Tuesday, June 12, 2007

My Readers - Mike Rogers


Yahoo News has a feature on Mike Rogers of BlogActive.com, one of my sometime readers and a guy I have talked with on the telephone and communicated with via e-mail for at least three years since the Michael Johnston expose. Here's a link to the feature: http://potw.news.yahoo.com/s/potw/51/brokeback-hill. There are those who condemn "outing" people, but I agree with Mike's approach: when you are in the closet and actively and consistently work for those who seek to harm gays or deprive LGBT Americans of civil and legal rights, you are fair game! Here is a portion of the article:

People of the Web - Brokeback Hill

By KEVIN SITES, WED MAY 30, 12:31 PM PDT
WASHINGTON - Members of the 110th Congress consider yourselves warned: Mike Rogers is making his list.Rogers is a muckraking gay blogger who uses his insider's knowledge of Washington politics and broad blanket of contacts to "out" gay politicos — but only, he says, if they are undermining gay rights. Critics call his tactics divisive and politically motivated.
He's outed so many closeted gay politicos, he's starting to make Capitol Hill look like Brokeback Mountain. All of them, he says, use their positions to actively oppose the equal rights of gay citizens while at the same time, secretly live a gay life.

If you are a gay politico with something to hide, the left hand column of Roger's Web site is exactly where you don't want to see your name. He calls it "the list." "For me what it's really about is if congressman X thinks that gay people shouldn't have equal rights but goes home and is having sex with men, and not disclosing that, then we have a problem." — Mike Rogers People have called Rogers a gay terrorist, but he says, "The only people who say things like that are people who have a vested interest in protecting the closet."

I admit that I spent my time in the GOP, but I NEVER actively took steps to assist those who sought to turn back gay rights. Moreover, even before the GOP began to seriously use gay bashing and homophobia as a weapon and political strategy, I resigned from the Party as a matter of conscience. One of Mike's targets was even someone I knew: I knew Congressman Ed Schrock personally, as well as his wife, and was even at his house during Mark Earley's campaign for Governor. Believe me, NO ONE made Schrock cast votes so as to compile the second most homophobic voting record in the House of Representatives at the time. He did that all by himself and, ultimately, hypocrisy and a woman who tape recorded his MEGA phone ads for gay sex caught up with him.

4 comments:

dondon009 said...

I stand 100% behind Mike Rogers, believe exactly as he believes and post about those who have been outed.

I do the same with people in religious life......

Exposing hyposcisy and bigotry in politics and religion has been a part of my mission statement since I began blogging!

DON~

Anonymous said...

We are definitely on the same page on this issue.

kenny said...

I don't really know what to think. I just don't like the idea of outing people. But I don't really have an opinion...

Anonymous said...

Exposing hypocrisy is NOT the same as outing someone. Rogers knows better, and so should the rest of us. If the exposure of hypocrisy requires outing, do two wrongs make a right?

At some point, we're going to have to accept that some people are FRAUDS, from McGreevey to Haggard to ETC. Many who did not come-out till late COULD be considered frauds by Rogers' standards, rather than intuit it is not always easy to come-out as it is for others. McGreevey had his dick sucked regularly while playing married - it happens. Lots of people live double lives, starting with Barney Frank and others.

Our private lives remain private, UNLESS hypocrites take them public. And THEN, ONLY IF their hypocrisy causes actual HARM, not just double standards, "out and expose" the bastard, otherwise who gave who the authority to expose and out anyone? Expose the double standard, not HOW a particular person commits it.

Something about casting stones first seems to have an appropriate ring to it in this matter.