GOP governor eyeing Senate run to be outed in film tomorrow

[billymike]

Source: rawstory.com

GOP governor eyeing Senate run to be outed in film tomorrow


By John Byrne

Published: May 7, 2009



The Republican governor of Florida, Charlie Crist, who is strongly considering a run for Senate, will be outed in a independent film being released tomorrow.

The film, “Outrage,” tracks the outings of prominent gay political figures, such as Crist and former Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman. It’s being produced by Magnolia Pictures and will appear in Landmark Theaters across the country.

“Using some firsthand accounts of former sexual partners, old campaign footage (to occasionally humorous effect) and commentary from gay political media watchdogs, the film makes the case for each man’s homosexuality, and presents his lifetime gay rights voting record,” according to one reviewer. “In each instance, the disconnect is staggering.

“The usual suspects are all there: Craig, Florida Governor Charlie Crist, former New York mayor Ed Koch, former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey, former Rep. Ed Schrock, even dusty McCarthy relic Roy Cohn. Again, if you’re reading this review, then you’re likely no stranger to gay media, particularly gay online media (which is credited in the film as being one of the few places where these scandals are openly discussed) and none of these men is an unfamiliar candidate for speculation.”



Read more: http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/05/07/gop-governor-eyeing-senate-run-to-be-outed-in-film/

[wyldwolf]

1. Ed Koch? Should be an interesting movie

[glowing]

2. These names don't seem all that unusual to me... However, its sad they

have to hide. They should leave these issues in the dust.

[tanyev]

3. Nuh-uh. Crist can't be gay. He just got married.

To a woman!


:sarcasm:

[imdjh]

5. She's fabulous

[Demit]

12. I hear they played "Here Comes the Beard" at the reception. :)

[JI7]

15. here is a pic of Crist with his wife

do a google search,in all the pics they seem more like siblings or friends than a couple.

[canetoad]

61. So did Elton John. nt

[Ozymanithrax]

4. Crist will take a wide stance...

and announce to the world that he is not gay. His wife will say he is not gay. His gay lovers will say he's a lousy lover.

[graywarrior]

6. When I lived in Florida, the rumors of his being gay were everywhere

[onethatcares]

9. his being gay or not gay doesn't bother me at all, what does

is that he lived in a highrise condominium without having to pay rent or anything for a long time.

[graywarrior]

10. Me neither

What bothers me is that he's a republican. He's kinda cool.

[greiner3]

7. I have it on good authority;

That ex-congresscritter John Kasich of Ohio is all but kicked out of many closets.

[No Elephants]

54. And the reason for outing him now and laughing about his orientation is?

[jody]

8. Someday, tomorrow, tomorrow such things won't make the headlines and people won't try to tell others

how to live their lives.

[EvtheBev]

11. No Lindsey Graham??

Would have thought that he would make the list.

[McCamy Taylor]

20. He is a southern effeminate heterosexual. They are common down here.

[mitchum]

32. I always think of Gomer as being more the "bachelor choir director"...

found in the south.The crackers know exactly what's up with him, but that's all right...because "he doesn't rub your face in it"...and he's good to his mama.

[No Elephants]

46. How do we know for certain that he is heterosexual?

[pnwmom]

30. Welcome to DU, EvtheBev! n/t

[DFW]

13. Here's the ultimate irony

Apparently someone has on film (whatever that might entail) incontrovertible proof that Gov. Charlie Crist, R-Florida is gay. This is in itself not news. That has been an open "secret" for years. The funny part (unless you're Charlie Crist) is that if he were a Democrat, no one on his party would care less. But as a Republican, his own party will fry him alive for being a sinner, they being the only ones who know what is sinful and what is not.

[onethatcares]

19. no they won't fry him for being a sinner

they'll just shun him for getting caught. Afterall, the pukes are a party of fambly values and all that stuff, which means, it's okey dokey to do many things way outside the biblical wrong, JUST DON'T GET CAUGHT OR you'll have to cry on teevee and apologize to anyone that it MAY have offended. :puke:

[No Elephants]

47. Good point. All Congress knew of Fogel's proclivity for young male pages. No one did a thing until

he got caught.

[CBR]

14. I do not like this. It should be up to him. I understand the

hypocrisy but it rubs me the wrong way to do this.

[Mongooseflies]

16. I agree, while most of the criminals need to be outed on their hypocrisy,

I think outing them in their personal life is really no one's business but their own...and their lovers'

[BR_Parkway]

38. How is this different than someone reporting on John Edwards affair?

(except Crist who wasn't married while fooling around with guys)

But if they don't want it to be a public thing - then they should publicly stay out of GLBT lives as well.

Joe Blow (no pun, seriously) down the street is on the downlow? Big Deal, it's a private thing certainly.

Joe Blowhard the professional politician who continually racks up votes and donations by bashing on the GLBT rights so that he can get re-elected? Who want to continually legislate my private life? Deserves to be exposed, drag them out kicking and screaming all the way

[No Elephants]

51. Does Crist bash the GLBT community or legislate against its members?

[Heidi]

58. He endorsed Amendment 2. (nt)

[No Elephants]

64. Okay, thanks.

[ldf]

66. he is a republican

they constantly use the dreaded "gay agenda" meme to raise mega money and get their hardcore, hate-filled bigots to the polls.

they espouse that we are "an abomination".

we, apparently, are out to destroy heterosexual marriage.

and, according to them, we are the gateway to pig fucking.

charlie can't have it both ways.

but we also forget that the rules are different for people with money, be they democrat or republican. that hypocrisy crosses all political divisions.

[No Elephants]

48. It's hard to charge someone with hypocrisy without being inside their brains. I

believe lying is wrong, but I've lied. Does that make me a hypocrite, or just a human who sincerely believes lying is wrong, but finds it impossible to live up to my own standards all the time?

I'd rather focus on things like separation of church and state and not penalizing people for their orientation, no matter what your own personal beliefs and conduct are.

[billymike]

17. I believe

there is no room for hypocrisy in democracy.

[No Elephants]

52. Have you ever lied?

[billymike]

18. The Sausage Queen

[Tab]

21. You want to be privately gay, or openly gay, that's fine. I don't care.

As long as you do the job you're elected to.

What pisses me off is the hypocrisy - everyone from Jimmy Swaggart preaching morals, to Larry Craig and others railing against homosexuality, while they themselves are the most guilty of the very thing they preach against. I have no problem with anyone exposing such hypocrisy, and in their case, it requires outing them. If they weren't filled with such self-hatred and just kept to other subjects, then no outing is necessary. If they are definitely straight, and want to rail again gays, I wouldn't agree with their position, but it'd be their right to do so. But to be railing against gays in public, and secretly gay in private, is dishonest and hypocritical.

[pnwmom]

31. The thing about Crist, though, is that I don't think he's part of the anti-gay crowd.

Unless just being a Republican is enough to put you in that category, which maybe it is.

[No Elephants]

55. I started a reply, then realized you've posed too difficult a question for a knee jerk

response.

On the one hand, a member of the GLBT community has as much right as anyone to be a Republican without people feeling justified in brutal outings. On the other hand, though, I could never be one of the faces of a party that wants to take away my civil rights or anyone else's.

I guess it comes down to whether outing is ever justified--and whether being a Republican is ever justified.

[No Elephants]

53. Do you know of any instance in which Crist did that?

[Arkana]

22. Yes, GOPers. Use your aggressive feelings. Let the hate flow through you.

Eat your own--devour those in your party who stand any chance at dragging it back out of cold, dark, irrelevance.

[PeteytehMawnstar]

23. This is distastefull

I'm not from Florida, and haven't heard much or anything about Crist being against gay marriage or whatnot. Even assuming that he is, the process slash journey of coming out involves massive soul searching, to use a cliched phrase, and dragging him out of the closet is the equivalent to eating your own.

All you get in the end is more clips on O'reilly, and whatever message is intended will most likely be lost.

[billymike]

25. He has hurt others

he has worked to deny civil liberties to all Americans, so all bets are off. If a side-effect is his own coming-out, finding peace with how his God chose to make him, then all the better. Outing him is just, and I believe,is necessary for the general public good.

[PeteytehMawnstar]

26. Sorry but i have to disagree

Being against gay marriage is an opinion, and he has every right to be against it if he so wishes, but i don't think this meets the standard of hurting people. I don't see how outing him is either just or necessary for the public good. Frankly, forced outings is akin to violence IMHO, and Crist hasn't done anything to deserve that "punishment". And that's basically what all this is, punishment for having a political position. I could understand if he was advocating violence or blaming us for natural disasters, but simply being against gay marriage doesn't mean he's a monster or a bigot that needs to be pwned.

Honestly, I'm gay and I don't really clamor for gay marriage; actually, I'm against it. It hasn't stopped me from loving a guy nor has it inhibited me from being "out." Should i be publicly thrashed for my position?

OUting him is unjust, and he's the wrong target. There are people out there with true hate for gays and others, those are the people we should worry about not Mr. Crist.

As i said before, this is just going to generate more clips for people to nod their head to as they agree to gays being the aggressors against people with anti marriage opinions.


P.S.

Just in case this is my goodbye, i rarely post, but DU is a good read.

[keopeli]

27. This shouldn't be your 'goodbye'...your opinion is welcome here.

Thanks for posting your thoughts. I'm a gay man originally from Texas. I often see both sides of the coin. While I support gay marriage from a legal perspective, I support religious diversity and freedom.

As for outing Crist, I think the difference is that he is a public official. He chose to be a public official, which means his life is under scrutiny. Even the constitution applies differently to him, according to Supreme Court decisions regarding his rights to privacy. While in the past I supported a very high-minded approach to how we treat public officials, that was before the Republic Party went rogue over the past 10+ years. As a result, the scales must be tipped to correct the problem. The injustices committed against our citizenry has been too profound to sit idly by and let the fascists run amok.

I reluctantly support outing public officials who vote and use rhetoric to condemn members of their own constituency for behavior that they themselves engage in secretly to play on the fears and myths of a frightened and uneducated populous. Until we can correct this problem with our culture, I see no other solution in the near term.

Again, thanks for your thoughts!

Peace

[liberalpragmatist]

28. How is Crist's record on gay rights overall, though?

I'm still not sure how I feel about "outing" in general, but I can see a strong case for it when someone is virulently antigay.

But despite the fact that he doesn't support gay marriage, has Crist been a hardcore gay basher? My impression - and I'm not from Florida, admittedly, was that he's pretty moderate.

[Heidi]

57. He endorsed Amendment 2, Florida's referedum to ban same-sex marriage

and domestic partnerships. Not anywhere near moderate, in my opinion.

http://www.pamshouseblend.com/diary/6439/
http://www.washblade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=20200

[roody]

37. Why are you against gay marriage? I am against marriage,

but if heteros can do it, it is only fair that gays can also.

[noiretextatique]

44. what's "unjust" is cowering in the closet

while your party advances its anti-gay agenda.
even the log cabin republicans support marriage equity.

[No Elephants]

56. How, specifically, has Crist done that?

[noiretextatique]

42. coming out is different for everyone

and if these people are hurting other gay people publically, then they have to right to cower in the closet.

[LeftishBrit]

24. Might Jeb Bush have something to do with this?

[BreweryYardRat]

29. This film is apparently made by Kirby Dick. That's an extremely APPROPRIATE last name.

:mad: :nuke: Nice fucking going, you pin-headed waste of flesh! :nuke: :mad:

Speaking as a Floridian, Crist's not even close to perfect, but this is going to bring the fundies out in HORDES for the 2010 primaries. Congratulations, Mr. Dick, you've just ensured that whatever Repub candidate gets the primary nomination is going to be a PURE-BRED THEOCRAT ASSHOLE!!!

That's going to make it a hell of lot harder for the likeliest Democratic candidate (Alex Sink) to win the 2010 governor's race! It might even put her life in danger, given all the completely batshit fundamentalist down here who would be extra-egged-on by a theocrat Repub running.

And if the theocrat wins, this state's going to go completely to hell -- and it's halfway there already. Crist at least makes the occasional sensible decision. A theocrat in the office would wreck any hope of this place recovering anytime soon. (I'm planning to get out no matter what, but I've got friends and loved ones who'll be staying here.)

Furthermore, outing Crist like this is WRONG. Yeah, he's a hypocritical jackass.

BIG FUCKING DEAL.

I'm speaking as a bisexual semi-closeted male here. Forcibly outing anyone, no matter how they've behaved, sets a HORRIBLE precedent. It's one of the few cases where a slippery-slope argument might actually have a point.

And let's save the worst for last -- let me remind you all that this state is incredibly hostile to gays. Crist getting outed on a large scale like this is going to make a lot of barely-sapient rednecks/fundies really pissed off, and they'll be looking to take their anger out on gay folks, since they can't get at Crist. Expect a lot of reported gay-bashings in the next few days/weeks, and it's almost certain some of those will be fatal.

***
I am SEETHING with rage here. This arrogant little shit didn't even bother to think of the consequences, he just blithely fucked a lot of people over.

If so much as ONE person gets gay-bashed in this state anytime soon, I am going to consider Mr. Dick PERSONALLY responsible.

:nuke::nuke::nuke:

[beac]

36. From all I've read and heard the idea that Crist is gay is not a new one.

I wonder how much more/different acutal "evidence" this movie will present. My guess is that his wife will come out with an statement in support of her "VERY heterosexual" husband and people will continue to believe what they want to believe.

I respect that you are angry, but the ONLY way we as a country will eventually move forward is for people to start realizing that LBGT people are not some scary "other" but are our neighbors, our friends and yes, even our politicians. Closeted politicians who work AGAINST gay rights are the worst kind of hypocrites and I have a hard time ginning up much sympathy when they are outed.

[Eryemil]

65. Holy mother of logical leaps

You're grasping at straws there mate.

[mitchum]

33. Great news because Crist is the face of the "moderate republican" who has already suckered even...

DUers
moderate republican = slightly lesser of two evils

[Inuca]

39. He IS a moderate republican

what's wrong with that? From the bits of info I have (not too much, I confess), he seems OK. Smart and reasonably open minded. I think that we may be at a point where thinking and rational republicans like Crist, Snowe, and a dismally small number of others that are still in positions of power should be ENCOURAGED not dissed. It is not smart strategic thinking (IMHO at least) to want to have an imploding and irrelevant opposition. Have you noticed that all dems are not saints? In any case, I digress... outing people is mean and completely unjustified, as long as they not been virulently hypocritical about it (and as far as I know Crist has not).

[mitchum]

45. Apparently, we disagree; I find ANY republican to be indefensible

They are called "the opposition" for a reason.
However, I do agree with you that all dems are not saints. I despise moderate dems almost as much as I do any stripe of republican.

[Saboburns]

34. This fucking bullshit

And it matters not what these people have said or campaigned on.

Someone's sexuality is a personal, private matter.

I don't care how hypocritical someone is.

It's fucking chickenshit to out someone's sexuality.

Anybody's.

[mitchum]

35. Well, no one is making you out these goddamn hypocrites

Let the Chips (and Angels and Jamies) fall where they may

[noiretextatique]

43. totally disagree

people who cower in the closet while advocating an anti-gay agenda deserve to be exposed as the hypocrites that they are.

[Heidi]

59. Then he should not have involved himself in GLBT folks' relationships

by endorsing Amendment 2.

Someone's sexuality is a personal, private matter.

[No Elephants]

60. I am trying to sort through my feelings on outting. I would not do it to a

private person uder any circumstances--and I HAVE been tested very harshly on that, so I ain't just whistling. Under NO circumstances would I do it. If he or she were about to marry an unsuspecting family member, I might have to reconsider that, though.

But, someone responsible for laws that hurt gays? (Not saying Crist is. In fact, I don't think he is.) That's a much closer question for me.

[bemildred]

40. Gay politicians should come out.

Both as a matter of principle and so they cannot be blackmailed with the "threat" of it.

[Posteritatis]

50. And they should be the ones to choose to do so (nt)

[bemildred]

62. Usually.

I can think of exceptions to that rule that I would support.

[Posteritatis]

67. So can I, but that doesn't mean I'm right to (nt)

[bemildred]

68. What can one do but use ones best judgment?

There are no guarantees about being right whatever you do. It seems to me for example, that if you have a person who is in the closet, and bashing other gays or disparaging their rights, and being blackmailed with the threat of being outed, then you have a pretty good case that the public interest overrides his or her personal interests. But you still ought to think it over well first.

[KamaAina]

41. Why is Jim McGreevey in it? He's been out for years.

"My truth is, I am a gay American." -Jim McGreevey (D)

"I am not gay (tap, tap, tap)." -Larry Craig (R)

[No Elephants]

49. He was outed, but for sexual harrassment, not, as far as I know, for hypocrisy. Although

this particular gay American had been immensely hypocritical vis a vis his wife, family and friends.
(yes, yes, I know, society limited his options, but how does that give him the right to limit his wife's?)

[Honeycombe8]

63. Here it is, 3 days later. Where's the film? Where's the story? Was this just made up?

Not that it matters, does it? To Dems and Independents, anyway. And moderate Republicans. I guess it would matter, if he IS gay, to rightwingnuts, but I don't think they like him, anyway, since I think he tends to be a moderate.