and play sexual ambiguity as some sort of issue–they might remember we are supposed to be the party of tolerance and acceptance. I know of one case this cycle and a potential one in another where Dems might be thinking of outing a GOPer who happens to be gay. In neither case does the person gay bait themselves (and I don’t think outing is right there) and so the issue should be off the table. If it’s put on the table, the Dems deserve to lose.
Bullshit.
It’s the hypocrisy, stupid.
Not if they aren’t gay bashing. I disagree with the outing, but won’t denounce it, but I draw the line–if you don’t make it an issue, why should I?
Are you referring to the state house race in Peoria? The only references to young aaron being gay are by a fringe former GOP candidate and bloger (who was too extreme for the GOP to embrace so he’s essentially left the ranks).
I think Keyes’ daughter made it an issue when she started a weblog.
I would agree about gay-bashing, but I haven’t seen any democrats do that. I think latent, silent people repressing homosexual tendencies is unhealthy and a sign of deeper psychological problems. In fact, I think this is where 90% of gay bashing comes from.
I’m not saying who I am referring to because I mean it in a general sense. There are two issues where I know Dems may be taking shots at two GOPers who I’ve never heard even mention sexual orientation.
And Keyes daughter wasn’t an outing. I agree with dealing with that in an upfront manner and made th case that the press who backed down shouldn’t have given Keyes past of making other people’s children news.
I can see it both ways. These people are running as Republicans and haven’t stood against the bigotry (or presumably the bad policies) of the party leadership. If these people are voting for DeLay, Frist and Bush, isn’t gay-baiting part of their coalition?
It depends–Shrock and Dreier are cases I disagree with–but ultimately can’t condemn. In other cases, not all of the people are anti-gay and in one case, the guy might not be gay. They’ve done nothing to torpedo pro-civil rights legislation–something that can’t be said for some conservative rural Democrats downstate.
Sorry, but you won’t get agreement from me on this. I’m moderate on most issues, but on Gay Rights I’m …radical, I daresay. I’m a huge fan of outing.
I’d agree with Archpundit that a politician’s sex life is generally off limits. I’d make exceptions if the acitivities show something about the candidate’s character (harassment; rape), or hypocrisy (gay politicians voting against gay measures).
The real dilemna here, though, is caused by how differently people perceive gays depending on where they live. In Chicago, SF, NY etc., there’s much less social stigma about being gay — outing a gay politician would get a big “so what” from most people. On the other hand, there are large swaths of the country where being identified as gay is enough to cause large numbers of people to vote against the candidate.
So, what to do? On the one hand, I’d love to live in a country where outing is not an issue because no one cares. Part of the way to get there is for more gay public figures to be out. On the other hand, being gay does make a difference in lots of places, and so outing carries a social stigma.
So, I don’t know where I come down on outing public figures just because they end up supporting anti-gay politicians. It seems in these cases the public will pay less attention to the hypocrisy-once-removed, and much more attention to the fact that the politician is gay.
Not that there’s anything wrong with it.
I have to admit that I haven’t put a massive amount of thought into outing gays.
One thing that always strikes me about it is that it makes it seem like being gay is something to be ashamed of – the entire idea of outing a candidate seems punitive.
On the other hand, if they take extreme positions on gay rights while being gay themselves, then it is a matter of hypocrisy, and I’m okay with that – but that’s because its the hypocrisy of it.
If someone hasn’t said anything either way, and just happens to be a republican, I’m not sure I’d feel comfortable with an outing.