“There is a right to privacy but not a right to hypocrisy,” openly gay Rep. Barney Frank ( D-Mass.)

Florida Governor Charlie Crist is gay, in the closet, votes against his own interests–surprise, he’s a Republican–as a gay man, and he recently announced that he is running for the U.S. Senate.  Wow.  So says a new film (and the gay press for years).

My most-read post is the one where I became the second person to out Fox News anchor Shepard Smith as gay; Smith hit on me at a bar in 2002 after we were introduced through a mutual friend.   Now the film Outrage, by Academy Award-nominated director Kirby Dick, confirms what I wrote: yes, the prime time anchor of the anti-gay Fox News is in the closet, and afraid to come out. Watch the trailer to the movie:

Conservatives who hate are in quite an uproar about the recent spate of outings of their top political figures in Dick’s film.

This is known as chickies coming home to roost.

When politicians continually effort to be elected based upon moral crusading, and their party continually codifies hate into its platform, they should not be surprised when the public exposes their hypocrisy and dishonesty when those politicians tow the party line whilst living double lives.

See related story: Photos of former NJ Gov. Jim McGreevey and his former prisoner ministry in Harlem.

Most Republicans are upset about this revelation of truth, more than they are upset that they have leaders who don’t follow what they purport to believe.  It’s getting tougher to be a Republican today: they don’t know what to believe nor the reality of those for whom they are voting.

That the mainstream media laps up and reports any hint of drug or sex scandal about public officials, but lets them remain in the closet when their hypocritical anti-gay votes hurt many people, is a scandal in itself.

David Shankbone and Ed Koch in 2008. Koch, long known for his refusal to admit that he is gay, is outed for the billionth time in the film Outrage.

Here’s the gay hypocrites parade:

• Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho – 2007 arrest on suspicion of lewd conduct for soliciting gay sex in a Minneapolis airport men’s room ended his political career.
• U.S. Rep. Edward L. Schrock, R-Va., who retired in 2004 after he was outed by the Advocate.
• Governor Charlie Crist, R-FL – a supporter of the state’s ban on gay adoption.  The film notes a long-ago six-month marriage to a woman now living with a female partner; two sources who separately told a reporter about two different men who claimed relationships with Crist; 2006 gubernatorial rival Max Linn saying Crist told him years ago that he was gay; and a former girlfriend, Kelly Heyniger, who responded when contacted by the filmmakers: “I think I should just keep my mouth shut … call me in 10 years and I’ll tell you a story.”
• Former Mayor Ed Koch, D-NYC – remains closeted while publicly opposing legislation on issues such as same-sex marriage, HIV/AIDS funding, and gays in the military.
• Rep. David Dreier, R-CA – In the last Congress, Dreier received a 10 percent rating from the gay advocacy group Human Rights Campaign. Over his career he has opposed, among other things, measures to protect gay people against job discrimination and to add sexual orientation as a federal hate-crime category, which would enable prosecution of such offenses by federal authorities.
• Ken Mehlman, former Republican National Committee Chairman
• Jim McCrery, former Republican Louisiana congressman.  Scored 0% by the HRC on gay rights.

Kirby Dick also outs Shepard Smith.  When asked why he focused on this one journalist amongst all the politicians, the filmmaker’s answer to the Huffington Post reflects my own reasons for outing Shepard Smith:

And if you do out closeted politicians, what about other folks in the public sphere? Actors? Television personalities? Journalists? Pundits? When is it not okay to out someone?

My film focuses primarily on hypocrisy of politicians who are entrusted to uphold the rights of all citizens equally. Closeted gays and lesbians in the other professions you mention have not been elected to enact laws that affect the entire citizenry, and they are not usually acting hypocritically. The film does report on one journalist, Shepard Smith, who was first reported on by Kevin Naff of the Washington Blade. Shepard Smith works for Fox News, which has been a major factor in the rise of anti-gay hysteria in this country over the past two decades. As one of the most prominent people in Fox News—according to the New York Times, Smith makes 7 to 8 million dollars per year—his complicity with the network’s homophobic agenda rises to a level of hypocrisy that I felt was worthy of reporting.

So what about it, Republicans?  Are you going to nix popular Governor Charlie Crist, who recently announced he is running for the US Senate in Florida, because he is not honest about who he is, and because gay people are bad?  Is Crist going to finally come out of the closet, accept who he is, and run as a gay man?  Are the Republicans going to get over their moral crusades, the same ones that are helping them to remain losers at the ballot box as voters tire of their culturally divisive campaigns?

The questions over who is “questioning” remain unresolved as we prepare for the 2010 election, but it’s time for the media to stop letting the dishonesty and hypocrisy go unchecked.  Live up to your Fourth Estate responsibilities, mainstream media.

In 2002 I was at a bar called Hell in the Meatpacking District of New York City, which is where I met Shepard Smith.  At the time, Shep was just coming to terms with his sexuality, and we spent a good deal of time talking about what it means for him to be a gay man.  I’m not the first to report this.

Shep showed some interest in me–we were introduced via a mutual friend, an actor named Mark–but all we had was conversation.  I thought he was a nice guy.  I snapped photos of him and his female friend with the handkerchief on her head, whose name I have long forgotten.  I sent him those photos.

But as I watch Fox News, and the diatribes they air and the complete reaming of reality that they undertake daily that only serves to incite the worst in Americans, I wonder:  Shep – do you ever feel like you are selling yourself out completely just for your career?  When you said “it gets frightening sometimes” did you really mean it?  Your career is so developed that you could now hop to another network.  Why don’t you?  Why do you stay at a network that appeals to the worst in American society, and practices one of the most debased forms of infotainment?

At the time you and I met you at Hell, Shep, I was seeing someone and made that clear in our conversation; I would never have cheated.  But through the years, as I watch what Fox News does, I wonder if you and I had started to date–do you date, or do you just have one-night stands?–whether I would be okay with who you work for and what you do every night.  I don’t have an answer.

I imagine, Shep, that your career is fulfilling, but I also suspect that you go home every night and wonder what you are doing, and whether getting your face plastered all over the Rockefeller Center subway station and across America is worth it that you have found nobody with whom to build a life.  You are alone, and you are probably frustrated that your personal life is in the crapper because you have sold yourself out.

You’ve already made your name, Shep.  You just haven’t done anything with it beyond what every talking head does.  You could start by coming out, and exploring a side of who you are more openly so that you are no longer terrified that it will endanger your working life.  It won’t, and you’ve already banked your financial security.

Update: Why did I write this post?