Gay hotel owners 'deeply sorry' for hosting Ted Cruz event

Two prominent gay hoteliers profusely apologized on Sunday for hosting an event for presidential candidate and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) the week before.

"I am shaken to my bones by the emails, texts, postings, and phone calls of the past few days. I made a terrible mistake. I was ignorant, naive and much too quick in accepting a request to co-host a dinner with Cruz at my home," one of the hoteliers, Ian Reisner, wrote on Facebook.

As The New York times first reported, Reisner and his business partner Mati Weiderpass hosted a "fireside chat" with Cruz last Monday at their Manhattan penthouse. The event was not a fundraiser, but some called for boycotting the Reisner and Weiderpass' Out NYC Hotel, which caters to LGBT customers, because of Cruz's social conservative positions.

Weiderpass also called the decision to host Cruz "a terrible mistake" on Facebook.

"Unfortunately, I cannot undo this. You taught me a painful but important lesson. The people that know me know the work that I have done over the last 20 years for the advancement of gay rights. Today, I came to realize that I might have nullified my past efforts and accomplishments in just one week," he wrote. "Again, to all that I have hurt, please accept my sincerest apologies."

Reisner vowed to make amends for his mistake.

"I sincerely apologize for hurting the gay community and so many of our friends, family, allies, customers and employees," he wrote. "I will try my best to make up for my poor judgement. Again, I am deeply sorry."

For his part, Cruz said it shouldn't be surprising that he is willing to meet with members of New York's gay community. In a lengthy statement released after The Times' initial report the event, Cruz said "the primary topics of conversation were national security, foreign policy, and America's commitment to standing with Israel."

"I know it's been a long time since we've seen it, but this is what it means to truly be a 'big tent Republican' instead of a panderer," Cruz added. "I'm happy to go anywhere to anyone to champion conservative values. ... I'm hoping to offer enough bold leadership on a broad slate of issues that many voters will decide we agree on far more than we disagree."

(via The Times)