DES MOINES &#8212 A state senator who has been indicted on a charge of attempted extortion has told a magazine he is being targeted because he is gay.

Sen. Matt McCoy, D-Des Moines, pleaded not guilty in March to one count of attempted extortion for allegedly threatening to use his influence as a legislator to force a former business partner to pay him $2,000.

He told The Advocate, a national magazine that addresses gay and lesbian issues, in an interview that he has “been a continuous target of groups targeting gays to advance their own agendas of intolerance and hate.”

“Clearly, there is significant speculation about what has motivated federal officials to take this action against me,” McCoy said in the article, which appeared on www.advocate.com last week.

McCoy said he has advocated for gay rights issues, including pushing for the defeat of a proposed gay marriage ban, backing the confirmation of a gay man to the Iowa Board of Education and leading a successful campaign to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of traits included in Iowa’s civil rights and anti-bullying laws.

He argued U.S. Attorney Matt Whitaker is pursuing the case against him in an attempt to show conservative loyalty to the Bush administration in the wake of the U.S. attorney firings by the Justice Department.

A telephone message The Associated Press left for Whitaker at his office on Tuesday wasn’t immediately returned.

After a hearing on a motion in the case on Tuesday afternoon, McCoy said he couldn’t answer reporters’ questions because they pertained to the motion, which was seeking permission for the defense to hand out questionnaires to potential jurors.

The form included more than 30 questions inquiring into media coverage of the case and public dissatisfaction with elected officials.

The questionnaire also seeks answers on the attitudes of potential jurors about U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. He has been embroiled in the controversy over the firings of nine U.S. attorneys last year, a move Democrats contend was politically motivated.

“I think it’s calculated to further inflame the issue,” said U.S. attorney Lester Paff, who told Judge James Gritzner that he thought many of the questions “would be better put to those jurors in open court.”

McCoy’s attorney, F. Montgomery Brown, said “there is a Gonzales issue out there, and they are going to have opinions on it.”

The U.S. attorney’s office has said McCoy attempted to extort money from Reid Schultz, owner of a home security business in Des Moines, and an employee, Tom Vasquez. The business was planning on selling security systems for elderly adults throughout Iowa, officials have said.

The U.S. attorney’s office has accused McCoy of demanding money from Schultz and Vasquez and threatened to have their status as a Medicaid vendor pulled if they didn’t pay.

McCoy accepted $2,000 in payments between Dec. 29, 2005, and March 24, 2006, the U.S. attorneys office has said. The money was provided by the FBI as part of an undercover investigation.

McCoy maintains that the charges stem from a business relationship and contractual disagreement that soured, and former partners who turned against him and cooperated with federal authorities.

He faces a maximum prison sentence of up to 20 years and a potential fine of $250,000 if convicted on the charge.