aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South

Friday, August 31, 2007

Signorile & Crane on Outing in Newsweek

Chris Crain formerly of Window Media, where he edited Southern Voice among other gay publications and Michelangelo Signorile the activist co-founding editor of the now-defunct OutWeek, discuss outing (Signorile avers, “We don’t call that ‘outing’-we call it reporting") in Newsweek:

Signorile: For me, this is all about journalism and equalizing the reporting of homosexuality and heterosexuality. For that reason, no, I do not believe this is only about politicians nor only about those like Craig who have done some kind of harm. That would in fact be making it into a weapon or a tool, or holding people to a litmus test, as you imply of some. There are a wide range of views on this among those who might say they favor “outing"-and I have always hated that word, a violent, active verb coined by a Time magazine writer. Some people adhere only to the hypocrisy test; others, like me, are about normalizing sexual orientation in journalism and not keeping homosexuality as the dirty little secret while heterosexuality is glamorized. For me, a public figure’s homosexuality should be reported on when relevant to a larger story, just as when heterosexuality is reported on or asked about whenever relevant. [...]

Crain: I agree entirely with Mike about equalizing the standard applied by journalists in dealing with sexual orientation when it comes to reporting on public figures. For years before the Mark Foley scandal broke, he was regularly seen in public in Washington and West Palm Beach with his longtime partner, a respected physician. The media-gay and straight, with the exception of the publications I edited-largely ignored the public facts they knew about that relationship because Foley had not chosen to “come out.” I would agree with Mike that it’s not “outing” Foley to report his public appearances, ask him “the question” and print his response. If Larry Craig (before his arrest) or Ed Schrock had been engaging in public conduct like Foley, then absolutely it would have been fair game to report. But there is a huge difference between bringing your long-term partner to Washington cocktail parties and recording an ad on a phone-sex line. Both are technically “public,” since anyone could call the chat line and hear his voice, but most people would agree that the latter is within a zone of personal privacy that ought to be respected by the media, even for public figures.

Most? Signorile disagrees. Me too.