| It has been over 7 years since Governor Rick Perry called a press conference in Austin to respond to rumors posted on this blog regarding purported homosexual acts with his then Secretary of State. What was once considered to be a flash in the pan story in the dog days of summer has finally been revealed as just the tip of the iceberg of evidence now being presented for the American public to judge in a book released today by one of this site's registered users, former Texas State Representative Glen Maxey.
For those who are not familiar, Glen Maxey was the first openly gay state representative in the history of Texas. On June 23, a national reporter happened to call Maxey to ask about past rumors of past homosexual relationships. Curious, Maxey send messages to several long-time LGBT insiders and Texas politicos. Within hours he received independent stories about an alleged gay hustler who supposedly had had a relationship with Perry. That began an all-consuming five month investigation by Maxey into rumors and stories about Perry's alleged past homosexual relationships.
This book chronicles that exhaustive investigation and Maxey's work with the national political reporter to try to learn the truth. The details are fascinating, not only in the plethora of stories and accounts by those who have had same-sex contact with Governor Perry, but also in the detailing of the national press' balking and internal drama about the publication of this story- something that Politico has already picked up on.
As someone who has been asked for years about what I know or have heard about the rumors surrounding Rick Perry's marital side-show, I've had to resort to directing people to the few stories and clever allusions that had been published like "The untold story of a lunch receipt with Rick Perry's name on it from a place that features drag shows" to "Somebody needs to goose Anita Perry to get a smile out of her" and numerous posts along the line of "Would Rumors About His Marriage Haunt a Rick Perry Run?".
Now I encourage our readers to buy a copy of Glen's book : Head Figure Head: The Search for the Hidden Life of Rick Perry.
Kindle for PC can be downloaded for FREE here as can Kindle for Mac. Free Kindle apps are available for mobile devices in their respective App Stores.
Since this book was built from a collection of thousands of emails and texts, it comes as no surprise that my name is mentioned in it. My role was a small one, but in honor of the very style and nature of this expose, I dug into my own email to provide an example of just one of the many conversations that shaped this story.
Enjoy, and again, be sure to buy a copy for yourself .
Subject: interview request
Date: Wed, Jun 22, 2011
Karl-Thomas:
I am writing to you because I am trying to do some forensics on the Rick-Perry-Is-Gay rumor that began some years ago. Obviously, Burnt Orange came up. The Texas GOP spokesperson actually blamed Burnt Orange as the source of the rumors.
I wanted to talk to you about the rumors and those old stories. Any help you could offer in shedding light on just how they got started would be much appreciated.
I look forward to talking with you.
Best,
"The Journalist"
Reporter
Huffington Post
And my reply.
Subject: re: interview request
Date: Fri, Jun 24, 2011
...since I know folks are looking back into this because of the national campaign, I've been quietly talking with folks back here who I've heard these stories from in the gay community. I've chatted again today with my political mentor, former State Rep. Glen Maxey who I believe you already know. I'm somewhat hopeful that through our efforts tonight we may have gotten a step further than we have before.
I believe Glen may be in touch.
KT
And the rest is history- much like I hope Rick Perry's hypocritical, gay-baiting, political career will be in short order. And with at least one two new leads that has come to light in the last 24 hours since the book's publication, I'm sure it wont be the last.
If you do have your own story to tell, please visit www.isrickperrygay.org. |
