Former RNC Chair Ken Mehlman Says He's Gay, Regrets Party's Posn : It's All Polics : NPR

ken mehlman gay

On NPR tonight, host Melissa Block terviews The Atlantic's Mark Ambr.  Ambr has a new article about Ken Mehlman, the former chairman of the RNC and mpaign manager for Print Bh 2004, who has announced he is gay.

Contents:

KEN MEHLMAN, BH CAMPAIGN MANAGER, COM OUT AS GAY

Former RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman Says Took Him 43 Years to Accept his Sexualy; Gay Activist Giv him "Roy Cohn Award" for Managg Bh-Cheney Campaigns * ken mehlman gay *

Former Republin Natnal Commtee chairman and Bh-Cheney mpaign manager Ken Mehlman has announced publicly that he is gay, CBS News chief polil nsultant and polics edor for The Atlantic Marc Ambr reports.

Mehlman told Ambr that he had recently e to the ncln that he is gay and was lookg to bee an advote for gay marriage. He went public part bee he expected to be asked about his sexualy when beme known he was participatg a fundraiser next month for the Amerin Foundatn for Equal Rights (AFER), which is supportg a legal challenge to California's Proposn 8 iative banng gay marriage.

Mehlman said Print Bh "is no homophobe" but acknowledged that the Bh admistratn ed antigay iativ for polil ga. (Mehlman regularly nied that he was gay.

FORMER G.O.P. LEAR SAYS HE IS GAY

He out of the closet and talks about gay marriage, Karl Rove, and more. * ken mehlman gay *

) Rogers rpond to the news that Mehlman was g out by awardg him a "Roy Cohn Award" for "managg the most anti-gay printial mpaigns history.

"Ken Mehlman is horridly homophobic and no matter how orchtrated his g out is, our muny should hold him acuntable for his past, " Rogers wrote. Mehlman told Ambr he unrstands that some people the gay muny will be upset that he did not e out until he was out of ernment.

BH CAMPAIGN CHIEF AND FORMER RNC CHAIR KEN MEHLMAN: I’M GAY

Ken Mehlman’s announcement that he is gay shocked Washgton, but Wall Street showed a progrsive streak. * ken mehlman gay *

He acknowledged that if he had e to terms wh his sexual orientatn earlier, "I uld have worked agast [the Feral Marriage Amendment]" and "reached out to the gay muny the way I reached out to Ain Amerins. Lear Says He Is Gay ADVERTISEMENTFormer G. Lear Says He Is GayAug.

KEN MEHLMAN, SENR REPUBLIN PARTY FIGURE, REVEALS HE IS GAY

<p><strong>Richard Adams:</strong> Ken Mehlman, a key lear the Bh-era Republin party, out as gay and pledg to fight for same-sex marriage</p> * ken mehlman gay *

Bh’s mpaign manager 2004 and a former chairman of the Republin Natnal Commtee, has revealed that he is gay and is workg to advance the e of same-sex nfid his sexual orientatn to fay and iends the last few months, he said an terview Wednday. Mehlman had the past nied that he was gay.

“Obvly, I look back and wish I was the place I am today and been able to do that wh the gay muny.

STRATEGIST OUT OF CLOSET AND INTO FRAY, THIS TIME FOR GAY MARRIAGE

Ken Mehlman, the strategist who ran Print Gee W. Bh’s re-electn bid, is tryg to nvce Republins that gay marriage is nsistent wh nservative valu. * ken mehlman gay *

”A versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn A, Page 16 of the New York edn wh the headle: Former Republin Lear Disclos That He Is Gay.

He out of the closet and talks about gay marriage, Karl Rove, and Jay L. Clenn-Pool/GettyKen Mehlman, Print Bh’s mpaign manager 2004 and a former chairman of the Republin Natnal Commtee, has told fay and associat that he is gay. He agreed to answer a reporter’s qutns, he said, bee, now private life, he wants to bee an advote for gay marriage and anticipated that qutns would arise about his participatn a late-September fundraiser for the Amerin Foundatn for Equal Rights (AFER), the group that supported the legal challenge to California’s ballot iative agast gay marriage, Proposn 8.

He sisted, too, that Print Bh “was no homophobe. ” Mehlman often wonred why gay voters never formed mon e wh Republin opponents of Islamic jihad, which he lled “the greatt anti-gay force the world right now. ”Mehlman’s learship posns the GOP me at a time when the party was steppg up s anti-gay activi—such as the 2006 distributn Wt Virgia of lerature lkg homosexualy to atheism, or the ls-than-subtle, d language the party’s platform (“Attempts to refe marriage a sgle state or cy uld have ser nsequenc throughout the untry … ”).

FORMER RNC CHAIR KEN MEHLMAN SAYS HE'S GAY, REGRETS PARTY'S POSN

Ken Felts didn't e out as gay until he was 90. He told his dghter about havg to abandon his first real love the 1950s. His story went global on Facebook. Now, at 93, he's found a hband. * ken mehlman gay *

He was aware that Karl Rove, Print Bh’s chief strategic adviser, had been workg wh Republins to make sure that anti-gay iativ and referenda would appear on November ballots 2004 and 2006 to help Republins.

Mehlman acknowledg that if he had publicly clared his sexualy sooner, he might have played a role keepg the party om phg an anti-gay agenda. I didn’t do this the gay muny at all.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* KEN MEHLMAN GAY

Bh Campaign Head, Former RNC Chair Ken Mehlman Is Gay - The Atlantic</tle><meta name="scriptn" ntent="He out of the closet and talks about gay marriage, Karl Rove, and more."/><meta property="kx:tle" ntent="Bh Campaign Head, Former RNC Chair Ken Mehlman Is Gay - The Atlantic"/><meta property="kx:scriptn" ntent="He out of the closet and talks about gay marriage, Karl Rove, and more."/><lk rel="nonil" href="><lk rel="image_src" href="><meta name="thor" ntent="Marc Ambr"/><lk rel="ia:markup_url" href="><meta property="article:publisher" ntent="><meta property="article:opn" ntent="false"/><meta property="article:ntent_tier" ntent="metered"/><meta property="article:tag" ntent="polics"/><meta property="article:sectn" ntent="Polics"/><meta property="article:published_time" ntent="2010-08-25T21:45:00Z"/><meta property="article:modified_time" ntent="2021-04-12T23:23:42Z"/><meta name="robots" ntent="x, follow, max-image-preview:large"/><meta property="og:tle" ntent="Bh Campaign Chief and Former RNC Chair Ken Mehlman: I’m Gay"/><meta property="og:scriptn" ntent="He out of the closet and talks about gay marriage, Karl Rove, and more."/><meta property="og:url" ntent="><meta property="og:type" ntent="article"/><meta property="og:image"/><meta property="twter:rd" ntent="summary_large_image"/><lk rel="alternate" type="applitn/rss+xml" tle="The Atlantic" href="/feed/all/"/><lk rel="alternate" type="applitn/rss+xml" tle="Bt of The Atlantic" href="/feed/bt-of/"/><meta name="referrer" ntent="unsafe-url"/><meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-pable" ntent="y"/><meta name="apple-mobile-web-stat-bar-style" ntent="black"/><meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-tle" ntent="The Atlantic"/><meta name="keywords" ntent="GettyKen Mehlman, gay marriage, former chairman of the Republin Natnal Commtee, Equal Rights, senr Republin officials, gay-rights activist Mike Rogers, greatt anti-gay force, gay voters, private life, Virgia Reprentative Ed Shrock, sexual orientatn, Print Bh’s mpaign manager, party’s platform, Ed Gillpie, reporter’s qutns, gay-rights activists, Republin opponents of Islamic jihad, anti-gay activi, close iend, social nservativ, Mehlman’s learship posns, polil mache, past silence, Republin Natnal Commtee, Amerin Foundatn, news anizatns, former lleagu, Gee Allen, civil unns, Rogers’s csas, party, Wt Virgia of lerature, own path, Dt Lance Black, dividual Republin, anti-gay iativ, Feral Marriage Amendment, limed ernment, Print Bh, party nsens, Amy Award, nfg answers, California’s ballot iative, mon e, sgle state, anti-gay agenda, legal challenge, public life, Senator Larry Craig’s sexual orientatn, Karl Rove" emID="#keywords"/><meta name="news_keywords" ntent="GettyKen Mehlman, gay marriage, former chairman of the Republin Natnal Commtee, Equal Rights, senr Republin officials, gay-rights activist Mike Rogers, greatt anti-gay force, gay voters, private life, Virgia Reprentative Ed Shrock, sexual orientatn, Print Bh’s mpaign manager, party’s platform, Ed Gillpie, reporter’s qutns, gay-rights activists, Republin opponents of Islamic jihad, anti-gay activi, close iend, social nservativ, Mehlman’s learship posns, polil mache, past silence, Republin Natnal Commtee, Amerin Foundatn, news anizatns, former lleagu, Gee Allen, civil unns, Rogers’s csas, party, Wt Virgia of lerature, own path, Dt Lance Black, dividual Republin, anti-gay iativ, Feral Marriage Amendment, limed ernment, Print Bh, party nsens, Amy Award, nfg answers, California’s ballot iative, mon e, sgle state, anti-gay agenda, legal challenge, public life, Senator Larry Craig’s sexual orientatn, Karl Rove"/><meta name="" ntent="polics"/><meta name="" ntent="Marc Ambr"/><meta name="" ntent="2010-08-25T21:45:00Z"/><lk rel="preload" as="font" type="font/woff2" href=" crossorig=""/><lk rel="preload" as="font" type="font/woff2" href=" crossorig=""/><lk rel="preload" as="font" type="font/woff2" href=" crossorig=""/><lk rel="preload" as="font" type="font/woff2" href=" crossorig=""/><lk rel="preload" as="font" type="font/woff2" href=" crossorig=""/><script type="applitn/ld+json">{"@ntext":","@type":"NewsArticle","headle":"Bh Campaign Head, Former RNC Chair Ken Mehlman Is Gay","alternativeHeadle":"Bh Campaign Chief and Former RNC Chair Ken Mehlman: I’m Gay","scriptn":"He out of the closet and talks about gay marriage, Karl Rove, and more.","url":","datePublished":"2010-08-25T21:45:00Z","dateModified":"2021-04-12T23:23:42Z","isAccsibleForFree":false,"hasPart":{"@type":"WebPageElement","isAccsibleForFree":false,"cssSelector":".article-ntent-body"},"publisher":{"@id":"},"maEntyOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"},"thor":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Marc Ambr","sameAs":"}],"articleSectn":"Polics"}</script><meta name="next-head-unt" ntent="60"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="style"/><lk rel="stylheet" href=" data-n-g=""/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="style"/><lk rel="stylheet" href=" data-n-p=""/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="style"/><lk rel="stylheet" href=" data-n-p=""/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="style"/><lk rel="stylheet" href=" data-n-p=""/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="style"/><lk rel="stylheet" href=" data-n-p=""/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="style"/><lk rel="stylheet" href="><lk rel="preload" href=" as="style"/><lk rel="stylheet" href="><noscript data-n-css=""></noscript><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/></head><body><div id="__next"><div data-tegory="story page"><div></div><nav class="Nav_root___6bX9" aria-labelledby="se-navigatn" data-tegory="Se Nav" data-event-module="se nav" id="ma-navigatn"><div class="Nav_maNav__yofcm"><a href="#ma-ntent" class="Nav_skipLk__Evjjd">Skip to ntent</a><h2 id="se-navigatn" class="Nav_visuallyHi__AbSDF">Se Navigatn</h2><div class="Nav_flexContaer__Q3LKQ"><ul class="Nav_leftContaer__cPQgJ"><li class="Nav_navListItem__cEyWT Nav_visuallyHiOnMobile__hxCGG"><a href=" class="Nav_navLk__5SUAA"><svg xmlns=" viewBox="0 0 87.83 134" class="Nav_bigA__XvGGC"><tle>The Atlantic .

TOP