Reply #51: A very thoughtful post, SM [View All]

[ruggerson]

and you may disagree with my prescription on the grounds that it endangers gays and lesbians. But I think it's long past time that we move past the virulently homophobic idea that we use outing ONLY as a weapon to achieve political ends.

The media should treat being straight and being gay as the exact same thing. If there is no real right to privacy for straight public people (and there isn't - look at any straight celebrity or politician, their private ilves are public fodder) then the media is only perpetuating homophobia by keeping it a deep dark secret when it comes to gay public persons. There should be one rule for everybody, gay or straight. Either private life is a fair game or it isn't. The current double standard is very destructive, it robs children of healthy role models and it prevents gay people from being normalized in the media as an everyday, boring occurrence, as you and I both know it to be.