# What Public Figures Were Outed Against Their Will? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 1, 2005, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-figures-were-outed-against-their-will/328949 "2005-11-01T19:33:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-figures-were-outed-against-their-will/328949/21 "2005-11-01T23:27:21Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > Well, the aforementioned _Silence of the Lambs_ was seen by many in the gay community as being anti-gay. Hm, I have no idea why they should think that the movie was anti-gay, he took it straight from the book. If anything they should have bashed the author for the anti gat stuff, though I didnt see it as anti gay, it was just that the antagonist was very disturbed, and the author needed a reason _why_ he was kidnapping and killing the women he skinned. As far as I am concerned, it was perfectly valid - he was roughly based on Ed Gein anyway. Some people need to get off the caffeine and get a life that doesnt include knee-jerking and jumping to conclusions as their major form of exercise. Maybe a membership in a decaff coffee club and a nice gym? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-figures-were-outed-against-their-will/328949/22 "2005-11-01T23:44:58Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > As far as I am concerned, it was perfectly valid - he was roughly based on Ed Gein anyway. So you’re saying it’s perfectly acceptable to skin women and wear a woman suit? I just can’t believe how openly misogynistic and violent some Dopers are. OK, not really- I just wanted to be kneejerk and reactionary. I didn’t see it as anti-gay either, just anti-psychopathic murderer. I was actually more offended by _Philadelphia_ for the effete sophisticated urban professional cliche as well as for glossing over the fact that he screwed around on Antonio Banderas (which what gay guy would do?). ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-figures-were-outed-against-their-will/328949/23 "2005-11-01T23:51:25Z")
Not to get into a big debate on SOTL in GQ (if you want to discuss it feel free to start a CS thread), but: > [@aruvqan](#): > > I have no idea why they should think that the movie was anti-gay, he took it straight from the book. Buffalo Bill is presented as transgender, although there’s some line from Lecter saying he’s not really trans, he’s gay and he can’t accept it. The general viewing public (who may or may not have read the book) is not really going to make the distinction between gay and transgender, and either way it’s a sexual minority being presented as a twisted murdering freak, just one more in a long cinematic history going back as far as _Psycho_ if not beyond. Couple that with another huge movie at roughly the same time with a bisexual serial killer and a lesbian who murdered her family, along with a near-absence of positive gay portrayals and it might be slightly undertandable why people might be a little miffed. As for your comments about knee-jerking and decaf, I shall refrain from comment except to say that perhaps they might be more appropriate in another forum. ---
**Author:** ![Rachm\_Qoch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@Rachm\_Qoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachm_Qoch)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-figures-were-outed-against-their-will/328949/24 "2005-11-02T00:24:09Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > In terms of Congressmen, Steve Gunderson, Jim Kolbe, Barney Frank, Gerry Studds, Bob Bauman. Plus Florida Rep Mark Foley and Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski. And what about RNC leader Ken Mehlman and President Buchanan? (…interesting couple) Also: Barry Diller, David Geffen, Richard Chamberlain, Rosie O’Donnell, Calvin Klein, and publisher Jann Wenner. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-figures-were-outed-against-their-will/328949/25 "2005-11-02T00:50:41Z")
See, the Calvin Klein and Jann Wenner examples strain the definition. IIRC it was reported that they left their wives for men, which IMHO isn’t outing as much as it is reporting relationship news. It’s been a long time since the Diller and Geffen incidents, but I remember them to be rather similar, that it was reported they were dating people who happened to be men. Richard Chamberlain came out in a French magazine a long time ago, then claimed it was a mistranslation or some damn thing. He is finally out for real and in English with the publication of his autobiography. Rosie O’Donnell I thought came out on her own, but everyone just sort of assumed she was lesbian. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-figures-were-outed-against-their-will/328949/26 "2005-11-02T01:14:25Z")
How public they are is a matter of debate, but Republican National Committee national field director Daniel Gurley and RNC chief financial officer Jay Banning were both recently outed by a D.C. gay activist. [Cite](http://www.washingtonblade.com/2004/10-15/news/national/gopgay.cfm) More recently and most famous was the outing of James Guckert (aka [Jeff Gannon](http://www.washingtonblade.com/2004/10-15/news/national/gopgay.cfm), aka “8 inch cut military top”), though it shouldn’t have come as a shock to anybody seeing how soft he was around Bush. He still doesn’t admit (or deny) he’s gay and has cursed out gay presses for “embarassing me in front of my family” (yeah, going on nationwide TV to suck up to a president while having nude photos of yourself as a gay escort on the net, whoever thought that would be a volatile combo?) but hardly needs to. I’m not sure, but I think he actually may have first been outed by _The Daily Show_. The outing sharks have been circling Mehlman for years but I don’t think he’s officially outed. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-figures-were-outed-against-their-will/328949/27 "2005-11-02T01:16:39Z")
Oh, and I can’t believe it hasn’t been mentioned yet- one of the bloodiest and funniest outings of all- Wayne Besen’s re-outing of ex-gay posterboy [John Paulk](http://www.anotherway.com/pages/john.html). ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-figures-were-outed-against-their-will/328949/28 "2005-11-02T04:38:36Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > So you’re saying it’s perfectly acceptable to skin women and wear a woman suit? Of course not, don’t be insulting. It’s after Labor Day. Anyway, **Alan Turing** looks like he would count as a an involuntary outing. It cost him his security clearance and led to his suicide. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-figures-were-outed-against-their-will/328949/29 "2005-11-02T06:29:11Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > As for Liberace - who the hell did he think he was kidding??? Who did he think he was kidding? LOTS of little old ladies (like my grandmother), who adored him, and couldn’t understand why such a charming, talented man had never found the right girl. Yes, it SHOULD have been obvious that Liberace was gay, but the man had loads of oblivious, devoted fans, and he KNEW it was not in his own financial interests to disappoint them. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-figures-were-outed-against-their-will/328949/30 "2005-11-02T07:00:20Z")
Barbara Mikulski & Ed Koch, William Donald Schafer (ex MD Gov) & Janet Reno have all been extensively rumoured and discussed over the years, but for someone to be “outed” doesn’t there have to be either acknowledgement by the outee, or (lacking that) concrete evidence like a predilection for singing show tunes and antiqueing. Can you really say someone is “outed” if neither of these things is present. ---
**Author:** ![Rachm\_Qoch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@Rachm\_Qoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachm_Qoch)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-figures-were-outed-against-their-will/328949/31 "2005-11-02T07:06:49Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > The outing sharks have been circling Mehlman for years but I don’t think he’s officially outed. Out of curiousity, how does an outing become “official”? Especially these days where just about any sort of scurrilous rumor will find its way onto a blog somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-figures-were-outed-against-their-will/328949/32 "2005-11-02T07:48:29Z")
Barbara Mikulski was outed? When? By who? I have never heard this. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-figures-were-outed-against-their-will/328949/33 "2005-11-02T08:05:35Z")
> [@Paul in Saudi](#): > > Barbara Mikulski was outed? When? By who? I have never heard this. Mikulski’s been targeted over the years, most recently during her [2004 campaign](http://www.nyblade.com/2004/7-9/news/national/outed.cfm), and there’s been some gay-baiting as well by Republicans, but she has never commented publicly. ---
**Author:** ![Agemegos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f6c823/32.png) [@Agemegos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agemegos)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-figures-were-outed-against-their-will/328949/34 "2005-11-02T08:27:20Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > As for Liberace - who the hell did he think he was kidding??? A British jury. And it was not as though the magazine outed him very explicitly. He sued because they described his act as ‘fruit-flavoured’. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-figures-were-outed-against-their-will/328949/35 "2005-11-02T10:03:03Z")
> [@Agemegos](#): > > A British jury. > > And it was not as though the magazine outed him very explicitly. He sued because they described his act as ‘fruit-flavoured’. Describing his persona as ‘rooty-tooty fresh and fruity’ is right out, I suppose? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-figures-were-outed-against-their-will/328949/36 "2005-11-02T10:08:11Z")
_Babe_ Lincoln. ; ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-figures-were-outed-against-their-will/328949/37 "2005-11-02T16:47:05Z")
> [@Rachm Qoch](#): > > Out of curiousity, how does an outing become “official”? Especially these days where just about any sort of scurrilous rumor will find its way onto a blog somewhere. When there’s either an acknowledgement by the person or a smoking gun (such as Jeff Gannon’s gay escort web pages or photos of Chris Paulk running from a gay bar). ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-figures-were-outed-against-their-will/328949/38 "2005-11-02T16:52:11Z")
Eleanor Roosevelt’s correspondence with Lorena Hickock posthumously outed her as well, as did John Cheever’s love letters to a man. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-figures-were-outed-against-their-will/328949/39 "2005-11-02T17:49:34Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Eleanor Roosevelt’s correspondence with Lorena Hickock posthumously outed her as well, as did John Cheever’s love letters to a man. You’ve reminded me of an incident from college. We were doing a National Coming Out Day event and we decided to post flyers around campus of historical/famous figures who were gay. One flyer we did was ER (noting the hick correspondence) and we also had one for Lily Tomlin. I was down in our office and overheard our student body president say “I can believe Lily Tomlin is a lesbian, but Eleanor Roosevelt? No way.” Um, OK… Not sure if we aren’t stretching the definition again by including writings published after death, but if not then we must include E.M. Forster, who had _Maurice_ published posthumously along with the very odd “he touched my buttock and it was magic” intro. ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-figures-were-outed-against-their-will/328949/40 "2005-11-02T22:07:42Z")
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