Ken Mehlman, Bh Campaign Manager, Com Out as Gay - CBS News

Contents:

• KEN MEHLMAN, BH CAMPAIGN MANAGER, COM OUT AS GAY
• FORMER RNC CHAIRMAN KEN MEHLMAN COM OUT: I'M GAY
• BH CAMPAIGN CHIEF AND FORMER RNC CHAIR KEN MEHLMAN: I’M GAY
• KEN MEHLMAN: 'I AM SORRY' FOR ROLE IN 2004 ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE PH
• BILL MAHER IN 2006: KEN MEHLMAN IS GAY (VIDEO)
• INSI MY COLLECTN: ROXANE GAY AND DEBBIE MILLMAN
• KEN MEHLMAN APOLOGIZ FOR ANTI-GAY TONE OF 2004 CAMPAIGN

KEN MEHLMAN, BH CAMPAIGN MANAGER, COM OUT AS 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 RNC CHAIRMAN KEN MEHLMAN COM OUT: I'M 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.

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. But I certaly hope that Republins will make their se on lots of different issu, to all different muni — to the gay muny, and to other muni. At what pot did you ci you were for gay marriage?

BH CAMPAIGN CHIEF AND FORMER RNC CHAIR KEN MEHLMAN: I’M 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 be asked 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. "Mehlman head the RNC when the Republin Party was phg anti-gay iativ and creasgly speakg out agast marriage equaly. Former RNC Chairman Ed Gillpie and Mehlman's longtime iend lled Mehlman's g-out "signifint, " but add that he remas opposed to gay marriage.

KEN MEHLMAN: 'I AM SORRY' FOR ROLE IN 2004 ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE PH

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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.

BILL MAHER IN 2006: KEN MEHLMAN IS GAY (VIDEO)

” 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 … ”). 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.

INSI MY COLLECTN: ROXANE GAY AND DEBBIE MILLMAN

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.

KEN MEHLMAN APOLOGIZ FOR ANTI-GAY TONE OF 2004 CAMPAIGN

”He said that he “really wished” he had e to terms wh his sexual orientatn earlier, “so I uld have worked agast [the Feral Marriage Amendment]” and “reached out to the gay muny the way I reached out to Ain Amerins.

He and his iends say that he is aware that he will no longer ntrol the story about his inty—which will simultaneoly expose old wounds, ve schanue, and legimize anger among gay-rights activists both parti who did not hi their sexual orientatns.

He was the subject of an outg mpaign by gay-rights activist Mike Rogers, startg when Mehlman was Bh’s mpaign manager.