The ethics of outing
I listen to podcasts at work sometimes. A friend of mine told me to listen to one in particular this morning. It was a discussion on NPR about the ethics of outing. Meaning, is it right to out someone for political or personal agendas?
The podcast centered around Sen. Craig, who has been recently entangled in a sex scandal. Craig has continued to maintain his innocence despite pleading guilty to the original charges. Though there have been rumors about Craig’s sexuality for years, he is one of the many republican figures to fall prey to “outing” blogs or sites on the internet. Sen. Craig also continues to insist that he is not gay.
Mike Rogers is the blogger and publisher of blogactive.com, a site that reports on purported gay people in the government who he believes work against the gay and lesbian community in a hypocritical manor. He also maintains the site, PageoneQ.
Rogers has been involved in the gay and lesbian community since the 1980s. He became increasingly frustrated during the 2004 elections when the Republican party continually used the gay and lesbian community to forward their political agenda. What troubled Rogers the most was that there were many individuals with considerable political power touting their agenda while hiding safely in the closet.
“I decided it was time to stand up and expose that hypocrisy,” said Rogers.
When asked if he uses outing as a political agenda, Rogers replied, “People’s sexuality is only fair game if it’s in direct conflict to the public political statements they make regarding policy or legislation that they are voting on.”
Rogers picks and chooses who to go after depending on whether he feels the story is newsworthy or not. Before he reports on anybody, he turns to his reputable sources and advisers for guidance and support.
So what if Rogers is ever wrong? What if he makes an allegation that is incredibly damning to a certain individual who has a clean record?
Well, that has yet to happen. Rogers has a 100 percent reporting rate. And he isn’t worried about outing the wrong person.
But is outing the right thing to do?
I know that if I was outed before I was ready to come out myself, it would have been a hard situation to deal with. But, then again, I wasn’t making political statements public statements that homosexuality was wrong. I would overcompensate when engaging in conversations with friends however. I would say, “I could never kiss another woman, that’s gross.” I would say these things because I was vehemently denying who I was inside. And I wonder, do these political figures suffer from the same torment only on a much deeper level because of the pressures involved with being gay in politics or the Republican party? What kind of a life is that to live? I guess I don’t harbor so much anger towards these individuals as I feel sorry for them. How can they be affiliated with such and organization that causes them to deny to who they are inside - so much so that they take such risks as engaging in anonymous sex in airport bathrooms or dabbling in drugs to numb the pain.
Rogers says he only goes after people who are hypocrites in the political sphere. Though he feels sorry for the families and people involved in the scandals he exposes, he feels his work is justified.
“My work has more to do with hypocrisy than it does with sexual orientation,” he said.
I personally don’t think it’s right to out celebrities or public figures before they are ready when it’s just for the mere fun of it. I know that it is a choice, something that is so very personal to the person involved. Coming out has to happen on your his or her own terms and when he or she is ready. Denying who you truly are inside can be so very damaging. And I think that is why we are seeing so many of these “scandals” popping up. They are a direct result of people denying who they are and sneaking around because in the end, they really aren’t able deny it any longer.
As far as outing people when hypocrisy is involved, well … I’m biased. I see the hypocrisy happen so often that it burns me to the core. And to expose those people who speak out against homosexuality when they are homosexual is important for the advancement of the GLBT community as a whole. Does that make it right? No. I’m sure it doesn’t. But I guess I agree with Rogers on this one. When there is hypocrisy involved, everything is fair game.
What do you think? Is outing ethical?
npr, outing, senator craig, outing ethics, mike rogers, pageoneq, blogactive.com
September 17th, 2007 at 10:55 am
Very tough question and I confess that strong personal feelings make it hard for me to be rational here. But I do think that advocating hate speech and hateful legislation towards homosexuals to further your own ambitions makes you vulnerable to be outed before you are ready. I have immense empathy for everyone in this tough situation because I do not think homosexuality is a choice, but I also think that each individual makes many choices on how they conduct themselves publicly and all choices have consequences … particularly if you are a politician using a hate agenda to further your own desires.
On the other hand, I don’t appreciate the games that are played on a local level when “everyone knows” someone is a homosexual before they are ready to come out themselves. That can be very destructive, and most of the time those folks are not public figures but simply people who are trying to figure out their lives just like everybody else.
September 17th, 2007 at 9:04 pm
I have mixed feelings about outing people. In most cases I think it’s inappropriate. Unless someone brings their sexuality out in the open freely, it’s no one else’s business.
In Larry Craig’s case however I think it was appropriate for 2 reasons. First, he was arrested and pleaded guilty to a crime. So there is already a public record of his actions. Second as a publicly elected official, this incident shows his hypocrisy and exposes him as a man of poor character. So this is something voters should know about.
February 18th, 2008 at 10:14 am
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