As you know, Ken Mehlman came out. This is the man who lead Bush's campaign against gay marriage, supported anti-gay politicians and pushed a very negative GOP agenda for a few years.
Since his coming out, Ken has been raked, and I mean RAKED through the coals about his actions from many LGBT bloggers and activists. Now, I'm not a fan of Ken, but I can't completely hang him out to dry. Am I mad at him? Yes. But will it change anything to hate on him forever? No.
Y'all know me, I tend to equate some type of comic book/pop culture thing to explain my stance. So here's it goes... When I think about Ken, I think about Rogue from the X-Men.
Before she was a member of the merry mutants, she was a villain. However, she came to her senses and went to the X-Men to get her life together.
Some of them were not happy about it, but in time she proved herself to the team.I believe Ken will do the same. But if we throw him to the sharks, are we really helping matters?
Many LGBT fam are hating on him for coming out now. But think about your coming out experience. For many of us, it was not the Barbie Dream House at all. I think about how my friends, with strong religious backgrounds, struggled for years before coming out to themselves.
I don't know Ken's struggle, but I bet it was Hell dealing with his true feelings and the people he was working for. Research tells us that during our denial stage, we do some crazy and unspeakable things. Many of us try to pray the gay away, marry a woman, become preachers and some other crazy ass stuff.
Perhaps, Ken's internal battles led him to fight against us, fight against himself. Maybe he was doing his anti-gay stuff to "straighten" himself out.
But now, he is trying to change; Ken is trying to move forward. But instead of trying to hear him out, many folks are trying to destroy him. Are we that unforgiving? Are we really wanting to cause him deep and damaging pain?
Ken is a true test of our integrity and our level of acceptance. In time, I hope we can forgive him and move on. This is a great opportunity to truly watch someone rewrite their the history and fight for what's right.
3 comments:
The man is STILL giving money to anti-gay candidates and organizations.
That he did SO much to destroy SO many, I while as a human, he might not deserve being tortured the rest of his life, but he does not deserve forgiveness. He actually has to earn that.
Just saying "oh - it's so hard to come out!!!" in every media outlet isn't doing it.
I agree with Blobby. He needs to APOLOGIZE for promoting the state constitutional amendments and the anti-gay policies of the GOP under his watch, then we can talk about forgiveness.
Does he agree that it was unconscionable to attempt to amend the UNITED STATES to write marriage discrimination into our nation's founding document?
V, I like the analogy to X-Men. It really made me think. Now it's your turn to think: What if at the end of WWII Hitler didn't kill himself but instead surrendered and told everyone he's sorry and started working towards Jewish rights? Would that have made him any less condemnable?
Before I start feeling good about him he's going to need to show a lot more repentance and do some major penance. Working with the pro-Marriage Equality folks is a baby step. He needs to take a whole lot more baby steps before I'll trust him.
Don't forget above all the man is a politician. Every single word that comes of out his mouth has a purpose behind it. He came out because he calculated it would benefit him at this time. He is now supporting Marriage Equality because he calculated it would benefit him to do so at this time.
I believe the ONLY thing he is sorry about is that he couldn't remain in the closet. He's a snake. He will only earn my trust after many years of pro-gay public service.
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