Mike Rogers On Aaron Schock

"I think outing is so, so 2004 at this point. So 2008. Anybody who knows Aaron Schock, anybody who has half of a brain cell, knows he's gay. I'm kind of out of the business. For me, it's like—big deal. That's how I looked at it. The people who care might get a mailing with the Huffington Post article about it. If they don't, blame a bad campaign manager. My strongest emotion is pity. Republicans want this. They want him to come out. They want him to come out before the election. The Louie Gohmert voters aren't going anywhere. Anyone who's nutty enough to vote for Gohmert will stay with him. And the power structure in the gay community will literally and figuratively be on its knees the minute he comes out. He'll get awards, he'll march in parades—an Aaron Schock outing, for the GOP, is a gift!" - Outing kingpin Mike Rogers, speaking to Slate.

Mike Rogers Outs Sen. John Barrasso

Outing kingpin Mike Rogers, who has an unblemished record in these things, yesterday posted the above tweet about GOP Sen. John Barrasso, who has a 15% rating from the Human Rights Campaign. Rogers has not yet expounded on his claim. Barrasso, a former Wyoming state senator, was appointed to the US Senate in 2007 after the death of GOP Sen. Craig Thomas. The following year he won the special election to fill the remainder of Thomas' term and he was reelected last year with 76% of the vote. With three children from his first wife, Barrasso remarried in 2008 before the special election. (Ahem.) He vehemently opposes same-sex marriage and voted against the repeal of DADT. Last fall the Vote Smart project wrote: "John Barrasso refused to tell citizens where he stands on any of the issues addressed in the 2012 Political Courage Test, despite repeated requests from Vote Smart, national media, and prominent political leaders."

Outing Kingpin Mike Rogers Hints At Exposing Closeted US House Member

Outing kingpin Mike Rogers, once known as "the most feared man in Washington," is hinting that he may soon expose a closeted member of Congress.

There's a big difference between outing and reporting. I'm a reporter, I report on hypocrisy," Rogers told U.S. News. "If I have one case that's off, I'm out of the business, [but] I will never be sued for what I do because I'm right." The blogger said he currently knows of three "anti-gay" members of the U.S. House of Representatives who are themselves gay. Rogers refused to say when he might disclose information on these members or what might provoke such a revelation, maintaining that as a journalist he holds some cards close to the vest. But Rogers said he's about to get his hands on concrete evidence that one "anti-gay" member of the House of Representatives engages in gay sex. "Oh, it's going to happen because it has been happening for a long time," he said.

My first guess would be Rep. Aaron Schock (R-IL).

Tweet Of The Day: Mike Rogers

Outing Kingpin Mocks GOProud

Lots to read on Mike Roger's Twitter feed.

The End Of PageOneQ

Mike Rogers has folded long-running LGBT news aggregator PageOneQ. We'll miss it as a reliable source for JMG items. Hit the link for the back story and what Rogers has coming.

Ed Shultz On Crazy Eyes & Homophobia

With special guests activist Mike Rogers and Daily Beast columnist Michele Goldberg.

Mike Rogers On Anthony Weiner

HomoQuotable - Mike Rogers

"The site has accomplished much in its seven years. Congressmen and Senators who were first reported on here are no longer in office. Political operatives who worked against us are now on our team. The mainstream media has been educated and it’s no longer considered off-limits to report on the hypocrisy of closeted, anti-gay politicians. (Outlets like the Philadelphia Inquirer and Superstaion WGN now take BlogActive reporting as a primary source — times sure have changed.) What a wild ride it has been. Now it’s time to close a chapter on the site and to move in a new direction. I will no longer be blogging at BlogActive." - Outing kingpin Mike Rogers, announcing the end of the site that terrorized political closet cases since 2004.

Take a bow, Mr. Rogers.

40 Activists Walk Into A Room....

Pictured above are the journalists, activists, researchers, allies and bloggers that attended this weekend's Haas Fund-sponsored conference on LGBT youth homelessness, suicide prevention, and immigration equality. All very good people.

UPDATE: Via the Windy City Times, here's everybody's names (from left to right).

Michael Rogers, Eden James, Phil Reese, Andrés Duque, Karen Ocamb, Jeremy Hooper, Jean Albright, Tracy Baim, Ksen Pallegedara, Zack Ford, Joe Mirabella, Carl Siciliano, Chris Geidner, Rod McCullom, Daniel Villarreal, Adam Bink, Chris Johnson, Ed Kennedy, Jerame Davis, Caitlin Ryan, Jason Cianciotto, Bil Browning, Rex Wockner, Elizbeth Plata, Matt Comer, Shannon Minter, Sunni Brydum, Andrew Belonsky, Joe Jervis, Cynthia Laird, Michael Jones, Liza Sabater, Ann Haas, Ed Plata.

Sen. Lindsey Graham About To Be Outed?

Wonkette reports that outing kingpin Mike Rogers finally has the goods on Sen. Lindsey Graham.

Lindsey Graham, South Carolina’s favorite lifelong bachelor and former military prosecutor, is always reliably against homosexuals having any basic human rights in America because Lindsey’s a Republican, y’all. Anyway, famous outer-of-self-hating-queers Mike Rogers says he’s got pictures of one of Lindsey’s boy toys leaving Lindsey’s house. This would be SHOCKING because come on, everybody knows Republicans cannot be gay because Jesus did not make gays.

Mike Rogers has a 100% track record for correctly outing anti-gay closet cases. He's never been proven wrong.

Mike Rogers Vs. GOProud's Chris Barron

GOProud Teabagger Christopher Barron Joins Ed Schultz To Rip On Carl Paladino

But teabagger Barron can't quite slam Paladino without comparing him to Democrat John Edwards. Still, we totally enjoy the teabagger vs. teabagger aspect of this entire mess. Gay activist Mike Rogers joins Schultz in the second half of this clip to properly frame Paladino's position in the New York GOP, contrary to Barron's claims.

Sirius XM At 2pm: Michelangelo Signorile Hosts Special Panel On Ethics Of Outing

On SiriusOutQ at 2pm today, Michelangelo Signorile hosts a special discussion on the ethics of outing. The show will be broadcast live from the convention of the National Gay & Lesbian Journalists Association, which is taking place this week in San Francisco.

Our panel includes Mike Rogers of Blogactive, who was at the forefront of reporting on Senator Larry Craig, Congressman Mark Foley, Ken Mehlman and many others; LZ Granderson, columnist for ESPN Page 2, host of the web-based ESPN360 talk show “Game Night” and a frequent commentator for CNN.com; and Michael Triplett, a contributor for the media analysis site Mediaite, assistant chief of correspondents for the Bureau of National Affairs, and a board member of NLGJA. They and other gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender NLGJA members in the audience, journalists from across the country, will be participating, asking questions and commenting, as will be listeners from coast to coast calling in.

You can stream the show online for free. (Registration required.)

Cenk Uygur & Mike Rogers: Ken Mehlman's Apology Is NOT ACCEPTED

Mike Rogers on Ken Mehlman:

"All I ask are three simple things. First he should spend time with the parents of a child who killed himself after 2004, after that horrible election. I think that he needs to take the fabulous $3M condo he bought in Manhattan and donate that back to the cause that he worked so hard against. And most important, he needs to put up a heartfelt apology, up on YouTube or somwhere on the web, where he actually looks at the American people and says 'I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what I did and I'm going to work in the future to make it better.' But he has NO desire to apologize. He has no regrets, he says."

WATCH THIS. (And hang around for newly out radio host Stephanie Miller!)

Kudos To Mike Rogers

With yesterday's coming out of Ken Mehlman comes further validation of the important work of outing kingpin Mike Rogers, who had been telling us about Mehlman for years. Rogers prefers to call what he does reporting, rather than outing, because when any politician is secretly doing the very thing he's railing against on Capitol Hill, that's fucking news. When Rogers tipped the world yesterday that Mehlman was about to officially come out, the Atlantic was forced to rush out its story two days early. That makes one wonder if the story hadn't originally been timed for the infamous "Friday news dump" where so many damaging-to-pols stories end up. So we thank Mike for that too and give him props for his years-long unblemished 100% correct track record in exposing America's asshats.

Repulsive Anti-Gay Quisling Homophobic Scumbag Asshat Closeted Former RNC Chair Ken Mehlman Has Come Out

Maybe the $4M loft he bought in gay gay gay Chelsea this summer did (or more likely, brought) the trick, as Mike Rogers reports today that repulsive 2004 Dubya campaign manager and former RNC chairman Ken Mehlman is about to come out. [UPDATE: It's official. See update at the bottom of this post.]

In 2004 Steve Schmidt (then the Republican National Convention spokesman and later the McCain campaign's senior strategist) lied to me when I asked him point blank about Mehlman. "Ken Mehlman is not gay," he proclaimed. In 2006, Mehlman told the New York Daily News, "I am not gay, but those stories did a number on my dating life for six months." It's so nice to be proven right, me that is, not Ken. If this move doesn't call for a Roy Cohn Award, I don't know what does. Ken Mehlman is horridly homophobic and no matter how orchestrated his coming out is, our community should hold him accountable for his past.

As we saw with Jim McGreevy, many gay leaders will attempt to elbow themselves to the front of the line to say on cable TV how wonderful it is that Ken is now being honest with the American people. Someone will be quoted in the New York Times saying something like, "After so many years of working for the Republicans, it's wonderful to see Ken be true to himself." Or perhaps you'll read a quote in the Washington Post about how "every gay person is on their own personal journey and we are happy Ken has decided to be so open about his personal struggle." Next up will come the book, then the TV shows, and of course the speaking tour. I'll only buy it if he is really sorry.

Mehlman's crimes against his own people are motherfucking LEGION. Mike Rogers continues:

So, how can Ken Mehlman redeem himself? I want to hear from Ken that he is sorry for being the architect of the 2004 Bush reelection campaign. I want to hear from Ken that he is sorry for his role in developing strategy that resulted in George W. Bush threatening to veto ENDA or any bill containing hate crimes laws. I want to hear from Ken that he is sorry for the pressing of two Federal Marriage Amendments as political tools. I want to hear from Ken that he is sorry for developing the 72-hour strategy, using homophobic churches to become political arms of the GOP before Election Day.

We can be sure that GOProud and the Log Cabin Republicans are positively drooling over the prospect of welcoming Mehlman onto their boards of directors. VOMIT.

UPDATE: It's official. Here's Mehlman's statement.

"It's taken me 43 years to get comfortable with this part of my life. Everybody has their own path to travel, their own journey, and for me, over the past few months, I've told my family, friends, former colleagues, and current colleagues, and they've been wonderful and supportive. The process has been something that's made me a happier and better person. It's something I wish I had done years ago. I wish I was where I am today 20 years ago. The process of not being able to say who I am in public life was very difficult. No one else knew this except me. My family didn't know. My friends didn't know. Anyone who watched me knew I was a guy who was clearly uncomfortable with the topic."

Read the entire story on the Atlantic. Andy Towle is reporting that Mehlman has already agreed to chair a "major anti-Prop 8 fundraiser" for Americans For Equal Rights, Ted Olson and David Boies' outfit. Gee thanks, shitbag. That's like offering to help rebuild a house when YOU were the fucker that helped BURN IT DOWN.

UPDATE II: Courtesy of Towleroad, here's the official invite to the AFER/Mehlman Prop 8 fundraiser. UPDATE III: Oscar winning Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black cheers on Facebook.

#LGBTNN10

Here's some of the LGBT contingent here at Netroots Nation. No time to label all the photos, but you should recognize a lot of these folks. Follow along on Twitter at hashtag #LGBTNN10.

OUTED: Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL)

Citing his recent vote against the repeal of DADT, noted outing blogger Mike Rogers has lowered the boom on Rep. Mark Kirk, the Illinois Republican currently running for Barack Obama's old Senate seat. Today Rogers blogs:

Within hours of the DADT repeal vote I was contacted by two people who knew Kirk from his college days. "In law school in DC everyone knew Mark was gay," the first source told me. I explained that the information was intriguing, it would not be enough to go on. He continued, "But I had sex with him a number of times." Well, now we're onto something I thought. "Could someone verify for me that you knew Kirk and went to school with him?" I asked. "Yes" was the swift reply. "Could you recall personal details about Kirk that others may not know?" "Yes," he said. And he did. The next source claimed to have gone to undergraduate school with Kirk. I asked for proof that he and Kirk were in school together and once that was shared with me, I met with the source. The source introduced me to a man whom had also been friends with Kirk college. They both shared with me their interactions with Kirk, including one sexual in nature. The source who claimed to have sex with Kirk described personal details about the House, um, er, "member." The description was the same as the first source.

Rogers goes on to recount having met Kirk personally at a 2004 party largely attended by gay men. It should be noted that Kirk has one of the more positive records on LGBT rights and recently earned an 88% score from the Human Rights Campaign. Last June he signed on as a House co-sponsor of ENDA.

Rogers has a 100% track record when it comes to these outings and played a large part in last year's feature documentary, Outrage.

RELATED: In late December, wingnut GOP Senate candidate Andy Martin also accused Kirk of being gay, but in a typically nasty fashion. Joining Martin's ugly campaign to out Kirk was arch-homophobe Peter LaBarbera.

UPDATE: Kirk had been claiming that he was the Navy's Intelligence Officer of the Year for 1998. Last week the Washington Post revealed that was untrue and that a similar award had in fact been given to Kirk's entire unit. Kirk then said it was a mistake on the part of his biographer, but the below 2002 video shows him claiming such at a congressional hearing. Kirk's Democratic opponent, Alexi Giannoulias, has leapt upon the issue, accusing Kirk of "lying or embellishing his military record."

LGBT Activists Convene In NYC For Immigration Equality Forum

A large group of noted LGBT activists are in NYC this weekend to attend an immigration equality forum at the Desmond Tutu Center in Manhattan. The event is sponsored by the Four Freedoms Fund of the Public Interest Projects and will feature speakers from the LGBT-focused Immigration Equality group as well as experts from the comprehensive immigration reform movement. Last night attendees gathered at the historic Stonewall Inn for a cocktail reception (slideshow below), although attendance was hampered by the air travel mayhem caused by Snowmaggedon III. I should have a full report from the conference posted here by late Sunday. I'm posting photos and updates on Facebook as we go.