Pinal County’s best-kept secret is out.
Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu gained national attention for being a tough-on-immigration leader (some called him the new, shiny-headed Sheriff Joe Arpaio), but the attention he got from the Phoenix New Times in a story published yesterday is the kind of spotlight he’s been trying to avoid for most of his life.
Following that report — which focused on Babeu’s sexual relationship with a supposed illegal immigrant man whom he sent semi-nude photos to and who threatened to out the sheriff as gay after their relationship soured – Babeu told a crowd of reporters gathered outside his office today that he his gay.
The report says Babeu, who recently announced he is running for Congress in the new Congressional District 4, and his lawyer threatened the man, who is only identified as Jose, with deportation if he did not stop posting anonymous comments online about the sheriff’s sexuality.
“All these allegations that were in one of these newspapers are absolutely, completely false,” Babeu said today. “Except for the issues that refer to me being gay, because that’s the truth: I am gay.”
Babeu was flanked with supporters, including former and current Republican state Representatives and a slew of law enforcement officials, as he made the statement.
He admitted to having a relationship with Jose, who worked as a volunteer for his campaign and ran his social media accounts, but said that any allegations of him harassing or threatening the man with deportation are completely false, although he said he would not file a lawsuit against the paper.
“At no time did I, or anyone who represents me, ever threaten deportation,” he said. “This issue is the vehicle in which (my sexuality) could be brought out publicly.”
He also said he had no reason to believe Jose was in the country illegally.
As for the Congressman Anthony Weiner-style photos of Babeu, the sheriff says they were sent to Jose, and not meant to be splashed all over the internet.
He admitted to posting his own semi-nude photos on a male website, which he defended by saying he did it in his own personal, private life — not as the Pinal County Sheriff. Besides, he said, “I haven’t done that for some extreme time.”
“I’m not married, I’m a single guy, I don’t have a fake girlfriend,” he said. “These are things I choose to do. And this is where this should have no business coming out as a front page story.”
He also said none of the saucy text messages between him and Jose that were printed in the New Times story did not come from a county phone.
Babeu said he supports the right of gays to enter the military and thinks gay marriage should be a state-by-state decision.
Although he stepped down as Arizona co-chair of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, Babeu said he would not suspend his Congressional campaign or step down as sheriff, and called his coming out and admitting to making mistakes in his personal life a “moment of truth” which shows how he handles problems — head on.
“It’s very difficult and liberating at the same time,” he said. “I’m not going to live in fear. I’m not going to live with the threats… I’m going to stand and fight, that’s who I am.”
This article appears in Feb 16-22, 2012.
The anti-gay republican party sure seems to have alot of gay men in it! Hypocrits.
Maybe he is not the only gay Sheriff in Arizona.. What are Smokin Joe’s sexual secrets???? Don’t worry Joe we wont tell anyone you like to see men in pink underwear. Your secret is safe with us !!
From the two comments recorded so far, and the votes heavily in favor of them, it appears that Democrats do not like gays.
Wow, we now have 3 openly gay candidates running for Congress (Aboud, Babeu, and Heinz) and for the most part it appears to be a non issue. Just when you want to give up on Arizona, some element of tolerance breaks thru. Who would have figured?
Jose coming forward and letting everyone know he is in love and Babeu mad about the invasion of his private life flashed all over the internet, will be able to explain to his comrades what it’s like when they invade our private lives.
If a Democrat is gay, we praise him for his courage. If a Republican is gay, we call him a hypocrite. Liberal gays are protected from bullying and gay-bashing. Conservative gays are demonized.
Maybe the reason we call Republicans hypocrites if they are secretly gay is that they are the ones that are pushing anti-gay marriage amendments in state legislatures all over the country. They all voted to put an anti-gay marriage amendment on the ballot in Minnesota even though the state already has a law stating marriage is a union between a man and a woman. The Democratic governor and most Democrat legislators opposed it.
Mary from Minnesota
I hopped over to the Pinal County Sheriff’s webpage and was deeply impressed with the motto at the top of the page. Apparently they use boilerplate that inserts different words into the the phrase “A … kind of county.” on a random rotating basis. These words include “connected, careers, friendly, healthy, getaway, open, service, safe, and sustainable. I was lucky enough to get “A getaway kind of county.” on both the PCSO and Public Defender’s webpages. I especially like the use of the period. It turns the phrase from a potentially hollow slogan into a declarative sentence.
@Cody- try taking the logic one more step. Do you think anyone would care if Republicans were gay if they weren’t so screamingly hypocritical about gays in the first place?
It’s not the gay that upsets us, it’s the self-hating hypocrisy inflicted on others. Get a grip.
While I consider myself liberal and find it difficult to understand how a gay person could align himself with a party that does not support equality for gays, I appreciate that even gay people may hold different opinions about a variety of issues and problems, such as budgets, immigration, etc. I think that painting Babeu as a “hypocrite,” and using that epithet to justify vilifying him, is unfair. There is no evidence that Babeu was not out to his friends and close associates, or that he ever tried to portray himself as straight. It appears that he was just trying to be true to himself, while pursuing the career path for which he had a passion, the best way he knew how, given the environment in which he grew up and in which he lived and worked. Life is complicated, folks. I’m inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt (as well as the presumption of innocence with respect to the charge of threats).
Liberals will not like this fact: conservatives DO support equal rights for gays, including the equal right to marry a person of the opposite sex.
Wait, so it’s ok to hate gays if they’re Republican?
ok if he is gay, but he is a big liar
The pro-gay democrats seem to love hating gay republicans.
Wow. Still no love for the guy, but this is one of the first outings that’s been handled this well. “I’m gay. I post nudies of myself. Piss off” Exactly the way it should be – no “wide stance” excuses…
Welcome to the progressives Sodom in the desert….Tucson….it gives me that dem thrill up my leg…..
The question is not about being gay. It is the fact that this bozo was living with an undocumented immigrant knowing full-well that was the situation which is tantamount to harboring an undocumented immingrant and is against the law. Being a lawman, he was breaking the law and should be jailed for it. Here Piggie, Piggie, Piggie!!
Was he ever actually “in the closet”? My understanding is that this wasn’t a deep, dark secret as many people were aware of it. He just didn’t jam his sexuality down everyone’s throat like many homosexuals do.
He’s here, he’s queer…get over it!
Gay is not the problem. The problem is that either
1) he knew his ex-lover was here illegally and was okay being with him at the same time he was pushing anti- illegal immigration stances = hypocrite and lawbreaker (aiding and abetting a law breaker)
2) He knew his his ex-lover was here legally but then threatened retaliation for being “up front and open” about their relationship = hypocrite and lawbreaker (coercion)
Its also the fact that he used a govt phone and govt time to send dirty text messages. I don’t see any of the weiner haters chastising babeu for the same thing.
Its also the fact that he IS in the public eye and really needs to keep his dirty pictures off of internet gay sites. I don’t see anyone other elected official that would be acceptable for.
the hypocrisy is in the fact that he is working so hard to close the border to immigrants and then doing an illegal on the side and threatening him. Bad enough to be afraid to be who you are, but worse to try to pretend and then use immigrants while working against them. Gay Republicans can think what they want but they add to the problem by not standing up for justice within their own extreme right wing party
This idiot looks like one of the Village People