Out in the Mountains

    

The Ins and Outs of "Outing"

Outing (n): 1. A journey or trip undertaken
by an individual or group for pleasant pur-
poses, as in a summer picnic. 2. The process
by which a gay or lesbian individual has his
or her sexual orientation made public, most
often against his or her will.

If that second definition isn’t included
in your dictionary yet, then get out a pen
and write it in. “Outing” has become one of
the hot topics in the nation’s media, both
gay and straight, over the past few months.

The philosophy behind outing is that
the gay community is adversely affected by
prominent homosexuals who either keep
the doors to their closets locked from inside
or who deceive the world outside into
thinking that they are heterosexual. Writers
such as Michelangelo Signorile, whose
Gossip Watch column in 0utWeek led to
the eventual “outing” of recently deceased
Malcolm Forbes, contend that the gay
community (as well as society as a whole)

has a right to know who is gay or lesbian,
particularly if the person in question has
gained some fame or prominence.

Though almost everyone agrees that
the gay community could benefit from
famous and influential role models, many
people feel that outing is akin to an invasion
of privacy or harrassment. Even public
officials, some would argue, have a right to
a private life.

Signorile doesn't buy that argument.
In an April article in the Village Voice, he
wrote, “Just being famous and in the closet
hurts all queers. While people around us are
dying, respecting the privacy of, say, the
designer who marries so he can seem
heterosexual and make another $25 million
begins to wear thin.”

A quick glance at the supermarket
tabloids will give you an idea of who’s
being “outed” at any given time. Just about
every one of them carried a story about

Richard Chamberlain last month, and re-
cently stories about John Travolta have
been surfacing.

Who’s next? Who knows‘?! At least
there are some strong souls like Michelle
Shocked who have the decency to tell us
about themselves on their own and not feel
ashamed or intimidated by the words “gay”
and “lesbian.”

With more examples such as hers, ,

perhaps “outing” will only become a tem-
porary addition to the dictionary and
people will start to come out of their own
free will. Better use apencil instead of apen
when you write in that definition.

Announcing the
Opening of

ARANOFF
UPSON

the Needs of the
Lesbian and Gay
Community
GENERAL CIVIL PRACTICE

V

Susan L. Aranoff Lisa A. Upson

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