Closeted politicians stir filmmaker’s ‘Outrage’
Of the many insinuations in “Outrage,” Kirby Dick’s sad, devastating new documentary about closeted gay politicians – OK, alleged closeted gay politicians – the one that’s most disturbing is the case made against a former Southern congressman.
As a young liberal, the politician used his fraternity house “as his gay bar,” a former alleged hookup tells the filmmakers. Yet in pursuit of elected office, the politician got married, went to church, and voted Republican, never quite shaking his same-sex attraction but never doing much legislatively to acknowledge or advance the civil rights of gay people. On numerous occasions, in fact, he voted to suppress those rights.
Such alleged hypocrisy is the crux of “Outrage.” Dick speculates on the homosexuality of several current and former public officials which hasn’t been corroborated by the men themselves.
His charges aren’t new; they’ve certainly surfaced in the alternative press and online. But in accordance with Globe ethics poilcy, I can’t repeat those names here.
While dwelling on political contradiction, the movie unfolds at a unique juncture of psychological and moral character: the perverse place where a politician’s relentless personal drive and a closeted gay man’s shameful desire may meet.
In tying the purported secret gay sex lives of these putatively straight elected officials – the movie focuses almost exclusively on men – to their voting records, a caustic portrait emerges of self-deluded souls. Dick goes into scandals involving the married Idaho senator Larry Craig and the now openly gay former New Jersey governor Jim McGreevey, who sits down and unburdens himself for the camera (he talks about “living your truth” with an abandon that suggests either lots of therapy or lots of disco). Former Arizona congressman Jim Kolbe talks about how much happier he was after he revealed he was gay (we never hear from his ex-wife, although Mrs. McGreevey does speak).
“Outrage” is armed with commentary and insights from openly gay members of Congress like Barney Frank and Tammy Baldwin, activists like Larry Kramer (of course) and Rodger McFarlane, who died last month, and such Washington insiders as Hilary Rosen. The movie never allows you to forget its aim. It wants to hold these men accountable – if the speculation is true – not for their conservatism but for their double standard. “Outrage” tries to put the officials on a couch and determine why so many are Republicans. Someone likens their alleged behavior to playground politics, where potential outcasts help bullies persecute kids to keep the bullies off their trail. How could I be gay?, the thinking goes, I’ve voted with my party to block the passage of so many gay-friendly bills. See Closeted politicians stir filmmaker’s ‘Outrage’
Boston Globe
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DC Pledges Quick Review On Marriage Referendum
After filing paperwork Wednesday to hold a citywide referendum on the question, a coalition of religious leaders and other same-sex marriage opponents is facing a July deadline to collect about 21,000 signatures to force a special election this year. Before they can collect the signatures, however, the city election board has to rule on whether District voters have the right to weigh in on the issue.
Kenneth McGhie, general counsel to the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics, said the board has scheduled a special hearing June 10 to take up the matter.
McGhie said that if board members decide that a referendum is appropriate, supporters of a ballot proposal “are going to get their petitions right away and have two or three weeks to work with to try to get signatures.”
Washington Post – United States
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Grandfield teacher suspended for controversial play surrounding gay hate crime
Grandfield_A controversial play could cost Grandfield High School teacher Debra Taylor her job. She teaches the school’s Ethics and Street Law class, and says she was told by Superintendent Ed Turlington not to run a play titled “The Laramie Project.” The play is about a gay person who was murdered. After being forbidden to put on the play, Taylor held a mock funeral for the play in class so students could have closure. She says the mock funeral got her suspended.
7News spoke with Taylor, students, and parents on Thursday, but Turlington did not comment after our calls or emails. Taylor says she can’t comment either, but she hopes for a positive outcome.
The students say the superintendent didn’t think the subject matter of the play was appropriate for the community. Student Amber Squires says she doesn’t understand why her teacher was suspended. She says the class has covered other mature matters in the past, and that the matter must have been sensitive to school officials. “Our ethics class goes over stuff like that all the time,” she said. “Abortion, stem cells – this topic was very sensitive to our school or the school board.”
Amber says it wasn’t the sensitive subject matter that may have caused controversy. “They were trying to turn it into that we were promoting gay rights’ or something,” she said. Her mother agrees and wonders why Turlington waited until the students had worked for one month on the play before cancelling it. “He would know in advance what it was supposed to be about – that’s what I don’t understand about this whole thing is about,” said Elizabeth Squires.
Elizabeth says the entire thing may have been a misunderstanding from the beginning. She says the superintendent should have given it more thought. “He just took it the wrong way,” she said. “I don’t think he read the script, or knew what the story was really about.” Amber says she now is using her teachers own classroom lessons to defend her. “She always taught us to speak our minds and have our voices heard,” she said.
Amber says that the class has been turned into a reading class, and students have had to start the class over. She says they have had to learn a completely new curriculum. Turlington says the school board plans to meet next week to determine whether they will keep Taylor on as a teacher. He says he may be able to comment after that meeting.
See Grandfield teacher suspended for controversial play surrounding …
KSWO
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Gay-friendly pol resigns amid ethics allegation
(Boston, Massachusetts) Massachusetts’ House speaker said Sunday he would resign amid allegations a close friend used their relationship to push ticket-scalping legislation and paid off legal bills for the speaker’s in-laws.
In a letter to colleagues Democrat Salvatore DiMasi said his resignation as a state representative and as speaker would be …
