Is Outing Someone the Real “Outrage”?
October 6, 2009 by James Hipps
By now you’ve heard…or perhaps not, about the movie “Outrage” which targets the topic of closeted politicians, mostly Republicans, who voice strong objections to providing equality for LGBT citizens.
There has been a great deal of controversy over ‘outing’ people and I imagine, it will continue to be a point of contention until being out is no longer basis for discrimination, hate or murder. Until the day when all people, regardless of race, creed, color, gender, religion and sexual orientation are held equal under the law, outing someone and the dangers of being out will be an ongoing debate.
As it stands currently. There are still 33 states where one can be fired for being LGB or T. There are as many states where you can be discriminated against in housing and other life needs for being LGBT or T as well.
So, with that in mind, I feel strongly coming out should be done on one’s own time, and without the unrequested assistance of others.
However, I also strongly feel that if you are paid by taxpayer contributions, and you are a public servant, then you should be held accountable for discriminatory views, especially if your personal life contradicts your the supposed values your carry.
When it comes to politicians, I’ve heard the other side too. Some, even withing the LGBT community, are against ‘outing’ someone, regardless of their position or hypocrisy.
There are many arguments on both sides of this coin, but too keep it brief, let’s examine only one from each side as pointed out on The Gaggle.
An argument against ‘outing’ politicians:
If a gay man wants to run for governor of a socially conservative state because he has terrific ideas on how to reduce crime, balance the budget, or bring new jobs to his state, should he put his sexuality front and center and risk going down to defeat?
An argument for ‘outing’ politicians:
To suggest that closeted gay politicians deserve special attention is to suggest that it’s somehow excusable for straight people to discriminate against gay people.
So, what’s your opinion?
I find some irony in that the documentary reported on Ed Koch being a vindictive gay man – he had someone blackballed – the movie, was, in part, about a gay man who has himself had people ostracized and or blackballed.
If you seek public office, you had better not have any skeletons in your closet. Someone will open that door up sooner or later and throw them into the street for everyone to see. Might as well start off a political career with a clean slate and become corrupted by the system.
I think it’s time we move past this point of being afraid of who we are. If a politician lies about that, what else is he hiding? As someone who went to school to teach, I was sickened to find that the man I had spent the last two years with had just initiated a bill in our state to ban gay teachers. How many of us had people out us to cover their own tracks in high school? A politician needs to be open about his life and his beliefs. There are too many people hurt by these people.