We're all glad for you, Ken. But let's clear up a few things first.
As a former gay closet-case Republican, let me start out by congratulating Ken Mehlman on his decision to finally grab his cojones and speak a little truth. Coming out ain't easy, and I tend to give out a do-over to folks who tried to hold up the closet walls with homophobia, then saw the light. Certainly it was a do-over I needed for myself, so who am I to judge?
Well, for starters, I'm a dude who's paid the price for Ken Mehlman's closet years. Like all the rest of us homos, I got to be the football in the hands of the conservative machine's Lucy, when Ken and his buddies helped re-elect the incompetent oaf they worked for to a second term on the back of gay marriage hysteria. Like much of the rest of queer America (I'll leave out you gay morons who actually voted R in 2004), I watched the results from Ohio, and felt a huge amount of guilt and shame for causing John Kerry the election. I shouldn't have felt that, of course, but because of Ken's efficient political machine, I watched my personal life played for laughs and votes by the GOP establishment. At any time during that nasty little election, Ken could have stood up and said enough. He didn't. We suffered.
He could have stood up and said enough when he ran the RNC, funding the anti-gay ad campaigns run by so many of the candidates he backed. Think of all the young gay and lesbian teens and adults who sat, stiff-backed, next to mom and dad while one of the bigoted ads Ken paid for went home like a dagger. How many kids got their emotional hats handed to them by Ken's election machine?
He could have stood up while his party was hijacked by religious extremists who did all the could to ostracize those poor souls who actually thought the could change the GOP from within. Where was Ken when the Log Cabin Republicans were getting their teeth kicked in, when moderate Republican pols (remember them?) were getting tarred with the pervert brush for daring to even tepidly support gay rights? It just happened in the primary in Georgia a few days ago. It's been happening in the GOP for years. You let your party be taken over by bigots, Ken. You could have at least had the courage to stand up for yourself and all those other sad folks stuck between the politics of their youth, families, and community, and the truth about themselves.
The GOP has been scapegoating gay folks in America for most of my (and your) adult life, Ken. Scapegoating meant ritual slaughter and roasting back in when Moses wandered in the desert. Well, you may not have wielded the knife, but stood there holding the barbeque sauce, buddy. If you really, really want to make up for what you've done in your life, Ken (and I had to make up for my two years as a Mormon missionary. Oye!), then I suggest you follow this dude's example and start by really, honestly saying you are sorry. Although maybe, like some folks, he's also a deceitful piece of shit. Ugh.
Look, now that you are safely out of politics, now that you've had your run with power and have a nice make-work job on Wall Street and a lovely flat in Chelsea, now that nothing is at stake, I'm glad you've finally come to terms, Ken. Really, it's great that you can now enjoy your freedom, the same freedom you and your party worked so hard to stigmatize, demonize, and debase. Mazel Tov.
I have no ideas what kind of guys you like to date, Ken. Myself, I'm a big bearded burly white dude, so maybe I'm not your type. But if you do like bears, and if I see you out at the Eagle on a Saturday night, there is something you should know. I don't hook up with Republicans. Even if you've decided that you no longer belong in the modern anti-modern Republican Party, that's great as well.
For old time's sake though, I'm still not gonna fuck you.