Bush Campaign Chief and Former RNC Chair Ken Mehlman: I'm Gay

Good for him. I have a dear friend of mine who struggled for years, trying to please his Baptist parents by denying his sexual orientation. Finally, he couldn't deny it any more.

I hope coming out of the closet makes him happier.

 

I'm all for people finding peace with their own internal struggles. Good for him

 

...of course Bush was no homophobe, he is a regular at the Bohemian Grove!

 

This is about the worst kept secret in politics.

 

Good for him. Who cares if he is gay or not? Most republicans are anti-gay because most republicans are religious. Homosexuality is a sin, according to the bible, so why would this shock anyone?

I hope he is happier now that he has figured it out.

 

So is eating cheeseburgers. I see no constitutional amendments proposed to ban cheeseburgers. And multiple Christian and Jewish religious organizations support GLBT rights. (So do other faiths but you mentioned bible.) And not all are Republicans.

As to who cares, if he had been open in 2004 when Republicans were promoting anti-gay ballot measures to turn out conservative voters, would he have kept his position as Republican chairman? As to who cares, ever heard of people being thrown out of the military? As to who cares, in 37 states it is legal to fire a person from his/her job on suspicion of being gay. Who cares will stop being an issue when discrimination stops.

Ah, facts.

 

I must have skipped the page about eating cheeseburgers being a sin.

And what the fuck, woman? Don't attack me because I don't care if he is gay or not.

 

That's true.

 

according to the same book in the old testament (Leviticus) that condemns homosexuality as an abomination, eating shellfish lobster and pork are also sins. So is wearing clothing with more then one type of material (like the shirt socks and boxers I'm wearing right now). So is cutting your hair on the sides of your head and trimming your beard. Laying with a woman on her period... sin. Planting more then one crop in your field... sin. Taken literally, Leviticus also gives us guidance on whats okay with God on which nations we can rightously buy our slaves from. Children who curse their parents should be put to death.

I don't blame religious folk who chose to take the bible literally. But I think those who pick and chose what parts they want to take literally and then say "the bible says so" have a weak argument. Jesus taught a lot about compassion for your fellow man and not judging others. That these fundamental Christian types ignore those many teachings in the New Testament to focus on a verse from a book in the Old that is filled with stuff that doesn't jive with most everyone's reality today seems more then a bit odd to me.

btw, I don't really care whether Mehlman is gay or not either but supporting a political party that actively works against his personal interests as part of their platform (family values) seems conflicted. If I were in his light loafers I'd probably at least back away from supporting a party and focus on individual candidates and issues that I cared about.

STOMP

 

Ever hear of the Log Cabin Republicans? Your sexual preference doesn't have to dominate all parts of your political philosophy.

 

My problem is not someone saying they don't care about Mehlman's sexual orientation, my problem is saying "who cares?" Unfortunately a lot of people do. And while Mehlman was chair of the RNC his organization went all out to demonize GLBT people. How many firings, how many gay bashings, how many children taken away, how many teens kicked out of their homes, how many suicides resulted from this crusade?

Leviticus condemns the mixing of meat and dairy, so yes eating a cheeseburger is a sin. So of course are all the things Stomp referenced. But Mehlman's organization only proposed constitutional amendments against gays. I'm glad he's offically out, I'm glad he's now working for marriage equality, but he can't just say he feels fine and so all is well. Actually, that's also in the bible. You need to atone by correcting the harm done. That's what the Jewish High Holidays are for.

 

Why can't he just say he feels fine so all is well? It's his life. His sexuality doesn't have to be the be-all and end-all of his existence. I'm sure lots of party chairpeople have seen parts of their party platform be things with which they disagree.