The Family Values Hypocrisy of Bill Young

The Tampa Bay Times has a fascinating article on the children from the late Congressman Bill Young's first marriage to Marian Ford. Young divorced Marion and had no further contact with the children from his first marriage after 1986. The children from Young's first marriage came forward to tell their story.

This tidbit from the article shows the sham that is GOP family values.

Less than a year later, Young was awarded the Family and Freedom Award from the Christian Voice, the nation's largest conservative religious lobby.

He received the award because of how he voted on "key moral issues."

It's unclear if the Christian Voice knew of the recent upheaval in his private life. After all, newspapers had barely mentioned his divorce and remarriage, let alone the existence of an out-of-wedlock child.

The child is Billy Young. The mother was Bill Young's much young secretary Beverly Angello. Young was still married to Marion at the birth of his child with the woman now known as Beverly Young.

Marion told The Tampa Bay Times that Young wanted to stay married while maintaining a relationship with Beverly. Marion wanted a divorce.

"My attorney said, 'If all of this comes out, the congressman may be in jeopardy of losing his seat. If we can get alimony from him to keep you from letting everybody know about that, that would be beneficial,' " Marian Young said.

"I said, 'Done.' "

The divorce became final Nov. 15, 1985.

A wife and three grown children in St. Petersburg and a mistress and a new born baby in Washington DC. I wonder what Bill Young was thinking when he accepted the Family and Freedom Award from the Christian Voice.

I don't expect Bill Young to be a saint. Things happen in life. People get divorced and the children are often the victims. Bill Young is just as flawed as the constituents he served. What I can't stand is the hypocrisy of his votes on social issues. Bill Young has been married twice but refuses to allow gay people the right to marry. Young has voted against funding that would help single mothers. A man who went decades not speaking to the children from his first marriage had no right to lecture people on family values.