Conservative Arizona sheriff Paul Babeu has gained a lot of prominence as a proponent of the state’s anti-immigration policy, a staunch supporter of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), a Congressional candidate, and the volunteer co-chair of Mitt Romney’s Arizona campaign, but he now finds himself mired in a scandal with a jilted lover. In a case of he-said-he-said, his former partner Jose Orozco alleges that Babeu threatened to deport him if he revealed their relationship, though it seems Orozco has legal status in the U.S. Babeu, in turn, alleges that Orozco had refused to turn over passwords he had access to as a volunteer — or possibly had hacked — for Babeu’s campaign.
As a result of the scandal, Babeu has publicly come out as a gay man and resigned from his position with Romney’s campaign. In an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, he admitted his support for marriage equality, saying he believes “we’re evolving as a country and a nation”:
BABEU: I can tell you my personal beliefs and my political beliefs is [sic]: I believe in freedom of religion. And there are faiths and religions that our government shouldn’t get involved in that absolutely do not condone gay marriage. The government shouldn’t tell those faiths and those religions that they have to. At the same time, I don’t believe they should tell other faiths that they can’t. And this is where our government needs to get the heck out of the way. And if it’s not harming someone else, then what does it matter? And you can’t legislate love.
Watch it:
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