Former Aide Says Ron Paul Uncomfortable Using Gay Bathroom

A former Ron Paul staffer has written a piece for RightWing News that weighs in on the presidential hopeful's attitude on African-Americans, Israel, and the bathrooms of gay supporters.

In an effort to set the record straight regarding some comments he's made -- which he says have been twisted and misused for various agendas -- Eric Dondero, a former senior aide and campaign organizer for the Republican presidential candidate, has written a piece specifically for the members of the media he trusts and knows will get the story straight: conservative and libertarian-conservative bloggers.

In the piece, Dondero answers the question, "Is Ron Paul a racist?" Based on Dondero's experience, the answer is no, as over a period of 12 years, he watched his boss "frequently" hire African-Americans and Latinos. Dondero does say, however, that Paul is "completely clueless when it comes to Hispanic and Black culture, particularly Mexican-American culture. And he is most certainly intolerant of Spanish and those who speak strictly Spanish in his presence."

Ron Paul, according to Dondero, is also not an anti-Semite, even though he is "most certainly" not a fan of Israel, and in fact "wishes the Israeli state did not exist at all."

And despite recent allegations about antigay sentiments found in 1990s-era newsletters, Dondero writes that Paul is "not all bigoted towards homosexuals. He supports their rights to do whatever they please in their private lives. He is however, personally uncomfortable around homosexuals, no different from a lot of older folks of his era."

Dondero then goes on to describe an incident in which Paul refused to use the bathroom of Jim Peron, a gay supporter from San Francisco, even after Paul and Dondero had spent three days "trouncing from one campaign event to another" with Peron and his lover.

"He told me very clearly, that although he liked Jim, he did not wish to use his bathroom facilities," Dondero recalls.

The former staffer ends this section of the article by stressing that he doesn't consider this behavior homophobic. To the contrary, Paul is "rather just unsettled by being around gays personally."

Read Dondero's post in its entirety here.