Texas Governor Denies Rumors of Divorce, Affair with Another Man

Dallas Voice -- Stonewall Democrats of Dallas president Shannon Bailey said he rejects Perry’s claim that Democrats are responsible for the rumors. Opposing factions within the Republican Party are probably the source of the rumors, because they hope to oust Perry in 2006, he said.

“We Democrats have been working on other things That’s off our radar to attack him,” Bailey said.

Friends who grew up with the governor and his wife in Haskell County said rumors that Perry was bisexual or gay were untrue. in West Texas and spoke on the condition of anonymity said the rumors that suggested Perry — who is outspoken in his opposition to the GLBT rights struggle — is bisexual or involved in gay relationships are ludicrous.

“I know Rick pretty well, and that’s definitely not the Rick I know — at all,” said one friend who knew the governor as a teen and young adult.

Perry — who dated his wife for 16 years before marrying her — last year defended Texas’ sodomy law that targeted gays, calling the measure “appropriate.” The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the law last June. He also said recently that he supports President’s Bush’s endorsement of a Constitutional amendment saying marriage could only be entered into by a man and a woman.