Was
Secretary
of
State
Condoleezza
Rice
considered
and
later
dropped
as
a
possible
vice
presidential
pick
by
top
advisers
to
GOP
presidential
nominee
John
McCain
because
of
persistent
rumors
that
she’s
a
lesbian?
That’s
the
opinion
of
a
Republican
Party
insider
who
had
access
to
the
McCain
campaign’s
inner
circle
of
advisers,
according
to
investigative
journalist
and
documentary
filmmaker
Ian
Halperin.
Halperin
published
the
unidentified
Republican
insider’s
account
of
the
McCain
campaign’s
deliberation
over
Rice
as
a
possible
vice
presidential
nominee
two
weeks
ago
in
his
blog,
Ianundercover.com.
“According
to
a
prominent
member
of
the
Republican
National
Committee
privy
to
the
[vice
presidential]
search
process,
many
in
McCain’s
inner
circle
argued
furiously
for
the
selection
of
Secretary
of
State
Condoleezza
Rice
over
the
other
top
contenders,
Mitt
Romney,
Mike
Huckabee,
and
Tim
Pawlenty,”
Halperin
wrote
in
his
blog.
But
rumors
about
Rice’s
sexual
orientation,
fueled
by
a
recent
book
by
Washington
Post
diplomatic
correspondent
Glenn
Kessler,
which
reported
that
Rice
jointly
owns
a
house
and
shared
a
line
of
credit
with
an
unmarried
woman
in
California,
made
it
politically
untenable
for
McCain
to
select
Rice
as
his
running
mate,
Halperin
reported
the
GOP
source
as
saying.
Further
speculation
about
Rice’s
sexual
orientation
surfaced
in
recent
weeks
when
a
reliable,
independent
source
told
the
Blade
that
a
business
adviser
to
former
tennis
star
and
lesbian
activist
Martina
Navratilova
boasted
about
having
dated
Rice
in
a
clandestine
lesbian
relationship
in
Washington
a
few
years
ago.
When
contacted
by
the
Blade,
Navratilova
staffer
Yelena
Bakaleva,
an
out
lesbian,
disputed
the
source’s
report
that
she
had
an
affair
with
Rice.
Bakaleva
said
the
source’s
claim
could
be
based
on
confusion
over
the
fact
that
Bakaleva
had
once
dated
the
housemate
of
Rice’s
personal
assistant
in
Washington.
“I
never
met
her,”
Bakaleva
said
of
Rice.
“My
ex-girlfriend
was
living
at
the
same
house
as
Condoleezza
Rice’s
personal
assistant.”
“I
don’t
know
her
personally,”
she
said
of
Rice,
joking,
“She’s
not
my
type.”
The
Blade’s
source,
however,
said
Bakaleva
clearly
and
definitively
stated
she
had
been
dating
Rice,
not
a
roommate
of
Rice’s
assistant.
State
Department
spokesperson
Gordon
Duguid
told
the
Blade
this
week
that
neither
the
department
nor
Rice
would
comment
on
“rumors
on
the
Internet”
about
Rice’s
personal
life.
As
to
whether
Rice
had
been
under
consideration
for
McCain’s
vice
presidential
selection,
Duguid
said
Rice
has
stated
publicly
on
several
occasions
that
she
plans
to
work
in
academia
after
she
completes
her
term
as
Secretary
of
State.
Most
gay
activists
and
Washington
insiders
interviewed
for
this
story
said
they
have
heard
the
rumors
about
Rice
being
gay
but
compared
them
to
the
“celebrity
gossip”
that
is
pervasive
in
both
Hollywood
and
Washington.
“I
haven’t
seen
any
evidence
to
confirm
these
rumors,
and
Ms.
Rice
has
said
she’s
straight,”
said
one
prominent
gay
activist
who
spoke
on
condition
of
anonymity.
Kessler,
whose
recent
biography
of
Rice,
“The
Confidante,”
has
been
widely
read
by
Washington’s
political
establishment,
told
the
Blade
he
never
asked
Rice
if
she
was
a
lesbian
and
never
obtained
convincing
evidence
about
her
sexual
orientation.
Kessler's
book
notes
that
Rice
became
friends
with
Blacker
and
Bean
during
Rice's
long
affiliation
with
Standford
University.
She
served
as
a
political
science
professor
at
the
university
beginning
in
1981
and
served
for
six
year's
as
the
school's
Provost
in
the
1990s.
Rice
joined
the
Bush
administration
in
2001
as
U.S.
national
security
advsor
before.Bush
appointed
her
as
Secretary
of
State
in
January
2005.
Bean
recently
told
Radar-online.com
that
her
arrangement
with
Rice
on
the
house
“was
strictly
business”
and
that
Rice
and
Blacker
stepped
in
to
help
her
buy
the
house
at
a
time
when
she
was
in
financial
need
due
to
mounting
medical
bills.
Bean
identified
herself
as
straight,
saying
that
if
she
were
gay,
“I’d
be
out,
loud,
and
proud”
due
to
her
long
history
of
political
activism.
While
declining
to
speculate
on
the
record
about
the
sexual
orientation
of
Rice
or
other
high-level
Washington
officials,
many
activists
and
political
observers
agreed
that
the
political
atmosphere
set
by
the
Bush
administration
and
anti-gay
conservative
groups
has
forced
public
officials
—
both
Republicans
and
Democrats
—
to
stay
in
the
closet.
Some
activists
have
cited
Condoleezza
Rice
as
a
case
study
of
the
“culture
of
the
closet,”
even
though
most
acknowledge
they
don’t
know
if
she’s
gay
or
not.
“I
feel
she
was
rejected
as
a
vice
presidential
candidate
due
to
her
personal
life,
regardless
of
whether
she
is
gay
or
straight,”
said
gay
Republican
activist
Jim
Driscoll
of
Virginia.
“She
is
single,”
said
Driscoll.
“I
can’t
think
of
any
U.S.
presidential
or
vice
presidential
candidate
who
was
single
in
the
past
100
years
or
more.
“Except
for
her
being
a
50-something
spinster
and
speculation
that
she
may
be
a
closeted
lesbian,
Rice
would
have
been
a
far
more
obvious
choice
for
McCain’s
VP
than
Sarah
Palin.”
Driscoll
and
others
who
thought
Rice
would
have
been
a
better
vice
presidential
choice
dismiss
arguments
by
some
political
pundits
that
McCain
couldn’t
select
Rice
because
she
is
too
closely
associated
with
Bush.
They
argue
that
Rice
is
perceived
to
be
a
foreign
policy
expert
who
...
