In Defense of Outing

The following is a snippet of a long paper I wrote for a Queer studies class, I figured no time like the present to defend my position on outing.

Outing is the act of someone disclosing someone else’s alleged sexual orientation or gender identity without their consent and making it public. The act of outing has been used as a form of revenge, and as a political, social, and emotional tactic to expose truth, and institute awareness and change. The people who are usually targets of outing are generally in a position of power or hold some form of prestige within their respective communities or within the society at large. The tactic of outing has largely been a controversial topic within the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) community. There are different schools of thought that take on the issue with varying degrees of fervor that are in favor, in opposition to outing, or a middle ground choice. People in favor of outing often cite hypocrisy, revenge, and exposure as their main motivation for engaging in the act. People who oppose outing generally feel that the act is unfair, reflects negatively on the queer community and is an insincere motive because it disregards a person’s right to explore and determine their own identity. Opponents of outing feel that it is an unnecessary tactic that does not yield positive results.

As with all political issues, there lies a continuum of opinions on outing within the gay community. I personally believe outing to be a strong and persuasive technique that has and can further be used to foster awareness and create social and political change. I support efforts to out those whom I deem as hypocrites, and by that I mean someone who preaches or votes in opposition to LGBTQ equality and civil rights legislation. On the other hand I am not in favor of outing people who wish to remain private about their own sexuality, while not actively campaigning against or in favor of gay rights. I feel we must work to expose the truth of those who work against us, while keeping silent on those who we suspect to be queer, but do not hold prejudices against us. We must remember the closet where we came from and where others may very well still be struggling with their own individual identities.

I feel that while outing may be controversial for a variety of reasons, it is still an important and useful social and political tactic. I think the positions completely for or against outing are both “radical” and unreasonable. I believe the stance that I take is more of a middle ground and reasonable approach based in logic, as well as sincerity and compassion. I think outing as a general rule needs to be used objectively and subjectively. Individual scenarios and consequences need to be taken into account before action is taken, because every situation is different. I believe in outing hypocrites who speak prejudice, and advocate for discriminatory legislation against the LGBTQ community, while they themselves hide or reject their own homo or transsexuality. I agree whole heartedly with a well known gay African-American activist, Keith Boykin when he says “it doesn’t matter if you’re a preacher, a performer or a politician. Your right to privacy ends when you violate my right to liberty” (Boykin). The people who seek to hurt queer people in my opinion lose their right to privacy. I feel that after one seeks to destroy the rights of others, they effectively should be taken down by using political power and social capital as a weapon of attack.