Democratic Georgia state senator Rashad Taylor came out today after his fellow legislators received e-mails from his partner’s ex accusing Taylor of promising men jobs for sex.
The e-mail signed by “J Callahan, Concerned Citizen of Georgia” said, “[Taylor will] use comp tickets and state funds to fund his homosexual relationship,” and continued, “As a powerful member of your house, he is not using his office for the common good of his constituents but his using his office to promote his own homosexual agenda.” Darn that pesky homosexual agenda!
Taylor publicly denied those allegations and promised he would not change any of his political positions in light of his coming out. In a press conference held today, the GA Voice reports:
[Taylor said] “For some it may take two days, for some it take two years or 20 years [to come out]… I serve in public office and try to retain some semblance of a private life. This is a journey I’ve been on,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to expedite anyone else’s journey. It ought to be a personal decision.”
Taylor admitted that if the allegations against him had not been made he would not have come out. “I would not be standing here today,” he said, adding he considered ignoring the allegations.
But now was the time to tell the truth, Taylor added.
“I felt like honestly this was it unless I spoke the truth,” Taylor said, saying he didn’t want someone to feel like they had something “over his head.”
He said before today, he could “count on one hand” the people who knew he was gay. Taylor also said that he came out to his mother and family in the past 24 hours. He thanked his mother for his support and she hugged him warmly after he spoke to the media.
Taylor is the first openly gay male legislator in Georgia, the fifth openly black LGBT person to serve in a state legislature, and one of very few black gay legislators in the nation.
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Sincerity FAIL!
Pathetic! Guess you didn’t want people to know he’s ANOTHER spineless fucking democrat! Bet if he was republican you’d have that all over this article.
Protecting the Democrat brand is a mistake, and only emboldens the disgruntled mo’s like me.
I missed you when you were gone, I hate you now that you’re back. Stop trying to help Queerty. *snaps*
Daniel
@Sincerity FAIL!: Lay off the coffee, son.
Rob
@Sincerity FAIL!: I don’t know if the article’s been edited, but check out the first word.
Daniel
@Rob: It has been. See? We really do pay attention to our unhinged commenters.
Giselle
Good for Mr Taylor, very pleased for him.
ait10101
That was smart of him. If he had stayed in the closet it could have got much more ugly.
Mark
He needs to get on a diet.
DarSco
I’m happy he came but being a black man who is gay i understand his hesitation. If you are not a BLACK MAN, you dont understand the double-discrimination we face when we come out of the closet. You are labeled a traitor and less of a man by a lot of blacks. You are still the “scary black guy” when it comes to non-blacks. I am speaking from experiance.
It’s great that he came out but it’s messed up he was forced out. The best way to encourage more black men to come out is to EMBRACE them and say things like I’m glad you came out i bet you feel good not criticize them about protecting themselvesb y staying in the closet.
Religion still rules in the black community. congrats to his guy on coming out!
ziggypop
Before we throw this guy a parade, whats the deal with these allegations? Is it just sour grapes from his ex’s new boyfriend? I dont want to assume he’s guilty but it wouldnt be the first time a closeted politician has used his power unethically to keep his secrets (McGreevey, etc.)
Shannon1981
Glad he came out! congrats, Mr. Taylor.
John A. Leopard
@DarSco: I suspect this was motivated by a spurned lover. It’s a shame that it happened that way, but it’s good he came out. It is harder for a Black man to come out than it is for a White man, because being Black and Gay makes one a minority within a minority and you have to face twice the discrimination. I admire Mr. Taylor for doing the right thing.
Mike in London UK
I’d love to know what this “GAY AGENDA” is.
Can we please have a description so us gays known if we actually want to have it back from the Hetero’s who seem to be using it?
TheRealAdam
The accusations might very well be true. His coming out won’t just erase them.
IAbuseGays
@TheRealAdam: “When did you stop abusing your husband?”
That’s an accusation that’s commonly understood to be prejudiced and not acceptable as evidence.
Just because someone makes an accusation does not mean someone has to disprove it. The reason why we believe in things like innocent until proven guilty is that we realize its important to actually have people prove shit.
The guy who made these claims didn’t prove anything. he engaged in he said, he said. The reason why this dude came out was to avoid the whole use of his sexuality as an excue to claim the assertions were true.
Its now on teh dude making the claims to prove his point or stop wasting everyone’s time. Its not on this state rep to prove that someone is lying about him. I hope you can see the problem with your logic.
TheRealAdam
@IAbuseGays: Until it’s disproved, I have no reason to believe it isn’t true.
John A. Leopard
@TheRealAdam: @TheRealAdam: In America there is a presumption of innocence. You sound like a bigot.
John A. Leopard
@Mike in London UK: Agreed, there is no one “Gay Agenda”, there is only a desire to be treated just like everyone else. In essence, the Gay Agenda is “Do unto others as you would have done to you.” Doesn’t that sound familiar? (grin)
IAbuseGays
@TheRealAdam: Well, until you prove you aren’t a completely retard, I am going to ignore you from this point.
~PR~
@John A. Leopard: Actually, he has a point. And he didn’t say they were true, he said they may be true. If this was a republican-anti-gay senator, you’d most certainly be all over him. Don’t blindly accept his word just because he is one of our own… we have decietful, shady people too, y’know?
IAbuseGays
@~PR~: What’s the point of sock puppets saying the same thing that you already said under a different name? More importantly- repeating a flawed illogical way of thinking does not add to your argument. The reason why we have innocent until proven guilty is precisely because we don’t expect innocent people to prove that their accusers are wrong. We require the accuser to prove their argument. Oh, and by the way- that’s true of the rather manipulative ploy with anti-gay REpublicans too. We don’t think theyare doing something wrong because of mere accusations. We think they are douches just like you because of acts.
DarSco
@John A. Leopard: Thank you John for beimg a sensible person with an opinion, not a MULE who refuses to to below the surface of things
TheRealAdam
@IAbuseGays: Too bad I wasn’t even talking to you.
You can just ignore my posts without telling me about it. But you seem to care more about that than I do.
@~PR~: Exactly. Thanks.
~PR~
@IAbuseGays: I pity you
IAbuseGays
@~PR~: Your sense of your importance continues.
~PR~
@IAbuseGays: and I still continue to pity you. hmmm… this self importance thing feels kind of nice. Which reminds me. Who are you, again?
John A. Leopard
@~PR~: No, The Real Adam said that he presumed Mr. Taylor was guilty. Only a bigot would make that presumption. I would not have accused Mr. Taylor of anything, be he Republican or Democrat, based on the comment of a spurned lover. Everyone is entitled to a presumption of innocence. I suspect that his ex-boyfriend feels that he has ruined Mr. Taylor’s reputation just by exposing him as Gay and Mr. Taylor is making the right move by coming out. Whether he did or did not accept bribes or misuse his office is another matter entirely. I bet the ex-boyfriend had been making such threats every time they had an argument – but now he’s got no more ammunition.
TheRealAdam
@John A. Leopard: Where there’s smoke, there’s often fire. The accusations against him were too specific, and this circumstance too typical among politicians, to be disregarded so easily. I don’t see how acknowledging that makes me a “bigot.”
IAbuseGays
THe thing about you PR and your sock puppet THeREalAdam is that while I am here because I am reading about this stuff in between working on my career- I suspect this is all you got. So if that makes you and your sock puppet feel better. Then I am glad to have helped.
IAbuseGays
John A. Leopard
You are dealing with one irrational person and likely a sock puppet. What are the odds that there are two people that are this deeply irrational about something like this in the same way? I think none.
~PR~
@IAbuseGays: He said, quote: “The accusations may very well be true.”
That doesn’t say he thinks he is guilty or not, he was simply pointing out that his comming out doesn’t exactly negate the wrong doing IF there was any. I’m also not saying Taylor is guilty. I’m saying that we should not be so swift to automatically assume that he is innocent just because he took this leap of faith. He could be innocent. He could be guilty. Until the facts are completely known, neither of of know enough to actually get riled up about it. What does tip the hat in Taylor’s favor is that he is revealing what led him to come out (correction: it is an ex that is making all this happen, but it isn’t Taylor’s, it his current partner’s ex) but the act of comming out does not eliminate the ‘accusations’, which will most likely still be investigated. I am hopeful that he will be cleared BUT I am not going to pretend to trust him at his word just because he’s gay. It’s nothing against him as a person, I just have little trust for anyone in his profession.
John A. Leopard
@TheRealAdam: How do you know the specific allegations? I’m an attorney and those allegations are not public – nor were they specific. As I said (several times) all Americans are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Is that so hard to understand?
~PR~
@John A. Leopard: upon further digging, it does appear that this can come down to a quarrel between Taylor’s current partner and his ex. I shall stay tuned to the story in hopes that the ex will be debunked, but this doesn’t change the general distrust I have towards our government officials. On the plus side, it appears that Taylor is not a political hipocrit… just a representative not yet ready to come out. It is a shame it had to happen this way.
TheRealAdam
@John A. Leopard: They were specific enough for me. And that is *your* (personal or professional) presumption that he’s innocent until proven guilty. I don’t have to adhere to it just because you tell me I should. Get over it.