Ex-RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman comes out..."I'm gay"...

[cynatnite]

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 Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER), the group that supported the legal challenge to California's ballot initiative against gay marriage, Proposition 8.

"It's taken me 43 years to get comfortable with this part of my life," Mehlman said. "Everybody has their own path to travel, their own journey, and for me, over the past few months, I've told my family, friends, former colleagues, and current colleagues, and they've been wonderful and supportive. The process has been something that's made me a happier and better person. It's something I wish I had done years ago."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/25/ken-mehlman-gay_n_694843.html

[Jack Rabbit]

1. Bill Maher is vindicated

Edited to add:

Please click here (from 2006).

[librechik]

2. finallly...n/t

[Hell Hath No Fury]

3. He's still an asshole --

who concocted and supported some of the most virulently antigay political strategy in US history. :puke:

Screw you Kenny.

[SugarShack]

4. Oh my, so his journey was to create a platform of hate and gay bash?

[MrScorpio]

5. About time. One down...

And every one else in the closet to go.

[pnwmom]

6. Out of the darkness, into the light. n/t

[Warpy]

7. I'm not touching this one with somebody else's ten foot pole

because the man's picture belongs next to two dictionary entries, both "smarmy" and "vicious."

I was not surprised when he was outed 4 years ago.

[terrya]

8. "He wants to become an advocate for gay marriage"

Yes, his silence during his stint as RNC Chairman was disgusting...especially during the whole thing with the Federal Marriage Amendment.

But this has always been the hopeful end result of coming out...to be free to help do good things for the gay community as a whole. In this context, for marriage equality, apparently.

As far as I'm concerned, I welcome Ken Mehlman to the GLBT community.

[cynatnite]

9. Only time will tell if he's being sincere. n/t