How would you feel if you were outed on national news before you were even prepared to come out? Imagine coming out to all of your friends, family, co-workers and acquaintances at the exact same time. Imagine all this happening in a very conservative area known as Colorado Springs. On top of everything, imagine this happening before you have even come out to yourself, before you have accepted who you are. What do you do? I'm going to preface this diary by saying that it may spark heated debate, since the issue is such a charged one in the GLBT community. There is NO consensus on this issue, so no answer is the wrong answer.
When
Reverand Ted Haggard was outed... I have to admit that I felt elated. I mean, here you have this minister who privately had numerous trysts with a male prostitute- despite having a history of bashing gays in front of his congregation of 14,000 people. Haggard may very well be one of the most influential individuals in America to have fought to suppress the rights of Queer Americans throughout the years.
In this election alone, Haggard was one of the biggest proponents of the Colorado Amendment 43
which banned gay marriage. Haggard also played a role in killing Referendum 1 in Colorado, which would have allowed for same-sex domestic partnerships.
Given his bloody fight against GLBT civil rights, I need not explain why I initially felt happy to hear about his outing, but something didn't feel right. I felt guilty for feeling happy over Haggard's dilemma. I spoke with my co-worker about the ethics of outing someone who is obviously an extreme homophobe, and the response I got really has me thinking.
My Co-Worker said that outing such a person is "walking a fine line" since first of all it is "using one's sexual orientation as a weapon". How different is outing Haggard as a queer man in Colorado Springs from outing someone as a socialist in America during the McCarthy era? Can we justify one and decry the other as a horrible episode in American history? We put their lives in jeopardy and careers in the line. But Haggard's career was as a homophobe, does that therefore justify his sudden outing?
I've never given outing much thought, but I do admit to tacitly supporting the outing of gays who have fought or are fighting against basic GLBT rights. Haggard has forced me to reconsider my stance. Are we taking the higher moral ground by outing this man? Does it matter that we may have completely altered his life as long as we achieved our political goal?
My favorite gay Christian group- Soulforce- recently released their stance
on the whole Haggard scandal, particular on the news that Haggard may seek ex-gay "treatment":
"Haggard has now been referred to the same treatment that has threatened the mental and spiritual health of countless gay men and lesbians. We hope that many will see this as an opportunity to reach out in empathy."
Paige Schlit, Soulforce.
We have to talk about our response to Haggard. What do you guys think? I cannot possibly begin to decide how I think about this dilemma, let alone voice what I think our entire community's response should be.
Moving on however, I'll leave you guys with 365gay.com's "Today in History"
November 16, 1995 - A directive was issued by the Canadian Government allowing workers in same-sex relationships to take time off in the event of a partner's illness or death.
Something so basic, and yet we still fight for rights similar to these every day. I can't wait until the day where I'm an old man sitting on a rocking chair telling my kids and lecturing all the young gays about how "back in MY day we had to FIGHT for that..."
Author's Note: My name is Kevin Ballie, a student at American University (AU). I happen to work at the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Ally (GLBTA) Resource Center at AU. My area of activism centers particularly around GLBT activism. My goal is to write diaries on DailyKos as a regular update concerning issues facing the GLBT community. I sincerely hope to gain a readership base of committed GLBT activists and our supporters. Such a base will only enhance DailyKos and provoke greater thought. Just as a note, I may use terms like gay, lesbian, bisexual transgender (GLBT) or queer (a substitute for GLBT).