Sheriff Babeu Says He Is Gay, Isn't A Criminal, And Isn't Working For Romney Anymore
The sad story of anti-immigrant Sheriff Babeu and his possibly-undocumented beau Jose went viral yesterday, and Sheriff Babeau had some stuff to say about it. From the Phoenix New Times:
Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu ... announced at a press conference that he is a gay man and that he is no longer a part of presidential candidate Mitt Romney's campaign.
"I called the Romney campaign, and I told him I'm going to step away from the campaign," Babeu told a crowd of reporters. He says the campaign told him: "We support your decision, sheriff."
Babeu was serving as the Arizona co-chair of the Mitt Romney for President campaign.
... The sheriff and congressional candidate said his personal life was none of anyone's business, and said a couple times during the press conference that it was "almost a relief" for his orientation to be out in the open.
Sheriff Babeau still denies the central charge made by his former lover, Jose, in the New Times story: That he threatened to have Jose deported if Jose didn't sign an agreement to never reveal the nature of his relationship with the sheriff.
One thing I can't stand, and that's a hypocrite and a liar. Big tough guy turns out to be a pussy and a coward.
Posted by: evan | Feb 19, 2012 10:50:54 AM
I detest people who use a person being gay, in the closet or not, to try and harm them.
Posted by: JoeyBoots | Feb 19, 2012 10:53:26 AM
and i also detest hypocrites and liars.......ok i detest lots of people.
Posted by: JoeyBoots | Feb 19, 2012 10:56:26 AM
What a digusting man. Babeu needs to disappear from politics and resign his position as Sheriff. He better be careful 'cause Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio probably has Babeu already measured for one of his infamous pink inmate uniforms!
Posted by: HadenoughBS | Feb 19, 2012 10:59:48 AM
Another gay person using the threat of outing as a bargaining chip.
This constant threat of outing people just reinforces the idea that being gay is bad. We're always demanding equality, but to hell with the civil liberties of somebody we don't like.
And remember, the only person claiming a threat is someone who also denies being here illegally. Substituting the word "undocumented" is B.S. You disagree with the U.S. immigration policy and someone else may disagree with anti-gay discrimination laws. Who decides who gets to break the law?
Posted by: Jeff | Feb 19, 2012 11:29:28 AM
This is just sad.
Posted by: Mona | Feb 19, 2012 11:29:52 AM
I've been out since 1972 when I was a teenager. Your life was on the line every day. Every morning you woke up still alive, was still a test of personal courage and faith. Each every day we stayed alive, we created one more sliver of liberation.
So I sit here 40 years later and ask: "For what? So that deceivers like this guy get to do their dirty-work and then try to be some sort of hero?" I am starting to reach the conclusion that our early LGBT work sent the wrong message: that we were working for the right of LGBT people to be equal opportunity moroons. Lord give me strength.
Posted by: Ted | Feb 19, 2012 11:32:33 AM
Loathesomer & loathesomer ...
Posted by: Leroy Laflamme | Feb 19, 2012 12:00:25 PM
So the Romney campaign supports his decision. Surprise surprise. Stay in the closet or get out from the gop. Why would anyone support pary or campaign like that?
Posted by: Matt26 | Feb 19, 2012 12:06:40 PM
I swear you can't make this stuff up!
Posted by: Dev | Feb 19, 2012 12:15:17 PM
Those pretty latino boyz will ruin you every time :~)
Posted by: stevenelliot | Feb 19, 2012 12:21:15 PM
"We support your decision, sheriff."
Translation: You've outlived your usefulness, kapo.
Posted by: Gry | Feb 19, 2012 12:25:00 PM
Trying to decide who is right and who is wrong is impossible right now. It may be a lover's quarrel that got out of hand. Ultimately a judge might have to decide the whole thing.
I do have a big problem with Arizona however. I would have to carry documentation that I am legal were I to pass through it. My mother's family has lived within the United States' border for two hundred years. My father's family arrived from Ireland in the late 1800s. I resemble my mother's side, and I prefer to always wear jeans. I would definitely be profiled.
Posted by: Mike in the Tundra | Feb 19, 2012 12:25:18 PM
Assuming his description of his conversation with the Romney Reich is truthful, "support your decision" translates as: we were going to can your fag ass anyway." So much for the Repug's vaulted "Big Tent" in which gays are welcomed with open arms. But as he's apparently single now, Mr. Craig, Sen. Graham, Sen. McConnell, Mr. Foley, Rep. Hinkle, Mr. Crist, ad infinitum, ad nauseum will have someone to bootycall when they're passing through Arizona.
Posted by: Michael Bedwell | Feb 19, 2012 12:42:07 PM
It seems like we don't yet know for sure that he threatened to deport his boyfriend. Does he have a history of anti-gay positions?
Posted by: JP | Feb 19, 2012 12:42:13 PM
amen, TED!
I'm so sick of the grown-adult Cowardly Closet-Cases who are not actually "struggling" with accepting themselves as gay - they're just so bloody VAIN and committed to a conceptual 'idea' of themselves that they forget their adult responsibilities of opening the doors for the next generations and choose instead to cover their own behinds.
cowardice.
"Outing" people doesn't reinforce some notion that "gay is bad" - BEING CLOSETED reinforces the notion that "gay is bad" - this is a distinction that is still lost on adults who have convinced themselves of lies for so long that they've ended up believing them as truth. they aint.
it just blows my mind that in 2012 in America there are still grown-up adults who, let's be honest, aint the slight-of-build wisps who would be afraid of physical assault, who continue to give excuse after excuse for not Coming Out.
really? still? we have people coming out, visibly and vocally, overseas in places where you can literally be rounded up and killed for being gay, and these wimpy little wusses here in north america continue to trot out the same nonsense excuses that i stopped giving when i was 16 years old? shameful.
wanna know what's holding "us" back? it's so-called men like Babeu. This is not some man who is struggling with a deep-rooted fear for his life. This is not some young man in the middle of nowhere with no support Outlet. This is a greedy bigoted adult coward who is VAIN beyond belief - obsessed with his own idea of himself at the expense of the well-being of others.
*puke*
Posted by: Little Kiwi | Feb 19, 2012 1:07:10 PM
@MIKE IN THE TUNDRA, Your inflammatory rhetoric about needing to have documents if you pass through Arizona is as hysterical and unfounded as is the B.S. people are throwing around about this story. Police stopping and demanding "papers" is still illegal in Arizona. The court declined to allow that section of the law to take affect and it hasn't. That is not to say that illegal immigration is not a problem in Arizona, it is huge and yes, it has been handled badly but please get at least a small grasp of the facts before you post.
Posted by: Mike | Feb 19, 2012 1:08:31 PM
Mike, The DOJ is investigating Sheriff Arpajo of Arizona for doing many ILLEGAL acts including civil rights violations, mistreating prisoners, doing raids on businesses & demanding papers & profiling vehicles & stopping the ones with Brown skins in them, so stop acting like MIke in Tundra is living in some fantasy land. It happens.
Posted by: sara | Feb 19, 2012 1:15:48 PM
Examples from the Department of Justice of abuse in Arizona:
* A legal U.S. resident who allegedly failed to use his turn signal was made to sit on a curb for 15 minutes, then arrested and jailed for 13 days on a bogus charge that was dismissed in court.
* A legal U.S. resident and his U.S. citizen son invited deputies into their home during a raid on a suspect drop-house next door. The deputies proceeded to search the home without consent or a warrant, handcuffed the man and his son, then had them sit on the sidewalk next to the people being busted from the neighboring house. They were detained for an hour before being released without any citation.
Posted by: sara | Feb 19, 2012 1:19:15 PM
The jilted lover posted texts from Sheriff Babeu that looked like the lover AND his brother were being threatened with deportation. This guy has some 'splainin to do. I'm sure Sheriff's opposition to gay rights is well documented if he is running for a republican congressional seat in Arizona, of all places.
Maybe he'll have a more productive and convincing second act than Ken Mehlman, but I doubt it. When you fumble right and wrong this badly, public life is out of the question.
Posted by: Rob | Feb 19, 2012 1:37:35 PM
Jeff
I agree that outing someone who does nothing but live a life is wrong.
But some one who stands there and makes laws, fights us and causes harm, then going home to your same sex partner is wrong and I think fair game. I'm not saying he said or did anything to hurt the "community", I can't find anything.
The only down side IMO is he's a member of the republican party, it hurts us all the dam time...
Who knows he may be a strong advocate for us if this stuff is not true.
What do you think Jeff, are they fair game?
Posted by: GeorgeM | Feb 19, 2012 1:46:30 PM
There's a reason why I refuse to visit the state of Arizona! I can't stand racists, I can't stand a hypocrite and a liar!! and they have plenty of those in that horrible state! My money will go somewhere else until they treat all human beings with respect!
Posted by: Josh | Feb 19, 2012 1:48:22 PM
GeorgeM, Babeu has been a supporter of DOMA.
he threw himself on the pire.
when you align yourself with anti-gay people and parrot their anti-gay rhetoric (or silently condone it) then YOU make being gay "look bad" - Outing cowards like him actually proves "our" point rather well - homophobic bigotry, especially prevalent within the GOP, is so intense that it leads people to harm themselves, truly, in the hopes that others won't "harm them in turn"
gay republicans essentially urinate all over themselves in front of their chosen political allies in an effort to see non-threatening.
it's pathetic.
Posted by: Little Kiwi | Feb 19, 2012 1:53:41 PM
Frankly, I think all kinds of cruelty and deception are possible when love turns to jealousy and hate. The picture is not a pretty one, but I actually hope that Babeu is able to become a better person now that all the artiface has been torn away. Very sad.
Posted by: Yeek | Feb 19, 2012 1:57:13 PM
Totally don't care.
Posted by: Max | Feb 19, 2012 2:26:48 PM