Ex-GOP Chair Mehlman Says He's Gay

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

Now, here is a question to put onto the table, since he apparently the 'highest ranking GOPer" to have ever come out, what has his position been (not now) on gay rights?

If you read pretty much any article about him, (which I'm guessing you didn't ) you'd note that he apologizes for working against same-sex rights in his past positions and hopes that people will instead see what he is working on now.

Originally Posted by Low C Sharp

Ahem, I believe you mean a "rent boy."

You know, afaict that is mostly a British term. But yeah I couldn't think of the right phrase.

Originally Posted by ThetaPrincess24

Gay issues really arent a concern to me either at the moment. My #1 right now is with the shitty economy and jobs and maybe healthcare. Every other issue is taking a backseat for me presently.

I don't really think any of this is a "gay issue." These are issues of equal rights. And it's not like people can't work on/support/vote based on more than one issue at once.

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by Drolefille

If you read pretty much any article about him, (which I'm guessing you didn't ) you'd note that he apologizes for working against same-sex rights in his past positions and hopes that people will instead see what he is working on.

Right. Thanks again. Mostly what I read was recent articles since he came out. I have not read what his thoughts were say, from an article five years ago.

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by Drolefille

If you read pretty much any article about him, (which I'm guessing you didn't ) you'd note that he apologizes for working against same-sex rights in his past positions and hopes that people will instead see what he is working on.

Right. Thanks again. Mostly what I read was recent articles since he came out. I have not read what his thoughts were say, from an article five years ago.

[DaemonSeid]

Ok...in digging about...I found this:

Maher isn't correct, hwoever, when he claims Mehlman has never denied the rumor. In the last few months, after repeatedly refusing to answer the question, Mehlman has been denying he's gay with a quip that the rumor's done a number on his dating life. (This harkens back to Al Gore's 2000 campaign manager, Donna Brazile, another closet case, who told the Washington Post, "If I had a personal life, I'd have a sexual orientation.")

I know Ken from law school and have been accused of spiking a story outing him when I was editor the Washington Blade. The charge is ridiculous, and I categorically denied in an editorial at the time. I do not have any personal information about whether Ken is gay. I was very deep in the closet during law school, and if Ken is gay, he was as well.

As I've written before, the sexual orientation of public figures is fair game, even if their private sex life is not. Ken Mehlman is a big boy, and should be able to withstand the scrutiny, especially given how he and his mentor Karl Rove used gay marriage as a wedge issue in 2004 and (much less effectively) this year.

and this
Since he's so confident labeling people based on outward characteristics, Mehlman must understand why his being a 37-year-old "bachelor" who refuses to answer questions about his sexual orientation is a tip-off to many that he's a pathetic closet case, and a pretty vile one at that, having used antigay hatred (aka "moral values") to help elect Bush. Mehlman was actually boasting to the governors about his slick new strategies, telling them that the Bush-Cheney campaign studied voters' consumer habits—basically snooping
into voters' personal lives—in targeting them.

looks like there are going to be a lot of "I told you so's" making the rounds for the next few weeks...based on some of the other stuff that i read along the way, he has given conflicting answers when asked whilst allegedly pushing Rove's agenda, so it looks like it was going to come out sooner or later, as I sated earlier.

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

Right. Thanks again. Mostly what I read was recent articles since he came out. I have not read what his thoughts were say, from an article five years ago.

What I meant was that he's said in the recent articles that he regrets his past work.

Also, I object to the "out the closeted gays" movement that some groups have taken as a way to showcase the hypocrisy. The sites you cite in your following post pretty much evidence their lack of decorum or integrity by using words like "closet-case."

I'll be amused when anti-same-sex-rights politicians or lobbyists are outed due to driving drunk with their hook up from the gay bar, but not so much by the "examine every detail of his life and call him gay until he admits it" thing.