Ken Melman, The Guy who was in charge of George W. Bush's re-election (and anti-gay marriage) campaign, the former head of the RNC, comes out as GAY

Here's what you need to know, in typical Jon Stewart-brilliance:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Gay Old Party
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Now, some people in the gay community (and our Allies - thanks, Jon!) are saying that this is pure hypocrisy.

Others are saying that, well, what he did in the past isn't the focus - we should recognize how this, added together with Laura Bush's pro-Gay marriage stance (revealed after her husband was no longer President) and with former Vice President Dick Cheney's retrospective reluctance to delegate his lesbian daughter to the back of the rights bus - that this is sea-change material. That the Republican party is now telling their candidates (ostensibly) to backpedal on the anti-gay bandwagon - that it wasn't really bringing in the votes for them any more, and that frankly, with a majority of Americans now in favor of equal rights for our GLBTQ community, that it's not helping the Republican party's image. That they need to focus on what they do best, running our country into the ground financially. Whoops - sorry, I mean, "fiscal responsibility." Yeah, they did so good with that during those Bush years.

On the one hand, I'm glad that Ken Mehlmen, as a human being, is finally able to live his truth.

On the other hand, I'm pissed that it's yet another example of a closeted gay man working against the rights of his own community. It's a ridiculously long and tarnished list...

So yeah, I'm interested in what an openly Gay conservative Ken Mehlmen will do now - and how he will try to help the community he once helped attack.

What about you? What's your take on Ken Mehlmen's coming out as Gay?

Here's more reading on it: His interview in the Atlantic monthly, which broke the news.
His second coming out interview, this one in the Advocate - a GLBT news magazine. There's this news analysis from the NY Times saying that it's not really big news that Ken came out as Gay, And this article on how it's a sign of the GOP backing off on their Gay attacks.