Charlie Crist and the Pink Elephant in the room

I've beaten around the Bush a bit too much about Florida Governor Charlie Crist and the question of whether he could ever really be John McCain's choice for vice president. Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post penned a piece today presenting the case for Charlie Crist, while (intentionally, I suspect) ignoring the most important negative in Crist's portfolio. Namely, lots of people think he's gay. Cillizza hints at this in his piece, but implies that this won't be a problem because Crist is now getting married. To a woman. But I don't think that's going to help things much. Lots of gay men get married, are married, but they're still gay, and often get into trouble as a result. And in Crist's case, if anyone believed him to be gay, they would then likely believe him to be getting married in order to cover up that fact. I don't know if Charlie Crist is gay or straight, but the potential of having a gay vice president - the first that I know of - would be a huge "first" for the gay community, and a major advance of gay rights in America, and the world. I just have a very hard time seeing the religious right accepting that possibility after all the rumors. Especially since the suspectedly-gay VP would be a heartbeat away from the presidency. And let's not even talk about the possibility of having a gay Republican president. Is that a risk the religious right is willing to take? Even if it's a small risk? I somehow doubt it.