McCollum Bent Over Backward for Rekers

This Rentboy scandal gets more interesting as we learn how hard Bill McCollum fought to ensure George Rekers was hired as an anti-gay expert by the State of Florida. Apparently, the prosecutors working for McCollum advised against bringing Rekers on board because other legal officials viewed his 'expertise' as suspect.

Rekers, of course, was since disgraced for taking a European vacation with a gay escort on hand to carry his baggage. Of course, Attorney General McCollum didn't know Rekers might be a self-loathing closeted homosexual when he demanded Rekers speak on behalf of the state in favor of a ban on gay adoptions. A judge wasn't convinced of Rekers' credibility, though, and threw out the law, a ruling now under appeal.

From the Herald-Tribune article linked above, Assistant AG Valerie Martin warned McCollum that Rekers was a bad choice. Arkansas officials advised against him. She also had doubts about the man's resume. To be fair to McCollum, Martin never said 'Rekers likes to get sexual massages with young Hispanic prostitutes,' which is the only thing which seems to have convinced McCollum giving Rekers $120,000 to speak on Florida's behalf was a bad idea.

But what I like about this revelation is that is stresses Rekers' lack of qualifications regardless of whether he sleeps with men. Rekers is a hateful bigot with no expertise in this matter. He is just some quack who tries to convince homosexuals they can be ungayified with enough therapy. His work has no basis in science. His testimony has proven worthless again and again. What relevance does any of this have on a gay adoption ban? I realize the Attorney General's Office is obligated to defend state statute when it is contested in court, but the means McCollum sought to use in this case were onerous. Rekers made his living for years arguing that homosexuals are unfit to exist in society. This reaches far beyond their ability to raise children. It goes well beyond any argument whether the state should have the power to disqualify potential adoptive parents because of sexuality. To use Rekers on behalf of the state is rest the public case on a message of hate.

I hope Alex Sink drills this message home as she takes McCollum to task for this in the governor's race. As I've said before, we cannot say McCollum is dumb for associating with closeted homos. The message is more important than that. It shouldn't matter whether Rekers is gay. It should matter whether homophobia should guide state policy, and McCollum's knee-jerk distancing from Rekers demonstrations that as well as his poor judgment hiring the self-hating bigot in the first place.