E.B.'s Journal

OUTED! McCain Chief Of Staff Mark Buse

Over the past month I've
been contacted by three different individuals (two of them members of the Log
Cabin Republicans) claiming that McCain's Senate chief of state, Mark Buse, is
gay. None of these individuals would be quoted by name, though each described
Buse as being rather "open" to those around him and to his family – in a
"glass closet" rather than deeply undercover or trying to appear
heterosexual.

Then I was contacted in recent weeks by 46-year-old Brian
Davis, an Arizona resident, who told me about his intimate relationship with
Mark Buse (confirmed by his mother, as well as by a long-time friend), and who
decided he needed to tell the truth about Buse, on the record, in light of
John McCain's dramatic shift to the ideological religious right in this
election and his choice of Sarah Palin, starlet of the evangelical movement,
as a running mate. (Repeated calls to Mark Buse's office and calls and email
to McCain's communications office in the Senate regarding this story were
unreturned. Mike Rogers, the blogger and activist who revealed the truth about
Senator Larry Craig and others in politics, today reports this same reality
about Mark Buse that I report here, with separate, independent
sourcing.)

John McCain is opposed
to every single gay rights measure of recent years –- from a hate crimes bill,
to an anti-discrimination bill to an attempt to repeal the "don't ask, don't
tell" policy on gays in the military –- and is publicly on record supporting a
ballot measure in California this November to strip gays and lesbians there of
their legally-won right to marry in that state. If that isn't enough to make
it relevant to report on his 20-year-relationship with a close aide and chief
of staff who is gay, the fact that Sarah Palin is now on the ticket --
garnering support for McCain from previously reticent antigay leaders like
James Dobson of Focus on the Family –- surely does.

Mark Buse, after
all, is a public figure in his own right. His role as chief of staff to a man
running for president has elevated him and certainly his controversial former
role as a prominent lobbyist has brought media scrutiny to him. And he is
running the Senate office of a 72-year-old presidential candidate who has had
recurrent cancer and who might well usher into the White House as president a
woman who, by what evidence we have, has melded her politics with her
evangelical religious beliefs.

Mark Buse is not just a
Chief of Staff for a homophobic United States Senator, but he is helping that
Senator get elected to the White House.

Does Mark Buse fit the Barney
Frank rule? Without a doubt. While McCain voted against the Federal Marriage
Amendment, he supports amending state constitutions defining marriage as
between a man and a woman. McCain knows our country needs everyone who wants
to serve in the military and he knows that DADT is wrong, yet he swings to the
right on repealing it.

Worst of all, and a demonstration of his
inability to act rationally and with the country's best interests at heart, he
picked someone who, if she becomes president (very likely), will be the most
homophobic in American history.

With that in mind, and after confirming
the information with two other sources, I decided it was time t o present Buse
the Roy Cohn Award for working against the interests of the lesbian and gay
community while living as a gay man.

Does the McCain campaign
truly support LGBT Americans? Let's see when the American Family Association
weights in. TAKE ACTION and CALL THE AMERICAN FAMILY ASSOCIATION and THANK
THEM FOR SUPPORTING JOHN MCCAIN even though he has gay Americans in high
places on his staff, including his Chief of Staff. You can reach the AFA at
1-800-A-FAMILY (1-800-232-6459)! Call and thank them
today.

If John McCain keeps
this guy on as his chief of staff, does Sarah Palin still get to be
raptured?

Honestly.

Who is the bigger hypocrite
here?

Mark Buse, an openly gay man
who is spending his life helping John McCain block important gay civil rights
issues like marriage and adoption?

Or John McCain, who obviously
has no problem with gay folks, but has adopted an anti-gay platform out of
political expediency and a desire to court people like Sarah Palin, who think
that if they just hate
enough, they'll be Raptured into the love of Jesus when the End Times
come.

Ridiculous.

Mark Buse is obviously a man of
some ability. It ain't nothing to get yourself a position as chief of staff to
a powerful senator and presidential candidate.

A20pity that he is wasting his
talents fighting against his gay and Lesbian brothers and sisters. And against
everyone else who stands in solidarity for civil rights for
all.

It's also a pity for
us.

Because his efforts have
contributed to the endless delays, damages and humiliations caused to gay and
Lesbian Americans as we wait to achieve a full and equal status as citizens of
the U.S.

John Doe is a highly
placed staffer in a prominent Republican senator's office. Doe's boss is
virulently anti-gay publicly, even though he graciously hosts Doe and his
boyfriend at dinner parties in his home. Doe is dedicated and skilled and with
the help of his expert advice, Doe's boss successfully thwarts numerous
gay-friendly bills and positions himself as a "pro-family"
advocate.

Do we out John
Doe?