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Opinion: Is it ever OK for the media to ‘out’ gay and lesbian politicians?

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That’s the provocative question The Times’ On the Media columnist James Rainey raises today. He notes that some journalists believe it’s their duty to reveal the sexual orientation of gay and lesbian officials who support policies that many in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community would oppose. Says Rainey:

I hear the reporters’ righteous indignation. I understand their claims of hypocrisy. And yet a reporting experience from years ago makes me urge journalists to proceed with caution, as National Public Radio did in recent days, when reporting people’s sexual orientation against their wishes. As late as 1993, voters in Los Angeles still had not elected an openly gay candidate to the City Council. It seemed a good bet that the barrier would fall that year because a couple of gay candidates were among the front-runners in the 13th District, which includes Hollywood. The Times assigned me to cover the race, and I soon learned that those candidates, Michael Weinstein and Conrado Terrazas, had been telling other gay activists that former school board member Jackie Goldberg was less worthy because she had never made a formal public declaration that she was a lesbian.

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Click here to see how things unfolded, including a rather awkward conversation Rainey had at the time with Goldberg.

Rainey also notes the release this month of “Outrage,” a documentary which argues that many office holders are in the closet. Earlier this month, Tina Daunt, our Cause Celebre columnist, called the film by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Kirby Dick a “biting new political documentary.” She noted that it “candidly explores the murky intersection between private lives and public conduct.” Daunt also writes:

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.

Which names? Click here for her full column.

-- Steve Padilla

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