Know what the definitive proof that gay politico outer Mike Rogers has come a long way? We're no longer arguing about why we should expose gay officials who vote anti-gay, but why we shouldn't — because doing so is becoming accepted wisdom. Among progressives, of course.

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This week's New Yorker contains an insightful, lengthy look into late Iraq vet Alan Rogers, whose gay ways were controversially absent from press coverage on his death. [New Yorker]

David Mixner's been in the political fray for over forty years, since Martin Luther King inspired the burgeoning activist's social responsbility.

In the years that followed, Mixner fought battles great and small, worked inside campaigns, got arrested protesting unjust wars, joined the McGovern Commission – which rewrote the Democratic party's rules – and would later rally gays around his old friend Bill Clinton, whom Mixner met while crusading against the Vietnam War. Mixner went on to join Clinton's campaign and became the first openly gay man actively – and very publicly – involved in a presidential election.

Those were optimistic times, but Clinton would later break with Mixner by signing Don't Ask, Don't Tell, which prohibits openly gay soldiers from serving in the military. Furious over Clinton's apparent betrayal, Mixner came out against the discriminatory policy, a move which ended up getting him booted from the inner circle. Of course, Mixner's always been more comfortable on the outside. In fact, he describes himself as "the best outsider on the inside."

Now, as we charge toward November, Mixner's hoping to bring the gays to another Democratic presidential candidate, Barack Obama. During a recent conference call with the Senator's campaign, Mixner invoked the Clinton campaign, saying:

[This is] probably for the first time since the 1992 convention, we have an extraordinary opportunity to make history as a community. We have four months to do it, so we must gather and unite in our opposition to McCain and in an opportunity to really create something special in this country – not only for the country, but for ourselves and future generations of LGBT people.

Considering Mixner's mixed career, editor Andrew Belonsky chose to start this interview on a decidedly untraditional note…

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Slain soldier Alan Rogers' sexuality continues to stir scandal.

An unidentified internet troll inside the Pentagon reportedly deleted all gay details from Rogers' Wikipedia entry:

The user on Monday redacted details about Rogers that appeared on the online encyclopedia site. Information that was deleted included Rogers’ sexual orientation; the soldier’s participation in American Veterans for Equal Rights, a group that works to change military policy toward gays; and the fact that Rogers’ death helped bring the U.S. military’s casualty toll in Iraq to 4,000.
…
The IP address attached to the deletion of the details and the posted comments is 141.116.168.135. The address belongs to a computer from the office of the Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence (G-2) at the Pentagon. The office is headed by Lt. Gen. John Kimmons, who was present at Rogers’ funeral and presented the flag from Rogers’ coffin to his cousin, Cathy Long.

Those army girl are cold bitches.

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Deborah Howell had her work cut out for her this Sunday. The Washington Post ombudsman had to explain why her paper did not mention fallen American soldier Major Alan Rogers' homosexuality.

Rogers died in Iraq early this year and, according to his friends, begrudgingly hid his homosexuality under the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. Those same friends say Rogers would have wanted his untimely death to highlight our army's unfair treatment of gays.

Howell explained yesterday, however, that the original story did include Rogers's homosexuality, but Executive Editor Len Downie made the call to excise that tidbit because "there was no proof that Rogers was gay and no clear indication that, if he was, he wanted the information made public."

Howell goes on to defend Downie's decision, which is in line with the Post's editorial standard on sexuality: it shouldn't be mentioned unless absolutely integral. Not all gay activists, the paper believes, are gay, which is definitely true.

Though she doesn't criticize Downie outrightly, Howell does some more digging into Rogers' life – including chatting with other activist friends – and concludes that the story would have been "richer" with more details on Rogers' private life.

The Post was right to be cautious, but there was enough evidence — particularly of Rogers's feelings about "don't ask, don't tell" — to warrant quoting his friends and adding that dimension to the story of his life. The story would have been richer for it.

Now that the story's out, perhaps Rogers' death can do some actual good…

Forty-year old Maj. Alan Rogers died in Iraq last January, but the papers didn't start gabbing about him until recently.

While the media celebrated this military man's death, they never mentioned his homosexuality, which leads journo Chris Johnson to conclude the media's in collusion with the Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

The press, however, says it's a matter of privacy:

The Washington Post, National Public Radio and the Gainesville Sun, the local newspaper in his hometown of Hampton, Fla., made no mention of his sexual orientation or his involvement with a group that works to overturn “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Lynn Medford, Metro editor for the Post, said the newspaper debated whether or not to disclose Rogers’ sexual orientation and ultimately decided not to include such information as a matter of ethics. Rogers to some degree “kept his orientation private” and outing him after his death would “take a decision out of his hands,” she said.

Are we the only ones who find the "let the dead man decide" argument a little suspect?

Sex scandals certainly aren't anything new. Politicians and public figures have been canoodling since the beginning of time. The frequency and potency of sex scandals, however, seems to be on the rise.

No surprise, then, that it only took Joseph Minton Amann and Tom Breuer about six months to write The Brotherhood of the Disappearing Pants: A Field Guide To Conservative Sex Scandals. Why just conservative sex scandals? Says Amann, "Liberal scandals aren't as fun. And, honestly, it doesn't look like there are as many."

In Disappearing Pants, Amann and Breuer – who previously wrote Fair and Balanced My Ass, about Fox News – skewer the most repugnant, disgraceful and ultimately hilarious of the conservative sex scandals. As the publication date rapidly approaches, we'd like to share a conversation between our editor and Amann.

Lap it up, after the jump…

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