US senators targeted in 'outing' campaign

[T_i_B]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=549051

Michael Rogers lives on the top floor of a block of flats in Washington DC, with a balcony and a fine view of the city whose secrets he is systematically giving up. Mr Rogers, who is gay, is waging a controversial "outing" campaign against gay Senators, members of Congress and Capitol Hill staffers who support the presidentially sponsored campaign to ban same-sex marriages.

The headquarters for his campaign is a workstation in the corner of his sitting room. From here he sifts tips-offs, updates his blog site (www.blogactive.com) and above all makes the phone calls that gays on the Hill have come to dread.

Michael Rogers is not the only Washington "outer". John Aravosis has also entered the fray. A political consultant, lawyer and former staff lawyer to Republican Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, his spur to action was "Watching Bush announce it from the White House. It was as if he was defiling the Oval Office."

Outing has always been a unsettling tactic and Mr Aravosis has some qualms about naming people, but President Bush's declaration convinced him it was time to "stop being nice to the enemy within". It was Mr Aravosis who was behind a recent ad in the gay weekly Washington Blade, which declared the new zero tolerance. The ad ran: "For years our silence has protected you. Today that protection ends." Between them, Mr Aravosis and Mr Rogers have outed about 20 staffers and politicians, including Congressman Mark Foley, a Florida Republican, and Democrat Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland. Mr Foley's office has since confirmed he is gay, but Senator Mikulski has not commented on her sexual orientation. Both were targeted because they had not spoken out against the Federal Marriage Amendment. They both subsequently did.

[johnfunk]

1. Go Michael! Expose the hypocrites and their homophobe bosses

n/t

[Baltimoreboy]

11. It's only criminal blackmail after all

And Marylanders know Babs is gay, we just don't care.

[lojasmo]

2. fantastic! N/T

[the Kelly Gang]

3. I agree..out the bastards..sick to death of hypocrites

[flordehinojos]

4. who else is on the list?

[kskiska]

5. I didn't know Foley came out

Don't know how I could have missed it, or maybe I was on vacation. I remember him tap dancing all around it for a long time.

[salin]

20. I completely missed this story as well.

[Jon8503]

6. Outing

Yes, it is time to end hypocracy.

[Hotler]

7. Should have been done a long time ago.N/T

[TroubleMan]

8. LOL....Mark Foley

I used to work with a guy who was a hardcore repug....He was a big Mark Foley fan.

I'm going to have to call him now....this'll be fun. LOL.

[DoYouEverWonder]

9. Maybe we can do the same thing

with the ones that do illegal drugs, while at the same time they support the war on drugs?

[donsu]

10. good idea

nt

[DBoon]

12. Like outing Klan members with African ancestors

or Nazis with Jewish grandparents.

[bermudat]

13. Has Lindsay Graham been outed yet?

nt

[alteredstate]

19. Lindsay Graham

I was wondering, too......

[DemMother]

14. David Dreier should be outed

He's not a senator but he's a very public face for the Republicans. Unfortunately he's my congressman. Almost everyone in the district accepts the fact that he's gay as common knowledge. And we all know he's a jerk based on his performance on Bill Maher's first show.

[Dr Fate]

15. Outing them for not speaking out...?

Or outing them for supporting the amendment?

I can see outing people who are publically anti-gay- but outing people for remaining silent for the moment seems harsh...

...I dont know enough about the whole thing, so I'll hush...

[jilln]

16. all that evil requires...

is for good people to do nothing.

or something like that.

add here the quote about the nazis coming for each group in turn and when they came for the author, there was no one to stand up for him.

[JNelson6563]

17. haha Great stuff!

I love it. More hypocrisy exposure to come I am sure. :toast:

Julie

[unfrigginreal]

18. It would be nice if they could out the head hypocrite...

http://www.google.com/search?q=bush+gay+mayor+knoxville&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8