Fear of Being Outed Prompted Killing by Aaron Hernandez

Internalized homophobia is a horrible thing.  It impacts individuals in varying ways: (i) it causes some individuals to be overwhelmed with self-hate and resort to suicide, (ii) others lash out against others in the LGBT community by embracing anti-gay politics and religion, and (iii) others take desperate steps to conceal their "secret."  New reports indicate that  former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, who hung himself in his solitary jail cell, took deadly action and killed a one time friend to prevent being "outed."  A sad end to a sad story and life.  Tainted because of religious fueled homophobia and the internalized self-hate that it causes in so many LGBT individuals.  Science tells us that sexual orientation is not a choice, is set before we are born, and is a normal aspect of biology.  Yet, ignorance embracing religion demonizes same sex attraction and continues to destroy lives across the world.  The Advocate looks at Hernandez' disturbing tale.  Here are excepts:

Newsweek confirmed that Hernandez, 27, left a suicide note for his female fiancee, his daughter, and the boyfriend he met at the Souza Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, Mass, where he was serving a life sentence for murder. Hernandez's boyfriend, who has not been named by the media, is under suicide watch.

Hernandez was convicted for the murder of his one-time friend, Odin Lloyd. A motive for the 2013 killing was never clear, but Newsweek and other outlets reported that Lloyd was aware Hernandez was bisexual and had carried on a long-time affair with a male friend from high school. At the time of his death, Lloyd was dating the sister of Hernandez's fiancee; it's believed Hernandez was fearful word of his bisexuality would reach his fiancee.

Lloyd also allegedly called Hernandez a "smoocher," which the football star believed was an antigay slur. Later, a man accused of helping Hernandez attempt to conceal Lloyd's murder told his girlfriend he would not have helped him had he known he was a "limp wrist."

Hernandez, born in Bristol, Conn., in 1989, lost his father at the age of 16. Even with a promising football future at the University of Florida, Hernandez could not escape a life of crime and violence. He was accused of taking part in a 2007 double-shooting that left two men injured in Gainseville, Fla.; he was not convicted. Five years later, he was connected to a shooting in Boston that left two men dead, but was found not guilty of that crime five days before he committed suicide. 

When Hernandez's body was discovered this week — the same day his former teammates traveled to the White House to celebrate their Super Bowl win in February — he had a Bible verse scrawled on his forehead and red ink on his hands and feet, imitating the stigmata.

WikiLeaks Outed Gay Men In Countries with Death Penalty for Gays

My opinion of Wilikleaks has been plummeting and news that the organization has callously "outed" gays in countries where gays face the death penalty as well as identified rape victims and victims of domestic violence in countries where the victims face potential violence.  One of the countries where such disclosures have been made is Saudi Arabia - America's false ally - where gays are routinely executed.  Apparently, the self-stroking of Julian Assnge's ego is more important that the lives of those his organization is endangering. Towleroad looks at these despicable and uncaring actions.  Here are highlights:

A new report out Tuesday has found that hacktivist group WikiLeaks has on more than one occasion outed gay men in Saudi Arabia, a country where homosexuality is punishable by death.

WikiLeaks has increasingly shown little discretion when it comes to withholding private details about individuals named in documents it leaks online, even those of individuals who have nothing to do with the organization’s raison d’être: “We open governments.” Rather, it seems that WikiLeaks has no interest in taking the time to redact personal information that, if revealed, could endanger the lives of private citizens who have played no role in the Machiavellian machinations of statecraft it seeks to expose.

In the report, the AP found a staggering amount of “collateral damage to the privacy of hundreds of innocent people, including survivors of sexual abuse, sick children and the mentally ill” in WikiLeaks’ leaked documents. Among a trove of cables from Saudi Arabia, for instance, medical records and other personal information was revealed that effectively outs closeted gay men in that country. As the AP notes, “the site published the name of a Saudi citizen arrested for being gay, an extraordinary move given that homosexuality is punishable by death in the ultraconservative Muslim kingdom.”

The AP was able to get in touch with that man who said, “[WikiLeaks] published everything: my phone, address, name, details. If the family of my wife saw this … Publishing personal stuff like that could destroy people.” That individual is also in the midst of a custody dispute with a former partner.

WikiLeaks has also published medical records of teenage rape victims, including a male teen:

Three Saudi cables published by the WikiLeaks identified domestic workers who’d been tortured or sexually abused by their employers, giving the women’s full names and passport numbers. One cable named a male teenager who was raped by a man while abroad; a second identified another male teenager who was so violently raped his legs were broken; a third outlined the details of a Saudi man detained for “sexual deviation” — a derogatory term for homosexuality.

Scott Long, an LGBT rights activist who has worked in the Middle East, said the names of rape victims were off-limits. And he worried that releasing the names of people persecuted for their sexuality only risked magnifying the harm caused by oppressive officials.

“You’re legitimizing their surveillance, not combating it,” Long said.

Apparently, in 2016, medical records are no longer a legitimate secret, even if you’re gay and/or a victim of rape. It is unclear at this point if WikiLeaks has outed gay individuals in other anti-LGBT countries besides Saudi Arabia.

I have come to believe that the best place for Assange may well be in prison where, with luck, he will suffer severely for the harm he has done to innocents.

Sleazy Daily Beast Article "Outs" and Endangers Olympic Athletes

Douche Bag (my view) Nico Hines

Up until now, I regularly check out The Daily Beast and often have referenced their articles - I did the same with Rolling Stone until it published its fiction based story slandering the University of Virginia.  Now, The Daily Beast is going to join Rolling Stone as an outlet to be avoided.  Why? Beacuse of an utterly sleazy pieces by a scumbag (at least in my view) named Nico Hines who went around the Olympic Village with Grindr and other hookup apps and then "outed" various athletes, many from anti-gay countries where their lives might be endangered on their return home.  While the editors of The Daily Beast have done a disingenuous "We're Sorry!" piece, it is nowhere near enough and does nothing to undo thee damage done to some athletes.  Both Hines and whoever approved his piece need to be fired immediately.  Slate has a piece ripping The Daily Beast a new one and rightly so.  Here are highlights from Slate: 

On Thursday morning, the Daily Beast published an exceedingly gross and bizarre article by a straight, married male writer who lured in gay Olympians through hookup apps for no particular purpose. The entire piece is an astoundingly creepy exercise in Grindr-baiting, which involves a journalist accessing Grindr in an unlikely setting and … seeing what happens. But the Daily Beast piece, penned by Nico Hines, is a uniquely disgusting and irresponsible entry into the tired genre. Hines entices his (often closeted) subjects under false pretenses; effectively outs several closeted athletes who live in repressive countries; then writes about the whole thing in a tone of mocking yet lurid condescension. By 10:30 a.m. ET, the Daily Beast had, in response to criticism, edited out the most identifying details about closeted athletes—but that’s too little, too late. (Update, 9:15 p.m.: On Thursday evening, the Daily Beast took down the piece entirely.)

Hines begins by explaining that his entire assignment consisted of walking around the Olympic Village while using several hookup apps, hoping to learn whether “an Average Joe” can “join the bacchanalia.” He quickly abandons apps like Tinder, which are mostly used by straight people, for Grindr, which is for gay men: “No prizes for guessing that Grindr proved more of an instant hookup success than Bumble or Tinder,” he writes. Presumably, Hines awards “no prizes” because he believes gays are more promiscuous than straight people—a theme to which Hines often returns throughout his vile piece.

Because Hines is not gay, you might find his use of Grindr a bit dishonest. But not to worry: “For the record,” Hines writes, “I didn’t lie to anyone or pretend to be someone I wasn’t—unless you count being on Grindr in the first place—since I’m straight, with a wife and child.” This sentence reflects a stunning amount of ignorance, because, in Hines’ situation, of course being on Grindr in the first place is a lie. Grindr is an app for men who wish to hook up with other men. That is its purpose! To be on Grindr when you do not have that goal, and when you could not possibly have that goal because you are straight, is itself a mendacious deception.

With his dubious premise established, Hines proceeds to out athlete after athlete, providing enough information about each Olympian he encounters for anyone with basic Google skills to uncover their identities. (After several minutes of Googling, I surmised the identities of five of the gay athletes Hines described.) I’m not going to repeat his descriptions, because—as Hines himself acknowledges!—some of them live in “notoriously homophobic” countries and remain closeted at home.

Shortly after Hines’ article published, openly gay Olympian Gus Kenworthy tweeted that the author “basically just outed a bunch of athletes in his quest to write a shitty [Daily Beast] article where he admitted to entrapment.” That is correct, but it’s worth exploring why Hines embarked upon this weird, sleazy quest in the first place. I count two reasons. The first is that Hines simply enjoys tittering with condescension at all the gay athletes who take the bait and engage with him—a straight dude, as Hines emphatically reminds us. Why else zero in on Grindr? The second reason is more repulsive: Hines appears to take pleasure in luring in these Olympians then outing them to all the world.

But the offensive purpose of Hines’ article is really the least of its problems. Far worse is the actual damage it will likely cause to real, live human beings—inevitable onsequences that Hines blithely ignored. Several athletes who are closeted at home (and possibly to their own teammates) will wake up on Thursday morning to the news that the Daily Beast has outed them. Their teammates could ostracize and alienate them; their families could disown them; their countries could imprison them. And for what? A homophobic article about how a straight guy conned gay Olympians from anti-gay countries into hitting on him through Grindr? Hines’ article is a dangerous disaster, a wildly unethical train wreck that should be taken down immediately for the sake of its duped subjects. Hines may view his Grindr-baiting as all fun and games. For the victims of his unprincipled journalism, however, his nasty little piece has the power to ruin lives. 

As I said, I am saying good bye to The Daily Beast.  As for Hines, he needs to be fired and  boycotted by legitimate news outlets.  Perhaps he can get a job with FRC or AFA where lying and seeking to harm gays is an everyday mission. 

Cavalcade of Hypocrisy - Anti-Gay Politicians/Church Leaders Exposed as Gay

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Republican House of Delegates Member Caught on Grindr

Apparently, at least one Republican members of the Virginia House of Delegates have forgotten about what happened to former Virginia 2nd District Congressman Ed Schrock who chose to end his re-election campaign after being caught using a gay hookup site back in 2003.   It seems that a Southwestern Virginia GOP lawmaker was cruising on Grindr this past weekend in Richmond.  For those unfamiliar with Grindr, it is a gay dating and hookup app that one uses via their smart phone to connect with other gay men.  The hypocrisy of someone in the Virginia GOP which is vitriolically anti-gay - Senator Carrico (R-40) recently compared being gay to a form of cancer - using Grindr for gay sex hook ups is off the charts.  Fortunately, since this particular member of the House of Delegates has not been stridently anti-gay in his voting record (at least in relative terms), the folks at GayRVA chose not to "out" him and reveal his identity - at least for now.  Instead, an open letter was published addressed to this legislator.  Here are excerpts from that letter:

 First- welcome to RVA – I’ve visited your part of the state before and imagine the number of available dudes here in the Richmond area v. the part of Virginia where you call home is exciting! As a gay man, I’d never shame someone for wanting to explore their sexuality as long as it is done in a safe and healthy way, so I hope you’re getting the chance to enjoy it!

[L]ets also talk about your role as a legislator and how it impacts and affects LGBTQ people in the rest of the Commonwealth. I’ve looked up your voting record and there’s a number of things you voted against which makes me wonder;

Do you ever want to have kids? You voted to make it harder for same-sex couples to adopt by allowing state funded adoption agencies to deny adoptions to people that violate their moral “conscience.”

What college did you go to? (I actually know, I googled you!) Well, other folks still in college, like the young man you hit up on Grindr who alerted me, are now living in a state university & college system which allows select official school clubs to discriminate pretty much at will. Those clubs can also gather to rally around causes which could harm LGBTQ folks.

Speaking of age, you totally lied on your profile – also tacky! (Google is an editor’s best friend.)
I know you’re obviously not out at work here at the General Assembly, but I have to ask why you would vote against a law which would have protected LGBTQ Virginian’s for being fired for who they love.

[Y]ou managed to take the opportunity to put your own people down.

Speaking of self loathing behaviors, why did you vote against the appointment of an openly gay Judge? That vote was less-than-subtle on why and how it was targeted – with several conservative Senate members walking out rather than voting him in – but again, you sat there quietly and let the broader anti-gay sentiment at the GA take the driver’s seat.  Thankfully the honorable Judge Thorn-Begland was appointed, but no thanks to you.

I’m sure the personal crisis you go through every time you cruise has got to be pretty intense. I came out at 15, it wasn’t stellar, but I survived. Now you, much older then that, will have to someday deal with these feelings and you can be the man you are right now or you can take the opportunity so few of us have and stand up for what is right.

I hope you make the right choice… and if you decide otherwise, stay off of Grindr cause we’ll be watching.

Personally, I would have "outed"  this delegate (which is probably why the editor of GayRVA did not give me his name when we spoke today).  This delegate posted a face photo - which GayRVA obscured - and his identity was confirmed.  In my view, one's right to personal privacy ends when you use your elected position to vote for anti-gay legislation or take anti-gay actions.  When I learned about Ed Schrock's hypocrisy, I worked with blogger Mike Rogers to get the truth out despite threats from Schrock's chief of staff.  This member of the House of Delegates is keeping alive a toxic atmosphere where gay youth continue to take their own lives because of the bullying and discrimination they experience.  This delegate deserves to be exposed and experience the toxicity that he is working to maintain.  In all my years as a GOP activist, I never, ever supported anti-gay bigotry.  This delegate could have abstained from votes if he was too much of a coward to do the right thing.

Sexual Predatory Dennis Hastert Helped Push GOP's Anti-Gay Agenda

Don't ask me why, but the Republican Party seems to be a magnet for self-loathing closeted gays - and even sexual predators like Dennis Hastert, former Speaker of the House of Representatives.  I've never understood the mindset of those who seek political advantage by making the lives of others as horrible as possible, yet that is definitely the way of today's GOP which plays on hate, racism, homophobia and bigotry of every form to push its agenda of creating a new Gilded Age.  The list of these self-loathing gays is long and, in my view includes some not yet "outed" such as Ken Cuccinelli and Rick Santorum who are just too hysterical about gays for someone who doesn't have personal psycho-sexual issues going on.  The Huffington Post looks at the way Denns Hastert assisted the GOP's anti-gay agenda even while guarding his secret that he was not only gay, but a sexual predator who preyed on boys.  Here are highlights:

During the 2004 elections, George W. Bush's campaign, managed by a closeted gay man, pushed a series of anti-gay ballot initiatives across the country. The House of Representatives, led by a male speaker who allegedly sexually assaulted a male minor, moved a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage after beating back attempts to strengthen hate crimes legislation. And the White House, led in part by a vice president with a lesbian daughter, eagerly encouraged a conservative evangelical base hostile to gay rights.

Though only slightly over a decade ago, that election seems increasingly like the relic of a far-off era as the country moves closer toward acceptance of legalizing marriage equality nationwide. But it's being revisited in light of recent revelations that former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) may have sexually abused at least two male students during his time as a high school teacher and wrestling coach, and later lied to the FBI about the hush money he was paying one of them.

[Hastert] was a vital cog in the anti-gay political machinery that the GOP deployed for political benefit. And now it appears his involvement carried the same elements of duplicity and deceit as that of other Republican operatives of that era. 

"The hypocrisy is breathtaking in its depth," said Elizabeth Birch, former president of the Human Rights Campaign, which advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights.

As speaker of the House from 1999 to 2007, Hastert didn't just go along and vote the party line on various bills; he decided which pieces of legislation made it to the floor for a vote. During his tenure, he was a clear foe of the LGBT community. 

That Hastert was allegedly hiding a sordid past wasn't known at the time, though rumors were beginning to spread. Still, those who lobbied on the bill picked up odd clues that hold more meaning now.

"I once sat in a meeting with Denny Hastert where he literally teared up in front of Judy and Dennis Shepard [Matthew's parents] and committed to doing everything he could to pass the Matthew Shepard hate crimes bill and then literally did nothing. Didn't lift a finger," recalled Birch.
Hastert continued opening the gateways for anti-gay legislation in the years that followed. In 2004, Bush announced his support for a constitutional amendment to define marriage as being between one man and one woman. Hastert brought it to the floor even though he predicted that passage would be difficult since it required the approval of two-thirds of Congress. 


Those who were on the other side of the fight aren't so quick, however, to let bygones be bygones. On MSNBC Friday, former Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), himself gay, said that he did not excuse Hastert's alleged actions -- "the teacher taking advantage of students" -- but that the episode made him think of how destructive homophobia has been. 

"Leave aside from the fact the illegitimate nature of the fact that it was a teacher-student relationship that should not have happened," said Frank, who added that it seemed Hastert may have been bisexual. "But the gay sex in itself obviously, it was something which back then was considered so scandalous that Hastert couldn't do it in an -- in a kind of an open way."

Do I want to see Hastert crucified?  Most definitely!  He abused minors and then lied to the world and worked to harm other gays.  A stunning example needs to be made of him.  And other politicians like him - think Lindsey Graham, the Palmetto Queen - need to be outed.    I have no use whatsoever for these warped bastards.

Anti-Gay Missouri Synod Pastor Who Condemned Gays Outed by Grindr Screenshots

There are two main branches of the Lutheran Church - the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America which is gay accepting (I am a member) and the reactionary, ignorance embracing Missouri Synod Lutheran Church that is virulently anti-gay.   As seems to be always the case, it turns out that it is the vociferous anti-gay folks who are self-loathing closet cases and/or psychologically disturbed and obsessed with all things sexually.  A case in point: now former associate pastor Matthew Makela of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Midland, Michigan (pictured above).  As Queerty is reporting, Makela nearly drove one gay teen to suicide through his condemnation of homosexuality and attacks on the teen via social media.  Meanwhile, the hypocritical bastard was on Grindr seeking hook ups and describing himself as "a top who likes to cuddle."  Thankfully, Makela's career as a pastor is over and his foul, cowardly church been driven to apparently take down its website and post a mealy mouthed message to its parishioners.   Here is a portion of Queerty's story that blew the lid off of Makela's hypocrisy:

Until 2 p.m. on Monday, the ‘Our Church Staff’ section of St. John’s Lutheran Church and School’s website described Reverend Matthew Makela as an associate pastor who enjoys, “family, music, home improvement, gardening and landscaping, and sports.”

Screenshots obtained by Queerty from a source who asked that his name be withheld shed light on some of the Reverend’s other favorite past times — namely nude make out sessions and sex with other men.

Of course, how someone behaves between the sheets is really nobody’s business but his own, except when he’s actively doing damage to others. We’ve seen it time and time again. The lawmaker who spends his days fighting against gay rights and his nights cruising for bottoms, or the ex-gay activist who isn’t quite as ex-gay as he’d like everyone to believe.

Which brings us back to Makela. The married father of five from Midland, Michigan doesn’t just preach Jesus’ love and help with bake sales. He also uses his position of authority and respect in his community to broadcast his self-loathing view on same-sex attraction.

If Makela made even one LGBT kid at St. John’s “Christ-based” elementary school, their parents, friends, family or anyone who ever stepped foot in the church feel like being true to yourself is shameful (and it seems all too likely that he did), then we’re glad to share his hypocrisy with the world.

Thankfully, the story has gone viral and Makela is getting his just deserved.  Yes, I feel sorry for his family, but it is precisely because of the "teachings" of denominations like the Lutheran Missouri Synod that gays too often feel compelled to marry women and live false lives.  Here is how the main stream press is reporting on Makela's outing:

Officials at St. John's, 505 E. Carpenter in Midland, could not be immediately reached for comment. A phone number listed for Makela has been disconnected.

Makela was the subject of a story on the gay news website Queerty that showed screenshots of messages Makela posted to the mobile app Grindr — a male location-based social network. Grindr uses a mobile device's location-based services to show other posters closest to the user, according to its website.

Queerty reported that Makela confirmed the authenticity of the screenshots and declined comment.

Sadly, there are lots and lots of individuals like Makela on church staffs and within the Republican Party.  Each and every one of them needs to be outed and their hypocrisy put on open display.  

North Dakota Anti-Gay Republican Outed

Once again we find a stridently anti-gay Republican getting outed while soliciting gay sex.  The story line never seems to change: extreme anti-gay voting records and horrible anti-gay rhetoric in public, trolling for gay sex in private.  The hypocrisy is off the charts.  I totally agree with the so-called Barney Frank rule: "People have a right to privacy but not to hypocrisy."  North Dakota Republican state representative Randy Boehning sadly had it coming.  At the risk of sounding really shallow (or anti-bear), the most frightening aspect of the story given Boehning's girth and general unattractiveness is the thought of the "unsolicited photo of his penis" that he sent out.  The Bilerico Project has more details.  Here are highlights:

North Dakota Republican state representative Randy Boehning has a history of voting against the LGBT community, but that hasn't stopped him from cruising hookup apps looking for gay sex. Natch.

As with all hypocrites, Boehning got his comeuppance once the truth was revealed.

The exchange came to light when Dustin Smith, a 21-year-old Bismarck man with no known connections to the Capitol, contacted The Forum earlier this month, saying he recognized Boehning from a gay dating smartphone app called Grindr. Chatting under the user name Top Man!, Boehning sent Smith sexually suggestive messages and, in the early morning hours of March 12, an unsolicited photo of his penis, according to exchanges reviewed by The Forum.

"How can you discriminate against the person you're trying to pick up?" Smith said in a recent interview.

When first questioned about the messages two weeks ago, Boehning declined to comment on whether he sent the explicit photo and messages.

But on Saturday he confirmed he was Top Man! and said he doesn't think sending a graphic photo of himself to a stranger is a lapse in judgment, as Grindr is an adult site where users often exchange such images.

It's very reminiscent of former Virginia 2nd District Congressman Ed Schrock who had one of the most anti-gay voting records in Congress while using the old MegaPhone site to troll for gay sex.  At least Boehning had the integrity, unlike Schrock, to fess up.

Gay Alabama Lawmaker Threatens to Reveal GOP Colleagues' Affairs

Patricia Todd at right

If hate is one of the defining motivation behind Republican policies, another defining characteristic of today's GOP is hypocrisy.  It's no coincidence that it seems that 9 times out of 10 it is a "pro-family" Republican who is getting caught in a sex scandal.  These hypocrites embrace hatred and live in glass houses and truly deserve being called out on their hypocrisy - hence my role in "outing" former 2nd Congressional District Republican Ed Shrock.  In my view, if one is going to be singing the "family values" song, one had damn well be walking the walk.   Apparently, Alabama State Rep. Patricia Todd, D-Birmingham, feels the same way: she has threatened to disclose the affairs of the "godly, family values" members of the Alabama legislature.  Here are highlights from the Times Daily:

State Rep. Patricia Todd, D-Birmingham, had a warning for her Statehouse colleagues over the weekend.
“I will not stand by and allow legislators to talk about ‘family values’ when they have affairs, and I know of many who are and have,” Todd, the state’s only openly gay lawmaker, said on Facebook over the weekend. “I will call our elected officials who want to hide in the closet out.”

Todd was responding to comments from her fellow lawmakers after Friday’s decision by a federal judge to overturn the state’s ban on same-sex marriages.

“It is pretty well known that we have people in Montgomery who are or have had affairs …” Todd told the TimesDaily this morning. “I just want them to be careful what they’re saying, some of it might come back to stick on them.”

Todd said she was hurt and angered by some of the remarks and backlash she has heard since Friday.

“But I know I’m on the side that is going to win and I’m sorry they’re so ignorant,” she said.

Several high-profile GOP leaders have spoken out against the ruling, and Attorney General Luther Strange asked the judge to stay her order until the U.S Supreme Court considers gay marriage later this year.

Todd this morning said for Alabama to continue to fight gay marriage was a waste of limited state resources.

Todd will carry this year a bill that would protect gay and lesbian state employees and teachers from workplace discrimination. “I’ve probably burned any chance of getting it through,” she said this morning.

Kudos for Todd.  Personally, I hope she outs some of the hypocrites.   Likewise, I'd love to see some Virginia Republicans called out on their hypocrisy.

French Neo-Nazi Front National Vice President "Outed" as Gay

Apparently French Neo-Nazi politicians have a lot in common with many far right Republicans here in America.  Both take extreme anti-gay positions even as one - French Front National ("FN") vice president Florian Philippot - is outed as gay and self-loathing closet cases like Rick Santorum, Ken Cuccinelli and others rant about what they secretly intensely desire - hot gay sex.  As The Telegraph reports, Philippot was outed by a French gossip magazine.  Many French politicians show their hypocrisy by lamenting the invasion of Philippot's "privacy" even as his political party takes horrifically anti-gay positions, including opposition to gay marriage.   Why is it fine to trample on the civil rights of others, especially gays and those hated by FN, but off limits to expose Philippot's glaring hypocrisy?  Here are article highlights:

A French gossip magazine sparked outrage across the political spectrum on Friday by "outing" the far-Right Front National's vice president, Florian Philippot, as homosexual.

The rare breach of Gallic press protocol is an embarrassment for the FN, whose attitude towards homosexuals has historically ranged from ambivalent to downright homophobic.

Closer, which scored a global scoop in January by publishing photos of French president, François Hollande, visiting his secret lover Julie Gayet, on Friday released pictures of Mr Philippot with his boyfriend, an unnamed TV journalist, on a trip to Vienna last week.

"At last a real weekend away from Paris," it headlined, followed by an inside article entitled: "Yes to love for all" – a play on words with France's recent Marriage for All bill legalizing gay marriage.

Politicians across the board slammed the revelation as an unacceptable breach of Mr Philippot's private life.

FN leader Marine Le Pen denounced what she called "a very grave violation of individual liberties".
 
However, Closer's editor, Laurence Piau, defended her decision to "out" the politician as in the public's interest.

"Florian Philippot is a high-profile figure, he's the most invited guest on morning media shows after Marine Le Pen and the FN is a party like any other, if we believe what has been said of late," she told Europe 1 radio.

Noting that heterosexual public figures received just as much private scrutiny, she said: "How can you imagine that the number two of the Front National, who could take power if you believe what the FN says, could take up his post without every mentioning his family, his private relationships, without having a wife, or a girl or boyfriend? How is that possible in 2014?," she asked.

Above all, Closer's editor said the magazine's revelations could explain Miss Le Pen's decision not to participate in marches against gay marriage, which took place across France last year.

Other prominent members of her party, notably her niece Marion Maréchal Le Pen, an MP, were present in the "Demos for All" protests, some of whose supporters are virulently homophobic.

As I have made clear before, I fully support "outing" politicians who either personally or whose political parties strive against full legal equality for LGBT individuals.  If these individuals want their private lives kept private, then they and their affiliated political parties need to get out of the private lives of others.  Are you listening Rick Santorum?

Why Do Some Gays Defend Their Oppressors?

The debate continues to rage over Itay Hod's quasi outing of GOP Congressman Aaron Schock (pictured at right).  Joining the prissy sanctimonious set who, were they Jewish in the 1930's would have a defending Hitler's right to privacy, is Jonathan Capehart of the Washington Post.   The standard bullshit one hears from these folks runs more or less like this per Caprhart:

There is no timetable to coming out. There is no “right time” or “perfect time.” It is an intensely personal journey that involves stages of self-discovery and self-acceptance before one is ready to share his or her truth with friends, family, colleagues and, in this case, constituents.

News bulletin to Capehart - who lives in the gay friendly District of Columbia - being barred from marrying in my own state of Virginia, having no employment or public accommodation protections is also intensely personal.  Multiply that times the thousands and thousands of gays nationwide and the equity comes down on the side of outing people like Schock.  If Schock wants the privacy of deciding when to come out, then he needs to (i) not hold public office and/or (ii) stop backing anti-gay legislation.  You don't get to deprive others their civil rights and then get to have your victims give deference to your personal sensibilities.  

For those who forget chock's voting record, Capehart provides this summary:

Schock has consistently gone against measures supported by the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. He has supported an amendment to the Constitution to ban same-sex marriage. He opposed President Obama’s 2011 decision to not defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) against court challenge. Schock voted against the 2010 repeal of the ban on gay men and lesbians serving openly in the armed forces. And he voted against the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Schock’s voting record is so anti-gay that he earned a zero percent rating from the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBT rights organization.

 The LGBT community will never have full equality as long as some of us  continue to protect our self-loathing, closeted enemies.

Are Russia's Gay-Haters in the Closet?

As researchers have confirmed, the loudest homophobes are usually the ones most stimulated watching gay porn.  Then of course, we have the homophobic members of the Roman Catholic Church clergy who are vitriolic in their condemnation of gays yet seemingly cannot get enough gay sex on the sly, especially with underage children and youths.  Now, some conjecture that the anti-gay jihad in Russia traces to the homophobic Russian Orthodox Church which some say is full of closeted gays.  There indeed would be some divine justice if some of the self-loathing closet case find themselves outed in retribution for the anti-gay policies that they have supported.  Bloomberg looks at the conjecture and the suggestion that outings may be forthcoming.  Here are highlights:

The official homophobia of President Vladimir Putin's third term in power is threatening to backfire on the Russian Orthodox Church, in whose name the anti-gay campaign began in 2012.

Andrei Kuraev, a widely-known Orthodox theologian and proselytizer, is using social networks to expose a "gay system" within the church, fanning a scandal not unlike the one that occurred in the Roman Catholic church shortly before Pope Benedict XVI's surprise abdication last year.

The church leadership tolerated Kuraev's idiosyncrasies and frequent disagreements with the official line, including his protests against the imprisonment of punk performance artists Pussy Riot for a crude song-and-dance number in Moscow's main cathedral. Kuraev is popular: His LiveJournal blog is the 37th most read in Russia, and he is one of the church's best public speakers and most erudite scholars.

On Dec. 31, however, the Moscow Theological Academy, the Russian Orthodox Church's top learning institution, removed Kuraev from its faculty . . . . [what] tipped the scale against him. It was, according to Kuraev himself, a LiveJournal post about a teacher from the Kazan Seminary who was fired for making homosexual advances to students and then transferred to a higher post in another diocese. Kuraev wrote that the case exemplified a broader "gay metastasis" in the church.

The Russian Orthodox Church considers homosexuality a grave sin, and Patriarch Kirill has said that the legalization of gay marriage is a "dangerous apocalyptic sign." This stance encouraged Orthodox Christians in Putin's United Russia party to propose anti-gay legislative initiatives that crystallized into a law banning "propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations to minors." Putin, a devout churchgoer, has publicly denounced "so-called tolerance, genderless and without issue."

Kuraev's firing from the theological academy only made things worse. The deacon has used his blog for daily attacks on an alleged "gay system" within the church, including a selection of testimonials by former seminarians, altar boys and clerics, who are quoted recalling their sexual encounters with bishops and ranking priests. One related how a bishop "poured almost a full bottle of vodka into me and started pawing me. That stunned me so -- I couldn't even imagine something like that -- that I even sobered up."

As a warning to the Russian church hierarchy, the deacon recalled the gay scandals in the Catholic Church, which led Pope Francis to admit the existence of a "gay lobby" in the Vatican. The Catholic church "seems to have realized now that if you keep sweeping garbage under bishops' prayer rugs, the stink in the church will be unbearable," he wrote.

Kuraev is taking a calculated risk: He has plenty of supporters among churchgoers. "The cleansing he wants to carry out using his reputation and public status will hurt many people's reputations and, what's more, their connections, their finances, their long-term alliances with bureaucrats and law enforcers, who knew everything but covered it up or even used it," political commentator Alexander Morozov wrote on Facebook. "God will help him."

The political stakes are high. Once the church and the state agreed it was legitimate to attack gays, they became vulnerable to attempts to prove their hypocrisy. After all, Russia has as many gays in positions of power as any other country, except here they have to nod along with the homophobic official rhetoric.

"The all-around homophobia actively pushed by our bosses in the last two years will now start bearing fruit," editor Alexander Shmelyev wrote on Facebook. "How soon should we expect a fired bureaucrat to start outing a 'gay lobby' within the presidential administration?"

Let the outings begin!!

Outing Rep. Aaron Schock Is Completely Acceptable

CBS journalist Itay Hod ignited a bit of a fire storm when he more or less outed Republican Congressman Aaron Schock in a lengthy Facebook post over the weekend.  The usual suspects in the gay blogosphere have whined that outing closeted anti-gay politicians is improper and defended Schock's right to "come out in his own time."   Meanwhile, of course, Schock has been busy voting against the civil rights of other gays and aiding and abetting anti-gay groups.  I'm sorry, but what Schock has been doing is what ids unacceptable and improper.  Outing him was not only proper but a good thing.  Every single closeted elected official who supports an anti-gay legislative agenda while enjoying gay sex in secret needs to be outed.  The media needs to stop giving cover to hypocrites like Schock.  A column at Huffington Post makes the argument as to why "outing" is acceptable.  Here are highlights:

Over the weekend, CBS journalist Itay Hod decided he'd had enough of closeted politicians. In a long Facebook post, Hod ranted that the media has been muzzled from outing anyone for fear of repercussions from gay-rights organizations like GLAAD and the Human Rights Campaign. He waxed on about an "Illinois congressman" with a virulently anti-gay voting history and claimed this congressman was caught in the shower with his male partner by a fellow journalist.

In case we weren't sure who Hod was discussing, he linked to an article about Rep. Aaron Schock's gayest Instagram photos.

The case of closeted Republican gays has long been a source of consternation among the LGBT community. General consensus still relies on the idea that "outing" is a morally problematic thing to do because, in the past, publicly declaring someone's sexual orientation could put them at risk for violence and harassment.

In the situation of someone like Aaron Schock, this consideration is rendered inconsequential. It wouldn't matter if outing Schock put him at risk of physical violence because he is a man who has made a career out of harming minority individuals. All of his votes are now very easily accessible by category thanks to Project Vote Smart.

Schock voted against the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act on April 29, 2009. This act was to ammend federal hate crime laws to include LGBT individuals. So if someone assaulted Schock for allegedly showering with another man in his hotel, he believes that assault shouldn't be counted as a "hate crime" in the way being assaulted for skin color should.

He then voted against the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell in 2010. The repeal has been so widely accepted by now, many forget that it was only a short time ago that LGBT individuals could lose their jobs in the military if it became known that they so much as harbored fond feelings for the same gender.

Despite his efforts to prevent the Employment Descrimination Law Amendments from passing, the bill passed on January 9, 2009. As recently as July 19, 2012, Schock helped pass an amendment to prevent funding to actions that would controvene the Defense of Marriage Act, which was ultimately struck down by the conservative-leaning United States Supreme Court.

Aaron Schock is not merely someone disaligned with the LGBT community, he is an active opponent earning a 0 percent approval rating from the HRC.

Outing folks like Representative Aaron Schock isn't just not-wrong. It's an ethical responsibility of journalists to expose blatant hypocrisy from our politicians. Itay Hod claims that his friend's network, which he chooses not to name, ran a video of Aaron Schock talking about his heterosexuality after already being informed that he was lying.

Kudos to Hod for being brave enough to violate one of journalism's most sacred unwritten rules: One must lean toward equality in coverage, but never to the point of offending the personal sensibilities of the rich and powerful by exposing their hypocrisy on the issue.

I agree.  Kudos to Itay Hod.

Did CBS Journalist Just "Out" Homophobic GOP Rep. Aaron Schock?

While some in the LGBT community disagree with me, I am strongly in favor of outing closeted Republicans who vote against LGBT people and our equality under the nation's civil laws.  That's why I assisted Michael Rogers in "outing" former GOP Congressman Ed Schrock (pictured at right) who represented Virginia's 2nd District.  Schrock had one of the most anti-gay voting records in Congress yet was secretly seeking gay trysts.  The hypocrisy was stunning.  Now, CBS anchor Itay Hod has seemingly "outed" Republican Congressman Aaron Schock on the grounds of hypocrisy as I did with Schrock (it's ironic that the names are so similar). Queerty has details.  Here are highlights:

In a long Facebook post, gay CBS anchor Itay Hod has essentially outed Republican Congressman Aaron Schock on the grounds of hypocrisy. While Hod frames the post as a hypothetical exploration of when outing is appropriate, he provides lots of details and concludes with an ostentatiously “unrelated” link to the 7 gayest Instagram Photos of Aaron Schock from 2013. 

Hod is clearly fed up with Schock and perhaps just as much with his colleagues in the media who knowingly play along with closet cases.

what if you know a certain GOP congressman, let’s just say from Illinois, is gay… and you know this because one of your friends, a journalist for a reputable network, told you in no uncertain terms that he caught that GOP congressman and his male roommate in the shower… together. now they could have been good friends just trying to conserve water. but there’s more. what if this congressman has also been caught by tmz cameras trolling gay bars. now what if you know that this very same guy, the darling of the gop, has also voted against repeal of don’t ask don’t tell, opposed the repeal of doma, is against gay marriage; and for the federal marriage amendment, which would add language to the us constitution banning gay marriage and would likely strike down every gay rights law and ordinance in the country?

Are we still not allowed to out him?

let me ask another question… doesn’t the media have an OBLIGATION to expose his hypocrisy? if he had done something so hypocritical and he wasn’t gay, wouldn’t we demand journalists do their job? but they can’t… because we won’t let them. you’re not allowed to out ANYONE, we tell them.

Schock has long been the subject of rumors about his sexual orientation. He has always claimed he is straight (although his wardrobe is not). Schock didn’t boost his heterosexual cred any by posing for a series of shirtless images showing off his abs for Men’s Health.

Just to show he straight he is, Schock has accumulated an antigay record that ranks with the best of the homophobes. He has opposed marriage equality, protections for same-sex bi-national couples, and repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, just to name a few, earning him a stellar 0% rating from the Human Rights Campaign.

At the same time that he’s voting to deny the LGBT community its rights, Schock has, as AmericaBlog points out, created one of the gayest Instagram accounts ever. Although he follows only 71 people on Instagram, one of them is 19-year-old Olympic diver Tom Daley, presumably so that Schock can solicit his views on Midwest agricultural policy. Openly gay conservative Josh Barro tweeted that fact without comment. None is needed.

It will be interesting to see what impact the post will have on Hod  . . . .it will be even more interesting to see what happens to Schock. Sometimes an open secret just stops being secret. If that’s the case, Schock may have a lot of explaining to do, and also a lot of apologizing.

Personally, I hope the GOP base turns on Schock.  He deserves it.

Mike Rogers Outs "Family Values" Senator John Barasso (R-WY)

Once again we are witnessing the hypocrisy of closeted Republicans who have virulently anti-gay voting records while having gay affairs themselves.   The latest hypocrite to be exposed is Wyoming Senator John Barasso (pictured above) who true to form markets himself as a "family values" politician and votes anti-gay.  Some argue against "outing" anti-gay politicians, but I support it 100%.  If these individuals don't want their private lives to be fair game for media exposes, then they need to stay out of the private lives of others.  Back2Stonewall looks at Mike Rogers' outing of Barasso.  Obviously, it will be delicious watching the details come out now that Barasso failed to come out himself.  Here are story highlights:

Washington, D.C.’s Mike Rogers who is best known for his activity in outing closeted gay republican  politicians who actively oppose equality for LGBT Americans and was lead subject of Kirby Dick’s documentary Outrage took to Twitter this morning to point out GOP traditional values Senator John Barasso who appeared on Fox News Sunday should have taken the opportunity to come out of the closet.

Barrasso was quoted as saying, “I believe in limited government, lower taxes, less spending, traditional family values, local control and a strong national defense,” and said he has “voted for prayer in schools, against gay marriage and [has] sponsored legislation to protect the “sanctity of life”

When reached for comment, Rogers who has had a 100% record on outing closeted GOP politicians replied: ”My tweets stand on their own”.

 I first collaborated with Mike Rogers in 2004 when we outed former Virginia 2nd District Congressman Ed Schrock who, like Barasso voted anti-gay all the time, but sought gay trysts on the sly.   Great job Mike!!

Has Cuccinelli Lied About His Departure From the Marine Corps?

I won't pretend that I cannot stand GOP gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli.  Personally, Cuccinelli - like Rick Santorum - strikes me as an overly strident closet case who (i) spews anti-gay propaganda in reaction to his own self-loathing and (ii) suffers from near hysteria over the fact that even fathering seven children hasn't turned him straight (I figured it out after having 3 children).  But Cuccinelli's disqualification for being Governor of Virginia involves much more than his closeted situation,  The man is a liar and an extremists who strikes me as Virginia's equivalent to Dick Cheney when it comes from megalomania and viewing himself above the law.  A case in point is Cuccinelli's apparent dishonest in respect to his discharge from the U. S. Marine Corps Reserves.  Here are highlights from the Virginian Pilot:

In 1993, Ken Cuccinelli entered the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves under a program to train future officers for a career as a military lawyer.

But two years later, he resigned his commission after serving just a few weeks on active duty – never having completed all of the training requirements he initially signed up for.  Since entering public life as a state senator more than a decade ago, Cuccinelli, now Virginia’s attorney general, has generally downplayed his short-lived military career.

Cuccinelli has said the U.S. Marine Corps discharged him because it had no use for him after he completed law school.

However, a document obtained by The Virginian-Pilot, which Cuccinelli’s Virginia Attorney General’s Office twice declined to release under open records requests, suggests the story may not be that simple.  In an email earlier this year, a Marine official advised a member of Cuccinelli’s staff that a campaign explanation about the premature end of his military career is inconsistent with its version of events, . . . . .

   . .. his response caught the attention of a Marine public affairs officer who recently told the attorney general’s office that while most of the statement is correct, “the second sentence may be technically accurate for the most part, but what it communicates is not.”

Anything Cuccinelli says needs to be verified.  The man is insane.  Something doesn't sound right in the context of his Marine Corps service such as it was.  But then again, maybe being a Marine was just another part of his effort to convince himself of his "manliness" and heterosexuality.   As I have said before, I continue to receive e-mails and post comments that claim Cuccinelli has played for the LGBT team in the past.  But to take him down and "out" him, I need someone willing to come forward and sign a shown affidavit and provide a corroborating storyline.  With that, I and blogger allies could make Cuccinelli's life very exciting.

More Outings of Closeted Gay GOP Members of Congress Coming?

I hold closeted gay elected officials who cast anti-gay votes in Congress in almost as low esteem as I do "ex-gay" charlatans who work to keep the "ex-gay" myth alive and cause untold torment and suicides in the process.  Some argue against outing elected officials whining that coming out or not is the closeted individuals decision.  I'm sorry, but these people are casting votes that harm my personal life and discriminate against me and other gays.  If the closet case cause harm to others by their votes, then in my book they have placed a huge target on their backs.  My blogger friend Mike Rogers holds similar views to mine and we worked together (I first tipped off Rogers about Schrock) to expose the hypocrisy of former Virginia GOP Congressman Ed Schrock (pictured above) who had a virulently anti-gay voting record in Congress.  Now, Rogers says he has his sights on other closet cases.  Here are details from U.S. News:

Michael Rogers, a blogger who gained fame in the early 2000s by revealing the sexual orientation of prominent politicians, has largely been dormant since President Barack Obama took office. But Rogers tells U.S. News he's gathering evidence for what could be another big revelation.

Rogers sees himself as a reporter focused on political hypocrisy, and to establish his credibility he points to a track record of accuracy and the fact that he's never been sued.

"There's a big difference between outing and reporting. I'm a reporter, I report on hypocrisy," Rogers told U.S. News. "If I have one case that's off, I'm out of the business, [but] I will never be sued for what I do because I'm right."

The blogger said he currently knows of three "anti-gay" members of the U.S. House of Representatives who are themselves gay. Rogers refused to say when he might disclose information on these members or what might provoke such a revelation, maintaining that as a journalist he holds some cards close to the vest.

But Rogers said he's about to get his hands on concrete evidence that one "anti-gay" member of the House of Representatives engages in gay sex. "Oh, it's going to happen because it has been happening for a long time," he said.

The blogger's most high-profile triumphs include the 2004 revelation that then Rep. Ed Schrock, R-Va., was leaving voicemails on a gay hook-up service, prompting the two-term congressman to retire. In October 2006 he wrote that three men informed him they had sex with then Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, in bathrooms at Union Station. Before making his allegations against Craig public, two of his three sources signed affidavits saying they would come forward if Rogers was taken to court.

In August 2007 the political and comedic worlds went wild with news that Craig had quietly pleaded guilty to charges for allegedly soliciting sex from an undercover cop in a Minnesota airport's restroom. Rogers said he was "vindicated 500 percent" after Craig's arrest was made public.

Hypocrites need to be exposed.  I have no sympathy for them.  I was in the closet for many years, but I never actively worked to harm other gays.   Towleroad also has coverage and the comments are great - I love the speculation about Eric Cantor.  Ken Cuccinelli is another one that I'd like to see outed.