This is, I believe, the sheriff who was in the 'wall' campaign video made with John McCain in the 2010 election cycle. Pinal County is NOT a border county with Mexico in Arizona, which was the source of a certain amount of criticism, as the ad implied he had direct border experience.
The scandal is not only that the sheriff is gay, something he has only admitted because of the scandal, but that his lover was a Mexican citizen whom he attempted to deport to enforce his silence about Babeu's sexual orientation.
This is a perfect example of how sexual identity intolerance forces people to lie about themselves,and possibly worse. I don't know if the claims about the attempts to use deportation, or the threat to misrepresent the legal status of the sheriff's lover is true; time will tell. But clearly there did appear to be an issue of secrecy over the sheriff's orientation. Anti-homosexuality is an issue of ideological purity on the right, it is a position of many of the campaigns for the conservative presidential nomination. John McCain is one example of the homophobe right politically.
This is exactly the kind of thing that the Bush era RNC chair, who is himself gay, came out to apologize for in previous elections, using homophobia as a wedge issue.
It is time and past time to stop demonizing people for the sexual orientation with which they are born.
This is the reality of the right wing.
From MSNBC.com:
Ariz. sheriff quits Romney campaign, says: 'I'm gay'
Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu speaks at a news conference on Saturday in Florence, Ariz. Babeu was forced to confirm he is gay amid allegations of misconduct made by a man with whom he previously had a relationship.
By msnbc.com staff
Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu speaks at a news conference on Saturday in Florence, Ariz. Babeu was forced to confirm he is gay amid allegations of misconduct made by a man with whom he previously had a relationship.
By msnbc.com staff
A sheriff has stepped down as Arizona co-chairman of Mitt Romney's presidential campaign amid allegations of misconduct made by a man with whom he previously had a relationship.
At a press conference Saturday outside his office in Florence, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu called the man’s allegations, published Thursday in a Phoenix New Times story, "completely false."
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He said the only information mentioned in the article that's true is "I'm gay," The Arizona Republic reported.
Babeu, who is also running for Congress in Arizona’s new 4th Congressional District, quit his position as Romney’s Arizona co-chairman but vowed to stay in the congressional campaign.
"Sheriff Babeu has stepped down from his volunteer position with the campaign so he can focus on the allegations against him," Romney spokesman Ryan Williams told The Arizona Republic in a statement. "We support his decision."
Babeu, who was elected in 2008 as the first Republican sheriff of Pinal County, has gained national media attention for speaking out against illegal immigration and the unsecured U.S. border with Mexico.
