»» Columnists

Former RNC Chair Ken Mehlman Acknowledges Being Gay

by Michael Triplett | 6:43 pm, August 25th, 2010

» 24 comments

Mehlman Former Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman tells The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder that he is gay and that he decided to come out in order to endorse efforts to legalize gay marriage.

Ambinder was apparently pushed to run the story two days early after Mike Rogers, whose track record on outing conservative politicians is very good, reported on Blogactive that Ambinder was preparing a story that would confirm that Mehlman was gay and the story was slated for Friday or early next week.

Within an hour of Rogers going public with his scoop that Mehlman was about to come out as gay, Ambinder posted his story.

It’s a rumor that has circulated around Washington, D.C., for years. Mehlman–who was recently in the news for buying a condo in New York City’s very-gay Chelsea neighborhood–has previously denied he’s gay but now he tells Ambinder that he “arrived at this conclusion about his identity fairly recently” and “anticipated that questions would be asked 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, Proposition 8.”

Here’s what Rogers had to say about the news.

If I had to say what one thing really moved me to create this site it would be the 2004 reelection campaign of George W. Bush, the most homophobic national campaign in history. That campaign was run by one of the nation’s worst closeted individuals, Ken Mehlman.

If I first started writing about Mehlman in 2004, why is Ken getting his Roy Cohn Award now? Because I am able to report – here for the first time — that Ken Mehlman, the former Chairman of the Republican National Committee is set to come out of the closet in a column by Atlantic writer Marc Ambinder Friday morning or early next week. This will be on the heels of him being included in fundraising letter supporting marriage equality.

In 2006, Mehlman’s sexual orientation led to an uncomfortable moment for CNN after they edited a transcript and a video that featured Bill Maher outing Mehlman on Larry King Live. That story was later told in the documentary Outrage, which featured Rogers and his work to “out” closeted gay conservatives who work against the LGBT community.

Ambinder seems like a natural to break the Mehlman story. In 2006, he wrote about the challenges that Mark Foley scandal created for gay Republicans, including the lavender mafia that surrounded Foley and reached into the Republican establishment. A well-connected openly gay reporter, Ambinder would have the connections inside the web of gay Republicans to convince Mehlman to give him an exclusive.

According to the story, Mehlman and Ambinder have been talking for a number of years about Mehlman coming out and his views on gay issues.

A story about Mehlman, who was instrumental in GOP successes during his reign at the RNC, is definitely an interesting one although Mehlman is no longer a player inside the party. So does it matter if someone who is now largely out of power is outed as gay?

Rogers would argue that it does matter because it shows the alleged hypocrisy of closeted gays inside political movements that work against openly gay people. It’s also a profoundly sad story, in many ways, given the lengths Mehlman has gone to in saying he isn’t gay.

Mehlman acknowledges that if he had publicly declared his sexuality sooner, he might have played a role in keeping the party from pushing an anti-gay agenda.

“It’s a legitimate question and one I understand,” Mehlman said. “I can’t change the fact that I wasn’t in this place personally when I was in politics, and I genuinely regret that. It was very hard, personally.” He asks of those who doubt his sincerity: “If they can’t offer support, at least offer understanding.

“”What I do regret, and think a lot about, is that one of the things I talked a lot about in politics was how I tried to expand the party into neighborhoods where the message wasn’t always heard. I didn’t do this in the gay community at all.”

Reaction to the news has been mixed. Salon’s Glenn Greenwald, who is openly gay, tweeted: “Having trouble deciding if reading that Ken Mehlman self-justification produces more disgust or pity – I guess those two sentiments overlap.” Joe Jervis at the influential JoeMyGod is having none of it, calling Mehlman a “quisling,” and using some salty language to show his disgust.

John Aravosis at AmericaBlog refused to pile-on:

I know a lot of people will want to criticize him for heading up the GOP as a closeted gay man. He says he only recently came to terms with being gay. I suspect he always knew he was gay, but recently came to terms with accepting it, and embracing it. And good for him. He’s now doing the right thing, helping support marriage equality. I’m not going to fault him for that. Coming out is a horrendously difficult and complicated thing. It’s not rational.

Bill Maher, Glenn Greenwald, John Aravosis, Ken Mehlman, Marc Ambinder, Mike Rogers

shootfromthehip

And the sky is blue.

We already knew Ken.

Get ready to start losing friends on the right.
murf

Alright Lindsey Graham your turn .
JimBob

So what is the news? Ever notice how much Ken and Rachel look alike?
Ted-

JimBob said:
So what is the news? Ever notice how much Ken and Rachel look alike?

To wit – a tea-bagger. Pretty much speaks for itself don’t you think? No pun intended.
lonestar77

shootfromthehip says:
August 25, 2010 at 6:51 pm (Quote)
5 1

“And the sky is blue.
We already knew Ken.
Get ready to start losing friends on the right.”

Well, we already see how the left is treating him.
Ninja

All of the left’s arguments are crumbling before there eyes. The right wing is homophobic…ooops Ken Mehlman. The right wing is racist against minorities….ooops again Mike Steele. Maybe someday the left will be tolerant enough to allow someone besides a rich straight white man to lead their party. Doubt it though, they will just continue to condescend from their ivory tower and tell minority groups to continue to follow them. What a joke the left is, you should all be ashamed.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Stephen-Hogan/179500970 Stephen Hogan

Good for him. That takes a lot of guts.
AngelPeters

No surprises here. Moving on.
Azarkhan

Outing people is a disgusting thing to do.
Jim R

John has it exactly right, compassion is in order for Ken and all the other gay Republicans who continue supporting a party that campaigns against their human rights.

Hey, Ninja – Can you say tokenism? I knew you could.

“Maybe someday the left will be tolerant enough to allow someone besides a rich straight white man to lead their party. Doubt it though,”.

Can you say President Obama? I knew you could.
Patrick Henry

Jim R said:
Can you say President Obama?

Do you really believe President Obama is leading the Democratic party? The way he leads is by forming a commission to tell him what to do.
http://gordonbloyershow.com gordonbloyershow

Republicans have led the way for human rights not special rights.
Democrats are all about dividing people then claiming they need to give them special rights.

It is liars like Ted, Hogan and shoot that are the bigots and racists. They want everyone to be a victim.
These folks are the lowest form of human existence.
Ninja

Jim R said:
John has it exactly right, compassion is in order for Ken and all the other gay Republicans who continue supporting a party that campaigns against their human rights. Hey, Ninja – Can you say tokenism? I knew you could. “Maybe someday the left will be tolerant enough to allow someone besides a rich straight white man to lead their party. Doubt it though,”. Can you say President Obama? I knew you could.

Come on now. Are you really that dense? Do you not realize that Mike Steele and Ken Mehlman are just a little different then Boehner and McConnel? Probably not, but I will educate you on the political structure of this country later if you wish. You are just another lib left behind the real debate. If you ever realize what is really going on in this county come on back and try to debate then. Also you racist, please remember that Obama is indeed 50% of that dispicable race….
Ninja

Patrick Henry said:
Do you really believe President Obama is leading the Democratic party? The way he leads is by forming a commission to tell him what to do.

PH…we should really leave him be..SEIU does not teach there grade school drop out members all that well.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Stephen-Hogan/179500970 Stephen Hogan

gordonbloyershow said:
It is liars like Ted, Hogan and shoot that are the bigots and racists. They want everyone to be a victim.
These folks are the lowest form of human existence

I congratulated the guy and I wish him the best. Coming out is a very difficult thing to do for a lot of people and it takes a lot of courage to do it.

You’re trying to make this into a partisan issue. It’s really not.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Bill-Adkins/1585417987 Bill Adkins

This is the contradiction illustrated — being a gay Republican is like being a black Klansman.
Ninja

I see billy adkins is smarting from the news. Like I said earlier, the left is running out of people to call racists / homophobes…

I congratulate people like Stephen Hogan that realize that both parties can have some good in them. The quicker all of the people here realize that the better off this country will be.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Bill-Adkins/1585417987 Bill Adkins

Ninja said:
I congratulate people like Stephen Hogan that realize that both parties can have some good in them.

I”ve long recognized that both parties can have some good with them, turtle. I voted for Republicans a long time, Ford,Reagan twice, even Bush ! once — but the good in the Republican Party has become pretty damn sparse and the results of Republican ‘leadership’ 2001-2009 have brought the nation to the brink of destruction. Those Republicans I voted for, like Reagan and Ford, would be humiliated to be associated with the Republicans of today.
Pug

PH…we should really leave him be..SEIU does not teach there grade school drop out members all that well.

When one is going to taunt someone else as a “grade school dropout”, he should be sure to get his grammar right and use “there” correctly. Otherwise, he will look like a grade school dropout himself.
trymoderate

Ninja…To point to Ken Mehlman’s coming out as a proof that the right isn’t homophobic is contradictory. While he was in the republican party, he continuously tried to hide his sexuality. He knew that if he was open about his sexuality, he would never have been the Republican National Committee chairman. Can you honestly tell me that an openly gay man supporting the repeal of prop 8 (as does Mehlman now) could have played this role, or any other significant role, in the republican party. There certainly are fiscally conservative homosexuals, but to point to ONE gay man who stayed in the closet as proof of the republican’s inclusiveness is a tenuous argument at best.

I congratulate him on his coming out since this process is very personnal and can be very painful…obviously. However, I certainly understand why the gay community would be disappointed in him. So that you can relate, I will describe him as a GINO…a gay in name only!
Ninja

Pug said:
PH…we should really leave him be..SEIU does not teach there grade school drop out members all that well. When one is going to taunt someone else as a “grade school dropout”, he should be sure to get his grammar right and use “there” correctly. Otherwise, he will look like a grade school dropout himself.

You are soooo awesome! Sorry, my degree is in something useful instead of liberal arts or english.
Tony the Fist

Good for you, Ken. Be who you are. Log Cabin all the way, brother.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Norman-Murphy/1485778246 Norman Murphy

Particularly during adolescence and early adult phases, homophobia presents itself mostly among those who fear their own homosexuality. Research shows many “heterosexuals” vehemently opposed to homosexuality, using scientific measures, respond the same as homosexuals. Physicians and psychologists tend to see these individuals as self-loathing homosexuals. Anti-homosexual religious zealots are either unfamiliar with or deny the voluminous scientific research on sexual orientation.

People who oppose homosexuality are often extremely vocal and few shy away from making homosexuals the target of mean spirited attacks. Christ never mentions homosexuals in the New Testament or the Book of Mormon. Early church scholars with unbridled disdain for homosexuals, Saint John Chrysostom and St. Augustine, who with anguish admits to homosexual practice, discuss I Cor. 6.9-10 and homosexuality is never mentioned. The passage discusses pagan temple practices. In the early Christian church, the punishment for homosexual behavior ranged from penance to excommunication. The word “ἀρσενοκοὶται” which some translate as “homosexual” is best translated, as did Martin Luther, “knabenchänder” or child molester. Until A.D. 656 Christians debated whether women had souls and the Counci l of Trent “condemned to anathema anyone who said marriage was as virtuous as celibacy.” Marriage is a sacrament of the church not related to the state. It seems the proper religious viewpoint should be only churches can perform “marriages.” The state, not being an arbiter for the church, should issue declarations of domestic partnership regardless of the sex of couples.
Sunnyr

Best of luck to you, Ken. You did a great job with the Bush Administration. Hope you will continue to speak out about conservative objectives. No one could ever beat you in a debate! Way to go!! :)