Tag Archive: lgbt


Is Ken Mehlman, the Architect of the Bush/Cheney ‘04 Campaign, About to Come Out of the Closet?

Filed Under: Crime, New
Aug.25, 2010

Hold onto your hat, grab onto your knickers, and prepare to be thrown for a loop. Because if the rumors are true, then Ken Mehlman, the architect of the Bush/Cheney ‘04 re-election campaign and one of the GOP officials who helped orchestrate anti-gay ballot measures across the country … is about to come out as a gay man.

Man, we all have baggage in our past. But Mehlman’s might take the cake.

Mike Rogers, who writes over at Blog Active and starred in a documentary about closeted GOP politicians, Outrage, is breaking the story. According to Rogers, Mehlman is planning on coming out of the closet in an article in The Atlantic. Mehlman will couple it with a fundraising appeal, apparently, for marriage equality.

Though official confirmation from Mehlman is still up in the air, Rogers has been reporting on Mehlman for close to six years, and has noted multiple times that while Mehlman was plotting an anti-gay political strategy with the national GOP, he was in his own personal life completely and totally gay.

So how should the gay community react to this? Is Mehlman the latest Republican Party official to turn over a new leaf when it comes to gay rights? Or is he a man that has had such an unforgivable past, that even his coming out of the closet and supporting marriage equality can’t undo the harm that his political work has done to the LGBT community?

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Marriage Equality: Is It Really the Most Pressing LGBT Issue in America?

Filed Under: Crime, New
Aug.18, 2010

I have to admit, when Judge Vaughn Walker released his ruling that Prop 8 was unconstitutional, I shrugged. When he issued his ruling on a motion for a stay of his decision, I was actually quite moved, though I still have not figured out why. But ultimately, I will admit, marriage equality is not and has never been on the top of my list of issues for the LGBT community.

First, let’s look at the states that have approved marriage equality. Iowa prohibits discrimination in employment based on both sexual orientation and gender identity and/or expression. The same is true for California, and Vermont. You can chalk Washington, D.C. into the same category. Meanwhile, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

All those states and D.C. allow same-sex couples to get married (except for California, pending the appeal outcome for Judge Walker’s Prop 8 decision). Those states also have anti-bias laws in place to address violence against the LGBT community.

Meanwhile, here in Michigan, we still have a sodomy law as well as a gross indecency between two men law on the books. We do not have a bias crimes law which includes sexual orientation. We have banned marriage equality through our state Constitution, and unless you live in one of a handful of Michigan municipalities, discrimination against you on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity is completely legal.

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Out and Proud, and Working for the Miami Heat

Filed Under: New
Jul.30, 2010

Professional sports and the LGBT community don’t usually mix, mainly because the sports teams don’t have an active policy of encouraging us to be out on the court/field, let alone be out and proud in the stands.

But that seems to be changing – a bit. You’d never think it, but it seems that professional sports teams are warming to the idea of having LGBT nights. When it comes to the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Golden State Warriors in California became only the third team to hold an LGBT-focused event earlier this year. The Toronto Raptors were first in 2004, followed by the Philadelphia 76ers.

I wanted to get a sense of what’s going on behind the scenes at a professional sports team. I got in with Lorrie-Ann Diaz, director of marketing communications and advertising for LeBron James’ new team the Miami Heat. Lorrie-Ann is out and proud and offered some great insight on what it’s like to work for a professional sports team and how “the straights” and she interact.

I want to know what your experience has been like as a lesbian working for a major sports team. It sounds like it has been a positive one. Can you tell me why?

I’m delighted to say that my experience as an out lesbian working for a major pro sports team has been a very good one. Perhaps it sounds cliché, but the HEAT’s business operation is a microcosm of our city. We are a very diverse workforce – at every level. And fortunately for those of us who work here, this diversity is welcomed and celebrated.

At the end of the day, we work in sports and entertainment: an industry that creates fun. As such, playfulness and fun is part of our professional DNA. Well, during my first year with the club, my then girlfriend sent me a bouquet of flowers. As I carried the bouquet back to my desk (our office is wide open, like a newsroom), my boss jokingly teased, “Ooh! Someone’s got a man!”

I smiled to myself and thought: “There’s no way I’ll be able to stomach more of that teasing! It will be too stressful and taxing to lie about who I am.” So a few days later, I invited my boss (the EVP/CMO) out to lunch.

At lunch, when I disclosed my sexuality (and he apologized for his unwitting faux pas), he was incredibly kind, compassionate and very supportive. And I knew part of that compassion and understanding stems from his own life (he’s a minority himself and in an inter-racial marriage).  When I think back to that time – 2010/2011 will be my 11th season – it was only about eight months into my employment with the HEAT. I knew I was taking an enormous risk. But his reaction exceeded my expectations and, as the fairytale goes, we’ve lived happily ever after!

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