Spin Dry

Thanks to sex-advice columnist Dan Savage for this story: Tyler Whitney, an 18 year-old conservative political activist who leads an anti-gay group at his college in Michigan, has just been outed.

The response from the right? Well, gosh, if they really meant all of their anti-gay rhetoric, they would have booted him out of the party and taken away his Young Republican membership, right?

Wrong. The same homophobic douchebags who are so anti-gay are circling the wagons, claiming that poor little Tyler's private sexual habits are nobody's business, and it was an evil, evil thing that he was shoved out of the closet, blah blah blah.

Savage rightly points out the blazing hypocrisy in that stance, saying, "If Whitney’s sexual preference is a personal matter, if Whitney’s sexual preference shouldn’t have anything to do with the campaign, then neither should mine — or the sexual preferences of any other Americans." [emphasis in original].

I'm reminded of hateful and self-hating closet cases of the past, particularly Roy Cohn and J. Edgar Hoover, who did everything they could in their lifetimes to harass, threaten and blackmail gays. Now, they did most of their dirty work at a time when being outed ended careers and, too frequently, lives. It's nice to have the shoe on the other foot -- but also appalling to realize how many of these hypocrites are living in the closet while actively fighting against their own kind.

Hey, if you want to stay closeted for whatever reason -- personal, religious, business -- fine. But if that's the case, then you have no right to be involved fighting either for or against gay and lesbian rights. By closing that door to the world, you've also bought yourself the ability to do only one thing: shut your damn mouth as well. And I'm sorry, but a gay Republican is about as ridiculous as a black Grand Dragon of the KKK or a Jewish Nazi.

So little Tyler Whitney can't pretend to be straight while committing political gay-bashing anymore? Boo-fucking-hoo. As Savage notes, he's old enough to vote, he's old enough to join the military -- so he's old enough to pay the price for his raging hypocrisy and self-hatred.

Maybe he'll wake up to what he's been doing, accept himself for what he is, and start working in his own interests instead of those of the Forces of Hate. While he's at it, he might want to remind all the other numerous closet-case rightwing homophobes that they too are fair game for outing.

Want to open your big mouth and spout off about how "wrong" homosexuality is? Fine. Then don't put anything in it after hours that you wouldn't want the world to know about.

Memo to L.G.: watch your back. You might be next on the outing list.