Tales from Marco’s Closet

Marco Antonio Rubio (born 1971) is a Florida success story. A lawyer and an educator, Rubio climbed the ladder of Republican success at the time the GOP took over the State of Florida. After serving as City Commissioner in his native West Miami, Rubio was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2000 and became the first Hispanic Speaker of the Florida House in 2006. Rubio was elected to the United States Senate in 2010. Like Barack Obama before him, Rubio used his Senate seat as a stepping stone to his Presidential campaign, which began in April and still continues.

Though Rubio is as conservative as Ted Cruz, his handsome looks, charming personality, and optimistic belief in the American Dream makes him a formidable candidate. In Rubio’s New American Century, any boy or girl who works hard and plays by the rules can grow up to be Marco Rubio. Rubio is an American Exceptionalist who is quick to attack Obama and other progressives for trying to make the United States a social democracy like those found in Western Europe. Though envisioning himself as a candidate for the new millennium, Rubio’s policies threaten to move America back decades, if not centuries. For starters, Rubio promises to repeal all of President Obama’s progressive executive orders “on day one.”

Though Rubio preaches a “live and let live” philosophy he is, in the words of Matt Baume, our “most antigay presidential candidate,” which might be unfair to Cruz. For starters, Rubio opposes marriage equality. To Rubio, the Defense of Marriage Act “protects one of our most sacred institutions” and same-sex marriage itself represents “a real and present danger” to American freedom. Rubio opposes the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA): “I’m not for any special protections based on orientation.” Rubio also opposes the adoption of children by queer parents, believing that gay parenting is “a social experiment.” Rubio supported “don’t ask, don’t tell,” which kept openly lesbian, gay or bisexual Americans from serving in the military. Furthermore, Rubio promises to undo “every single one” of Obama’s pro-LGBT executive orders and to appoint Supreme Court justices who would repeal Obergefell along with other progressive court decisions. Even so, Rubio complained to Face the Nation’s John Dickerson that he is being unfairly portrayed as a “bigot and hater” for his views about marriage equality.

Rubio’s homophobia is so intense that many observers in the LGBT community suspect that he must be hiding something. Rubio’s gay past, if there is one, has been explored by online tabloids like radaronline as well as by the National Enquirer. While in college, Rubio appeared on stage as a shirtless Chippendale dancer, part of a fraternity stunt. In 1990, Rubio was arrested in Miami’s Alice C. Wainwright Park, a notorious gay cruising ground, and charged with a misdemeanor. (Rubio aide Todd Harris insists that Rubio was drinking beer after hours.) Rubio’s friend Angel Barrios, also arrested that night, was later involved with a gay porn ring. A photo taken at a gay Miami Beach foam party shows a scantily-clad figure that some believe might be Rubio. According to political blogger Wayne Madsen, “people in the gay community have told me it was well-known that Rubio frequented gay nightclubs. And foam parties were almost exclusively gay events,” though Rubio claims he met his wife Jeanette, a former Miami Dolphins Cheerleader, at a straight foam party.

Does this mean that Marco Rubio is gay? And should we care? Given his extreme homophobic views, these tales from Marco’s closet would indict him as a liar and a hypocrite, like most politicians. But I don’t think that Rubio, the father of four, is a gay man. On the other hand, Rubio was born and grew up in a Miami still influenced by a traditional Latin culture, where men could have sex with other men and not be considered gay as long as they took the “manly” role. Rubio was a good-looking, athletic young Cuban, so the idea of a college age Rubio hustling for blow jobs in a Miami park known for its homosexual activity would not be inconceivable. Of course, if this is true, it would ruin Rubio’s political career, especially with his fundamentalist supporters. Which would not bother me a bit.

Jesse’s Journal
by Jesse Monteagudo