During a discussion on the image of homosexuality and the media, “outing” was mentioned. For those not familiar with the term, “outing” is the practice of revealing a public figure’s sexuality without their consent.
I am interested to find out y’all’s opinions on this. Is revealing a person’s sexuality without their consent a good thing? Is a person’s sexuality private, or is it for public consumption? Is being closeted always a bad thing? What if the person outing the celebrity gets it wrong? Should s/he be held liable for defamation?
My view : In most cases, it’s no one else’s business what you do in the bedroom, or who you fall in love with. However, if you’re one of those politicians who bash gays for political profit while being gay yourself, it’s open season. I defend privacy, not hypocrisy.
I think it’s immoral to out someone, even if you think they are an evil hypocrite.
While it shouldn’t matter in an ideal world, you may cause severe problems for that person and their family. They may even commit suicide if they see their world crumbling around them.
If you use someone’s sexuality as a weapon against them, then your sexuality is fair game.
If I say, “Vote for me because he’s gay!” and I’m gay too, I don’t get to act all shocked if someone outs me. I’d better learn to let sleeping dogs lie.
Ditto what Der Trihs said. I don’t think it’s a matter of morals, mks57. It’s a question of respect. Those who work against me and mine get none. If exposing their hypocrisy weakens or even destorys them, then so be it.
Defamation based on being called gay? That’s absurd. To defame someone who you have say something about that them that is untrue and hurts their reputation. Being gay shouldn’t count as being hurtful.
I may feel sorry for the familiy ( depends on the family ), but I feel no sympathy for someone who persecutes innocents for political profit. This is still a country where gays are beaten and murdered quite often; this isn’t a minor sin we’re talking about.
mks57: If a politician gets elected on a platform of cleaning up the red light district and throws all the prostitutes in jail, and then is caught with a prostitute, would you shield him then, for the same reasons?
The thing is, though, this is a weapon used against people who aren’t appreciably anti-gay. Often their only transgression is being associated with the “wrong” party.
Do those of you that support outing in general support it even in these cases? And if so, how can any of you claim any right of privacy for yourselves, I wonder?
I’m not talking about politicians who out as a means of digging up dirt. That is reprehensible.
I’m talking about people who out others as a means of holding them up as role models for the GLBT community. The end may be admirable, but does the end justify the potential hurt it can cause?
If they are Republican, they are anti-gay even if they never say a word on the subject; that’s like joining the KKK and claiming you don’t have a problem with blacks.
Are you talking about rumors about Anderson Cooper, Jodie Foster or a similar celebrity? That’s just idle celebrity gossip. I think outing someone who doesn’t want to be outed but isn’t hurting others is rude and jerkish behavior, especially if it is a non-celebrity. But I don’t think it’s morally wrong. On the other hand, if such people would come out then they’d be helping to erase the perceived stigma. I have more respect for Rupert Everett than Anderson Cooper or Shepard Smith because he has the courage to be who he is and not hide it.
Although I could be convinced that in the case of outing a non-celebrity when you have reason to believe they’ll be fired, ostracised from their family or otherwise harmed it is morally suspect.
I can’t answer for Homebrew, but for me - I don’t respect any politician; it’s not a profession that attracts people that deserve respect. Also, if someone is “working against me and mine” like Homebrew said, I don’t care what if any political party they are in. An enemy is an enemy.
Of course it does. Your question doesn’t even make sense to me. If a politician is working against my equal rights, then I don’t respect that person and they are my enemy regardless of their party affiliation.
You’re going to have to be more specific. If they are being a hypocrite about it, for instance, working to shut down your porn shop because porn is “immoral” yet they have a subscription to netdvdflix.com, then go at 'em. I’ll probably be on your side.
If he was arrested, then it’s a matter of public record.
Let’s say that I knew that he frequented prostitutes, and had proof of that fact, but it wasn’t public knowledge. Releasing that information to the public would be immoral unless it was the only way to prevent harm to someone else.