to out or not to out?
nina on Sep 13th 2007
Marc Fisher at the Washington Post wrote a story called, “Who Among Us Would Cast the First Stone? This Guy” last week on September 6th.
It all got me thinking… it is right or okay to out people like Senator Craig or Anderson Cooper or Jodie Foster? Fisher specifically talks about blogger Michael Rogers and his blog that has been used to out anti-gay politicians who are alleged to be gay themselves and if he is really liberating anyone or any lie. In fact Fisher wonders if they only outcome of Rogers’ outings is that legislators lock themselves tighter into the closet. Rogers claims he outs hypocritical politicians that have or have to the potential to pass laws that are hateful or hurtful toward glbt individuals and families, but are secretly glbt themselves (mostly “g”, let’s be real here) and his outing is a bit of a public service.
Okay, up until now, I understand that rationale and I agreed. Anti-glbt legislators or public figures (Ted Haggart) who have the power to hurt us and/or our families deserve to be out-ed.
But Fisher’s point forced me to think about Senator Craig specifically and his point about pushing him further into the closet. The whole thing is sad really. Will this latest controversy convince Craig to just come out already? My guess, probably not. Will he become rabidly homophobic now just to prove he isn’t gay? I don’t know.
Bottom line, I just don’t think it is as clear cut as Rogers claims it is and that it something we can all think critically about before we take pleasure in someone else’s truth being told. AND understand outing a powerful person could lead to more attacks on us and our families simply to prove a point.
I’m sorry however it’s up to the individual if they want to come out to someone. I for one don’t like being outted because it’s usually at an awkward time. I don’t care who knows I’m a lesbian, but it’s up to me ultimately as to who I tell. If I feel it’s going to be a negative experiance then I keep quiet, if it’s going to accepted and not a lot of negativity then I’ll tell a person. The media for one has no right outting anyone. If Jodie Foster or anyone else wants to tell the public they’re gay that’s their God given right. I am so tired of seeing one of the dirtrag magazines in the stores with a headline “Which Hollywood favorites are Gay”? it’s not right and it needs to stop.