But for Mehlman, it’s worse. In his case, he was the mastermind of a campaign of hate for the very purpose of bringing out conservative wack-jobs in 2004 to vote for anti-gay referenda resulting in a vote for Bush. We know for certain that this tactic resulted in a Bush win in Ohio, which won the election. As charlie clark so well states, the damage of the Bush administration is untold.

In no certain terms do I support his acceptance and incorporation into the community. It is not acceptable that he can now walk into the very community that he vilified and greatly hurt. I call for a national public shaming on the level of Hester Prynne in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. He should not be allowed at gay and lesbian public events. If present, he should be publicly humiliated and challenged. If he is seen at bars, he should be confronted and made so uncomfortable (maybe with taunts of “Shame, Shame, Shame”) that he leaves. The true evil of his actions cannot be tolerated and must haunt him for many years to come if not for the rest of his pathetic life.

Don’t tell us you are now a humanitarian without bringing this into the discussion too. Another thing there is absolutely no way to fully make amends for, that I can see. It’s beyond shame, and it’s beyond saying “I didn’t know!” It’s more like “I didn’t listen, because I didn’t care!”.

The lesson to be learned here is that closeted politicians, public officials, and their staffers who facilitate the harm and destruction of the community to which they belong in exchange for personal or political gain, need to be hauled by their short hairs into the scrutiny of the power structure that they serve.