Patricia Todd, the former Alabama Legislator who on Tuesday insinuated on Twitter that Governor Kay Ivey is gay, said this morning she warned Alabama politicians years ago to beware their own hypocrisy.

"I hate hypocrites," said Todd, Alabama's first openly gay legislator who recently moved to Orlando to work with a gay and lesbian advocacy group.

Todd in a Facebook post a couple of years ago warned she would expose politicians who do not practice what they preach, who have extramarital affairs or lead secret lives while publicly trying to hold the high ground on "family values."

She acted on that threat Tuesday after she read the response Ivey gave to criticism over a ADECA grant money going to a now-defunct gay and lesbian group from Huntsville. Rather than to simply say the money was federally directed and implemented before her time in office, Ivey's team responded by saying the governor did not agree with "the agenda or the values" of the organization.

That pushed Todd to tweet:

Ivey's campaign responded immediately:

"This is a disgusting lie being pushed by a paid liberal political hack," said Debbee Hancock, Ivey campaign spokeswoman. "There is absolutely no truth to it."

Todd said she has long heard rumors of Ivey's personal life. Asked if she had personal knowledge or proof, she said "ask her directly if she has ever had a relationship with a woman."

I asked Hancock - Ivey's campaign spokeswoman - that question this morning. She responded much as she did Tuesday.

"No. This is a disgusting lie being pushed by a paid liberal political hack. There is absolutely no truth to it," she wrote in an email.

Todd said it is not political because she knows a number of politicians, including some conservative Republicans, who are gay. Others, she said, have been involved in same sex relationships but do not see themselves as gay.

"It's an identity issue," she said.

Todd knows her comment was controversial.

"I'll catch some flak for it," Todd said. "But I feel a responsibility - not as the 'head queer' - to hold people accountable."

John Archibald's column appears in The Birmingham News, the Huntsville Times, the Mobile Register and AL.com. Write him at jarchibald@al.com.