2005

In 2005, my then partner and I read in the local paper about our upcoming city elections. I read that Matthew Marchant, the son of the then Congressman, Kenny Marchant, was running for the seat his father used to occupy. I knew his father did not like gay people, and I also didn't believe that political offices came with legacy admissions. I saw that a councilmember, Becky Miller, was running against Matthew and she mentioned diversity in her interview. I called her and within minutes we set up a face-to-face meeting at Starbucks. At that meeting I decided to be sure she got elected.

During the next several weeks I was introduced to other candidates who needed volunteers. I met John Mahalik who was running for Place 2. John was young and inexperienced. I had watched just enough of The West Wing to feel I could help. At one of John's first meet & greet meetings, I met a man who seemed to know me and asked me if I was the "Purple Roof's Realtor". Purple roofs was a LGBTQ referral website. This was the first time I was researched and confronted as the "gay" guy the right was targeting. This was the beginning of the "Google him" campaign to out me as a gay activist. They wouldn't say "Oh, you know Bob is gay". They would say "Google him and see what you find".