Everybody’s rockin’ the vote

Step aside, Arnold, the term girly man — or I should sayGurley man — just took on a whole new meaning, following theacknowledgment of Daniel Gurley, deputy national director of theRepublican National Committee, that he is gay.

For those of you who don’t follow national politics, thenumbers of closeted gays holding high positions in the RepublicanParty is increasing at a higher rate than new job growth in theBush administration.

All kidding aside, what makes this story important is two-fold:1) all gays are not Democrats, regardless of what GovernorSchwarzenegger and the rest of the macho Right care to think; and2) there really is no price that some men — straight or gay— won’t pay to hold positions of power andinfluence.

In my column last week, I discussed the ethics of outingcloseted politicians with decidedly anti-gay voting records, namelyRepublican Reps. Edward Schrock (Va.) and David Dreier (Calif.),and promised that other high-profile outings, courtesy ofblogactive.com, were in the works. It’s refreshing to see onepolitical group (of sorts) make a promise and then keep it.

Gurley, as it turns out, is no stranger to controversy. A 1994graduate of Appalachian State University, where he was a member ofthe Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, Gurley worked as chief of staff forNorth Carolina Republican congressman Cass Ballenger before takingthe high-profile and influential job at the RNC. While chief ofstaff for Rep. Ballenger, Gurley occupied his time putting outpolitically incorrect fires set by his boss who, referring once toformer Rep. Cynthia McKinney, (D-Ga.), saying, “If I had tolisten to her, I probably would have developed a little bit of asegregationist feeling,” adding, “I mean, she was sucha bitch.”

Listed as a distinguished alumnus by the Pikes, thechapter’s website mentions nothing about Gurley’s girlyproclivities while an active member.

Knowing what I know about fraternities, especially a decade ago,and especially in the Deep South, Gurley probably wasn’t asGurley then as he is now.

Again, all kidding aside, Gurley’s outing is significantbecause, as the number two man at the RNC, he has been responsiblefor helping steer funds and resources to the Bush-Cheney campaign,as well as other high-profile Republican senatorial candidates, allof whom either promote or play on anti-gay sentiment in theircampaigns.

In truth, this story has about as many ironies as Bush claimsKerry has views on the war in Iraq, not the least of which is thefact that the Republican National Committee’s platform hasplanks opposing same-sex marriage, adoptions by gays and lesbians,as well as a plank opposing legislation that would bandiscrimination against homosexuals in the workplace.

What is equally disturbing is the fact that the RNC directlysupports and funds campaigns that produce and publish ads that canonly be construed as gay bashing. How Gurley can, in goodconscience, actively participate in such obviously anti-gaypolitics is mind-boggling.

When discussing people like Gurley and Rep. Dreier, gay criticsallude to “internalized homophobia” and”self-hatred,” a term often associated with members ofminority groups, most commonly among Jews, whose”self-hate,” according to Eugene B. Borowitz,”arises when the minority-group member, who takes so many ofhis values from the majority group, learns to think of himself inits terms.”

Other experts on the phenomenon point to many German Jews’near love affair with German culture as one the greatest, andcertainly tragic, ironies of the Holocaust.

Michael Billig, Social Science Professor at the University ofLoughborough, argues that “the desire to be German, theseparation from Jewishness, the association of Jewishness withdespised traits,” formed the basis of their self-hatred.

Fast forward 60 years, replace German with straight, andJewishness with gayness, and you might begin to understand thepsyches of politicians like Schrock, Dreier, Gurley and Banning.Who’s Banning? I thought you’d never ask. Jay Banningis the chief financial officer of the Republican NationalCommittee, in short the one who signs the million-dollar checksthat pay for all the anti-gay ads that Gurley approves.

You would be fooling yourself if you thought Bush, Cheney andother members of the RNC, were not aware of Gurley andBanning’s lifestyle. If you are straight, and if you areRepublican, what you need to ask yourself or perhaps your partyleaders, is who else?

Or you could just keep logging on to blogactive.com, where theoutings are happening at twice Dubya’s reading speed.

George Henson is a lecturer of Spanish. He may be contactedat [email protected].