Ken Mehlman, former head of the Republican National Committee and George W. Bush's 2004 re-election campaign manager announced he is gay in a recently published interview. Mehlman ran the RNC from 2005 to 2007, and is the highest-profile national Republican figure to come out as gay. Mehlman speaking to the online edition of The Atlantic magazine, said:
"It's taken me 43 years to get comfortable with this part of my life. 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's made me a happier and better person. It's something I wish I had done years ago."
Mehlman, a 43-year-old lawyer, said that after years of public service he wanted to become a gay rights advocate in his private life. Next month Mehlman will participate in a fundraiser for the American Foundation for Equal Rights, an organization that has fought the Proposition 8 ballot initiative banning same-sex marriage in California.
While Mehlman seems happy with his choices, it is hard to respect a man that ran a vicious campaign demonizing gay people by pushing anti-same sex propositions across the country.
Mehlman was a moral coward. His hypocrisy was disgraceful, yet all too common among conservatives. Time, and time again, it seems those who work the hardest against gay rights turn out to be gay themselves.
There is something deeply disturbing, and tragic, about the self loathing homosexual living in the closet. The fact that these poor, dysfunctional human beings gravitate towards conservative religion and politics should come as no surprise.
