South Carolina Lt. Governor Andre Bauer Outed as Gay

My friend Mike Rogers (who I have known since I put him on the trail of Ed Schrock back in early 2004) has scored again - and this time it leaves the South Carolina GOP having to decide whether it wants to retain adulterer and philander Mark Sanford as Governor or settle for a closeted gay man as Governor. Yes, I know there will be whiners who say that Bauer's sexual orientation is a private matter, but given his aggressive Christian Right and anti-gay stances, Bauer's hypocrisy made him a target worthy of being outed. The rule for closet cases should be "Do No Harm to Other Gays." Adhere to that rule and your private life should remain private. However, once elected officials take official anti-gay stances, I am sorry, but they are open game. Here are some highlights from BlogActive.com:

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I am now able to confirm a rumor that has circulated in South Carolina for years. South Carolina Lt. Governor Andre Bauer is a closeted anti-gay politician who stands to replace Mark Sanford should Sanford resign or be impeached (a real possibility as Sanford is caught in his own sex scandal.)So, what is the deal with Bauer? I have confirmed and spoken to four individuals who I have no doubt are telling me the truth. These men have been hit on by Bauer, with one of them telling me it happened at least five times since Bauer's election in 2003. To a varying degree I have met with and believe the sources. And, as you'll recall, I have that 100% record.

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This was still not enough for me to report on him. Then another call came in and I met with the source while he was visiting DC recently. "He's gay," the source told me."How do you know?" I asked. "Because I've had sex with him on two separate occasions." That too, was not enough for me to report on without confirmation from others. I was led on a path to chatting with acquaintances of the source and two former employees of Bauer who served on his staff between 2004 and 2007.

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They reported to me that on a total of three occasions Bauer spent hours alone with men in hotel rooms. Each of them explained that the visits were with younger men who were not on the staff of the Lt. Governor nor had any official reason to be with him. The two men each confirmed that they had not known each other and each described similar circumstances under which these interactions occurred. One of them confirmed that he was told by the Lt. Governor's visitor he had a sexual encounter with Bauer.

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His [Bauer's]record? The bachelor is a right wing Christian conservative. He's done everything from defend the state issuing "I believe" license plates (complete with a cross on them) to defending the right of schools to use corporal punishment. In the presidential election he supported Mike Huckabee.

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Over the next week or so, I'll be providing a variety of take action activities to make sure the right people in SC know the truth (and not the rumors) about Bauer. After all, what good is an outing if the right people don't know about it? Ask Mark Foley… Ask Larry Craig… Ask Ed Schrock. Ask them all.

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There is a common thread to everyone Mike has outed - they depicted themselves as Christian and/or hard core conservatives, had extremely anti-gay voting records/track records, and all were secretly having gay sex on the side. I'm sorry, but such hypocrisy needs to be made public.