Jeb Bush's Gay Friend Won't Endorse His Presidential Bid

Xavier Cortada says he doesn't want to see his friend Jeb Bush in the White House.

The Bush campaign this week released excerpts from Bush's upcoming e-book, Reply All: A Governor's Story 1999-2007, about email exchanges the former governor of Florida had with his constituents.

Cortada is described in the book as a friend who wrote to Bush in 2004 about his support for a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

In his reply, Bush advised his friend that he could make his relationship more permanent through other legal means than marriage.

“Thank you for writing and I apologize for not responding earlier,” Bush wrote. “The tyranny of the present has gotten me!”

“I am sensitive to your point of view but respectfully disagree. If there is discrimination, there are remedies. The cases of violence against gay and lesbians are unconscionable and the laws in Florida exist to bring justice. Your relationship with Juan Carlos can be made more permanent through contractual obligations that set forth asset disposition and other issues. However, I don't believe that your relationship should be afforded the same status in the law as a man and a woman agreeing to marriage. The institution of marriage is under attack in our society and it needs to be strengthened. This does not have to be at the expense of other kinds of relationships but in support of the most important institution in our society.”

Cortada, an artist, and Juan Carlos Espinosa have since married.

In remarks to the Daily News, he said he would not vote for Bush.

“I like him. I respect him. But I disagree with him. I don't wish to see him at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,” said Cortada, who has known Bush for more than 20 years.