Will Portman wrote a piece for the Yale Daily News about coming out, which was republished by the Guardian. Here’s the money quote:

The following summer, the summer of 2012, my dad wasunder consideration to be Gov Romney’s running mate.
The rest of my family and I had given him the go-ahead to enter the
vetting process. My dad told the Romney campaign that I was gay, that he
and my mom were supportive and proud of their son, and that we’d be
open about it on the campaign trail.

When he ultimately wasn’t
chosen for the ticket, I was pretty relieved to have avoided the
spotlight of a presidential campaign. Some people have criticized my dad
for waiting for two years after I came out to him before he endorsed
marriage for gay couples. Part of the reason for that is that it took
time for him to think through the issue more deeply after the impetus of
my coming out. But another factor was my reluctance to make my personal
life public.

Well, we certainly know one reason why Senator Portman wasn’t selected. Before all this happened, I assumed it was because he brought a double dose of boredom to the fray, but this was clearly one of the main reasons the GOP ended up with a robot/zombie ticket. I would have loved to see the expression on Willard’s face when he heard the news that Portman had a gay son. It might have actually changed…