|
 |
ADRIAN BRUNE
Friday, July 02, 2004
Their center of operations occupies not one, but two top-floor apartments located
directly across from each other in a nondescript Adams Morgan high-rise, where
the two friends and activists have both lived for years.
Their information comes to them via a network of insiders, mostly planted
at various gay and lesbian bars across the District. And their modus operandi
for fighting a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage consists
of well-placed phone calls to closeted congressional aides who work for members
supportive of the amendment, declaring their intent to publicly reveal the
aides’ sexual orientation.
From that high-rise, with a view of the nation’s epicenter of public
policy, the ongoing outing campaign loosely headed by gay activists Michael
Rogers and John Aravosis evoked panic and precaution behind the Capitol’s
closed doors last week, signifying the resurrected, yet still controversial,
tactic’s scope and impact.
The reactions on the Hill came in various formats: e-mails from staffers of
prominent gay advocacy groups to anonymous lists of Hill employees warning
them of impending outings; admonitions against the practice in public forums
and on television; and meetings between Senate chiefs of staff and aides that
reaffirmed office nondiscrimination or zero-tolerance policies.
The responses Rogers said he received ranged from “donations to death
threats,” but both he and Aravosis said they are undeterred in their
pursuit to expose what they call the duplicity of policymakers pushing for
the Federal Marriage Amendment.
“In the words of Harvey Milk, ‘Let the bullet that pierces my
brain blow open every closet door,’” Rogers said. “We are
engaging in an activist campaign that educates people; it makes them aware
of the hypocrisy of America’s right wing.
“This is not about kids who are folding the mail or answering the phones
because their parents suggested they come work for the government. This is
about highly visible people — press secretaries, legislative directors,
chiefs of staff — people who influence leaders and put a face to their
policies.”
News about the activists’ outing efforts, which they said has grown
from six to 13 offices in less than 10 days, began to spread through downtown
Washington by word of mouth early in the week of June 21, sources from several
gay advocacy groups said, landing in Capitol office buildings shortly thereafter.
An e-mail memorandum sent by Human Rights Campaign lobbyist Matthew McTighe
to a group of gay government professionals warned that the Washington Blade
planned on publishing a story listing the names of closeted congressional staffers.
“We’re hearing that the Blade may run a story tomorrow listing
the names of gay staff members from the White House or who work for members
who support the FMA,” McTighe wrote. “We’re doing everything
we can to stop it from happening, but frankly there’s only so much an
organization like HRC can do to stop the Blade or any other activists from
doing this.
“At the very least we’re trying to find out more information so
we can give warning to anyone who might be affected. In the meantime, I at
least wanted to give everyone a heads up that this may be happening so you
can do anything you think you have to do in advance.”
A spokesperson for HRC said McTighe obtained his information from Hill aides
who reportedly received phone calls from an activist impersonating a Blade
reporter, asking questions about the personal lives of aides and alleging that
he or she was outing people in an article.
Rogers insisted that he had never impersonated a Blade reporter in his outing
campaign.
“I am a strong believer in an independent media and would never misrepresent
myself as a member of [the Blade] or any other publication,” Rogers wrote
in an e-mail. “As you know, our campaign focuses on informing people
of the truth, not covering up who we are and lying.”
The political newspaper the Hill also contributed to the pandemonium among
the inner circle of gay congressional aides by publishing an article on June
24 headlined, “If you’re gay, you’re out!”
Local TV news programs also pounced on the outing rumors, with CBS affiliate
WUSA and Fox station WTTG airing stories on the subject last week.
Newsweek’s Washington bureau contacted the Blade about the rumor but
did not publish an article on the subject.
“We received a significant number of phone calls reporting that the
Blade was publishing this article,” said HRC spokesperson, Steven Fisher. “Our
staffer [McTighe] sent off an e-mail to some of the people on his contact list
that this may be happening, and that we were looking into it and trying to
block it.”
HRC President Cheryl Jacques also confirmed at a luncheon sponsored by two
gay congressional associations that she, too, had heard a rumor about a pending
article in the Blade outing gay Hill staffers.
In fact, HRC never contacted the Blade to verify the existence of an outing
story or ask that it not be published, according to Blade editors.
“I can confirm that at no time has the Blade staff discussed, assigned
or worked on an article that would ‘out’ gay congressional staffers,” said
Chris Crain, the Blade’s executive editor, who also outlined the circumstances
under which the paper might consider such a story.
“Public officials and public figures are routinely asked on the record
by the Blade to identify their sexual orientation, and their response is published,
even if the response is to refuse to answer the question,” he said. “The
Blade would investigate the veracity of such a response only under unique circumstances
in which the story subject’s sexual orientation would present issues
of hypocrisy that are highly newsworthy.”
Responding to the rumor, some aides fearful of losing their jobs contacted
other Hill staffers, such as Lynden Armstrong, a founder of the Gay, Lesbian & Allies
Senate Staff Caucus, to ask for resources to prepare for their outing.
Many chiefs of staff among the handful of senators and representatives who
have signed sexual orientation nondiscrimination policies held office-wide
meetings to notify employees of that policy.
Several senators whose offices do not have nondiscrimination policies also
met with staffers to express their general tolerance of gay employees, HRC
said.
Among those was Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.), according to a source who spoke
on the condition of anonymity. Dole opposes the Federal Marriage Amendment;
her office did not respond to Blade interview requests.
But the offices of members of Congress with strong records opposing gay rights
subtly re-enforced their objections to having openly gay employees, leaving
them “very nervous about [the outing],” according to Armstrong.
“I emphasized to friends and colleagues who called me that I didn’t
think they should panic and pre-empt the outing by outing themselves,” Armstrong
said. “All of this was still a ways from landing in the lap of a member
who has no connections in the gay community or thinks that he or she doesn’t
have any connections in the gay community.”
The Washington Blade hit newsstands June 25 without an article outing congressional
staffers. But in Adams Morgan, the actual outing campaign continues.
Rogers said the activists, now up to a loose contingent of 15, have decided
to take a different course in their outing endeavor.
Rogers said he first ascertains whether members of Congress who back the FMA
also have an active anti-gay agenda. If so, Rogers will not reveal a gay aide’s
sexual orientation to the office. If not, Rogers said he will go through with
the outing — a tactic opposed by the HRC and most other gay advocacy
groups.
“I think that outing an individual is only appropriate when that individual
is in a position to make law or policy and makes anti-gay policy. It’s
totally inappropriate in any other situation,” said Matt Foreman, the
executive director of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force.
“But the Federal Marriage Amendment is not going anywhere. So to resort
to this kind of behavior for a piece of legislation that’s not going
anywhere is troublesome.”
Earlier this month, Rogers focused his efforts on the office of Rep. Charlie
Stenholm (D-Texas), a conservative Democrat and FMA supporter who formerly
employed a lesbian on his press staff.
Rogers said he called Stenholm’s office and outed the woman, who was
no longer working for the congressman at the time. Stenholm’s office
responded by filing a harassment report with the Capitol Police.
The Capitol Police would not release the contents of that report citing a
code of confidentiality to protect members’ security.
Undaunted, Rogers said he continues to contact several offices each week.
According to Rogers, a senior legislative aide in the office of Congressman
Max Burns (R-Ga.), a FMA proponent, is the latest person to come out prompted
by Rogers’ overt persuasion.
Across the hall, John Aravosis continues to call for the names of more gay
and lesbian staffers through his Web site. For now, the activists said they
aren’t planning on abandoning what they have called the most effective
way of furthering gay rights.
“We have accepted for far too long fellow gays who work for horribly
anti-gay politicians and thus help those politicians bash our community,” Aravosis
said.
“It’s time we stopped tolerating this situation as normal. These
people need, at the very least, to be confronted over their hypocrisy, and
when we see them in public we ought to tell them we don’t approve.”
Adrian Brune can be reached at abrune@washblade.com.
|
