his students (the letter probably would have said so if they were) and I don't think this makes him a horrible person, but it seems like enough to end a political career. It's unfortunate, because he's a good mayor from what I understand.

[MaxQue]

The College Democrats should get out of people's bedroom and their president have his sex live examined with details and shamed for every person he slept with without being married to them.

Puritanism at its worst.

[ON Progressive]

Apparently some of them happened during his congressional campaign. I doubt they were his students (the letter probably would have said so if they were) and I don't think this makes him a horrible person, but it seems like enough to end a political career. It's unfortunate, because he's a good mayor from what I understand.

If they weren't his students, then yeah I don't really see the problem here.

[Lourdes]

So, consensual sexual relationships between adults is a scandal now?

[new_patomic]

The letter is pretty vague as to who the students are. It just says students "where he teaches" and then mentions that he's hooked up with people from colleges around the area, rather than students that he himself was teaching at the time.

If there is something that gives me pause, it's probably this

"Using College Democrats events to meet college students and add them on Instagram, adding them to his ‘Close Friends’ story and DMing them, both of which have made young college students uncomfortable"

Though the way this is worded is... sort of bizarre. Like, is he DMing people for hookups that he met at college organizing events? That's not sexually abusive, but it is inappropriate and unprofessional given he's a local politician. But if all he's doing is talking with people and letting them view some of his more private insta stories, then... okay?

[catographer]

Seems more unprofessional and inappropriate than abusive or anything worse. A 31 year old mayor and adjunct hooking up with younger adults he met at the university and on the campaign trail is not a good look. Technically consensual, but it's wrong to hook up with or date people who work under you or use your political position to find hook ups. Then again, hooking up with adults you matched with on apps who have no connection to the campaign or university is fine.

[Mike Thick]

I’ve read and reread the article, and I’m conflicted. Seems very carefully worded to imply but avoid actually saying:
 - That anyone has accused him of using status to pressure College Dems, or anyone, into sex
 - That he sexually harassed/propositioned anyone via Instagram DM or otherwise
 - That he had sex with any of his students

The worst thing that’s directly alleged is that he slept with students at the college, which is apparently a violation of UMass policy but not this massively awful ethical breach people are making it out to be. There’s definitely a weird power dynamic between elected officials and College Dems, but (again) all that’s directly alleged is that he hit people up to talk and put them on his Close Friends when they weren’t comfortable with it.

Whole thing just seems very weird. Not sure who’s “right,” or if anyone is.