FloriDopers: How long before Crist gets outed?

With John Stewart doing “The Govs Must Be Horny” on TDS, I figure it’s only a matter of time . . .

Can you give a bit of context for non-Floridians? Who’s Crist?

The governor of Florida. He’s been rumored to be gay.

I am half convinced that gay marriage is kept illegal in the States simply so that there will be a sufficient supply of scandal for the news media to feast on. I’m so sick of this crap. The precise flavour of who’s banging whom is uninteresting except to those involved. If the concern is trustworthiness, just come out and say so.

Anyone else read the thread title as “How long before Christ gets outed”, on this Easter morn?

Although Christ has already been outed.

Just out of curiousity, why does it matter? I voted for him, I’m a registered Republican, and I couldn’t care less.

Part of the scandal that Sunspace refers to goes beyond just being “teh gay.” Spitzer was paying for prostitutes. The Governor of NJ did not resign for being gay, but for cheating on his wife and appointing his male lover to positions of political power.

It’s not just being gay. It’s about people in power abusing their political office. Crist, for the most part, has done a fine job (I’m not sure all the ramifications from the property tax cut have shaken out yet) and if he’s gay, so what? Now, if he appointed his pool boy to be Director of Tourism Promotion just because he’s his lover, I’ll have a problem with it.

Well, it’s good that you couldn’t care less whether or not he’s gay. Unfortunately, not everyone in your party is so uninterested in the sexual orientation of other people. Same-sex couples can’t marry in Florida, nor can gay people adopt children(the only state in the union with a gay adoption ban written into its state law). The official stance of the Republican Party is to oppose same-sex marriage, and I assume that the Florida Republican Party stands with the national. Florida offers no protection from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. If the governor is gay and he supports these positions of his party, it is reasonable to ask why he as a gay person doesn’t support equality for gay people. I have no idea whether Crist is gay and no idea what his stances are on LGBT issues, but there are reasons why it may be relevant.

First, I get tired of the dichotomy of sexuality. It isn’t an either/or proposition. For a reference point - the ex-governor of New Jersey was bi, then outed for having sex with guys - which apparently trumps his apparent attraction to his then-wife…

Second… I’m tired of people being fearful of the wrath of God if we actually let people marry based on the qualifier of love - or decision - and nothing more. I really don’t anticipate a brimstone hailstorm… y’know? Why do they even care? What’s in it for them?

As for if he is or isn’t… that will be interesting. Recent trends are that Dems get caught with women, Repubs with guys… kinda odd, that…

I don’t think anyone is suggesting that sexuality isn’t a continuum. As for McGreevey specifically, he said at his press conference “I am a gay American” so your declaring him bisexual kinda pales in comparison to the actual person saying otherwise.

As for this bit, I’m not really sure what in my post provoked it. Really I’m not sure what in my post provoked any of this.

If Crist were gay (of which I’m not convinced), it would not bother me in the least. In fact, if he is gay I wish he would come out. And then he would denounce Amendment 2 which I fully believe was placed on the ballot for November to bring out the gay hate vote (which will ostensibly translate into a strong Republican vote/turnout during the November general election).

Well, for one thing, McCain still needs a running mate. There are no obvious front-runners for that job. Crist would make a good choice . . . except for that one little thing that didn’t seem to matter much at all in a state election . . .

And here I thought he’d chosen Lieberman, the way the two of them have been welded together recently.

They’re gonna crucify him.

Nah, it’s been done to death.

What are the sources of the “Crist is gay” rumors? I’ve heard them a lot, but never attached to any particular evidence. People seem to mention it as a given, though.

According to his wiki bio, he was married once (to a woman), but it only lasted a few months, so I guess you could spin that as evidence for or against.

In any case, while I’m sure most dopers wouldn’t care, I doubt it would do wonders for his political career as a Republican either for future FL state office or nationally.

Per this story:

So, some rock solid foundation there. Elsewhere in the story it mentions that the rumors had been swirling for years before this video supposedly surfaced, and there are stories that call him a “conformed bachelor” and one from during his campaign stating he “lives alone” in a rented apartment, owns “almost nothing” and has “ambiguous” relationships with women.

The rumors of Crist being gay are persistent around Florida politics. In fact, the topic came up among friends having dinner a few weeks ago when we were discussing possible running mates for McCain. The attitude (among a fairly liberal contingent) was that it would be good to have a gay VP - the issue of the veracity of the “gay rumor” wasn’t doubted.

I was so intrigued by the confidence associated with the story that I asked some gay people at the office if they thought Crist was gay (I realize that there isn’t some sign-in sheet or anything, but I was interested in opinions). Everybody agreed that it was a persistent rumor, but nobody could verify it.

Having said that, one attorney in my office (a female) claims that Crist hit on her once at a bar when he was still attorney general (she rebuked him). She’s someone with integrity, so I don’t have any reasons to doubt her. Further, I once saw a news report about Crist’s girlfriend. Obviously, these types of paramours could be mere “cover” for a gay lifestyle. Or he’s bisexual. Hard to say, but there’s at least plausibility that he’s into women.

I thought I remembered some sort of scandal before the gubernatorial election that he supposedly has a love child somewhere, but that didn’t seem to hurt his campaign. Although if it’s true it really doesn’t prove he’s not gay.

My gf says that we’ll know he’s gunning for the VP slot if he very publicly starts dating some female celebrity and making out in front of the cameras.

Thanks for the explanation Otto.

Huh? Is asceticism strongly correlated with gayness or something?