Ken Mehlman, Bush Campaign Manager, Comes Out as Gay

Ken Mehlman.

/ AP Photo/Stephen J. Boitano-File

Former Republican National Committee chairman and Bush-Cheney campaign manager Ken Mehlman has announced publicly that he is gay, CBS News chief political consultant and politics editor for The Atlantic Marc Ambinder reports.

"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, but I didn't."

Mehlman was RNC chairman from 2005 to 2007 after serving as Bush-Cheney campaign manager in 2004. He also served as White House political director during President Bush's first term.

Mehlman told Ambinder that he had recently come to the conclusion that he is gay and was looking to become an advocate for gay marriage. He went public in part because he expected to be asked about his sexuality when it became known he was participating in a fundraiser next month for the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER), which is supporting a legal challenge to California's Proposition 8 initiative banning gay marriage.

Mehlman said President Bush "is no homophobe" but acknowledged that the Bush administration used antigay initiatives for political gain. In private conversations with senior Republicans, he said, he fought back against attempts to demonize same-sex marriage.

Activist Mike Rogers, as Ambinder notes, has waged a years-long campaign to force Mehlman out of the closet, including confronting him with questions about his sexuality on video. (Mehlman regularly denied that he was gay.) Rogers responded to the news that Mehlman was coming out by awarding him a "Roy Cohn Award" for "managing the most anti-gay presidential campaigns in history."

"Ken Mehlman is horridly homophobic and no matter how orchestrated his coming out is, our community should hold him accountable for his past," Rogers wrote.

Health Blog: Inside the Mind of a Conflicted Man

Mehlman told Ambinder he understands that some people in the gay community will be upset that he did not come out until he was out of government.

"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 said. He acknowledged that if he had come to terms with his sexual orientation earlier, "I could have worked against [the Federal Marriage Amendment]" and "reached out to the gay community in the way I reached out to African Americans."

Check out Ambinder's full report here.

[godsgaychildren]

Our very own........does not make "family values" a weapon against their "own". Being a hypocrite is being one thing.....and pretending to be another. At the very least, you may not come out. To be against gay people as a platform, to run your campaign is a whole other issue.

[superdem1]

Gay children figure out what they are very early, as early as five years old. They quickly learn, from their own parents and siblings, that there is a terrible price to pay for discovery, so they learn to hide. They learn to "pass" so they can have some chance at life, to retain their family's love, to avoid beatings at school, to get jobs. But all along the way they make ethical decisions about what they can and can't do, what's right and wrong. Life dealt them a joker, but they're still in the game. Politically, they understand there are two parties in America, one wants to kill them, the other recognizes their rights and tries to accommodate them. The vast majority of gays know which party represents them and which wants them dead. All his life Ken Mehlman had ethical choices to make, and he made bad ones. He is a liar, a coward, and he hurt a lot of people. He's worse than the average straight homophobe, because he knew exactly what the stakes were, yet he worked for years on their behalf. Wishing things were different is cheap empty air. Doing what he's doing - now that it's safe - is more self serving grandstanding, he's not denounced any of his former fellows, he's not denounced or changed his party, he's not really engaged in the struggle. He probably wants to marry someone himself now, so there's advantage in trying to make that possible now, on the backs of those he injured for many, many years. What a disgusting human being. What did he do for all those years ? Did he leave his day job as chief tormentor to go have liaisons with men at night ? There's a place in hell with his name on it.

[stevenrotolo]

Ken Mehlman is a worthless piece of human debris. Do we really need him? He created an environment of persecution for gay people all over this country. He did it in pursuit of personal gain and power. And he succeded. Now, living in his multimillion dollar condo in Chelsea, he may have found a boy he wants to marry, so he wants same sex marriage to be legal so he can have the benefits of marriage. He burned our house down for his personal gain back in 2004, and now he wants to build it up, also for his own personal gain. We dont need this worthless individual. We have made many significant gains without him and we will triumph also without him. This man is morally bankrupt, a moral pygmy if you will, whose only priority is himself. Are we not going to hold him accountable for his crimes against humanity? What is bitterly disappointing to me are the voices of support from the gay community. These voices, including the HRC and the Advocate, are showing the moral fortitude of a bowl of cereal. We don't need despicable uncle tom gays like Ken Mehlman. Please crawl back under the rock of self-servitude and betrayal where you lied for most of your life as the insect that you are, Mr Mehlman. You are odious and worthless.

[Phxfire]

Gotta agree with 98% of your post. Its the harshness that has me backing off by 2%, but that's just my personal discomfort, otherwise 'hear, hear'. There is nothing 'good for him' about his announcement, just further proof of the lack of a humanity moral compass, being part of the intense diahrea of the mouth from him, cheney etc for years. He is no hero, maybe a coward.

[tryhonesty]

Bush W's (closet gay past) story will also be revealed in the future when the press has the guts to investigate his tight relationship to certain Colorado "Religious Leader". The truth is out there. The Media needs to do its job and get all of that dirt buried under so many rugs...

[godsgaychildren]

Yeah, you are right. Homophobia is a myth.....that gets people fired from their jobs, kids out of school, thrown out of their families and some even killed. Yeah, its a myth....though I respect other peoples beliefs......I respect the life that GOD gives us to live.

[Phxfire]

Your point was excellent. How often does the right deny history - current and past? Too often.

[tafhdyd]

Yep, the right wing family values folks sure know how to pick 'em.

[alpeaston]

Ken Mehlman is a hypocritical piece of garbage. He engineered using the "wedge" issue of Same Sex Marriage in 1994 to win Bush a second turn at being president. Not only did he unleash Bush on the US for an additional 4 years but he betrayed his own best interests. Now he is all apologetic and heartfelt about how wrong he was? Save that for all the gay couple, who because of his greed and arrogance, many never have the same rights as any heterosexual has to marry the person they love and to be able to protect that person with a simple document; a Legal marriage certificate! At 57, I may never have the chance legally marry my husband of 20 years! I hope you never have a moment of peace for the untold suffering you and your ilk have caused innocent lesbian and gay people. I hope you die broke and alone. That is what hypocrite like you, Larry Craig, and Mark Foley and all the other lying republican scum deserve for the continued suffering you have caused. You will not get forgiveness from me, or any other self respecting gay person. You are the poison that we must purge from our system in order to have the kind of country our founding fathers imagined!

[thebob-bob]

Well said!

[rennin01]

Gay rights proponents say that homosexuality is not a choice, rather it is genetic. If that is so, then there must be a gay gene that is recessive and that gets passed down from one generation to the next through carriers of this gay gene having sex with the opposite sex. If gay rights proponents had the strength of their convictions they would admit that by attempting to remove the stigma associated with gays getting married to each other they are making it less likely that gays will marry and have children with an opposite sex person. This means that it will become even less likely that gays will pass their gay gene onto the next generation. The result is inescapable; legalizing gay marriage will reduce the number of gay children born each year and those who favor gay marriage are doing more to eliminate gays from society than anything that opponents of gay marriage could possibly do.

[Len_RI]

Maybe so. But, I suspect genetics science isn't quite so simple. Most of these things are referred to as "predispositions."

For example, someone with a genetic family history of cancer, say, is likely to have genetic factors that make that person predisposed to cancer, but is doesn't mean that such a person "definitely" will get cancer. We know this to be true. And yet you womn't find a group of cancerphobes going around saying "cancer is a choice" and that they don't condone the "cancer lifestyle". Some get cancer and some don't. There are genetics involved.

So your point is????

[rennin01]

My point is that homophobia is a myth created by the political Left in an attempt to foist the gay agenda onto the rest of our society.

[Marine_Vet]

Better late than never. I wish him well and good luck in getting marriage equality for gay families and their children around the country.

[godsgaychildren]

The issue is..he sold the LGBT community "out" to gain prominence or power..money...fame. He is 43..you think he had an idea? People we are all God's creation. Be the person we are meant to be. I dont judge people because of who they are. What they do....I do wonder how people can be so judgemental..... http://www.godsgaychildren.com dont spread hate around. It may come back to you! I hope not.