Sheriff Paul Babeu is Gay? So What? Not the Story Here.

Posted by in Blog, Featured, News, Politics on February 19, 2012 8:27 am / 6 comments

Paul Babeu

Paul Babeu (Photo credit: Gage Skidmore)

Yesterday news broke that Pinal County, AZ Sheriff Paul Babeu had resigned as co-chair of Mitt Romney’s Arizona campaign after some allegations surfaced regarding him and a former boyfriend. From CNN:

An Arizona sheriff building a national profile stepped down Saturday from a state leadership position with Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign after a newspaper published allegations that he threatened to deport a former boyfriend.

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu denied the allegations during a press conference Saturday. He was co-chair of Romney’s campaign in Arizona and is a candidate for Congress in the state’s fourth district.

Since then, Babeu has stated that he is gay, but denies making the threats he has been accused of. From AZFamily.com:

“I’m here to say that all these allegations that were in one of these newspapers are absolutely false, except for the issues that refer to me as being gay,” Babeu said Saturday at a news conference in front of the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office.

Tina Korbe over at Hot Air makes an excellent point when considering allegations like this:

If covering the allegations against Herman Cain taught me anything, it’s to wait for more information to come to a conclusion about accusations of a personal nature. It’s almost never possible to be certain of the facts in he-said-she-said (or, in this case, he-said-he-said) controversies, but a general sense of things gradually emerges.

My concern is different. My concern is some of the reactions I’ve seen on this story. Many of them seem to focus not only on whether or not Babeu was gay, but whether or not he should have lived an open lifestyle, and whether or not that was something he should have disclosed prior to running. That completely misses what’s really important here.

The only allegation that I think should even be considered is whether or not Babeu used his position as law enforcement official to make threats against another individual. Nothing else. I’ve seen nothing to indicate that he was married at the time. I’ve seen nothing to indicate he was involved with anyone underage, or that any of the other activities were anything other than legal and consensual. If any of those things existed? What he was doing in his private life could certainly be considered relevant.

By allowing the discussion of his sexuality and how he chose to live to even become a part of this discussion, we play right into the hands of those that wish to paint us as intolerant bigots. The decisions he chose to make in that area of his life are just that – his. He’s admitted to everything except the allegations of using his office to make threats. He’s not issuing blanket denials like Anthony Wiener.

There’s really only one thing that would disqualify him in my eyes from not only being elected to Congress, but also the position he currently holds as Pinal County Sheriff. Being gay, choosing not to live an openly gay lifestyle, or even deciding to keep his sexuality a secret aren’t among them. The only allegation that really matters to me is the one that seems to be getting the least coverage of all: did he use his position as Pinal County Sheriff to make threats or intimidate someone. If he did? Game over. Everything else? Is just noise.

(H/T @JazzShaw)

 
 

6 Comments

  1. Marc T Grove says:
    February 19, 2012 at 6:51 pm

    Awesome piece and totally on point. Congrats for speaking up

  2. Darryl says:
    February 19, 2012 at 6:58 pm

    What business is it of ours if Sheriff Babeu was cruising various websites for homosexual encounters and oral sex with young men and immigrants? As a law enforcement leader, he’s a role model for our young teen boys. He has nothing to be ashamed of for his passion for male/male penetrative sex. No one in the Republican Party could care less and we need to move on.

  3. JOSE says:
    February 20, 2012 at 9:35 am

    Of course he denies trying to deport his lover. But he is lying! JOSE, his lover, approached a lawyer to defend himself exactly because he was told FALSELY that his visa was expired. This happened before the media became involved, so there is no other possible motive for Jose to go to a lawyer than to defend himself from the THREAT. He was threatened because jose would not sign an agreement to stay quiet about their affair.

    You are right that sexual preference is not the issue here. However, you are giving the benefit of the doubt to someone who is clearly doing damage control on the defensive. HMMM I wonder why he isn’t suing Jose fir slander? OH BECAUSE HE COULD GET IN TROUBLE FOR FALSE ACCUSATIONS since he is obviously unsure how his legal situation with Jose will turn out.

  4. Merek says:
    February 21, 2012 at 9:34 am

    Nonsense. If this were a democrat caught with his pants down, the gay issue would be front and center. The hypocrisy in this article is glaring. The question of “what business is it of ours?” would be fine if that were the truth behind the RepubliRAT/TeaRACIST Fundamental Nazi Christian Party…..RepubliRATS say less government spending and involvement in people’s lives EXCEPT for those parsimonious social issues….the hypocrisy is unbearable….too much KoolAid “Tommy,” too much KoolAid

  5. Tommy says:
    February 21, 2012 at 10:17 am

    You’re accusing me of hypocrisy? Fair enough. Please point out anything else I’ve ever written that contradicts what I’ve written in this post. HINT: You won’t find any. I don’t claim to speak for anyone but myself. I await your proof of MY “hypocrisy” as well as any other clever spellings you may have for various political parties.

  6. Gay guy from New York says:
    February 25, 2012 at 10:09 am

    No problem that he’s gay. However, the fact that he was endorsing the homophobe Romney does make him a hypocrite.

    It is president Obama who ended DADT, and is working tirelessly to end DOMA. Romney opposes same sex marriage and did everything he could to stop it in Massachusetts. He was governor at the time and the courts had ruled that opposite-sex only marriage was discriminatory and ended the practice. He tried every means he could (except maybe doing something blatantly illegal) to stop it. When he couldn’t, he tried to dust off an early 20th century law that prevented inter-racial marriages for out-of-state couples and apply it to same-sex out-of-state couples.

    Thus, while I think every GLBT person should endorse Obama, I won’t say not doing so is hypocrisy. However, endorsing Romney is hypocrisy, based on what he did in Massachusetts.

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