Has a Democrat ever been "outed," or are only Republicans closeted?

[Ian David]

The Democrats are The Big Tent Party.

The Republicans are The Big Closet Party.

I think someone during the Clinton administration was suspected of being gay. Some of the "evidence" was that he wrote a book of bad poetry. But the claims were never proved.

I could be remembering that entire thing completely wrong, because I am, after all, wrong 1/12 of the time.

See related thread:
How big is the Republican Closet? ANOTHER anti-gay Bush operative OUTED!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=221x16747

[no name no slogan]

1. Barney Frank (D-MA)

He was outed back in the 90s or late 80s, IIRC.

[The Witch]

4. Was he outed or did he come out?

By the time I was in high school he was proudly "the only openly gay member of congress..."

[DURHAM D]

9. He was outed by a scandal / male prostitute/ employee. eom

[Inland]

11. I think there was a scandal long after he came out

He let a guy stay at his house that later turned out to be a prostitute, turning tricks at his house. I think that was long, long, long, after he came out.

[DURHAM D]

16. Part of the "coming out:" discussion has to include the

definition. I think Barney was out to friends, some Hill staffers, and some other house members. However, the whole world found out about him from the media because of the scandal.

[Ian David]

17. That is only appropriate in The White House, not The Frank House...

In his defense, how many parents have kids that are dealing drugs out of their own homes and don't know it?

How many parents know everything their kids do?

Now, how many roommates or partners or spouses can know everything that a grown adult living in their home is doing?

For example, in Emerson College, a girl was running an escort service out of her dorm room. Her two roommates had no idea, and one of the roommates was an Evangelical Born-Again Christian.

There was stuff in the local papers, but now I can't find it.

This was back in 1993.

[Ian David]

15. I forgot about Barney Frank. Anyway, here's what I found...

This article says Barney Frank outed himself:

Wave of outings hits Congress
Angry activists target closeted members, staffers with anti-gay records
By ADRIAN BRUNE
Friday, June 18, 2004

Frank has said he came out voluntarily in May 1987, two years before facing a scandal involving a gay escort with whom Frank was associated while still closeted.

<snip>

Frank, to the contrary, has said he came out because he was “motivated by two factors: my deep personal unhappiness with my life as a closeted public person, and my view that it would be helpful in our fight against homophobia if I joined approximately 432 of my House colleagues in being honest about my sexual orientation.”

More:
http://www.washingtonblade.com/2004/6-18/news/national/wave.cfm



Outing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(I just updated the entry myself to clarify the bit about Barney Frank)


People who have been outed include Pete Williams, Chastity Bono, and
Richard Chamberlain. People who have supported outing as of 1993 include "Victoria Brownworth, columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News; The Detroit News's Michael McWilliams; Charles Kaiser, formerly of The New York Times, Newsweek, and The Wall Street Journal, and now a professor at Princeton University; columnist Ann Northrup, formerly a CBS Morning News producer; Village Voice executive editor Richard Goldstein; Voice columnist Michael Musto; Frank Bruni of the Detroit Free Press; Los Angeles Times New York correspondent Victor Zonana; conservative gay Republican activist and author Marvin Leibman; Voice staffer Donna Minkowitz; Larry Gross, professor of communications at the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Pennsylvania; Jeffrey Schmalz an editor at The New York Times; former QW editor Maer Roshan; former Advocate editor Richard Rouilard; current Advocate editor Jeff Yarbrough; Congressperson Barney Frank; Congressperson Gerry Studds; historian Martin Duberman; philosopher Richard Mohr; novelist Armistead Maupin; performer Terry Sweeeney; public television's In the Life producer John Scagliotti; Hank Plante at KPIX-TV in San Francisco; Lindsy Van Gelder, editor at Allure; Gabriel Rotello, now a columnist for New York Newsday; freelance journalists Marshal Alan Phillips, Michael Bronski, Susie Bright, and Rex Wockner." (ibid, p.163-164).

RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman has been the target of outing campaigns but has so far denied he is gay <1> (http://www.conspiracyplanet.com/channel.cfm?channelid=65&contentid=2016&page=2).

here is some debate as to whether Congressperson Barney Frank was outed, or whether he outed himself. Rep. Frank himself claims that he came out voluntarily.

"Frank, to the contrary, has said he came out because he was “motivated by two factors: my deep personal unhappiness with my life as a closeted public person, and my view that it would be helpful in our fight against homophobia if I joined approximately 432 of my House colleagues in being honest about my sexual orientation.”
Wave of outings hits Congress, Washington Blade, Friday, June 18, 2004
http://www.washingtonblade.com/2004/6-18/news/national/wave.cfm


Barney Frank's opinions on outing are often quoted as "The Barney Frank Rule."

Gay Congressman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said he endorses the practice in limited circumstances. “I am not inclined to do it, but I think if the congressman is rabidly anti-gay, it’s appropriate,” Frank said. “You don’t have a right to be a hypocrite; you don’t have a right to exempt yourself from the negative things you do to other people.”
Wave of outings hits Congress, Washington Blade, Friday, June 18, 2004
http://www.washingtonblade.com/2004/6-18/news/national/wave.cfm



More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outing#Support_of_Outing

[Atman]

2. What about the Senator from New Jersey?

There was a pretty big fuss about him, wasn't there. I can't think of any others, though.

[tk2kewl]

3. James McGreevey NJ governor

[TallahasseeGrannie]

5. The RW spread rumors that Hillary

was a lesbian. I heard it from my uncle who "knew it for a fact."

However, if it were true, she is still in the closet.

I do believe that a lot of fundamentalist behavior (no questions, scripted life, etc.) is a response to internal shame about homoerotic feelings/urges. It is completely non-professional opinion and I basically just made it up. But I just think that is one of the reasons when fundies go BAD they go REAL bad.

[safi0]

6. Tammy Baldwin

In Wisconsin ran with public knowledge being that she was a lesbian

[goodhue]

12. I didn't know Baldwin was out

She is a great Congressperson, by the way!

[Dr.Phool]

13. Damn!! I've met her a few times

And never had any idea she was a lesbian. There goes those fantasies.
:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

[Lexingtonian]

7. DHHS Secretary

Donna Shalala was never quite outed. But it was never denied, either. Republicans didn't go after her, either. I suppose there's a We Don't Talk About Yours, You Don't Talk About Ours agreement in effect. They have Lindsey Graham and Mark Foley and Jim McCrery to explain, after all.

As for the major Outing of the Week, the National Enquirer found an excuse to put Oprah Winfrey and her partner on their front page this week and to name the woman. She's beautiful, too.

[GayCanuck]

18. Oh, Juicy!

"As for the major Outing of the Week, the National Enquirer found an excuse to put Oprah Winfrey and her partner on their front page this week and to name the woman. She's beautiful, too."


I didn't see that! This week's issue?

[Joyce78]

8. U.S. Rep. Gerry Studds, D-Mass

I believe he was the first openly gay member of Congress, and I think he served as a Rep for about 20 years.

[cmkramer]

20. Also outed by scandal

Actually, didn't he have some sort of "intern" scandal that kind of forced his hand, so to speak? Or was he publicly out before that?

[gratuitous]

10. I'm sure there are closeted Democrats, too

But usually the reason someone is outed is because their public life doesn't match their private life. That is, closeted Republicans like Jeff Berkowitz (mentioned in the link of the original post) work against what are perceived to be their personal interests to further the party agenda. Berkowitz was apparently active in Arkansas against same-sex marriage, and used his activism to recruit young folks for the Arkansas Republican party. Berkowitz gets outed because for him politics trumps the personal -- or at least other people's personal lives. I'm confident that Berkowitz, if he is gay, doesn't mind in the least being closeted.

Closeted gay Democrats, on the other hand, do not routinely participate in political activities harmful to the gay community as a way of furthering their political careers.

I don't know how I feel about outing gays. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, I'm in favor of afflicting the comfortable, and exposing hypocrisy in the public arena. On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, I want to live peaceably with all, and if someone else's journey causes them to hurt themselves or their community, then it's really up to them to come to terms with it. On Sundays, I pray for guidance and wisdom.

[bluedawg12]

14. I think usually hate-baiter homophobe hypocretins outed.

That would be Repugs, generally.

[Ian David]

19. I think I agree with The Barney Frank Rule...

Gay Congressman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said he endorses the practice in limited circumstances. “I am not inclined to do it, but I think if the congressman is rabidly anti-gay, it’s appropriate,” Frank said.

“You don’t have a right to be a hypocrite; you don’t have a right to exempt yourself from the negative things you do to other people.”

Wave of outings hits Congress, Washington Blade, Friday, June 18, 2004
http://www.washingtonblade.com/2004/6-18/news/national/wave.cfm

[Ian David]

21. Does anyone want to create an "Outing Scorecard?"

Part 1: Democrats

Part 2: Republicans

Part 3: Anti-gay Fundamentalists and other anti-gay conservatives

Part 4: Hollywood-type Celebrities (movies, TV, theater, authors, etc.)

Part 5: Executives

Part 6: Sports Figures

Part 7: Supposedly gay people "outed" as being straight. (Hey, it could happen... couldn't it? And I'm not talking about the "ex-gays." I mean someone who knows they are pretending to be gay for some kind of personal agenda. Imagine of one of the Queer Eye guys was straight? Or if they are actually heterosexual Crab People from the center of the Earth?)

Also, I read somewhere (and I'm wrong 1/12 of the time) that Benjamin Franklin was bisexual and belonged to a secretive kinky sex club in Paris.

[bluedawg12]

22. Against "Gay score card," cuts both ways

It can expose hate mongers.

But at the same time it gives the impression that there is something intrinsically wrong with being gay and being outed is a punishment.

Outing should be: to paraphrase Bill Clinton:
rare, considered and purposeful.

Otherwise, we risk being like the radical right wing- over pre-occupied with who is screwing whom.

When, in actually it is about who loves whom?

Frankly, who someone else is attracted to is a private matter.
But, if someone uses that to condemn another human being then hate baiting homphobes should be outed. All of them. gay or straight.

The issue is hate mongering not sexual orientation.

[Ian David]

23. It shouldn't be just the gay ones. We need more Larry Flint style actions

If I remember correctly (and I'm wrong 1/12 of the time) didn't Larry Flynt put out a bounty for anyone who can prove they had an affair with any of the politicians who voted for Clinton's impeachment?

I think we ought to work the bars and chat rooms looking for high-profile conservatives and hypocritical politicians and actively seek out ways to find, entice, document and out them-- gay or straight.

Video footage of Rick Santorum masturbating on your couch while watching gay porn is good-- very good.

Audio tape of James Dobson trying to pick-up a chesty blond woman in a bar and bragging about his sexual exploits is almost as good.

Bill O'Reilly's phonesex tapes... I would pay money to download that from iTunes.