Here’s a compromise for everyone who feels that publicly outing closeted gay politicians who work hard against gay civil rights is a rude thing to do: As soon as filmmaker Kirby Dick is done doing whatever he needs to do to launch his latest documentary Outrage into the world, he can move on to another film that savages all those senators and congresspeople who are secretly African-American and openly racist.
And then Dick can rip to shreds all those powerful politicians who are closeted women but plainly misogynist.
What’s that? No one can be covertly black or female? You don’t say!
If I sound angry, it’s because I am. I was already pretty pissed off before I saw Outrage, and now, I’m furious.
I’m not sure I learned anything new from this rundown of the alleged duplicity of some of our leaders and much of the corporate mass media, but this is such a compelling assemblage and summary of information that we could well consider it the definitive word on the matter.
The matter is this: Some of the most vehemently anti-gay politicians at work in Washington, D.C. and our state capitals are, Dick claims, themselves gay. But they evidently pretend not be.
For one, they’re married to women. Two, they rail the loudest and vote regularly against anything that looks as if it will advance the civil rights of homosexuals, whether it’s about same-sex marriage or the U.S. military’s policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
And this apparently has been going on for decades. According to the film, some Reagan administration officials who ensured that the federal government’s response to the AIDS crisis was delayed were themselves gay.
It boggles the mind that people could be so in denial about themselves — or so full of self-loathing.
As for the film’s alleged “outings,” well, the apparent secrets of these men is no secret unless you get your news only from CNN and Fox News.
According to Dick, the furtive sex lives of the likes of Larry Craig — the now former senator from Idaho, he of the infamous “wide stance” — and Charlie Crist — the current governor of Florida and a potential frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012 — have been well documented by investigative reporters, and Outraged seems to provide ample proof of such. It’s not a matter of a single allegation of, say, an airport restroom assignation gone awry. It’s that these men apparently have long histories.
And one of the many pointed points of Outrage is this: No one would care who these men may or may not be having sex with except for the matter that these men themselves have made sexuality an issue, especially by helping to foment and maintain an atmosphere in which Teh Gay is Teh Ick.
It’s important to note that Dick does not try to out anyone who has not used his political power to ensure that gays and lesbians remain second-class citizens in what is supposed to be the greatest democracy in the world.
And he howls with rage, too, at the mainstream media and the “brilliantly orchestrated conspiracy to keep gay and lesbian politicians closeted” that keeps this information away from much of the voting public.
The film asks why will only the gay press print what Dick claims is the truth about these hypocrites?
Why does the mainstream media put its refusal to discuss such matters in any substantive way down to a politician’s “right to privacy” when it affords no such thing to the sexual peccadilloes of straight politicians? Or when other “private” behavior — such as the taking of a bribe — impacts a politician’s public work?
Why these men are protected by so many remains a mystery even at the film’s end.
But the plain fact is that Dick is after hypocrites, not homosexuals. He hopes to be outing the very men who create an environment in which so many people feel that it’s shameful to be gay! According to Dick, these men may be caught in their own vicious circles of self-hatred.
Dudes, if you really do disgust yourself that much, get some therapy.
Don’t take it out on the rest of us, gay and straight alike, who are grown-ups about these things, and would like to see the rest of our society grow up, too. Keep the City Paper free We don't have a paywall. Each week's printed issue is free. We're local, independent and free. Let's keep it this way. Please consider a donation of $100 to keep the City Paper free. Donate: chscp.us