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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NPR Spikes “Outrage” Review For Outing Gay Republicans
NPR has spiked a review of “Outrage” for naming some of the politicians outed in the film.
Citing a policy of protecting the privacy of public figures, an NPR superior cut the names of current Florida governor Charlie Crist and former Senator Larry Craig from the review after writer Nathan Lee and his assigning editor at NPR had agreed on the text of the piece. However, a photo of Larry Craig accompanies the review and says that the former Senator is a subject of the documentary. It also hints strongly at the inclusion of Crist in the doc.
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‘Outrage’ comes at pivotal moment in gay rights fight
“Outrage,” the biting new political documentary by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Kirby Dick that opens today in Los Angeles, candidly explores the murky intersection between private lives and public conduct.Dick’s thesis is that Washington’s closeted homosexual lawmakers, most of them members of the GOP, staunchly — often stridently — oppose equal rights measures for gays because they’re anxious to conceal their own sexual orientation. He also shares a sentiment voiced by openly gay Democratic Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts who told the filmmakers that his Republican colleagues have “a right to privacy, but there’s no right to hypocrisy.”So in that spirit, the film does what no mainstream cinematic treatment of this issue has done before: It names names.
All the law and policymakers identified have previously been “outed” in print or online, but most either deny being gay or simply decline to comment on privacy grounds. Among those named in “Outrage” are veteran California Rep. David Dreier, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, former Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, ex-Louisiana Congressman Jim McCrery, former New York City Mayor Ed Koch and ex-Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, whose notorious 2007 arrest on suspicion of lewd conduct in a Minneapolis airport men’s room effectively ended his political career.
See ‘Outrage’ comes at pivotal moment in gay rights fight
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Gay politicians’ hypocrisy uncovered in movie ‘Outrage’
As Obama passes his first 100 days in office, I find myself sad that we liberals have less and less to complain about. Guantanamo Bay is closing, good health care policy is in the works, and I no longer have nightmares about McCain invading my living room on top of an elephant as if he were a Carthaginian emperor.
Nonetheless, liberals in 2009 still have more things to complain about than Holden Caulfield would, holding a broken Miley Cyrus record.
One such complaint is homosexuality in America. This week’s “gay controversy” surrounded Miss California and her Twitter-quarrel with Perez Hilton. I could take an opinion on this. But I won’t. Why? Because important American figures don’t wear tiaras.
Moving on, a controversy occurred at the Tribeca Film Festival. A documentary titled “Outrage,” which outs allegedly closeted right-wing politicians, previewed this past weekend in lower Manhattan.
To begin with, I should be upset there’s a movie dedicated to this. To out someone is a bit of a faux pas, and this movie probably doesn’t help the queer cause. At the same time, it kind of makes the director of the film, Kirby Dick, look like the same four-letter word that is also his last name. On the other hand, gossiping about and laughing at the follies of Republican congressmen is definitely quite fun.
Dick’s film draws on a compilation of substantiated rumors to expose conservative Republicans. The more obvious of these individuals includes former Rep. Mark Foley, who was indicted for sexual relationships he had with 16-year-old male pages, and Larry Craig, who was caught cruising a men’s bathroom at a Minnesota airport.
See Gay politicians’ hypocrisy uncovered in movie ‘Outrage’ Daily Illini
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Ultra-orthodox CatholicMel Gibson’s family values: conservative until it hits home
Holy Week ended with a big bang in the conservative Catholic community. Robyn Moore, Mel Gibson’s wife of 28 years and mother of their seven children, filed for divorce in Los Angeles. With no prenuptial agreement, she is likely to get a settlement worth somewhere around half a billion dollars. Seems like a small price for 28 years of living with Mad Max and his homophobia, anti-Semitism and ultra-orthodox Catholicism.
In a joint statement, the couple acknowledge that they separated in August 2006 shortly after Gibson was arrested for drunk driving. When he was arrested Gibson publicly humiliated his family by engaging in a drunken tirade claiming that the Jews started all the wars in the world and asking a female police sergeant who was filming the event, “What are you looking at, sugar tits.”
But the tipping point that led Moore to seek a divorce seems to have been the publication of photos and stories about Gibson cavorting on a Costa Rican beach with an unidentified young woman. A Russian pop idol named Oksana says she’s the one and Gibson has asked her to marry him. Others claim the woman on the beach was a different Oksana, 39-year-old Ukrainian singer Oksana Grigorieva, who lives in a house owned by the CFO of Gibson’s production company Icon and is the former girlfriend of Timothy Dalton.
Why is it that these right-wing family-values guys are always the worst sinners? Newt Gingrich, Ted Hagee, Larry Craig and now Mel Gibson. Gibson was quoted in the Observer in 2000 as having said, “There is nothing more important than your family. If you ruin that part of your life, what’s left? Work? Money? Screwing around?
See Mel Gibson’s family values @ sALON
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Rep. Barney Frank Bullish on Gay Rights
In the January 12 edition of The New Yorker, Massachusetts representative Barney Frank tells reporter Jeffrey Toobin that he is bullish about the future of gay rights under Barack Obama’s administration.
We’re going to do three things in Congress…First, a hate-crimes bill–that shouldn’t be too hard. Next, employment discrimination. We almost got that through before, but now we can win even if we add transgender protections, which we are going to do. And, finally, after the troops get home from Iraq, gays in the military. The time has come.”
Frank was the first congressman to come out of the closet willingly and, for a long time, was the only openly gay national representative–Sen. Larry Craig (R-Id.) doesn’t count. Frank has since been joined by Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Jared Polis (D-Colo.).
See Rep. Barney Frank Bullish on Gay Rights
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Craig nixes further appeals
(Minneapolis, Minnesota) Former Idaho Sen. Larry Craig has reached the end of the road in his effort to reverse his conviction in an airport bathroom sex sting, one of his lawyers said Thursday.
Attorney Tom Kelly said Craig had decided against asking the Minnesota Supreme Court to void the conviction. The …
Tags: Bathroom Sex, Conviction, Idaho Sen Larry Craig, Larry Craig, Lawyers, Minneapolis Minnesota, Minnesota Supreme Court, Nixes, Sen Larry Craig, Sex Sting, Tom KellyCraig decides not to appeal case to Minnesota high court
Former U.S. Senator Larry Craig has dropped a legal challenge to his 2007 arrest for “lewd conduct” in a Minneapolis airport bathroom.
Craig had been observed by an undercover officer tapping his foot in what was said to be a special code indicating he was soliciting sex.
He pleaded guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct and mailed in a fine. It all stayed under the radar until about four weeks later when Roll Call broke the story — after which late-night comedians wouldn’t leave the story alone.
Craig decides not to appeal case to Minnesota high court
The Christian Science Monitor/The Vote Blog
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Signorile: Inside the Larry Craig loo
Signorile: Inside the Larry Craig loo
Tags: Larry Craig, LooSite of Larry Craig’s sex sting falls off tourism map
(Boise, Idaho) The men’s room at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport where Republican Sen. Larry Craig was arrested in a sex sting is losing it appeal as a tourist stop, an official said.
“We’re getting there,” said Patrick Hogan, director of public affairs …
Tags: Boise Idaho, Larry Craig, Map Idaho, Minneapolis St Paul, Minneapolis St Paul International Airport, Patrick Hogan, Public Affairs, Republican, Sen Larry Craig, Sex Sting, Sex Tourism
