Ken Mehlman: 'I Am Sorry' For Role In 2004 Anti-Gay Marriage Push

Ken Mehlman, the former Republican National Committee chairman and President George W. Bush re-election campaign manager who came out as gay in August 2010, said that he regrets his role in the campaign's anti-gay marriage push 2004.

"At a personal level, I wish I had spoken out against the effort," he told Salon in an interview published Friday, referring to the campaign's attempt to draw out the conservative base by attacking same-sex marriage.

"As I’ve been involved in the fight for marriage equality, one of the things I’ve learned is how many people were harmed by the campaigns in which I was involved," he continued. "I apologize to them and tell them I am sorry. While there have been recent victories, this could still be a long struggle in which there will be setbacks, and I’ll do my part to be helpful."

In 2004, 11 states resoundingly passed gay marriage bans, and Bush publicly supported a federal constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. However, some political scientists have doubted that the gay marriage referenda had much effect on re-electing Bush -- a view that Mehlman shares.

Since coming out, Mehlman pushed for gay marriage in New York, Maryland and New Hampshire. He has also raised money for the effort to support a legal challenge against California's gay marriage ban, Proposition 8. He serves on the board of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, which is the sole sponsor to the Prop. 8 federal court challenge.

In the Atlantic interview where he acknowledged his sexuality, Mehlman said that if he had come out sooner, he might have been able to play a role in opposing the gay marriage bans.

"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," he said.

Comments

[Shimon de Valencia]

09:50 PM on 03/08/2012

When surrounded by the politics of fear i am sure that if you live in fear of yourself it is easier to join the lynch mobs than be 'found out'. Untl the Republican Party either admits it is ab arm of the Fundamentalist Christian Movement or embrace diversity and renew its own docual contract. As that will not happen more men and women will remain in the closet and make life decisions they will regret and live in fear of discovery. Democratic freedom for all? Not if you're gay and Republican.

[mgroteii]

01:23 AM on 03/05/2012

Two kinds of people that I will never understand the existance of: the gay republican and the black republican (unless one was career millitary).

[roscoewpa]

12:50 AM on 03/05/2012

The best advice i can give this man is "It is better to be hated for who you are than loved for wha your not." I guess with the view he once had, has a negative effect on his dating life.

[BartRoberts]

11:41 AM on 03/05/2012

My guess is the poor fellow has been forced to now pay for whatever loving he can get.

(Karma is such a bee-yotch.)

[roscoewpa]

07:50 PM on 03/05/2012

so true
Karma its a good thing!

[Freethinking American]

10:54 PM on 03/04/2012

Conservatives seem to be filled with so much hate for others that don't believe the way they do. So much hate that they even hate themselves. And when they step down from power (and the power of hate), they repent and think that everything is ok, like in their religion. Only it isn't in real life. They have caused real damage to real lives.

[bcarb]

09:32 PM on 03/04/2012

What a bunch of bull. He was in politics a long time and CHOSE to work for Bushie and the RNC with their hateful agenda.

[Sarrellec]

07:06 PM on 03/04/2012

Aw, c'mon people! How much influence would he have had over one plank of the entire Fourth Reich Revival platform??? Do you really think even GWB's campaign manager would have had the punch to eliminate that plank? No way.

[practiceempathy]

09:56 AM on 03/09/2012

The point is, he helped design that campaign, which made him a very active participant in the oppression of his own people. That is deplorable. His participation for power and profit was indeed deplorable.

[Paeng S del Rosario]

06:20 PM on 03/04/2012

No different from Rush Limbaugh's so called "apology" to Georgetown Law student, Sandra Fluke. Just like Limbaugh's, Mehlman's self interest compelled him to apologize to those whose lives he helped ruin.

[lambdin1]

03:25 PM on 03/04/2012

LOL! Maybe Ken Mehlman and Kirk Cameron could get together and debate?

[StevenKeirstead]

11:16 AM on 03/04/2012

Better late than never.

[practiceempathy]

09:57 AM on 03/09/2012

And now, later, he's a very wealthy man because of his anti-gay propaganda machine that was the 2004 re-election campaign.

[AnswerToJob]

10:21 AM on 03/04/2012

Professional AND personal Hypocrite Award.

[see-ellen2001]

10:16 AM on 03/04/2012

Too little too late.

[CheapTrick]

09:42 AM on 03/04/2012

There is nothing more pathetic than a former closet case who uses "poor me... I was in the closet when I bullied you... Feel sorry for me."

I do not feel sorry for you, Ken. You knew you were gay then and spitefully created those anti-gay votes as a way to take spiteful jabs at a community with more spine than you had or will ever have.

Yes, you now have a nice high-paying job to undo the damage you have done.

That's fine. But don't expect the pity parade to pass by your door. You have harmed way too many of us and destroyed way too many lives.

You'll have to find absolution from within, you will never be forgiven by our community. We'll use you as a tool to get what we want but once we get it, you're not invited to the victory party.

[RODERICK098]

09:25 AM on 03/04/2012

Greed over conscience. Somehow an apology does not seem enough.So many gay people have suffered from prejudice and for this guy to appear as a straight person condemning gay people when he himself is gay -words escape me on how reprehensible he has been.

[Hugo Viale]

09:20 AM on 03/04/2012

Sorry??? Really??? If you were sorry you would give the penthouse you have in Manhattan, fruit of the positions you've taken when you were a biggot, to the GLBT community for charity. You should be ashamed of yourself.

[ramal]

08:52 AM on 03/04/2012

Kapo.