LOS ANGELES – An Arizona sheriff running for Congress as a Republican denied accusations Saturday that he threatened to deport an alleged ex-lover, a Mexican national. In the process, he also resigned from a volunteer position with Mitt Romney’s Arizona campaign and came out as gay.

After a report published Friday by the weekly Phoenix New Times, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu acknowledged that he had a “personal relationship” with a man identified only as Jose.

Jose accused the sheriff of threatening to deport him after he refused to sign an agreement stipulating that he would not disclose details of their romantic involvement, the newspaper reported.

At a news conference Saturday, Babeu called the allegations “absolutely, completely false, except for the issues that refer to me as being gay. Because that’s the truth. I am gay.”

Babeu, 43, considered an emerging star in the Republican Party, is known for his hard-line stance against illegal immigration, and told reporters he did not break any laws, instead casting the allegations as attempts to derail his congressional campaign.

He said he had called the Romney campaign to resign from his position as co-chair of the Arizona Romney for President campaign.

During the news conference, the sheriff defended his record as head of the law enforcement agency, and confirmed the authenticity of photos of himself in the Phoenix New Times and elsewhere, including one of him posing in a bathroom wearing only undershorts. The newspaper published photos on its website that it said came from the sheriff’s online profile on a gay dating site where men tend to solicit sex.