What is really heart-warming is this statement from the Pinal Sheriff's Office:

"The entire sheriff's department supports the sheriff," said Elias Johnson, a spokesman for the department. "He has a right to his private life. None of the allegations happened when he was supporting the citizens of Pinal County. He has a right to a private life just as every other citizen has a right to a private life. His public record speaks for itself."

Way to go fellows—we need this kind of acceptance, especially from a group that has been so notoriously anti-immigrant, which many people might interpret to indicate a general bigotry. Apparently this is not so, and these employees welcome gay Americans among their ranks!

Babeu may not have realized that he would receive such a welcome reception from his colleagues for his gayness and his intimacy with a Mexican, at least if we believe the allegation that Babeu tried to extort silence from his lover by threatening to use his influence to have him deported—potentially a Federal crime.

Finally, if we interpret the anti-gayness and sexual contretemps of many prominent Republican politicians as a result of either Freudian reaction-formation, or else straight-out hypocrisy, and throw anti-immigration attitudes into the mix, then Babeu has succeeded at a daily-double, having exemplified both (or is is that three things?) at once.

Kudos to Babeu!

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