Arizona Anti-Immigration Republican Governor Jan Brewer Campaign Manager Engages In Abhorrent Gay-Baiting

The Tucson Sentinel reports that Wednesday Chuck Coughlin, Arizona Republican Governor Jan Brewer’s campaign manager, removed a link to a 20-year old court document that contains rumours Attorney General Terry Goddard is gay. On the blog on of Coughlin’s political consulting firm, he had linked to a 1990 transcript from the AZSCAM corruption investigation that cited rumours Goddard, who is the Democratic gubernatorial candidate – and challenger to Brewer – is gay. Tuesday, Goddard, married with a young son, was asked by KTAR radio if he was gay, Goddard replying “No.” On Wednesday, in an attempt to be post-post-modern, Coughlin posted to his blog “We have heard from some people who were offended by our blog yesterday. For that, we apologize. Our purpose was to point out how ridiculous it has become that blogs and other irrelevant speculation are being used to create rumours that the media takes seriously.” As sincere as Coughlin’s sentiments seem, however, Tuesday he demanded Goddard prove he is not gay, the Arizona Guardian reporting “Chuck Coughlin made those comments as he explained why the governor had no intention of releasing her medical records even though Goddard was planning to publicize his later in the week. ‘What’s next, is he going to release his SAT scores? How about his high school GPA.,’ Coughlin said during a telephone interview. ‘How about (Goddard) release the results of a lie detector test showing he never slept with a man?’” Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said Coughlin’s statements are “outrageous gay-baiting” by a “grown up bully,” adding that “The outrageous rhetoric being spewed by Jan Brewer’s campaign speculating about Attorney General Goddard’s sexual orientation is the worst politics has to offer. Given the recent news of LGBT related suicides across the country, this toxic political environment only serves to fuel the fire of hatred and homophobia.”