MISSOURI: Anti-Gay GOP House Speaker Resigns In Wake Of Sexting Scandal

Via the St. Louis Dispatch:

Missouri House Speaker John Diehl is resigning from both his leadership position and his legislative seat after acknowledging that he sent sexually charged text messages to a Capitol intern. "For the good of my party, the caucus, and this state, I’m not going to further jeopardize what we have accomplished this year and what can be accomplished in the future," he said in a statement released Thursday afternoon. "Therefore, I will be resigning the position of Speaker of the House and the office of State Representative in a way that allows for an orderly transition.” Diehl, 49, is under fire after revelations that he traded sexually suggestive text messages with a 19-year-old House intern. The Kansas City Star released a story Wednesday accompanied by what the newspaper said were electronic messages between Diehl and the intern. Some of the messages were sexually suggestive.

As I reported yesterday, Diehl was championed by the Family Research Council earlier this year after he filed an anti-gay marriage amicus brief with the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. But there's not been a peep from Tony Perkins about his BFF since the sexting scandal broke. Snork! (Tipped by JMG reader TJ)