Ex-GOP national chairman Ken Mehlman says he's gay

12:03 PM 65

Former Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman recently told a magazine that he is gay. CAPTIONBy Ed Andrieski, APHere's a sampling of the reaction today to the announcement by former Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman that he is gay.

Mehlman, manager of the 2004 Bush/Cheney re-election campaign, came out to Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic. "It's taken me 43 years to get comfortable with this part of my life," Mehlman said in the interview. "Everybody has their own path to travel, their own journey and for me over the past few months, I've told my family, friends, former colleagues and current colleagues and they've been wonderful and supportive."

Mehlman said he wants to become an advocate for same-sex marriage. He is participating in an upcoming fundraiser for the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER), which is supporting the legal challenge to California's Proposition 8, the initiative against gay marriage.

There have been positive statements about Mehlman's decision to reveal his sexual orientation from Dustin Lance Black, who won an Oscar for his screenplay for the movie about Harvey Milk, and groups such as the Log Cabin Republicans, whose members are gay. Former Arizona congressman Jim Kolbe was quoted in the Log Cabin statement as saying he has "a great deal of respect" for Mehlman for coming out "on his own terms" and "for the fight for equality."

Conservative blogger allahpundit, meanwhile, posts in Hot Air that Mehlman's announcement "won't endear him to gay activists and his new public identity won't endear him to social cons," or social conservatives. The blogger continues: "Maybe he should have just worked for gay marriage like Ted Olson and kept his orientation private?" Olson is the former U.S. solicitor general in the Bush administration who challenged Proposition 8 in court.

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