Openly gay Mike Michaud, who is
campaigning to run Maine, served as grand marshal of Portland's Gay
Pride Parade, the state's largest.
The 59-year-old gubernatorial candidate
marched alongside a white convertible in Saturday's parade, the AP
reported.
“Maine has come a long ways and our
nation has come a long ways, but there's still a long way to go,”
he told the wire service.
Michaud, who is hoping to unseat
Governor Paul LePage, a Republican, reluctantly came out in a op-ed
late last year, saying he wanted to address a whisper campaign about
his sexual orientation.
“They want people to question whether
I am gay.”
“Allow me to save them the trouble
with a simple, honest answer: 'Yes I am. But why should it matter?'”
he wrote in his op-ed.
He added that his private life is
boring.
If elected in November, Michaud, a
six-term congressman, would become the nation's first openly gay
elected governor. In 2004, former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey
came out gay while in office.