Amazing SC politician: Openly gay Linda Ketner (She outs Graham)

[Are_grits_groceries]

In what looked-- at least from the outside-- as one of the most unlikely outcomes of the 2008 election cycle, Democrat Linda Ketner came within two percentage points of beating entrenched Establishment wingnut Henry Brown in a gerrymandered South Carolina district specifically drawn to be an easy win for Republicans. At the same time, Obama only managed 42% in the district. Linda was the only South Carolina Democrat who came close to ousting an incumbent last year. Until near the end of the campaign the DCCC and the punditocracy didn't have a clue. The fact that Linda is openly gay and openly progressive on social issues-- and very outspoken-- caused quite a few people to not even give the race a second look.

I've been trying to persuade her to run again in 2010 and asked her to come by and meet our community today. Before asking you to join us in the Firedoglake comments section, let me share with you a helpful bio her brother had some fun with:


- at age 8, she sent a petition with 300 signatures to President Eisenhower asking that girls and African Americans be allowed to play Little League baseball.

- age 8 also found Linda showing other early signs of activism. She uniformly drank from water fountains marked “colored” instead of the ones marked “white” and made sure to ride in the back of the bus (for which she was “thrown off” the bus more than once).

- In 1961, her widely known pit-bull stubbornness was evidenced at a piano recital. After having blown the heck out of Moonlight Sonata in 1960, she announced to her mom and dad she would not be playing in the recital of ’61. Her mother announced back-- and louder-- that indeed she would play in the recital… end of subject. So, Linda found a poison ivy field, bathed her hands up to her elbows in the stuff and spent the next 6 weeks wrapped in bandages. She, however, did NOT play in the recital of ’61 or any thereafter!

-In ’69 she started college and was elected President of the Freshman Class. She neglected her studies woefully and spent all of her time marching in the Civil Rights movement and plotting with her friends as to how to save the world. They had almost accomplished it (saving the world) when they graduated and were dispersed. Linda’s mom blames the 60’s for almost everything she doesn’t understand about Linda.

I asked her if she thought being upfront about being gay, even campaigning with her partner of 9 years, Beth Huntley, impacted the race. "When you lose by such a tight margin, anything could have played a role." In focus groups she found that people didn't care about her personal sexual preference but respected her honesty. "We have more gay people serving in South Carolina than probably in anyplace in the United States; they're just not out of the closet. We have an awful lot of people in the closet-- Lindsey Graham, Glenn McConnell who's our Senate president pro tem, our Lt Governor... I obviously lost the conservative, religious crazy vote, but I would have anyway because I'm pro-choice... It got more national attention than it did local attention; it was no secret to anybody around here." She actually won in Charleston County.

http://firedoglake.com/

If she had had some help, she would have won. Consider this the next time you declare that all of SC is hopeless. By almost all accounts, she shouldn't have even come close to winning.

Edit: I want to know who all those other gay politicians are. Inguiring minds.....

[AllentownJake]

1. Even if these candidates lose by close margins

They force the GOP to defend turf they do not want to defend. That draws down their resources.

Howard Dean was right about his 50 state strategy.

[chaska]

2. Holy crap! This is the first thing I've seen to confirm that Lindsay is a closet case.

A friend has said for years that he's gay.

(obligatory Seinfeld edit: "Not that there's anything wrong with it.")

I've never heard anyone else in SC (where I live) ever even hint at this. I'm like 'Are you people blind?"

[Are_grits_groceries]

4. Howard Coble in NC is gay too.

I have a friend who knows him. Coble is just plain smarmy.

[pnwmom]

10. But where does it say that? I can't see where she outed him. n/t

[Are_grits_groceries]

12. The last paragraph.

"We have an awful lot of people in the closet - "

[pnwmom]

18. Yikes! n/t

[martymar64]

20. Oh No! I know!

[MADem]

14. It's pretty common knowledge, I think.

Some citations for your perusal:

http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A32974

Is Lindsey Graham gay?
Seven Minutes in Gay Hell: Is Lindsey Graham in S.C.'s airtight closet?
by Greg Hambrick

Is Lindsey Graham gay?

At 52, the life-long bachelor has been fodder for such rumors for years, but with the resignation of Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho — the anti-gay politician who pled guilty to disorderly conduct after allegedly soliciting sex in an airport men's room — the internet is abuzz over who's next, and they're dying to know what's going on in Graham's bedroom. Is it the latest grasp for the light switch in South Carolina's powerful political closet? Or the inevitable labeling of "closet-clinging self-hater" that befalls any content bachelor?

Mainstream media often avoids asking older, single politicians what they do in their free time. While there were rumors dating back 25 years, it wasn't until blog reports about Craig trolling cruisy D.C. restrooms that The Idaho Statesmen put a reporter on the story. And even though they held the story until after Craig's arrest was made public, some still accused the paper of orchestrating a witch hunt.

When GQ asked last year, Graham wasn't mean, just dismissive. He said he's not gay, just a loner. But that denial isn't stalling renewed interest in the question. In a post on who's next out of the closet following Craig's arrest, blogger Michael Signorile (www.signorile.com) first points a questioning finger at Graham.

"Let's have a real investigation of the rumors about South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who … has been rumored to be gay for years," Signorile says. "Like Larry Craig, Graham has voted antigay — including for the federal marriage amendment — while people in South Carolina and Washington have discussed what some say is an open secret for a long, long time."

Graham isn't the first South Carolina politician to face such questions. While other names are omitted from this story because they aren't at the center of national speculation (thank your lucky chinos, boys) they've reached some of the most influential seats in state politics.

Charlie Smith, a West Ashley realtor who ran for the Statehouse twice as an openly gay man, says that he finds it laughable when activists suggest that gay South Carolinians should show political leaders that they're no different from straight people. "They know exactly what it means to be gay," he says. "They just don't have integrity."......

http://www.americablog.com/2008/12/lindsey-graham-tries-again-to-ruin-unit.html

worked on the gays in the military issue back in 1993. I was helping a good friend in Senator Kennedy's office prepare for the horrible hearings that Sam Nunn held to "prove" how dangerous even the whiff of gays would be in the US military. The main argument from the anti-gay forces, in a nutshell, is that if other guys in the military know you're gay, then they may not like you, want to work with you, will worry that they may need to keep their eye on you (or off you) while in the shower, will worry that you'll try to cop a feel while they're sleeping in the close together bunks in submarines, etc. Seriously, those were the arguments.

And the same arguments apply to someone you may not "know" is gay, but someone you strongly suspect of being gay. I.e., if you're a homophobe, worrying about gay guys copping a feel in the shower, you're going to be just as worried about the guy who doesn't tell you he's gay, but about whom your gaydar goes off the scale.

That brings us to Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who likes to go over to the Middle East and play soldier. Now, I don't know if the unmarried Senator Graham is straight or gay. I do know that, as a gay man myself, Lindsey Graham makes me look straight. If someone put a gun to my head and made me guess whether Graham was straight or gay, I wouldn't hesitate to venture that he's a flaming homosexual because he looks and sounds like a flaming homosexual. And I've rarely met a straight man who flames, and then turns out to be actually straight.

But putting aside whether Graham is truly straight or gay, the problem is that he comes across as gay. A lot of my gay friends and colleagues think he looks and talks over-the-top gay. And I find it hard to believe that members of the US military, who have turned being manly-men into an art, don't have the same suspicions about this unmarried man's sexual orientation. That, we were told by Senator Nunn, by Senator McCain (Graham's mentor), destroys unit morale and cohesion. So why isn't it a problem when Lindsey Graham is involved? Or is it okay to ruin the lives and careers of regular soldiers in the military, but hands-off when the sexual orientation in question is a sitting Republican Senator? ......

A bit of snark from Mike Rogers: http://www.blogactive.com/2007/04/lindsay-graham-is-just-like-me.html

Even Wonkette had a little fun with the idea: http://wonkette.com/401446/msnbc-lindsey-graham-is-a-gay

[JerseygirlCT]

19. Does it surprise you in the least?

I'm sure it's the case. And it's sad that he feels it necessary to hide it.

[sixmile]

3. Separated at birth?

=

[worthlesscitizen]

5. Graham wasn't already out?

I didn't realize he was closeted. I just figured it was one of those Things Polite South Carolinians Don't Discuss In Polite Conversation. Can you really out someone whom everyone generally knows is gay? Isn't that like farting at high tea?

[chaska]

7. That's the thing. If it were generally known that Graham is gay, no way he'd win in SC.

[Are_grits_groceries]

9. The Lindster is not universally loved.

I'm surprised Sanford didn't run against him in the 2008 primary.

[Are_grits_groceries]

8. I'm not sure how politely out he was.

I know what you are talking about, but usually you hear something.

[mitchum]

22. In SC, Graham benefits from "bachelor choir director syndrome"...

everyone knows, but he gets a pass because he "doesn't rub their face in it"
Crackers love their hypocrisy.

[worthlesscitizen]

23. Church organists, too (nt)

[mitchum]

24. Yes indeed

[dsc]

6. I know this is shallow but I can't believe she is close to 60

She looks fantastic.

[mitchum]

26. Let me join you in that shallow end of the pool; she does look great

[pnwmom]

11. I read the link, but I don't see where she outs him. n/t

[worthlesscitizen]

13. Here it is.

"We have more gay people serving in South Carolina than probably in anyplace in the United States; they're just not out of the closet. We have an awful lot of people in the closet-- Lindsey Graham, Glenn McConnell who's our Senate president pro tem, our Lt Governor... I obviously lost the conservative, religious crazy vote, but I would have anyway because I'm pro-choice... It got more national attention than it did local attention; it was no secret to anybody around here."

[pnwmom]

16. Wow. Was there any reaction in S.C. to that? n/t

[Lint Head]

15. My brother-in law will be devastated. He is a right wing nut repub and

homophobic. I hope Graham has to have a press conference about this.
:dem:

[pnwmom]

17. I hope so, too! n/t

[mitchum]

21. Outing Lindsay Graham is like pointing out that Reagan is dead...

despite denial on the part of republicans, the truth is evident

[mitchum]

25. Glenn McConnell? Who would have ever guessed that bachelor who owns a Charleston antique store...

would be gay?
Mercy!

[Cha]

27. Rec'd~ That is an

Amazing story..I hope we hear more from her in South Carolina!

[worthlesscitizen]

28. Wet towel (sorry, folks)

Looks like that statement amounts to far less than an "outing":

http://firedoglake.com/2009/05/30/blue-america-meet-linda-ketner/#comment-1909327

[Are_grits_groceries]

29. If anyone is in a position to hear "rumors,"

Ketner is. I bet her contacts are second to none. She probably sidestepped to avoid a problem. However, methinks she spoke the truth.

[Jazzgirl]

30. Interesting....

I thought it was fairly common knowledge. I know it hasn't been something openly discussed but I heard about this several years ago.