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Mehlman Might Be Out, But He Is Not Exactly Helping

08/26/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
It should not be much of a surprise to Ken Mehlman that he is not exactly getting a warm welcome with his announcement that he is gay. In fact, he fits the stereotype of the self loathing gay man who will go to what ever lengths necessary in order to hide his sexuality and even hurt others. This was the man who, as George W. Bush’s campaign manager, did his best to restrict the rights of lesbians and gays across the nation in order to get Republicans elected.

Mehlman did, at least, say that he is sorry, but it is going to take a lot of work for him to dig his way out of the hole he is in. He told The Atlantic “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. 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.”

Of course, maybe not helping Republicans no matter what their stance on homosexuality is would help assuage some of the problems that he is facing in the LGBT Community who, quite frankly, are doing their best to undo the damage that he has caused. Instead, he has donated over two thousand dollars to Missouri Republican Roy Blunt, who voted in favor of the Federal Marriage Amendment- the preemptive attempt to enshrine bigotry into the US Constitution.

He has also donated more than two thousand to Senator John McCain, who recently flipped on the issue of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Now, McCain wants to ensure that lesbian and gay soldiers remain in hiding within the military. He donated a thousand to Ben Quayle, the son of former Vice-President Dan Quayle. The Congressional candidate in Arizona has not only attacked President Obama for being the “worst President in history” (funny, we thought that was George W.), and who has begun touting his opposition to marriage equality.

He has also donated to not quite out Illinois Senatorial candidate Mark Kirk, who recently voted against the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and to Utah Republican Senator Robert Bennett, who did his absolute best to stop marriage equality in Washington DC. The list apparently goes on and on.

Perhaps Mehlman only just realized he needed to stop hiding.

Many lesbians, gays and transpeople would be more than willing to vote for the Republican Party if it were not for the fact that men such as Bennett, Quayle, McCain, Blunt and on are trying to pull their rights away. For many, it is more important to be lesbian, gay or transgender first and Democrat or Republican second. For men like Mehlman and the people at GOProud, it is more important to be Republican first and lesbian, gay or transgender second. In the end, what it means is that many of them are more than willing to be complicit in the oppression of their own people. While they may be acting as a bridge to help the Republican Party become less anti-LGBT, they need to remember what it means to be lesbian, gay and transgender.

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