I am not one who typically cares about the college-age meanderings of a campaigning politician, regardless of party affiliation. However, when your platform includes opposition to same-sex marriage, and it turns out you once worked as a female impersonator at a gay nightclub, well then ... yes, I care just a bit.
Such is the case for a GOP state senate candidate in North Carolina who seems intent on furthering the cliche that is the closeted, anti-equality Republican hypocrite.
Cue the Winston-Salem Journal:
Steve Wiles, a Republican state Senate candidate who supports North Carolina’s constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage, once worked as a female impersonator at a gay nightclub in Winston-Salem and was gay at the time, according to a co-owner of the nightclub and a former employee.
Wiles, 34, was in his early 20s when he worked at the now-defunct nightclub, Club Odyssey, according to co-owner Randy Duggins and former employee Gray Tomlinson.
“He is Mona Sinclair,” Duggins said, referring to Wiles’ female persona.
It seems that
Mona Steve has undergone some other shifts as well, having voted as recently as 2008 in the Democratic presidential primary. Just four years later, he apparently was stumping for passage of North Carolina's constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
Personally, I feel badly for Wiles, who clearly is a conflicted individual. That is, I'd feel badly for him if he wasn't invested in helping to further the same bigotry, hatred and discrimination he likely encountered when this was his life:
For about 14 years until 2010, Club Odyssey on Country Club Road was a nightclub where gay, lesbian and straight clientele could spend some money on drinks, relax with friends and, weekly, watch a show with talented female impersonators.
Wiles was a frequent patron in the late 1990s, Duggins said. Around 2001 and 2002, Wiles worked for Duggins as the show director, booking performers and running the show as Mona Sinclair, the emcee.
Why is the GOP such a hypocritical, heartless shitstorm when it comes to social policy in America?
It's a serious question.
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David Harris-Gershon is author of the memoir What Do You Buy the Children of the Terrorist Who Tried to Kill Your Wife?, just out from Oneworld Publications.