Ann Friedman explains why it’s counterproductive to shame politicians who have been forced out of the closet:
Spring is in the air! The birds are chirping, the flowers are blooming, and politicians are coming out of the closet left and right. Or rather, they’re being pushed out. Rep. Eric Massa of New York confessed that he groped and tickled a male staffer. California state Sen. Roy Ashburn was spotted leaving a gay bar. They’re just the latest two politicians whose outing has generated late-night talk-show punch lines.
We snicker at the details of these illicit affairs, especially when the leaders in question are anti-gay. And, many would argue, why shouldn’t we laugh at Larry Craig‘s wide stance, Mark Foley‘s illicit instant messages, or Ted Haggard‘s taste for prostitutes? If you make it your business to meddle in the lives of gay Americans, we’ll make your sexuality our business. Rep. Barney Frank distills this argument in the 2009 documentary Outrage: “There is a right to privacy, but there is no right to hypocrisy.”