Glendale City Council Candidates Out Each Other

Mike Mohill (L), John Drayman (R)

Politics is a dirty business and all politics is local, but one local campaign for city council has gotten so dirty that it's getting national attention. The election for Glendale, Ca.City Council took a very ugly turn last week when incumbent John Drayman revealed that his challenger, Mike Mohill, had been arrested twice in the 80's for cruising other men in public parks.

Mohill responded to the revelations head on at Tuesday night's city council meeting. The Montrose Patch reports:

Mohill revealed that, though he has been married since 1977, he is gay, and that the two charges brought against him in the '80s for solicitation of lewd acts were the product of him having "gay sex in public." He did not comment as to who the men involved were or where the incidents took place.

Mohill claimed that his wife has known about his sexual orientation since his arrests in '87 and '88, and that, nonetheless, they maintain a "marriage in which we share a powerful affection and respect for each other."

Props to Mohill for coming clean and confronting the issue. Even though he knew it would probably cost him the election, Mohill did not try to deny what happened or make up some lame story about what "really" happened. Former Republican senator, Larry "Wide Stance" Craig could take a lesson from him.

But wait, there's more. Not to be outdone in the outing department, Mohill decided that if he was "going down", he would take his nemesis with him. The Patch continues:

Mohill went on to rail against Drayman, whom he blames for making this campaign "personal" rather than "public." Mohill claims that, for his part, his criticisms have been directed only toward Drayman's public life, rather than his personal life. Mohill then went on to state Drayman is "reputed to be gay himself."

To conclude, Mohill said "I would hope this statement would satisfy ... lewd curiosity. I'm not so naive as to believe this statement, as agonizing as it [is], will not severely hurt my election chances. How badly, only time will tell."

When asked about Mohill's statement, Drayman tried to deflect it with humor, but curiously, did not deny anything:

At the end of the City Council Meeting, Drayman responded to Mohill's insinuations about his "reputedly gay" lifestyle with sarcasm. Drayman directed the community to the Vanguard Weekly Newsletter: "I can't believe I'm saying this," Drayman said, "but I would encourage you to read the most recent Vanguardian.

You want to get to a flavor for this publication, read the most recent Vanguardian; it will tell you I'm having an affair with Jason Wells, who is the city editor of the Glendale News-Press, and we meet for secret rendezvous and gaze into each others' eyes. And you'll find out that Mr. Quintero is having a secret romance with my campaign manager. Why, they sat at a forum practically holding hands, thigh to thigh," Drayman recounted sarcastically.

Girls, please! Don't make me pull this blog over!

This is a prime example of how living in the closet fucks with your head. Living a lie causes you to act out in self-destructive ways. It hurts those you love and always comes back to bite you in the ass later.

You might be wondering, as I did, "if you've been busted once for cruising, why would you attempt it again?" Probably because you hate yourself and want to get caught and you believe you deserve to be punished. That's the irony of being queer. Our critics say we're psychologically screwed up, but if some of us are, it's because of what they do to us. We torture ourselves to please people who will never accept us for who we are. How fucked up is that?

Get a room, fellas! 

Related articles

• The Brutal Outing Of A Glendale City Councilman Leads To The Brutal Outing Of His Archenemy (queerty.com)
• When The Outed Tries to Out the Outer: Being Gay & the Glendale City Council (laist.com)