While former Rep. Robert K. Dornan was condemning homosexuals as sodomites and child molesters, his chief of staff was quietly struggling with feelings he might be gay.
Now Brian O'Leary Bennett, an aide to Dornan for 12 years until 1989, says he wants to make his homosexuality public so he can work with gay community groups and help other gay conservatives who are struggling with their sexual orientation.When Bennett started telling his friends he's gay, he included Dornan, a fiery nine-term Republican from Garden Grove known for his crusades to keep gays and people with HIV out of the military.
It happened in February 1996, while he was driving his old boss home after dinner.
"I said, I'm gay," Bennett recalled in the Los Angeles Times.
"There was a pause that seemed like an hour and then he reached over, put his arm around me and kissed me on the cheek and said, `I've loved you like a son for 20 years. Did you think this would make any difference?"'
The former congressman said he advised Bennett, now a 41-year-old corporate executive, to attend Catholic Mass every day to deal with his homosexuality, which Dornan believes is a sin.
"He's run up against an immovable object with me, but it has nothing to do with my feelings for Brian," Dornan said. "The love will be there forever. But the debate he wants to enter into about homosexuality is a debate he cannot win."
Dornan ran a brief, unsuccessful campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 1996. Bennett said he declined Dornan's request to manage the campaign because he was in a relationship with another man and feared scandal.
Dornan lost his congressional seat in November to Democratic newcomer Loretta Sanchez by 984 votes but is contesting the results. He maintains a high profile on television and talk radio.
Bennett said he has asked Dornan to "get rid of the meanness" in his anti-gay rhetoric. Bennett said Dornan agreed, but the politician remains steadfast in his views.
Dornan said his protege "has no future in the Republican Party in Orange County."