Congressman Confronts Whisper Campaign By Coming Out
Under attack by a whisper campaign about his sexual orientation, Rep. Mike Michaud of Maine came out today in a newspaper column and argued that being gay shouldn't matter in whether voters pick him as their next governor.
"I wasn’t surprised to learn about the whisper campaigns, insinuations and push-polls some of the people opposed to my candidacy have been using to raise questions about my personal life," he wrote in a column published by the Bangor Daily News, the Portland Press Herald and the Associated Press. "They want people to question whether I am gay. Allow me to save them the trouble with a simple, honest answer: 'Yes, I am. But why should it matter?'"
Michaud has represented Maine's 2nd Congressional District for six terms and is running for governor in 2014 against tea party incumbent, Paul LePage, who is opposed to marriage equality, though it's legal in his state. LePage made headlines this year for a rude comment about sodomy that earned him praise from the antigay wing of his party. In a war of words with a Democratic state senator, LePage said "he's the first one to give it to the people without providing Vaseline."
Michaud, a Democrat, has been an ally for LGBT rights in Congress, pressing for passage of a version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act that was inclusive of protection for gender identity. He is now the seventh member of Congress who is openly gay, lesbian or bisexual. Michaud's spokesman told the Bangor Daily News that "people trusted by the campaign" were among those who received calls asking about Michaud being gay. But the newspaper also reports that it was a secret largely already known by Mainers.
http://www.advocate.com/politics/election/2013/11/04/congressman-confronts-whisper-campaign-coming-out
That "Whisper Campaign" is so 1950's.