Sex tourists shouldn't be ministers

Pressure is mounting on French Minister for Culture Frédéric Mitterrand after in addition to his statements in defence of film director Roman Polanski he has come under fire for his book giving explicit account of his sex tourism exploits in Thailand. His political opponents are demanding his resignation. Ferreira Fernandes comments in the daily Diário de Notícias: "Frédéric Mitterrand's autobiography La Mauvaise Vie has now exploded in his face. In the book he describes how he visited a red-light district in Bangkok and paid for sex with boys. … In France this caused a scandal and now many are calling for Mitterand's resignation. What's unimportant in this case? That Frédéric is a Mitterand, because his relation to a political myth is irrelevant. Nor is it relevant that he is a member of a right-wing government and that he had sex with men … because the only source for this information is Mitterand himself, and he denies that they were minors. So we should only talk about the facts: Mitterand was a sex tourist in Thailand. That's all that matters. My take on this: I wouldn't be happy with a minister who buys sex in poor countries."

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