McCain's Senate Chief of Staff

Outed, today, by the usual suspects.

I'm not linking because I don't agree with outing as a political tool.

That McCain's chief of staff is gay tells us nothing new about the Senator - his embrace of the religious right, his opposition to gay marriage while going on Ellen and congratulating her and wishing her well already show him to be a hypocrite and using anti-gay positions to win political support.

Hell, it's not even a new story -- rabidly anti-gay Rick Santorum had a gay press secretary.

And we've seen how Republicans in private are gay friendly (recently, Newt Gingrich movingly eulogizing his gay friend at a memorial service I attended) and how they cynically use homophobia to appeal to voters even while acknowledging the anti-gay policy they espouse is something they personally don't agree with (GOP strategist Rich Galen saying gay marriage might save lives by promoting monogamy instead of promiscuity in a time of AIDS, but GOP candidates should scream "San Francisco values" anyway to get elected. In other words, to his view and in by his own logic, saving lives is less important than winning elections. Disgusting).

This news is simply, well, more of the same.

As for the gay COS. I don't know why he works for McCain and I don't think it's any of my business. I am out socially and professionally and I wouldn't choose otherwise -- but that's my business. We don't know the particulars of his personal life or the reasons he has made the choices he has. Nor should we. He is not the elected official here.

And outing someone -- a potentially personally destructive act -- for policy disagreement, however tempting, is a slippery slope. I know it seems cut and dried in this case, but where does it stop and who draws the line?

I don't think hate crimes laws are necessary. Does that mean the many gays who do are justified in trying to punish me personally? That's what outing is. It may make some gay activists feel good but doesn't change a damn thing.

Gay "Loyalty"

Robbie at Malcontent takes on Joe.My.God's criticism of Merv Griffin not towing the gay party line (as defined by JMG). I'm going to quote it extensively because I agree with it and it's well stated:

I’ll never understand this line of thinking. We are born gay, so the political slogan goes. Are we also then burdened from birth with one specific train of political thought? Are we consigned from the womb to being radical and leftist? Do we owe, from our first breath, a lifetime of checks made out to Joe.My.God approved charities and causes? And if we rebel against the gay authoritarians, are we then subhuman and failures?

There are demons here. For all the love and tolerance and all that jazz a certain segment of the gay community espouses, under the surface there are deep wells of anger, hatred, intolerance, and all the worst impulses of human ideological bondage just waiting to bubble to the top.

It’s odd to see them dart about under the surface from time to time in pieces like these.

There is definitely a failure here, but it isn’t Merv Griffin’s.

My single addition to this line of thought -- I'm against outing for the same reasons. I think the same reasoning applies.