Living In Glass Houses

There are days that I just want to slap someone. Today is one of those days. I don’t know if any of you have heard about the sheriff in Arizona—the one who made himself famous for being so outspoken on immigration and allowed himself to be John McCain’s poster boy for the whole “build the danged fence” ad—but I just read about it last night before I went to bed. And well, I just think the man needs slapping!

All this time he has portrayed himself as being this major conservative dude, family-values-kind- of-guy, and now he has admitted he is gay. Not that a gay man can’t have family values, just not the kind of family values that conservative politics claims to be right. The one-man-one-woman kind of family values.

Hmmm… The reporter who broke the story is now speaking out because she’s concerned that everyone is focusing on his homosexuality rather than the real reason she outed him.

It seems that he had a Mexican boyfriend, and the boyfriend is saying that the sheriff threatened him with deportation IF he revealed the affair. The boyfriend had pics and texts and emails to back him up on the actual affair, but it’s unclear if he had any that would prove the threats. So the sheriff was forced to admit he is gay.

Now while I somewhat agree with the reporter—at least I agree that more focus should be placed on an officer of the law possibly threatening someone—I also have to say that the fact he is gay and has been hiding it is a major issue as well. Why? The man portrayed himself as a big conservative, and we all know that conservative politics does not exactly champion gay rights. So the sheriff has been living a lie in more ways than one. And a lie is a lie any way you cut it.

Can you be gay and also be a conservative? Well, I guess so. Sort of. I’m a bit of a political junkie. I started out as a major bleeding-heart liberal. Over time, however, my views changed. If pushed, I say I’m a moderate, but the truth is, I’m all over the place. I’m a big believer in the military, for instance. I think we need to keep a big military budget. I support this because I think it’s genuinely needed in order to secure the freedoms we all enjoy in this country. Do I believe in every single military action/decision? No. But overall, I’m pro-military. Period. And that, my friends, is a conservative viewpoint. On the flip side, I am pro-choice. And that is a very liberal viewpoint. Then there are the gray areas—capital punishment, for example. I have a lot of trouble with that one sometimes.

The point I’m trying to make is yeah, I guess you can be gay and still have conservative viewpoints. Just like I can be liberal on some issues and conservative on others. But…hmmm…

When it comes to personal issues of freedom—the legislation of what a chosen few believe to be moral—I draw the line. I could never support any candidate who didn’t support gay rights even if I agreed with that candidate on other conservative issues. Personal freedom is what our country is all about first and foremost. Simply put, it’s why we are all here. Freedom of speech, religion, press, etc. To hopefully live and love as we please.

So how can a gay man support candidates—or in this case be a conservative candidate for Congress (yep, he is running for Congress in a very conservative district)—and KNOW…absolutely KNOW…that his conservative brethren would, for the most part, not support his right to live and love as he pleases? What would happen IF he had been elected and served in Congress and all of this had never been brought to light? Would he support gay rights in Congress despite what the conservative platform dictates? I don’t think so. It’s my understanding that throughout the congressional campaign he has not taken a stand on any gay issues.

Sex scandals. We’ve damn sure seen enough of them, haven’t we? And I’ve always said that I don’t care what a man (or woman) does in their bedroom. For the most part—for the MOST part—it has nothing to do with how they govern. But there are instances in which their indiscretions do reveal just how dumb they are. It’s one thing to have an affair just for the sake of sex and sex alone—Bill Clinton, JFK, etc. (I honestly don’t think that Monica or Marilyn had any impact on important votes or policy, LOL)—but it’s another thing if an affair can somehow impact the way a lawmaker votes or doesn’t vote. And in the instance of this sheriff, now congressional candidate, he screwed up big time.

You know the guy could have had a very real impact on our world had he “listed” himself as a conservative gay man. I could see that. Maybe he could have helped soften the conservative viewpoint on gay rights. Who knows? And since he is trying his best to turn the focus of all this on the fact that he is gay and denying that he threatened his lover, maybe he now sees the error of his ways and understands that he could really do some good in this world just by being honest.

What I don’t understand and never will is why anyone sends naughty pics of themselves or emails over the Internet or in text and think they will never see the light of day?  Especially if you’re running for public office or are a famous person. Jeez. That in itself sort of sabotages credibility. I mean, doesn’t it kind of prove that the person has bad judgment?

I guess some people like playing with fire. But I still subscribe to what my granny always said: “People who live in glass houses should never throw rocks.”