Yes, just in time for the planned vote later this month on the Federal Marriage Amendment, the vile practice known as “outing” is primed for a comeback. Activist/journalist Michelangelo Signorile, the self-proclaimed inventor of outing, fires the first salvo- “exposing” Democratic Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland as a lesbian, and threatening further outings of lawmakers –and even staffers- who fail to take their side in the fight.
Now I preface that I’m as pro-gay-rights as anyone, and site his support for the FMA as Reason #1 why I’m not voting for Bush in November. But in seeking to blackmail politicians to vote their way by invading their privacy, Signorile and his ilk reveal themselves as no better than those who would break down doors in order to arrest homosexuals for sodomy.
It’s one thing if Signorile and Co. were to go after, say, a Roy Cohn type, someone who vocally rails against homosexuals while being one himself. But threatening to drag Congressional staffers into the mess, when they’re not even public figures- and as a result putting their jobs in jeopardy? And what if a member of Congress were married but bisexual- is it okay for the outers to threaten his marriage? All to oppose an amendment that observers on both sides doubt has any chance at all of passing.
It’s disgusting. And as Baseball Crank says, it also may be federally actionable blackmail.
Speaking of politicians and gay marriage, it’s official- Santorum knows about Santorum!
Posted by Stephen Silver at July 8, 2004 02:26 PM