Prominent outing blogger Mike Rogers
alleges Mark Kirk is gay.
Kirk is the Illinois Republican
representative who lost
a critical Human Rights Campaign (HRC) endorsement after he voted
against repeal of the law that bans gay troops from serving openly.
The gay rights group decided to back Illinois Treasurer Alexi
Giannoulias, Kirk's Democratic challenger for the Illinois Senate
seat once held by President Barack Obama, after Kirk voted against
attaching a “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” repeal amendment to the
defense budget bill late last week. Kirk, however, did vote in favor
of the $700 billion defense bill, which included the repeal
amendment, one of the few House Republicans to do so.
“Mark Kirk told me he was gay,”
Rogers wrote on his outing blog BlogActive.com.
Rogers says Kirk asked him about the
situation of a gay man during a D.C. party in 2004.
“As my friend walked away, Kirk asked
me if the man who introduced us was 'single or attached,'” Rogers
said. “When I said that he had a partner Kirk replied
disappointingly, 'oh, well.'”
Kirk is considered a moderate gay ally
for his backing of a federal hate crimes law that includes sexual
orientation and gender identity and the Employment Non-Discrimination
Act (ENDA), a bill that would outlaw workplace LGBT discrimination,
which is why, Rogers says, he did not out Kirk earlier.
“My thoughts then were that he wasn't
THAT bad on gay stuff,” Rogers said.
But within days of Kirk's vote against
repeal of DADT, Rogers said 5 men approached him with stories of
Kirk's sexual orientation.
Last January, Kirk faced similar
allegations by his GOP primary opponent, Andy Martin. Martin
accused Kirk of being gay and, ironically, that his allegiance was
owned by gay rights groups. Allegations Kirk has denied.
Recently polling puts Kirk and
Giannoulias in a virtual dead heat.