Ken Mehlman Gay Revelation: GOP Shift on Same Sex Marriage?

Ken Mehlman and the same-sex marriage debate
Supporters of Same-Sex Marriage have a new and unexpected advocate: Ken Mehlman, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee and manager of President George W. Bush 's 2004 Reelection Campaign. This Story View All Items in This Story View Only Top Items in This Story This Story View All Items in This Story View Only Top Items in This Story Mehlman, now a Private Citizen and businessman, disclosed that he is Gay in an article published online Wednesday in the Atlantic. He said...

Ex-RNC leader Mehlman discloses he’s gay
NEW YORK — Ken Mehlman, President George W. Bush’s Campaign Manager in 2004 and a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, has revealed to family and friends over the past few months that he is Gay, he said in an interview yesterday. It is a realization, he said, that he came to over time. “At least for me, it wasn’t like there was a light-bulb moment,’’ he said. “It was an evolutionary process. The reality is, it’s taken me 43 years...

The Advocate interviews Ken Mehlman; what is the political path forward?
Kerry Eleveld landed an interview with the freshly self-outed former head of the RNC and Bush 2004 campaign Ken Mehlman and she gets down to brass tacks about his personal life in the closet and his professional participation in the fight to socially demonize and legally demean LGBTs. I'll share a couple of questions; it's a lengthy interview worth the click. There's a lot of Gays and Lesbians and other people who are still angry about the 2004 election and the fact that that those 11...

Poll: Most Young Voters Back Gay Marriage
The Washington Post reports that Gay Marriage is gaining support amongst younger voters. A growing number of Republicans are breaking with the Party’s traditional stance to publicly state their support for Same-Sex Marriage, a shift Strategists say stems as much from demographics as from the renewed focus on economics and the “Tea Party” movement. A solid majority of adults younger than 30 - about six in 10 - support the right of Gay and Lesbian Couples to...

FLASHBACK: 21 States Banned Same-Sex Marriage During Mehlman's Reign
During Ken Mehlman's reign as Dubya's Campaign Manager and afterwards during his tenure as chairman of the Republican National Committee, 21 states passed laws that banned Same-Sex Marriage. Some of these laws made Same-Sex Marriage Unconstitutional, some made both Civil Unions and Same-Sex Marriages Unconstitutional. All of these Anti-gay referenda took place from 2004-2006 and all of them were pushed by the GOP under Ken Mehlman (and with Karl Rove's strategic advice) as a ploy to ensure...

Rev. Eric Lee: Travesty of Justice
There is a travesty of justice occurring within Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) organizations that is holding all of us back in our movement for justice and equality. As an African American, I have devoted my life to creating a more equitable world for all of us. I hold as a sacred truth that a threat to justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere and have as a consequence devoted much of my time and resources to working to defeat Proposition 8 in California. I have done...

Ken Mehlman is Gay and I Don’t Care
Mehlman arrived at this conclusion about his identity fairly recently, he said in an interview. He agreed to answer a reporter’s questions, he said, because, now in private life, he wants to become an advocate for Gay Marriage and anticipated that questions would arise about his participation in a late-September Fundraiser for the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER), the group that supported the Legal Challenge to California’s ballot initiative against Gay Marriage,...

Former GOP Chairman Mehlman Says He's Gay
Ken Mehlman, former Republican Party Chairman and Campaign Manager to President George W. Bush, says he's Gay. Mehlman recently told a reporter for The Atlantic magazine that he's a Homosexual and now wants to become an advocate for Same-Sex Marriage. "It's taken me 43 years to get comfortable with that part of my life," Mehlman said. Mehlman added that while in Republican leadership, he tried to convince the party not to attack Gay Marriage, but could not go against the prevailing...

Mehlman and Marriage
It was somewhat amusing to hear, in Marc Ambinder’s account of how Ken Mehlman , the former Republican National Committee chairman, came out to him, that Mehlman is particularly sorry about not getting enough Gay votes for the Republican party. He thinks he could have—for one thing, they all could have “formed common cause with Republican opponents of Islamic Jihad, which he called ’the greatest Anti-gay force in the world right now.’ ” Is opposition...

Will Ken Mehlman's coming out lead to a more civil conversation on gay marriage?
That’s what Peter Wehner thinks : I think, that all sides in the Same-Sex Marriage debate need to strive for greater respect and civility, for grounding this discussion in reason and empirical facts, in what advances self-government and the common good. And regardless of whether or not one agrees with Kens position, he will add to, rather than subtract from, the substance of the discussion. That is more than can be said for the haters.

In Covering Ken Mehlman Story, MSNBC Anchor Admits He Is Gay
In Covering Ken Mehlman Story, MSNBC Anchor Admits He Is Gay Former RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman’s coming out provided the media with an opportunity to review the GOP’s record on Gay Rights and explore the Mehlman’s role in crafting President Bush’s 2004 re-election strategy. On MSNBC, Mehlmans revelation engendered an even more honest discussion when, during a segment with GOProud chairman Christopher Barron , daytime anchor Thomas Roberts who is an Openly Gay...

In Covering Ken Mehlman Story, MSNBC Anchor Acknowledges He Is Gay (Updated)
Former RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman’s coming out provided the media with an opportunity to review the GOP’s record on Gay Rights and explore the Mehlman’s role in crafting President Bush’s 2004 re-election strategy. On MSNBC, Mehlman’s revelation engendered an even more honest discussion when, during a segment with GOProud chairman Christopher Barron , daytime anchor Thomas Roberts — who is an Openly Gay anchor — discussed his orientation on air: ...

In Covering Ken Mehlman Story, MSNBC Anchor Acknowledges He Is Gay (Updated)
Former RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman’s coming out provided the media with an opportunity to review the GOP’s record on Gay Rights and explore the Mehlman’s role in crafting President Bush’s 2004 re-election strategy. On MSNBC, Mehlman’s revelation engendered an even more honest discussion when, during a segment with GOProud chairman Christopher Barron , daytime anchor Thomas Roberts — who is an Openly Gay anchor — discussed his orientation on air: ...

Iowa foes of same-sex marriage seek to oust judges who legalized it
Des Moines - Politics is as much a mainstay of the Iowa State Fair as the deep-fried food and the cows sculpted out of butter. But the crowds searching for a remote corner under the grandstand this week were not headed for one of the presidential hopefuls who routinely drop by. They were interested in a normally low-key judicial Election that has suddenly taken center stage in the national fight over Same-Sex Marriage. Conservative Activists are trying to oust three Judges on the state Supreme...

Opponents of same-sex marriage target Iowa judges
Des Moines - Politics is as much a mainstay of the Iowa State Fair as the deep-fried food and the cows sculpted out of butter. But the crowds searching for a remote corner under the grandstand this week were not headed for one of the presidential hopefuls who routinely drop by. They were interested in a normally low-key judicial Election that has suddenly taken center stage in the national fight over Same-Sex Marriage. This Story View All Items in This Story View Only Top Items in This Story...

On Ken Mehlman
The announcement that former Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman is Gay is garnering a fair amount of attention in the political world. I suppose that’s predictable. He is, after all, the most powerful Republican ever to identify himself as Gay. But my sense is that it’ll be a lot less of a big deal to Conservatives than it might be to Liberals like (just to choose one name at random) Frank Rich, for whom the political is also the personal. While it’s...

In coming out, Ken Mehlman will find more support on the right than on the left
From various sources, I have learned that the reaction on most Gay left blogs to the revelation of Ken Mehlman’s coming out has been as vitriolic as we could have anticipated. I really have no interest in addressing their comments directly because it’s not worth my time to engage those who, to paraphrase Albert Camus, cannot be persuaded. They simply believe that when working for W and helming the RNC, Mehlman was not just closeted, but also fully aware of the meaning of his...

Ken Mehlman: I'm 'At Peace' With Myself, There's 'Absolutely' Room For Gays In The GOP
In an interview with the Huffington Post on Wednesday night, former Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman -- who announced earlier Wednesday that he is Gay and intends to join the fight for Marriage equality in California -- said he wishes he had come out while he was the face of a historically Anti-gay Republican Party platform. Mehlman acknowledged regret that he remained closeted when he led the RNC between 2005 and 2007 -- a time when, as The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder noted ,...

Steven Petrow: In Defense of Ken Mehlman: Former GOP Chair is no Roy Cohn
I'm no apologist for Ken Mehlman, who headed the Republic National Committee during George W. Bush's presidency and was the architect of much of the Anti-gay Rhetoric and policies during that time. But Mehlman, who's only been out for less than 24 hours at the time of this writing, is being viciously tarred by bloggers from the left and the right. One of them, Joe Jervis ( Joe.My.God. ), has even bestowed the Roy Cohn Award to Mehlman for his "horridly homophobic" actions. Jervis goes on to...

Ken Mehlman's Other Closet
Ken's Other Closet (photo: nolaclutterbusters) In his coming out interview , Ken Mehlman says he spent 43 years “getting comfortable with this part of his life.” That’s something that everyone does — Gay, straight, or anywhere in between — and for most people, it’s full of confusion, delight, doubt, bewilderment, fear and joy. On a personal level, Mehlman will no doubt live with less fear and more joy now that he’s come out — but the...

Liberal bloggers rip ex-anti-gay Bushie after he comes out of the closet
Ken Mehlman is out. And so are the reviews. While some are supporting George W. Bush 's Campaign chief for admitting he is Gay, several Liberal Bloggers are slamming Mehlman for Anti-gay policies he endorsed under the former President. Even Mehlmans former boss was sympathetic. The former Republican National Committee Chairman told Politico that President Bush was "incredibly supportive" of him coming out. Elsewhere, the reaction wasnt so rosy. Joe Jevris , a Gay Activist and...

Guest column by Kate Kendell: Choosing Children - progress made in LGBT family law
Choosing Children - progress made in LGBT family Law By Kate Kendell, Executive Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights Twenty-five years ago, I was 25 years old and just starting Law School at the University of Utah. I was parenting my daughter Emily, who was 4 years old, with her mom and my former partner, Lori. While it was uncommon for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender friends in our circle to be planning for parenthood, it did not occur to Lori or me that we were...

A Republican Comes Out of the Closet
The Thread is an in-depth look at how major news and controversies are being debated across the online spectrum. Tags: Homosexuality (Des); , Ken Mehlman , Republican Party There’s an old, not terribly meaningful saying in the Gay-rights movement that “no matter how Far in or out of the closet you are, you still have a next step.” Perhaps, but I propose that we back off and let Ken Mehlman think about his for a while. Until this week, Mehlman was mostly known for being...

Which Will Be The Texas Same-Sex Marriage? Nikki Araguz's Or Sabrina Hill's Marriage?
Marriage, involving Texas and women who've had genital reconstruction surgery -- which I'll identify for the purposes of this piece as transsexual women -- are at the center of a legal question: Which will be the Texas Same-Sex Marriage? -- Nikki Araguz's or Sabrina Hill's Marriage?. Beginning with the Houston Chronicle's Legal Chaos Reigns In Same-Sex Unions , Maria C. Gonzalez discusses Same-Sex Marriage, and does it mostly in regards to Nikki Araguz Marriage . When I spoke to...

Former RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman Comes Out: I'm Gay
Ken Mehlman, who headed the Republican National Committee between 2005 and 2007, has come out in an interview with the Atlantic's Marc Ambinder: Mehlman arrived at this conclusion about his identity fairly recently, he said in an interview. He agreed to answer a reporter's questions, he said, because, now in private life, he wants to become an advocate for Gay Marriage and anticipated that questions would be asked about his participation in a late-September Fundraiser for the American...