Links
Former RNC chairman Ken Mehlman: I'm gay
Ken Mehlman, former chairman of the Republican National Committee and the former campaign manager for George W. Bush's 2004 re-election bid, has told his family and colleagues that he is gay, according to The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder.
Mehlman, who headed the RNC from 2005 to 2007, becomes the highest-profile national Republican figure to come out as gay.
In the interview, Mehlman said that he reached the decision to come out in part because he would like to play a greater role as an advocate for same-sex marriage.
He added that earlier this year, he participated in a fundraiser for the American Foundation for Equal Rights, an organization that has fought the Proposition 8 ballot initiative banning same-sex marriage in California. An appeals court ruled earlier this month that the ban will stay in place until December, overruling a federal judge's decision that the ban was unconstitutional.
Former U.S. Solicitor General Ted Olson, a prominent Republican lawyer, has been leading the legal fight against Proposition 8.