Gay community divided on 'outing'

NEW YORK -- Though decried by many gay rights leaders, ''outing" -- the practice of exposing secretly gay public figures -- is expanding into new terrain as Internet bloggers target congressional staff members, political strategists, even black clergy whose sermons and speeches contain antigay rhetoric.

Few issues are as divisive within the gay community. Numerous gay organizations, such as the Human Rights Campaign and the Log Cabin Republicans, staunchly oppose outing, yet many other activists support it when the targets are public figures -- or their aides -- who work against gay rights or condemn homosexuality.

''It's not the gay thing that's the problem; it's the hypocrisy," said Michael Rogers, creator of a Web log that has been at the fore of several recent outing campaigns. ''I'm going to be calling out the politicians who vote against us and work against the interests of the very community they come from."

Christopher Barron, political director of the Log Cabin Republicans, said he understands the anger that activists such as Rogers feel, but believes they are wasting their energy.

''Outing is not an effective tool," Barron said. ''I don't know a single vote on gay rights issues that was changed because of outing. . . . Folks should be focusing on the hard work that needs to be done, and not get bogged down in personal attacks."

Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said outing can backfire by distracting attention from more substantive political issues or by prompting conservative politicians to harden their antigay views after aides and associates are outed.

Two black gay rights activists are now taking aim at prominent black pastors who -- in the activists' view -- have gone too far in assailing homosexuality from their pulpits.

In a campaign begun on their websites last week, activists Jasmyne Cannick and Keith Boykin are soliciting information about the pastors' private lives -- including whether some might be gay.

So far, the pair has collected no solid information that any of the pastors is gay, but Cannick defended the campaign. ''We know there are people who preach one thing and do another," he said. ''There's nothing wrong with investigating."

There are about 300 openly gay elected officials nationwide, according to the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund. The president of the fund, which recruits openly gay and lesbian candidates to run for office, has mixed feelings about outing. ''If we ever outed anyone, we'd lose our credibility with the people we work with," said Chuck Wolfe. ''On the other hand, who can condemn people for using whatever weapons they have to fight for equality and point out hypocrisy? It seems exactly why we have a democracy."