George Clayton, a Republican member of the State Board of Education from Richardson, sent an email to several news organizations last week that appears to confirm he’s gay.
Clayton is an academic coordinator at North Dallas High School, according to his bio on the Texas Education Agency website. He won the District 12 SBOE seat in 2010, when he defeated longtime Republican incumbent Geraldine “Tincy” Miller in the primary.
Clayton sent out his email in response to an apparent whisper campaign about his sexual orientation among Republicans in the district, which covers all of Collin County. Miller is trying to unseat Clayton and recapture her old seat in 2012.
“It has come to my attention that one of my opponents in my bid for reelection to the State Board of Education and certain member(s) of the Golden Corridor Republican Women’s Club are questioning my sexual orientation,” Clayton said in his email. “So as to avoid the tyranny of misinformation and innuendo in this political race, I wish to say that I, in fact, do have a male partner who lives with me in my home in Richardson, Texas. I hope this frank announcement satisfies Tincy Miller and the ladies associate with the Golden Corridor organization. All of us can now move on with discussions concerning education instead of being overly occupied with my personal life.”
According to the Texas Tribune, Miller claims she isn’t the one who brought up Clayton’s sexual orientation, but she noted that others have. The Texas Freedom Network reports that Susan Fletcher, president of the Golden Corridor Women’s Club, suggested in an email recently that Clayton’s personal life “needs to be investigated.” The TFN also notes that Clayton’s sexual orientation became the subject of rumors online last year.
Clayton’s email confirming that he’s gay has already prompted one right-winger, Donna Garner of Waco, to withdraw her endorsement of his re-election bid.
“If Clayton is indeed a homosexual, then we as voters must be concerned about re-electing him to the SBOE since the Board will soon begin the process of writing and adopting Health curriculum requirements for all Texas public school students,” Garner wrote.
Clayton, who would be the first known openly gay Republican elected official in Texas history, could not immediately be reached for comment.
More to come …
Guy’s not qualified to be on SBOE. He’s delusional.
Why do mos think they’re gonna be welcomed by the wingnut gopers?
So let the militant gay bashing begin…..horror of horrors a gay republican! Believe it or not there are many Gay Republicans and Conservatives out there, but those stuck on the Democrat Plantation refuse to acknowlege it. I am a straight person, who supports my fellow fiscal conservatives in the party with an R. There are two groups in particular that I support: Log Cabin Republicans and GOProud….these gay men and women don’t hate themselves and have different view points when it comes to handling the fiscal and social issues of our day. They receive so much criticism and vitriol from other gay peeps on the left that it infuriates me. What infuriates me further are those people in the Republican Party that “whisper” about gay Republicans. Slowy but surely, there are more people like me who are getting involved to change the system. People with names like Tiney will one day be the minority in my party but the democratic party as well….because as I see it, there are some pretty big racists and homophobes in the Democratic Party too. Congratulations Mr. Clayton. You have my support, and you will be gettin some campaign funds from me.
Isn’t it telling that the moment Donna Garner finds out that a gay man is on the board of education that the homophobia just pours right out of her; and I love how the Golden Corridor Women’s Club instigated a witch hunt to make sure that gay people aren’t influencing our innocent children! Heaven forbid. Hopefully, Mr. Clayton NOW understands that his fellow Republicans are going to throw him under the bus so fast, he won’t know what hit him. But what do you expect when you align yourself with people that despise you because of your sexual orientation.
@ Naynay: Telling the truth is hardly militant gay bashing. You should probably lay out the Fox News for while. GOProud doesn’t support a SINGLE gay rights issue. (Not even marriage. Even though the president married his partner in D.C. Hypocrisy, much?) All they care about is their money, and how to keep more of it for themselves.
Well, well, more homophobes, so what else is new these dorks always come out of the woodwork in droves to slience a gay man simply because he was born gay. They just put on their halos before they walk out the door and pretend to be good citizens, but when they get home, off comes the halo, and on with the wife beating, yelling at the kids, and being all around jerks. Ah homophoes don’t ya just love em…..just like a bad case of acne.
NayNay
Angry much? Isn’t the bull in this story coming from your side? You have a Lot of work to do, good luck with that
I Hope you do it tho
Good luck Mr Clayton. Hope it all works out better for you than it did for San Angelo’s GOP Mayor who ended up fleeing Texas for Mexico! Texas “whisper” campaigns are often very effective, just check in with Karl Rove and Arthur Finkelstein on that.
https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Arthur_Finkelstein
now he will know what an out or worse suspected gay or bisexual child in schools all across the state go through everyday.
By becoming a Republican, this guy made a deal with the devil for short-term gain.. Now, he has to pay the price for that bad decision.
Good for you, Mr. Clayton and best wishes. And thanks to NAYNAY too. As a gay republican in AZ (not TX, admittedly) , I get MUCH more crap from my “liberal” friends (both gay & str8) than I EVER do from my Republican friends for being gay. In fact, I get no crap whatsoever from the Republicans I know. Homophobes use the same “telling the truth” excuse for their ignorant generalizations as GOP-bashers (“all they care about it money”, “deal with the devil”, FOX News ad hominem BS). They are mirror-images of each other in their narrow-mindedness and smug self-righteousness. My life won’t be one bit worse whatsoever if a Republican becomes president (for example). On the other hand, under Obama’s disastrous economic mismanagement EVERYONE is worse off, IMHO. Why the hell would I want to stay on the Democratic plantation? If you can support a corrupt fat-cat like Barney Frank who makes our whole community look bad, just because you like his position on gay marriage, YOU are the one making deals with the devil.
Castorp, you nailed it 100%. Obama has to go to save EVERYONE from financial ruin. Barney Frank , (our community embarressment) should go with him.
How will your life not be one bit different? If they move to ban marriage that didn’t effect you? if gay military personnel are kicked out? Gays not being allowed to adopted not because they’re not good at it but because their gay.
How are gays on the left not suppose to think you care more about money then your self? When the republican stand up and say the shit they (I guess you two never hear it) it does nothing to you? When your state voted on You it meant nothing? I’m 60 dem 40 repub, I like my money but not more then myself. If it doesn’t effect you if a repub gets in Great but if the shit starts to come down I hope to God you two are in the front of the line. Don’t ever bitch that you can’t get married in your state or join the military, take in kids, see your loved on his death bed, you get fired from your job because of who you love and on and on. Are the dems great on all this HELL NO but I’ll put them up against your side any day. Do you realize what would happen if the GOP really lived by it’s own rules (get government out of lives)? You would hear running to the GOP by gay people, my self included. You’re not a victim in this we all make our beds and sometimes we get called on it. I still get shit for agreeing with the wars over seas and yeah my liberal friends don’t like it but they’ve never turned their back on me for it. I’m sorry that happens to you but you’re putting all us in one basket to. Barney does not speck for us all, I learned long ago that I decide who I am, you get to do that to. If you allow people to say you’re Barney Jr that’s you’re fault.
Let me ask you two something, do you believe you’re equal to your str8 counterparts or different? There is no right or wrong (I think anyway) answer
Do you think two gay men should be able to hold hands in public? I’m asking because I just ran in to this with my guy in CT, really in CT where we live. Not every person in every state is nice OR bad. Cast and Alex how old are you to by the way, 37 here. Sorry if I come off as a jerk, I’m not really but both sides have good points and both sides suck
Good, now get gone! Got elected under FALSE PRETENSES, he was NOT OPENLY HOMOSEXUAL when elected. We do not need homosexuals deciding heterosexual children’s futures. If the homosexual kids want to whine about the way it is in schools, get out and go to a Christian school, oh wait a second….