South Carolina Lieutenant Governor
Andre Bauer has denied rumors he is gay.
Bauer recently made headlines as a
possible replacement for Govern Mark Sanford should the Republican
step down amid a sex scandal that has dominated the media for the
last week.
“Let's go ahead and dispel that now,”
Bauer said in an interview with The State, published
Wednesday.
Bauer, a Republican, was referring to
widely circulated rumors that he is gay. Last month, openly lesbian
politician Linda Ketner outed Bauer and two other South Carolina
lawmakers in an interview published on the progressive political blog
Fire
Dog Lake.
“We have more gay people serving in
South Carolina than probably in any place in the United States.
They're just not out of the closet,” she said, then gave the
examples of U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, South Carolina State Senator
Glenn McConnell and Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer. Ketner, who
came close to unseating incumbent S.C. Representative Henry Brown
last November, later apologized for her remarks.
“One word, two letters. 'No.' Let's
go ahead and dispel that now,” Bauer said, then added, “Is Andre
Bauer gay? That is now the story. We're a long way from where we
were a week ago.”
Governor Sanford, however, has so far
resisted calls for him to resign.