"Outrage," the biting new political documentary by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Kirby Dick that opens today in Los Angeles, candidly explores the murky intersection between private lives and public conduct.
Dick's thesis is that Washington's closeted homosexual lawmakers, most of them members of the GOP, staunchly -- often stridently -- oppose equal rights measures for gays because they're anxious to conceal their own sexual orientation. He also shares a sentiment voiced by openly gay Democratic Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts who told the filmmakers that his Republican colleagues have "a right to privacy, but there's no right to hypocrisy."
So in that spirit, the film does what no mainstream cinematic treatment of this issue has done before: It names names.
All the law and policymakers identified have previously been "outed" in print or online, but most either deny being gay or simply decline to comment on privacy grounds. Among those named in "Outrage" are veteran California Rep. David Dreier, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, former Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, ex-Louisiana Congressman Jim McCrery, former New York City Mayor Ed Koch and ex-Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, whose notorious 2007 arrest on suspicion of lewd conduct in a Minneapolis airport men's room effectively ended his political career.
McCrery, who now works as a lobbyist in Washington, said in an interview this week that he had heard about the film but has not seen it.
"This is not the first time I've had to deal with this sort of thing," McCrery said. "It's best for me -- and I would tell anyone else mentioned in the film -- not to comment on it."
Does he think it's a violation of his privacy? "I don't think it's right," he said about efforts to out public officials. "I don't think it's something people should do. Other than that, I don't want to comment."
The film's searching look within the political closet comes at a pivotal moment. With same-sex marriage court decisions and legislative bills sweeping the country from Maine to New York and from Iowa to California, the question of equal rights for gays and lesbians has surfaced once again on the national political agenda. Legal analysts predict that the California Supreme Court will uphold Prop. 8's ban on same-sex marriage within the next few weeks, triggering a rush to qualify a marriage equality initiative for the next statewide ballot. Meanwhile, the organizers of Prop. 8's narrow electoral victory are not only gearing up for another bitter and expensive fight in California, but also offering their expertise to backers of traditional marriage who hope to overturn their own court decisions or newly enacted laws on marriage equality.
