Congressman Steve Rothman says a member of his own family persuaded him to change his position on same-sex marriage.
The Bergen County Democrat says he now supports gay and lesbian couples’ right to marry, and has become a member of the House Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Caucus.
Rothman said his 19-year-old stepdaughter, who is a lesbian, convinced him that same-sex couples deserve the right to marry.
Speaking on Sirius Satellite Radio’s OutQ program Tuesday afternoon, the 55-year-old congressman said he has long supported civil unions but now backs gay marriage because old arguments against same-sex unions no longer work.
Archive for the ‘LGBT’ Category
Amazing.
The folks at Pensito Review have been doing a little research this afternoon:
At about 2:30 p.m, when I checked the John McCain website for confirmation that Troy King, the attorney general of Alabama, was McCain’s Alabama campaign chairman, I found this link to a news release on the site. A few minutes after I posted the article, “McCain’s Alabama Chairman Reportedly Outed – Attorney General Troy King Has a Record of Homophobic Rhetoric,” a commenter let me know that McCain webpage was blank.
A search on the campaign site for “Troy King” returned no results, however if you Google “Troy King” and “John McCain
I happened to still have the page open, so made the capture of it above. The news release was just a run-of-the-mill announcement from January of the Alabamians named by McCain to his “leadership team” in the state. Here’s the text:
For Immediate Release
January 29, 2008 Contact: Press Office
703-650-5550John McCain 2008 Announces Alabama Leadership Team
ARLINGTON, VA — U.S. Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign today announced its Alabama Leadership Team. United States Congressman Spencer Bachus will serve as the Southeastern United States Congressional Chair of the McCain campaign. Alabama Attorney General Troy King will serve as Chair of the McCain 2008 Alabama campaign. Representative Bachus and Attorney General King will continue to lead the growing grassroots organization on behalf of John McCain’s candidacy in Alabama.
“Lots of candidates talk about the issues important to conservatives. But, only one candidate has a record to back up his rhetoric, and that’s John McCain,” said Congressman Spencer Bachus. “For twenty-four years, John McCain has taken bold positions on the cornerstone conservative issues of life, marriage, and limited government. It is with pride and gratitude that I am supporting my friend, John McCain for president.”
“John McCain is the best hope for conservatives to succeed in November,” said Attorney General Troy King. “He is a principled conservative with a clear record of supporting a strong national defense, fighting for fiscal responsibility, and defending the sanctity of life. John McCain has served our country his entire life, and I am honored to lead his efforts here in Alabama.”
John McCain thanked the leadership of his Alabama campaign. “As a representative in the United States Congress, Spencer has displayed his commitment to the people of Alabama,” said Senator McCain. “Troy is an outstanding public servant and passionate advocate for the rule of law. Both of these men are dedicated to the principles of limited government and traditional values that we share. I’m proud to have Republican leaders and dedicated public servants like Spencer Bachus and Troy King leading my campaign to victory in Alabama.”
JOHN MCCAIN 2008 ALABAMA LEADERSHIP TEAM
Southeastern United States Congressional Chair
Congressman Spencer Bachus, BirminghamState Chair
Attorney General Troy King, MontgomeryHonorary Chair
Former Alabama GOP Chairman Winton Blount, MontgomeryLegislators for McCain Co-Chairs
State Senator Ben Brooks, Mobile
State Representative Cam Ward, AlabasterLegislator for McCain
State Representative Warren Beck, Geneva
State Representative Randy Davis, Daphne
State Representative Owen Drake, Leeds
State Representative Joe Faust, Fairhope
State Senator Steve French, Birmingham
State Representative Todd Greeson, Ider
State Representative Mike Hill, Columbiana
State Representative Jim McClendon, Springville
State Representative Allen Treadaway, Morris
State Representative Jack Williams, BirminghamVeteran Chair
Don Fisher, MontgomeryVeteran Co-Chairs
Roland Day, Birmingham
Gen. Charles Ingram, Troy
Capt. Hal Pierce, DaphneMayoral Chair
Mayor Pat Thomas, DothanMayoral Co-Chairs
Mayor Sheldon Day, Thomasville
Mayor Tim Kant, FairhopeLawyers for McCain Co-Chairs
Judge Terry Butts, Luverne
Matt Lembke, Birmingham
The state of Alabama remains abuzz over just what is going on with these Troy King resignation rumors. The Republican Attorney General, who succeeded William Pryor after his controversial appointment to the federal bench, has been seen by many as a potential gubernatorial candidate when current Governor Bob Riley leaves office.
There are some who believe the initial source of the rumors are those from Riley himself. It has long been rumored that Riley’s reason for running for Congress, and later Governor, was to pave a path for his son Rob Riley, a former SGA president and leader of the Machine at the University of Alabama. Rob Riley was on the infamous conference call with GOP operative Bill Canary and Dana Jill Simpson, when it was inferred that Canary would use Karl Rove and the Justice Department to investigate Riley’s former opponent, Governor Don Siegelman.
WSFA, Montgomery’s WSFA affiliate told some bloggers who inquired about the station running a story on King, said that King was going through a divorce, and that they wouldn’t be running a story of such a private matter.
Common Sense, at the Alabama blog, Left In Alabama, reports:
Sources at the Montgomery Advertiser say that they have been sitting on the story for a couple of weeks. They’re working the story fast and furiously but won’t run until they get official confirmation due to possible exposure to a lawsuit from King. Their sources tell them that Troy King was caught in a compromising situation with a male aide at King’s home by his wife. The Montgomery Advertiser is trying to determine who King would submit his resignation to – is it Gov. Bob Riley? A press release from King’s office stated that he was supposed to be in Mobile yesterday (Wednesday). The Mobile-Register is working the story as well.”
The rumor mill in Montgomery is swirling of news of a potential resignation by Republican Attorney General Troy King, amid rumors that he was caught by his wife having sex with a male aide and subsequently banished from his home by his wife. King, a potential GOP frontrunner for Governor in 2010, succeeded Bill Pryor, one of George W. Bush’s most controversial judicial nominees. In addition, King was also an early endorser of John McCain.
The Locust Fork Journal:
A spokesperson for Alabama Governor Bob Riley denied that Attorney General Troy King is preparing to resign in the wake of a massive rumor campaign that has yet to be fully confirmed. The word is, according to multiple sources in Montgomery and elsewhere, that King was recently caught by his wife in a gay affair with a male aide and banished from his home.
According to Tara Hutchison in the executive office of the governor they have heard of no plans in the works for King’s resignation. She said she had not heard that he had been kicked out of his home because of a gay affair.
Governor Bob Riley’s press office refused to return multiple phone calls from this independent press outlet even though some sources accuse Riley of perpetrating the leak. The attorney general’s press office also declined to return phone calls seeking comment.
The Locust Fork News and Journal heard about this a couple of weeks ago from a Montgomery lawyer, and have had numerous contacts with people trying to confirm the truth of the rumor.
Left In Alabama:
I just heard from a very reliable source that Troy Boy is resigning as Attorney General. No report of King’s official reason, but the unofficial reason almost certainly involves the rumors swirling around Montgomery that he was recently caught in embarassing misconduct. The resignation may be enough to keep King’s personal life out of the papers, but I don’t look for him to run for governor in 2010.
I’m almost sorry to see him go — Troy was like a caricature of the Republican party. Never met a death sentence he didn’t like, against sexual gratification, publicity hound, etc. … life as an Alabama blogger will be harder without Troy King.
Last month, the Sydney Morning Herald announced that Australian Olympic diver Matthew Mitcham had come out of the closet, but Mitcham, in a new interview with Australia’s gay newspaper SX, says he’s been out since he’s 14. Mitcham, who will be Australia’s first openly gay Olympian when he competes in Beijing, is now 20.
Sheer beauty from Twitch and Kherington from this week’s “So You Think You Can Dance.” Mia Michaels ‘always has the best SYTYCD routines.
Fishbowl America Round-Up for July 8th:
- “Lost” To Air on Sci-Fi Channel – Sci-Fi has jumped in to help us all with the hiatus blues and announced it will begin airing 4 hour blocks of LOST every Monday at 7:00pm starting September 15. The episodes will run in order up to the season 4 finale.
- Carey Takes Helm of National Gay and Lesbian Task Force – Rea Carey was happily serving as interim executive director of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force until a few months ago. The organization had embarked on an extensive search to find a replacement for Matt Foreman, who resigned in January.
- What the Pregnant Man Didn’t Deliver – By the time Thomas Beatie, “the Pregnant Man,” strode across Oprah Winfrey’s stage on April 3, his story had already become a worldwide phenomenon. Beatie — a transgendered man who was born a woman and became pregnant through artificial insemination — h
- Alabama Senate: Sessions 58, Figures 34; Obama down by 15 – Rasmussen Reports takes another snapshot of the Alabama Senate race, this time finding Sen. Jeff Sessions leading his Democratic challenger Sen. Vivian Davis Figures, 58 percent to 34 percent.
- Retired Military Leaders Come Out Against Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell / Queerty – Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell took a severe blow today. A study released today asserts that openly gay soldiers do not threaten unit cohesion.
- Wockner: The Day ACT UP Put a Condom On Jesse Helms’ House – AIDS activists inflated a giant “reservoir-tipped condom” over U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms’ house Sept. 5 [1991] in Arlington, Va., a suburb of Washington, D.C.
- A Clintonian at Fox – Howard Wolfson, who was a top strategist for the presidential campaign of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, is going where some Democrats were unwilling to go during the early days of the election season: the Fox News Channel.
- Charred Bodies Found on Tijuana Street – Police on Monday found six charred bodies on a Tijuana street following a bloody weekend that left 14 people dead.
Nominated for Best Documentary at the 2006 GLAAD Media Awards, WE ARE DAD is the story of a gay couple who are pediatric AIDS nurses that become foster parents to infants who are HIV positive, and decide to challenge the State of Florida’s law banning adoption by gay people.
The film follows the lives of a most unusual family: Two white HIV negative gay men and their family of five kids. Four of them have AIDS, three are black, two come from a backwater cult in Oregon, and one of the children has been in the middle of one of the most hotly debated issues in this country: gay adoption. We follow these delightful men through the highs and lows of their 18 year struggle to raise this amazing family.
Fishbowl America Round-Up for July 5th through July 6th:
- Tablet ignites debate on messiah and resurrection – A three-foot-tall tablet with 87 lines of Hebrew that scholars believe dates from the decades just before the birth of Jesus is causing a quiet stir in biblical and archaeological circles, especially because it may speak of a messiah who will rise from the dead after three days.
- The United States of Fat – CalorieLab has out their annual “fattest States” and it’s no surprise. Folks just keep getting fatter, so much so that they had to change the categories slightly so it wasn’t a wash of red, fat, states.
- Israel weighs Jerusalem separation – Israel should cut off outlying Arab neighborhoods from Jerusalem, Deputy Prime Minister Haim Ramon demanded Thursday, a day after a Palestinian construction worker from one of those districts went on a deadly rampage in the city center.
- Lawn-chair balloonist drifts from Oregon to Idaho – A man flying across Oregon in a lawn chair rigged with helium-filled balloons has reached his destination in Idaho.