When the first source on today's Roy Cohn Award recipient came forward approximately six months ago, he and I decided to wait and see where the presidential election went and how this person's boss performed. Dismally.
First a multiple choice question: Which nominee for President of the United States is homophobic and has a gay chief of staff at his Senate office in Washington, DC?
A. John McCain
B. Barack Obama
If you guessed "B," you're in the wrong spot. You belong here. If you guessed "A," congratulations, you passed with flying colors.
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 to present Buse the Roy Cohn Award for working against the interests of the lesbian and gay community while living as a gay man.
So, when the source an I talked again, I got some details. The main source (I have since confirmed the story with two others and Mike Signorile has the ex-boyfriend on the record) talked to me about how he met Buse at a number of gay parties, including one at Buse's house. Parties at the Buse residence, according to the source, would sometime become sexual in nature as the evening went on. The source told me, Ironically, that Buse and his partner of over ten years had a sling hanging in, of all places, the closet. (And Buse's screenames on AIM? dupontpig2008 and dccouple2play!)
My source, who did not know if Buse and his partner had an open relationship had a brief sexual encounter with Buse alone. The source, due to work considerations must remain anonymous.
Here is my delivering the award to Buse's office on Friday (he wasn't there...well they said he wasn't, but the guy at the desk seemed to be emailing him back and forth at his desk):
TAKE ACTION!
Does the McCain campaign truly support LGBT Americans? Let's see when FOCUS ON THE FAMILY weighs in. TAKE ACTION and CALL FOCUS ON THE FAMILY 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 FOF at 1-800-A-FAMILY (1-800-232-6459)! Call and thank them today