‘A real twist’: GOP congressman with anti-LGBTQ past tries to win over gay Palm Springs voters

GOP Rep. Ken Calvert, left, is facing a challenge from Democrat Will Rollins, a former federal prosecutor, in the 41st Congressional District in Riverside County. “It’s poetic justice,” said Sam Garrett-Pate, a Los Angeles-based spokesman for Equality California, a nonprofit that supports LGBTQ rights and has endorsed Rollins. Calvert’s campaign responded by sending voters hot pink and lavender mailers that claimed the Democrat had a “secret agenda” and asked whether Takano, who had not yet publicly disclosed he was gay, would be a “Congressman for Riverside … or San Francisco?” Calvert batted away the notion that his race against Takano and his record on LGBTQ rights — voting for the Defense of Marriage Act, which allowed states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages, and against the repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy regarding gay members — would harm him as he seeks a 16th term, noting that top Democrats aligned with him on those positions at one time. “I’ve never had any animosity to the gay community,” Calvert said. And I looked at and said, ‘It could have been me if it were 40 years ago.’ And so, I’m going to get behind this guy 100%.” John Lacombe of Rancho Mirage plans to vote for Democrat Will Rollins, a gay former federal prosecutor, in November.