Back to the subject of "outing"

This week there is an interesting poll and an AP article on the practice of "outing" on AOL News. (it's still open so you can cast your vote; see current results below).

The article itself defines "outing" as exposing "secretly gay" public figures, but for most of us that use the term it is more narrowly defined as outing gay hypocrites. Most of the people we're talking about are not closeted in their social circles; their friends, staffers and colleagues know of the person's orientation.


Results as of 10/7, 8:30 AM.

People against the practice of outing always try to toss in the unfair outing of private citizens or celebrities in the same basket. This is ridiculous. We're not talking about speculating about the sexuality of Jodie Foster or Tom Cruise; that's just plain gossip -- fun gossip of course, but it's not like John Q. Public doesn't speculate who's doing who in the celebrity world. Check out A-List for goodness sake. That's not what we're talking about here.

The problem for gay activists is these self-loathers of political or social influence. The person in question chooses not to let constituencies that might find their queerness objectionable in on the "secret," since the hypocrite is directly involved in either 1) publicly promoting homophobia or 2) is actively working toward the legislative restriction of gay civil rights, even as they boink someone of the same sex on down time.

I have a problem letting someone that earns their bread and butter attempt to restrict gay rights even as they seek out same-sex action. That, to me, is pathological. They need to be publicly taken to the woodshed.



Look at former Congressman Ed Schrock for god's sake, who's mentioned in the article. This tortured closet case had no business being in Congress, given his 92% Christian Coalition rating, his co-sponsorship of the Federal Marriage Amendment and the fact that he was cruising for sex with men via the MegaMates/ MegaPhone Line, leaving recordings like this:

"Uh, hi, I weigh 200 pounds, I'm 6'4" (inaudible) blond hair....very muscular, very buffed up, uh, very tanned, uh, I just like to get together a guy from time to time, just to, just to play. I'd like him to be in very good shape, flat stomach, good chest, good arms, well hung, cut, uh, just get naked, play, and see what happens, nothing real heavy duty, but just, fun time, go down on him, he can go down on me, and just take it from there... hope to hear from you. Bye."

After Mike Rogers outed this bastard, was it any surprise that the Schrocking news resulted in Ed canceling his re-election bid without commenting why. After all, the man served the Virginia 2nd district, home to the headquarters of televangelist Pat Robertson, and said ridiculous statements like this about homos:

From the Virginian-Pilot, October 22, 2000: Schrock favors ending the Clinton administration's ''don't ask, don't tell'' policy on gays in the military. He supports asking enlistees whether they have had homosexual experiences in an effort to to try to keep gays from serving. ''You're in the showers with them, you're in the bunk room with them, you're in staterooms with them,'' Schrock said.

The AOL news piece also makes reference to Dave Dreier, the California congressman that almost got the chance to keep Tom DeLay's seat warm as majority leader -- except his conservative collegues didn't believe in equal homo opportunity. They don't name Dreier in the piece, but acknowledges that his homosexuality is a poorly-kept secret within media circles and the Beltway.

Not all outing campaigns gain traction. A cadre of activist bloggers and alternative-media journalists have been contending for more than a year that another Republican congressman is gay and yet has often voted against gay-rights legislation. Thus far, the mainstream media - both national outlets and those in the congressman's home region - have declined to report on the campaign, although the effort is common knowledge among political reporters and on Capitol Hill.

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., who in 1987 became the first member of Congress to voluntarily make his homosexuality public, said he does not know if the targeted congressman is gay or not. However, Frank contended that the perception that the congressman might be gay had damaged his standing with some fellow Republicans in the House - and Frank said this issue of bias should be aired publicly.

"I think he's wrong to be silent about this," Frank said of the congressman. "You should not cover up this act of prejudice."

I'm not sure why Dreier is being protected by the media silence; is it his rank? He certainly seems confident that the press won't "go there," despite much dancing around the fact that his orientation had a lot to do with why he didn't get DeLay's position.

I'm glad to see a mention of the work of activists Keith Boykin and Jasmyne Cannick to out homophobic black pastors, which I posted about on the Blend last week. Their efforts add a new dimension to the practice of outing, targeting a community -- the religious black community -- that has needed to get this crap out into the open for so many reasons. Jasmyne and Keith are taking a lot of heat if you look at the comments on their blogs, but this is something that needed to be done, considering the influence of the black church. Tolerating the public comments of someone like of Willie Wilson is just not acceptable.

Gay rights organizations continue to condemn outing, which is not surprising. They are trying to work within the system; Human Rights Campaign and the Log Cabin Republicans don't want to get dirty in the trenches. I am pleased, however to finally see an acknowlegment by someone in the mainstream movement that there is a role for activists that promote outing.

The president of the [Gay and Lesbian Victory] fund, which recruits out-of-the-closet gay and lesbian candidates to run for office, has mixed feelings about outing.

"If we ever outed anyone, we'd lose our credibility with the people we work with," said Chuck Wolfe. "On the other hand, who can condemn people for using whatever weapons they have to fight for equality and point out hypocrisy? It seems exactly why we have a democracy."

More House Blend:
* 'Jeff Gannon' on Miers
* The Vatican's insane trial balloon re: gay priests