Ken Mehlman, former chairman of the Republican National Committee who came out as gay six years after helping run the gay-baiting 2004 reelection campaign of President George W. Bush, tells Salon.com that he's sorry:
“At a personal level, I wish I had spoken out against the effort,” he says. “As I’ve been involved in the fight for marriage equality, one of the things I’ve learned is how many people were harmed by the campaigns in which I was involved. I apologize to them and tell them I am sorry. While there have been recent victories, this could still be a long struggle in which there will be setbacks, and I’ll do my part to be helpful.”
His actions were unfortunate! All too often closeted gays have historically been bashers and then after coming out run from the Republican party where they can make a real difference in addressing equality. They unfortunately flee to the comfort zone of the Democratic Party where they are loved and preach to the choir.
Yes, Mailman enabled an injustice but I welcome his confession, penance, and courage to persist onward so that by working from within the ranks of the social-hard-line right he is able to voice his conservative opinions and debate those who denounce inclusion based on the single issue of sexual orientation.
Let's be inspired by the words of late and Conservative Sen. Barry Goldwater (AZ-R) who said, "The day is going to come when whether a person is gay or not isn't going to matter."
Posted by: A-Jay | March 02, 2012 at 10:23 AM
He makes me PUKE!! He's only doing this because it's obvious most of the country now supports marriage equality. Opportunist scum.
Posted by: john anon | March 03, 2012 at 09:20 AM