MEHLMAN IS GOP GAY HIPOCRISY

The General behind perhaps the most anti-gay presidential campaign in history has come out. Former 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign manager and Republican Party Chairman Ken Mehlman has announced that he is gay, and hopes people will understand why he needed to suppress his sexuality while leading the fight against equality.

Mehlman told The Atlantic Magazine that he recently came to the conclusion he is gay (Hmmm…) and wanted to go public so he could become an advocate for gay marriage. He also thought questions would almost certainly arise once he was seen participating in an upcoming fundraiser for AFER (the American Foundation for Equal Rights), which is challenging California’s Prop 8 measure opposing same-sex marriage.

”It’s taken me 43 years to get comfortable with that part of my life,” said Mehlman. ”Everybody has their own path to travel, their own journey, and for me, over the past few months, I’ve told my family, friends, former colleagues and current colleagues and they’ve been wonderful and supportive. The process has been something that has made me a happier and better person. It’s something I wish I had done years ago.”  Mehlman added that he regrets remaining closeted when he led the RNC between 2005 and 2007, during a time when the Republican Party was “stepping up its anti-gay activities.”

The revelation that Ken Mehlman is gay is no big headline. But the revelation that Ken Mehlman is gay, yet fought tooth and nail against equal rights for his fellow gays and lesbians is an incredible headline.  It is also incredibly hypocritical. In 2004, the Bush/Cheney campaign made anti-gay sentiment the centerpiece of their platform. They even propelled the whole idea of constitutional amendments against same sex-marriage, which instigated the very fight going on with Prop 8 in California today. Karl Rove may have been the architect, but Ken Mehlman was the trigger man.  It’s like being black, but becoming Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan.  HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE???

Now, Mehlman joins the ranks of Mark Foley, Larry Craig and Ted Haggard — all fellow Republicans and conservatives who fought staunchly against gay rights, yet were later determined to be gay themselves.  Hmmm… What a shockingly sad day in the homophobic Republican Party.

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