publicly revealed he was gay but who had kind of tiptoed to the edge of coming out in front of some gay audiences. and bob dornan outed him as a way of selling his own anti-gay legislation to try to ban school districts from ever saying anything about the existence of gay people, particularly in relation to the issue of aids. and steve gunderson weathered it. he actually got re-elected again from his wisconsin district later that year. but those were nasty, nasty times. and two years after bob dornan outed steve gunderson on the floor of the house, congressman gunderson became the lone republican on the very lonely side of a vote that still resonates right now in the race for the presidency this year. it was a vote on something called the defense of marriage act, in 1996. that bill banned federal recognition of marriages between same-sex couples. it passed the house by a huge margin, 342 votes in favor, only 67 votes opposed. of the 67 votes opposed, 65 of