Disgraced former Rep. Mark Foley said through his lawyer Tuesday that he was sexually abused by a clergyman as a teenager, but accepts full responsibility for sending salacious computer messages to teenage male pages.
Attorney David Roth said Foley was molested between ages 13 and 15. He declined to identify the clergyman or the church, but Foley is Roman Catholic.

He also acknowledged for the first time that the former congressman is gay, saying the disclosure was part of his client’s “recovery.”

“Mark Foley wants you to know he is a gay man,” Roth told reporters as Republicans struggled with fallout from Foley’s resignation.

Foley “does not blame the trauma he sustained as a young adolescent for his totally inappropriate e-mails” and instant messages, Roth said. “He continues to offer no excuse whatsoever for his conduct.”

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