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Loading ...Q&A: The gay ‘Outrage’ of Kirby Dick
All of the politicians you featured were men. Were there women on your radar, closeted lesbians with anti-gay voting records?
There were but we couldn’t source it well enough to report on them.Mark Foley is mentioned but just in passing. Why is that?
We focus on closeted politicians who vote anti-gay and with the exception of some early votes, he had a pretty good voting record.
Former New Jersey governor Jim McGreevey appears and is quite eloquent talking about the toll of the closet. I enjoyed his book as well. Yet there’s a part of me that thinks he’s totally full of bull. What’s your take on McGreevey?
I think he’s a very skilled politician and he’s always in that mode even when he isn’t in office. His decision to come out because he was being forced to resign for multiple scandals was a brilliant political move. It was a calculated way to insure that his legacy wouldn’t be negative but on the other hand, it’s very important in terms of this issue and the gay rights movement. What I really respect about him is that he’s been willing to be completely candid about his personal experience and the pain of being in the closet.
Your film is quite compassionate in the way it explores the emotional toll of a life lived in the closet. Was that important to you?
Yes. The politicians that I focus on, as bad as their voting records are, they are also victims of homophobia because they have felt that they cannot be out and have a political career. I do feel empathy for their situation.
One of the most memorable moments in your movie is the quote from Florida governor Charlie Crist’s 2007 girlfriend, Kelly Heyniger. She declined to be interviewed but her refusal spoke volumes: “Call me in 10 years and I’ll tell you a story.”
That’s a tribute to my producer, Amy Ziering. She was the one who had that interaction and she has an incredible skill with dealing with people. I don’t think that Heyniger would have spoken to anyone else.
Carole Rome and Charlie Crist
Another juicy moment is when Kevin Naff, editor of the Washington Blade, revealed that he picked up Fox news anchor Shepard Smith in a bar.
That actually came out of the blue. It was one of those gifts that get handed to you in an interview.
At the Q & A screening I attended someone asked you why Smith was the only major media figure you mentioned. Of course, the elephant the room was CNN’s Anderson Cooper.
We didn’t include him because the focus of my film was hypocrisy and I don’t think Anderson Cooper’s acting hypocritically. But I believe that Anderson Cooper should come out. I believe it would be a very positive thing for society.
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I don’t believe we should guess or speculate about whether or not someone is gay. Many times, we really just don’t know. In those cases, I let that person decide.
However, when we do know and we support or enable someone in staying in the closet (regardless, of whether or not that person is a slimeball hypocrite or not), we are propagating homophobia. We are, at some level, buying into the concept that there must be something wrong with being gay; that it is somehow acceptable to deny it. How many people consider their heterosexuality to be a private matter?
Personally, I have no shame about loving other men and I look forward to the day when no one else does, either.
I was fascinated to learn that we’re apparently well represented in D.C., with many lesbian and gay aides, workers, etc. Living in CA I had no idea, but it makes sense with so many Ivy League types not far away, and all those closeted senators and reps too. Oooh la la!
Can’t wait to see this documentary and can’t wait for more to be exposed. I love the “married” men (to women that is) who “think” they are “hiding” it.
has anyone seen gov. of La. how soft he speaks, effiminate and Horrid. He is downright ugly too.
Do google search or youtube search and see what ya think. The GOP are wanting him and Nazi Palin to be next GOP candidates?
I think it is necessary to draw a line, as Kirby Dick did, between closeted persons who do the right thing, and closeted persons who, from the safety of their closet, reach out to harm the GLBT community. It is the hypocrisy of using their power to deprive all of us of equal rights, not just their sexual orientation, that makes them fair game for a documentary like this.
It’s absolutely the hypocrisy and the lying that make the difference.
As someone who was in the closet for a long time, I understand the fear involved. I also understand that most of it is self-imposed and a result of a lack of self-esteem. Especially in politics, it can feel more important to live up to other people’s expectation of you than to live authentically. I also understand the expediency of posing as a homophobe as a facet of that cover.
But when you lay your head down at night, how can you feel like anything but a self-created monster?
It’s that same hypocrisy that is so insinuated into many religions that it is practically part of their dogma. It’s that hypocrisy that drives many gay people, including me, from churches.
I think part of the reason some people may be “outraged” at the film is that our expectations of our politicians are so low that we just expect that all of them are lying and cheating and covering up something. Or, in Eliot Spitzer’s case, not covering up something.
Umm, John, “effiminate and Horrid. He is downright ugly too.”, I think you should be in the documetary also.
The true elephant in the room is that the entire premise of the film is itself a fallacious argument: a politician is only a hypocrite if that politician does not vote in a matter that supports the values of the majority constituency that elected him or her; his or her personal interest became irrelevant upon taking the oath of office.
IT WILL BE INTERESTED TO SEE HOW SOON OUTRAGE WILL BE HEADING FOR THE DVD FORMAT. THE REASON WHY ANDERSON COOPER ISN’T NAME AMONG THE OUTGAY BECAUSE ANDERSON COOPER WOULD SUE THE DIRECTOR FOR TALKING ABOUT HIS PERSONAL LIFESTYLE.IT IS SAD TO SEE HOW IN THE 21ST CENNTURY THAT THERE IS STILL A BIG PROBLEM ABOUT A PERSON LIFESTYLE. GOOD LUCK TO THE DIRECTOR AND WHEN IT IS AVAILABLE FOR THE DVD SALE. YOUR TRULY CHARLES DAVID HASKELL
Where can I purchase this movie?