http://www.drizzten.com/blargchives/000729.html
It could never get legs because no one could confirm it..
It was a rumor.
UPDATE(2/26/2004 1:55pm)
The Austin Chronicle has picked up the story:
Yes, we've heard The Rumor, too. Many, many times. Despite a complete absence of proof, the personal preferences of Gov. Rick Perry have become the talk of this and many other towns. See p.23.The Real Sins of Gov. Perry
On Tuesday morning, a small group of protesters (almost outnumbered by reporters and photographers) gathered at the Governor's Mansion for what was disingenuously billed as a "support rally" for Gov. Rick Perry, under the theme, "It's OK to Be Gay." As any Austinite with access to e-mail or a cell phone knows by now, for a couple of months rumors concerning the governor's personal life have been flying furiously around the Capitol, the capital city, the state, and indeed most of the Western Hemisphere. The variations are multiple and quite inventive ? we won't recount them here ? but at their core is the tale that the governor's marriage is in trouble, that his wife Anita has/will/may decide to divorce him, and that the issue is Rick's alleged infidelity, with one or another member of his administration of undetermined gender. (Rumors of this sort, about multitudinous politicians, circulate all the time, but the current Perry rumors are indeed extraordinary in their baroque detail and remarkable persistence.)
There's more, but when they looked into the rumors a few weeks ago they found "no evidence of any truth to any of them, whatsoever."
We continue to wait, but at this point it doesn't look like the story is true.
UPDATE(2/27/2004 9:35am)
Other links to Datalounge and other blogs show that the story continues to be believed, quoted, and passed around by various people hostile to the Republican Party (check out the 11/3 Election 2004 thread on Datalounge -- it's funny! [*language warning*]).
Rick Perry did deny the story.......eventually, after trying for weeks and weeks to ignore it. No wonder it snowballed. Rumor control requires prompt response, and the denial never really caught up with the rumor (obviously). But the meeting with the staff of the American-Statesman apparently did happen. So what was that about?
I agree it looks a lot weaker now; at least Perry said "it ain't so", and the Austin Chronicle gives him credit.
I still don't know what to think. I'd still prefer a white paper from the FBI or somebody.
Oh, and another blog entry on the same blog memorialized a story on the political rally that I mentioned. It was a John Edwards for President rally in Houston, and the principal speaker who referenced the story, pointed to signs in the crowd mentioning the rumor, and told everyone at the rally who didn't know about it to find out from the people around him, was Charles Soechting, the Chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, no less. I'd forgotten that detail, but that comes back to me now.
Okay, it goes back in the "it was a rumor" box. Now let's get someone to "really" investigate, and name names. Hey, if it was a roorback, I want to know that, too -- and whom to hang for it.