In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ talks with Fred Karger, the first openly gay Presidential Candidate from a major political party in American history. He was on the GOP ballot in New Hampshire and Michigan and has received confirmation that his name will appear on the ballot in California, New York, Maryland, North Carolina and Puerto Rico. Fred Karger was the first to announce his candidacy for the Republican nomination for President of the United States on March 23, 2011. Throughout his career, Karger has worked on nine presidential campaigns and served as a senior consultant on campaigns for Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and Gerald Ford. He retired after 27 years and has since become an activist for gay rights, including his organization Californians Against Hate (now Rights Equal Rights) to investigate the LDS Church and the National Organization for Marriage in their campaigns against marriage equality in California and Maine.
When asked what his personal commitment is to LGBT civil rights, Karger stated, “Well, as someone who struggled so much as an adolescent and through my teen years, someone who went to psychiatrists when I was in college to try and switch because it was the early seventies, it sounded viable; you thought there were options. Fortunately the three different ones that I went to, which was a trial to see which one I would go to, I asked all three about switching, fortunately each said, ‘Sorry, we can’t do that. We can work with you but it’s impossible.’ So I’m glad I had some very good help and advise back then when I was twenty-one. Actually I met somebody named Dan Brewster when I was twenty-one and he was just this great role model and I realized that it was okay to be gay. You could be like Dan Brewster. There wasn’t even a word ‘gay’ back then, it kind of evolved like everything else. I had to struggle and live a double life. I didn’t tell my parents until I was forty-one, or my sibling. I really didn’t come out publicly or professionally until I was fifty-six years old. And while I had a healthy gay life it was very limited and it was a terrible existence to have that double life. So now I’m into my sixties and have absolutely no hang-ups obviously as running for President. I really want to let that message resonate throughout the country and as it happens through all the international coverage I’ve gotten, through the world. If you happen to be gay or lesbian or bisexual or transgender or queer, you can do anything you want to do. You can even run for President of The United States.”
Fred Karger is one of the bravest gay activists that our LGBT community has. His mere visibility in the most homophobic race for President this country has ever seen will be something to watch and take note of. Karger says he’ll stick around until August for the Republican Convention in Tampa that takes place August 27th through August 30th 2012.
For More Info: fredkarger.com
No comments:
Post a Comment