Sep 14th, 2006
Queerspawn exposed: Karl Rove
So Karl Rove’s father was gay. (Technically his “step-father” but his primary father nonetheless.)
I was on the road last week when the news first broke. I pretty much assumed it was “old news” by now and I wouldn’t bother blogging about it. But since I continue to witness dropped jaws when I mention it, I guess it remains a little known fact that could use some more ink.
Hilary Rosen speaks for those of us feeling smug about the limited options the Right has for spinning this one:
…I can be snarky about it and say “since they are opposed to gay people raising children, do Karl and his right wing friends think he would have been a better man if his father hadn’t been gay?” or [I could] throw a bone to the radicals with “Karl Rove is the reason that gay parents shouldn’t be allowed to have children”.
For those of you who have been fanning the, um, flames about rumors that Rove is a self-loathing closet homosexual, I offer an alternate possibility given this new piece of information. It could be that Rove’s homo-hostility is not based on disdain for himself, but for his father. If your parents divorce when and/or because one of them is gay, if you don’t deal with it well, it’s tempting to villify homosexuality itself for your broken home.
I have seen this happen with sons and daughters who are angry and feel abandoned after a coming-out divorce. They have rage for anyone who is gay, because according to their desperate logic, if homosexuals didn’t exist, their family would still be together. The dangerous difference in this case, however, is that Rove has a national platform for his personal issues.