Gay community outing public figures via blogs

Three openly gay members of Congress
Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., who in 1987 became the first member of Congress to voluntarily make his homosexuality public, said he does not know if the targeted congressman is gay or not. However, Frank contended that the perception that the congressman might be gay had damaged his standing with some fellow Republicans in the House — and Frank said this issue of bias should be aired publicly.

“I think he’s wrong to be silent about this,” Frank said of the congressman. “You should not cover up this act of prejudice.”

Frank is now one of three openly gay members of Congress, and there are about 300 openly gay elected officials nationwide, according to the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund. The president of the fund, which recruits out-of-the-closet gay and lesbian candidates to run for office, has mixed feelings about outing.

“If we ever outed anyone, we’d lose our credibility with the people we work with,” said Chuck Wolfe. “On the other hand, who can condemn people for using whatever weapons they have to fight for equality and point out hypocrisy? It seems exactly why we have a democracy.”

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