No doubt Larry Craig spent much of this long-weekend in hiding. The man behind his downfall, however, has been thrust into the spotlight.
Blogactive's Michael Rogers started the ball rolling last October, when he "outed" Craig. Picking up on the story, Idaho Statesman started its controversial investigation into Craig's extracurricular activities.
Though neither broke the story, Rogers definitely deserves a little attention. And he got it when Washington Post's Jose Antonio Vargas sat him down for a chat.
In addition to tracing his career, Rogers tells Vargas – and Washington – that the party's just started:
In the coming months, he plans to post the names of "a few more" closeted Congress members on his blog, he says, all of them Republicans. There are 33 names on his published list, most of them men, 30 from the GOP. That fact reveals more about the Republicans, he says, than about him. Although a registered Democrat, he says he is bipartisan."I write about closeted people whose records are anti-gay," he says. "If you're a closeted Democrat or Republican and you don't bash gays or vote against gay rights to gain political points, I won't out you."
DC's shitting bricks right now. Unless they're using the bathroom for other purposes.
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More More More! We really need to stop tolerating this hypocritical nonsense from self-appointed righteous moralists who try to have their cake while depriving the rest of us of any dessert at all. "Outing" should not be a moral or ethical question at all when it involves public figures who have made clear, on-the-record statements that are in contradiction to their personal actions. The cry of "privacy" and the supposed sanctity of their personal lives are hollow and mythical: public figures, particularly political figures, put the "whole package" up for public consideration when they tout their families, church-going, and other private activities. Movie stars, CEOs, the guy down the street who works at Starbuck–yeah, leave their private lives private, because they're not really making a public issue of it. The rest of 'em — blow the closet door off.
I am kind of torn on this. Kudos to Mike Rogers (I am going to have to take a look at his blog, BlogActive) for bringing the hypocrisy of the Republican machine into the spotlight. If this folks are not "out" or not even gay, but voting on this iniatives that are hurtful to our community then maybe it should be brought into the spotlight that they are hypocrites.
Hurrah for Mr. Rogers!
"Who are the homos in your neighborhood… in your neighborhood… Oh, who are the homos in your neighborhood?"
from Schmitz Blitz: schmitzblitz.wordpress.com
Rogers defends his tactics saying, “I write about closeted people whose records are anti-gay. If you’re a closeted Democrat or Republican and you don’t bash gays or vote against gay rights to gain political points, I won’t out you.â€
I am somewhat conflicted about the tactics of Rogers. The process of accepting and disclosing one’s gayness is very stressful and scary–you have to worry about rejection from the people you care about the most, and begin to deal with the changes that come with being identified as a gay American. When someone else outs you, you loose control over this very difficult process, and it adds to the emotional turmoil.
What’s more, Rogers’ tactics create a new sort of McCarthyism targeting gays. It makes me somewhat uncomfortable to see again this kind of a witch hunt going on within the walls of our government.
Those concerns noted, I ultimately support the outing of anti-gay politicians. These politicians take their own shame and self-hatred over being gay out on open gays who just want to live their lives with dignity (as opposed to finding sexual fulfillment through secret trysts in public restrooms and parks). To me, using your democratically elected office as a closet is an abuse of power, and we need people like Rogers to expose that.