Bush Campaign Manager, Ex-RNC Chair Comes Out

The manager of George W. Bush's 2004 re-election campaign, who later served as chairman of the RNC, is gay. "It's taken me 43 years to get comfortable with this part of my life," Mehlman tells Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic. "I wish I was where I am today 20 years ago. The process of not being able to say who I am in public life was very difficult."

Dealing with reaction to his announcement may also prove tough. Mehlman was among the most influential members of the GOP "when the party was stepping up its anti-gay activities," Ambinder notes. Mehlman "is arguably the highest profile Republican to ever come out," Queerty opines. "He is also arguably America's most heinous homosexual, actively participating in and driving the demonization of his own community in exchange for political applause and cold hard cash."
(More Ken Mehlman stories.)