Some Pigs are More Equal

April 10, 2005

NEW YORK — A Republican consultant who has run political campaigns for some of the most homophobic members of the GOP has married another man in a secret ceremony in Massachusetts it was reported Saturday.

Arthur J. Finkelstein has run attack campaigns for a number of conservative members of the party including former Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina. He has also run campaigns for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

In 1996 he was outed by Boston Magazine leading to allegations of hypocrisy by national LGBT civil rights groups, but he has never publicly come out or discussed his sexuality until now.

Finkelstein confirmed for the New York Times that he did indeed marry his partner. In what the paper describes as a short interview, the usually secretive Finkelstein said that the wedding had taken place at his home in Boston and that it was in December.

He also told the Times that the two have been a couple for 40 years that they live together with two children. He would not identify the partner, say who was the father of the children, or disclose who officiated at the wedding.

An unnamed associate of Finkelstein's who tipped off the Times said only family members were present and that none of Finkelstein's better-known political clients, among them Gov. George E. Pataki of New York and former Senator Alfonse M. D'Amato of New York, attended.

The Times reports that several of Finkelstein's long-term political associates said that he had not told them about the wedding, and that they were surprised.

Finkelstein is credited with developing a line of attack against Democrats that vilified them as 'liberals', turning the word into a publicly viewed negative.

In recent years though he has softened his approach describing himself as a libertarian who supports same-sex marriage and abortion rights while opposing big government.

In an interview with Maariv, an Israeli newspaper, after the American elections last year, he criticized the Republican Party as growing too close to evangelical Christians, warning it could cause long-term damage to the party.

In his interview with the Times, believed to be the first time he has openly acknowledged his sexuality, he said, I believe that visitation rights, health care benefits and other human relationship contracts that are taken for granted by all married people should be available to partners.