John McCain’s chief of staff Mark Buse has been outed by radio host Michael Signorile. Apparently Mr. Buse’s sexual orientation has long been rumored. The blogosphere has been lit afire by this news. Gay democrats are calling Mr. Buse a hypocrite, traitor, self loather, Uncle Tom, and many names that are not fit to print here. The discussions usually disolve into name calling of Sarah Palin.
Maybe I am stupid but it seems to me that Mark Buse has just as much right to work for McCain as any other employer. I have a hard time believing that every gay person works for a gay friendly company. And I don’t see where John McCain or Sarah Palin by extension has been gay unfriendly. McCain supports the states rights to make the decisions regarding gay marriage. Not unlike Barrack Obama. Sarah Palin goes to a church that offers the whole ex-gay experience but other than that I haven’t heard her views on homosexuality. Seems to me they are both being painted with the same Republican brush.
If John McCain hired Mark Buse that says to me that he is a tolerant boss. Maybe that isn’t good enough I don’t know.
I can’t put my finger on why this bothers me so much. Why gay men turn on another gay man for his career choices. He is still gay. Doesn’t it help to have more gay people working in the system, trying to change things from the inside, than just to sit on the outside shouting that life isn’t fair?
I hadn’t heard of Mark Buse before his outing. I don’t know the names of most of the staffers on either side of the campaign. I don’t care if they are straight or gay. I don’t think most people do. I don’t care if my doctor is gay, my banker is gay, my garbage collector is gay, my kid’s teacher is gay or any of the other people I meet each day. I don’t care if they are black or Hindu or goth or whatever it is they choose to be. I do care if they treat other people with kindness and if they are fair and honest.
But this isn’t about me. I’m not hiring anyone at the moment and I am not running for president.
I posted earlier that my old boss was enacting a policy that gave benefits to domestic partnerships. He was forced to because he wanted to land an account. He did not agree with gay people having the right to marry and thought that giving them the same benefits as married couples was wrong. I presume that John McCain hired Mark Buse becuase he felt he was the most qualified for the position. I’d rather work for McCain.
You can’t legislate away bigotry. Which is where the two parties really are different and why until the gay democrats realize this things won’t change all that much.
I have a dear gay friend who is trying desperately to help me understand all of the intracacies of gay politics. He once said to me that he preferred to live his life as a decent guy, hard worker, wonderful father and partner and then, when people realized what a cool and interesting person he was he threw in there that he was gay.
My daughter is the youngest girl on the block at the moment. She is not nearly as mature as the older girls and demonstrates it by crying when she doesn’t get her way. Becuase the other parents want to be fair and treat her well they insist that their children play with her even when she is no fun to play with. This does no one any good. The lesson is never learned since my daughter still has friends to play with. If they would be allowed to shun her for an afternoon she might get the message that her tantrums serve no good and she might stop them.
It’s relevant because Mark Buse is a gay man helping an anti-gay presidential candidate win an election.
Believe me when I say or write I’m not a fan these days of Mike Rogers who alao outed him today.
The comparison you are making, with all due respect is terribly off.
NG, the comparison is off but the point remains that if you want fair treatment the best way to go about getting it is to act as respectful as you would like to be treated. I understand why people are pissed off and they have every right to be they are being treated unfairly but so many of these guys treat the objects of their disdain with…disdain. It just makes the argument louder but it doesn’t achieve anything. There must be a better way.
I think what is clear is that any other minority community would welcome such differences of opinion. For example if David Duke’s Chief of Staff for 17 years had been an African-American man, I honestly think the press would have honored his request to keep his skin color private.
The African-American community, like most minority groups welcomes differences of opinion with regard to segregation, civil rights, etc. If an African-American had worked tirelessly for David Duke, who’s business is that and why would anyone in the press mention a private characteristic like his skin color? That would be outrageous.
re: fair treatment
I don’t see how that can be accomplished when there are gay people selling out their personal integrity (and others) in exchange for the almighty corporate dollar.
There’s an underlayer of arrogance in the comment as well. “You better treat us with respect, or else.” I have (read) that line used against me way too many times before.
Difference of opinion does not mean selling out oneself or others in exchange for prosperity, CW.
Buse has deliberately promoted discrimination and violence against queers by being McCain’s Chief of Staff. If Buse is indeed gay, he should be the subject of community wide sex/dating/socializing boycott. Why should we have anything to do with people who deliberately endanger us?
I am sick and tired of people making excuses for vicious homophobes like Buse.
Let’s not beat up the guy in the media. If we have a problem with him, just go all Lysistrata on his ass.
But seriously, I’m a bit torn on the issue. On one hand, it does seem that Buse is part of a community and working against that community, which by some definitions, would be traitorous. On the other hand, the first point assumes that there is a gay community that one can be a part of and that can be acted against. I know that the QTLBG(etc.) folks I know speak of a gay community, but it is possible to be gay and to be only tangentially part of it. It’s sort of like having a mailing address for a town you live outside of.
Sounds deep, but it isn’t.