Ken Mehlman Is Gay. But He Still Wants to Elect Plenty of Anti-Gay Politicians

The big news of the night is that Ken Mehlman, the former chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the campaign manager for the Bush/Cheney '04 re-election bid, has announced that he's openly gay, becoming the most high profile Republican to do so. Here is a man who has a rolodex with former President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney in it, and a man known throughout the past decade as one of the all-star political operatives in the country.

He's also a man known for helping the Republican Party orchestrate a 2004 election and a 2006 election that were deeply rooted in anti-gay sentiments. Witness statewide ballot measures in various states that banned gay marriage. Witness President George W. Bush's support for a federal constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in the 2005 State of the Union. Witness a White House that squashed hate crimes legislation, and one that wouldn't allow its representative at the United Nations to sign onto a resolution condemning the criminalization of homosexuality.

The list goes on and on. For all of the anti-gay work that Mehlman oversaw as head of the RNC and leader of the Bush/Cheney campaign, he's a bit sorry. As Mehlman noted, his coming out process has been a difficult process, and he wasn't comfortable until recently admitting that he's openly gay.

"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," Mehlman said to The Atlantic. "What I do regret, and think a lot about, is that one of the things I talked a lot about in politics was how I tried to expand the party into neighborhoods where the message wasn't always heard. I didn't do this in the gay community at all."

Sounds like Mehlman feels kind of bad. But if that's the case, then why has Mehlman given money this past election cycle to some pretty hardcore anti-gay politicians?

Make no mistake, having Mehlman publicly come out is a good thing, and I've no doubt that within Mehlman's circle of friends and his magical rolodex, his coming out should change hearts and minds. But for those questioning Mehlman's motives in coming out, or his commitment to really advancing LGBT equality, his political donation history certainly won't quell any skittish nerves.

Look him up on opensecrets.org, and you'll see that Kenneth Mehlman has given money to a wide range of politicians working to take away rights for LGBT Americans.

There's $2,400 to Missouri Republican Roy Blunt, who has voted to add a marriage amendment to the U.S. Constitution banning gay marriage, as well as to ban gay adoption.

There's $2,400 to Sen. John McCain, who wants to keep gay servicemembers out of the military.

There's $1,000 to Ben Quayle, who is running for Congress in Arizona and who just labeled Barack Obama the worst President in history, and who just sent out a mailer to voters touting his opposition to marriage equality.

There's $2,400 to Illinois Republican Mark Kirk, who voted to keep "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in place (and who himself is subject to lots of rumors about his sexual orientation).

There's $2,400 to Utah Republican Sen. Robert Bennett, who tried to stop marriage equality from becoming a reality in Washington, D.C.

And the list goes on and on and includes Republicans like Rob Portman, Kelly Ayotte, Bob Corker, Richard Shelby, and Johnny Isakson, all of whom have taken positions completely contrary to full equality for LGBT Americans.

Mehlman, for his part, is set to co-host a fundraiser for the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER), the group behind the Proposition 8 lawsuit in California. His willingness to sign on to AFER's mission shows that at least on some level, Mehlman wants to see equality for people like him.

But it's odd, to say the least, that as far as his political contributions go, Mehlman is really following the same line that he touted in 2004 and 2006 as a major Republican Party power leader: support anti-gay politicians who are all too comfortable demonizing LGBT people for some votes.

Photo credit: takomabibelot