Gay slur comes back to haunt Richardson

Posted 7/11/2007 01:46:00 PM

Gov. Bill Richardson is coming under fire for a gay slur he made during a radio interview more than a year ago.

The site Gay News Watch reported Tuesday on Richardson using a Spanish-language slur for gay people during a March 29, 2006 interview with former talk-show host Don Imus.

Imus used the word “maricón” – which is most commonly translated as “faggot” – in telling Richardson that an Imus staffer named Bernard “has been claiming that you’re not really Hispanic.”

“You can just answer this yes or no and this will answer that question. Would you agree that Bernard is a maricón?” Imus asked Richardson.

Richardson immediately replied, in Spanish, by saying, “I believe that Bernard, yes, he’s a faggot if he thinks that I am not Hispanic.”

The incident went largely unnoticed, and Richardson had never publicly apologized or had to explain it before now, though he did apologize privately to one gay-rights activist, Gay News Watch reported.

Richardson, in March, was the keynote speaker at the Human Rights Campaign’s black-tie dinner in Los Angeles. Remember how hard he pushed before that in the legislature, in the final weeks of the regular session and the disastrous special session, for the state to approve domestic partner benefits, a push that failed miserably?

While he was pushing the Legislature, the governor was privately in discussions with gay-rights activists about the Imus incident. Many speculated at the time that Richardson’s sudden push for domestic partner benefits toward the end of the regular session was more about the Los Angeles event and his presidential campaign than it was about public policy in New Mexico.

When he appeared before the group in Los Angeles, instead of apologizing, Richardson attacked Ann Coulter, the conservative columnist who was, at the time, under fire for calling Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards a faggot.

“This country is tired of the politics of hatred and division,” Richardson said at the time, according to Gay News Watch. “What we need in this country is someone who can bring us together. And we are fed up. We are fed up with Karl Rove’s machinations and Ann Coulter’s ignorant epithets. Actually, we’re fed up with Ann Coulter, period!”

Is this hypocrisy? Accusing someone else of doing something inappropriate that you’ve also done, even though you haven’t apologized for your own misdeed?

Richardson apologizes – sort of

Why is all this coming up now? Because, as Richardson has repeatedly touted his gay-rights record as a cornerstone of his campaign, gay-rights activists have become increasingly concerned about his failure to publicly acknowledge the remark or apologize, Gay News Watch reported.

Richardson issued a statement for this week’s Gay News Watch article apologizing, but also questioning why the issue is coming up so long after the fact.

“I would never knowingly say or do anything to hurt the GLBT community - a community that I have worked hard for and supported my entire career,” Gay News Watch reported the governor as saying. “In the Spanish I grew up speaking, the term means simply ‘gay,’ not positive or negative. It has been brought to my attention that the word also has a hurtful or derogatory connotation, which was never my intent. If I offended anybody, I’m sorry.”

Richardson also asked that people consider his record on gay rights.

“My record on GLBT issues speaks for itself. I have certainly done more to help and support the GLBT community than any other presidential candidate, and more than most other politicians,” it read. “The timing of this smacks of politics - it comes as I am gaining momentum and moving up in the polls.”

Gay News Watch reported that every official definition of the Spanish word has a negative connotation, and means a lot more than “not positive or negative.”

Not coming clean at the start, or at least in March, by apologizing was a bad move. Failing to publicly apologize while also making a sudden and unexpected push for domestic partner benefits creates the appearance that the governor was trying to buy forgiveness as a way to avoid publicly asking for it. Releasing a statement now that is, to some degree, an apology, but is really more of an excuse and a pointing of the finger at political powers that oppose him, is a horrible move.

Everyone makes mistakes. Why don’t more politicians realize that the best way to move past them is come clean at the start? Voters like to know their leaders are human, but they also like to know they’re humble and honest. They’re generally very forgiving when politicians come clean on their own, without their misdeeds first being exposed by the media or others.

Richardson’s supporters should hope he learns from this experience.