ALERT: Is a gay man up for RNC chair?

Please contact the RNC: Emails and phone #s provided at the end of this post.
Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman is reportedly a likely candidate for the job of head of the Republican party. There have been lots of questions about Mehlman's sexual orientation, and he won't answer. I for one think the public has a right to know Ken Mehlman's sexual orientation BEFORE he gets that job. And here's why...

Mehlman has REFUSED to answer direct questions from reporters about his sexual orientation. This wouldn't be relevant, except:

1. There have been rumors for years about Mehlman's sexual orientation. Now that he's a very public figure, those rumors gain an importance they didn't have before. Read on...

2. Mehlman has already said publicly that the gay issue is fair game for politics. If it's fair game, then the same rules apply to him.

3. Mehlman has publicly defended the president's anti-gay policies, including the federal constitutional amendment. Were Mehlman gay, he'd be guilty of hypocrisy, and that would justify his outing - again, were he gay.

4. The GOP has made it perfectly clear that gays and lesbians and their relationships are a threat to the fabric of society. As American citizens and voters we have the right to know if Ken Mehlman's so-far-undisclosed relationships are posing such a threat or not. The last thing the GOP should be doing is giving a position of prominence in the party to someone who, for all we know, might have a secret agenda of undermining the family. They can't have it both ways.

5. The Republican National Committee is an organization that makes NO BONES about using gay-bashing to help Republican candidates. There is good reason to believe that any RNC chair, were he not 100% straight, would be at pains to effectively run an organization that relies on gay-bashing to get its way. Don't red-state Americans have the right to know if the leader of their party, whomever it turns out to be, actually embraces the party's prefered lifestyle?

6. We have been told that part of President Bush's supposed "mandate" in the most recent election was a vindication of his attack on gays. The voting public has a right to know if the next RNC chair plans on subversively undercutting that mandate or actively supporting it.

Now, I have no idea whether Ken Mehlman is gay, bi or straight. But therein lies the problem. In the face of longtime rumors, this 37 year old single man has, oddly, refused to answer questions about his sexual orientation. I can't recall many, if any, straight men who refuse to acknowledge that they're straight - if anything, most are a bit too obvious about it - and that ultimately leads to speculation, caused by Mehlman's own failure to respond to a direct question posed by a reporter.

America is in the throes of a culture war, nurtured by groups like the RNC and people like Ken Mehlman. Americans have a right to know which side of the culture war Ken Mehlman is on, and whether, as RNC chair, he would be a fifth column for those very forces that the RNC tells us are out to steal America's Bibles and jam homosexual sex down its throats and the throats of its children.

Feel free to call the RNC and tell them you want to know why Ken Mehlman won't tell us whose side he's on.

Main contact info
Tel. 202.863.8500
Fax. 202.863.8820
Email: info@gop.com

Office of the Chairman and Deputy Chairman
Phone: 202-863-8700 (Ask for Chair Ed Gillespie and Deputy Chair Maria Cino.)
Chairman@gop.com

Communications Office
Phone: 202-863-8614
RNCommunications@gop.com