You may have heard about the new movie OUTrage which explores the controversial practice of outing LGBT elected officials and staffers who want to have their cake and eat it, too.  In other words, they work diligently to oppose full equality in their legislative guise, but still live the gay life -- be it enjoying the quiet cloak of privilege with their partner or trolling for sex with other persons of the same sexual orientation. 

Pittsburgh has at least three reveals connected to this project, courtesy of BlogActive.com. All three are/were legislative staffers investing their time, talent and energy into promoting the anti-equality agendas of their bosses. 

Agree with outing or not, clearly this is a conversation worth having here in Pittsburgh, particularly as we have many a social conservative Democrat representing our region and more than one elected official who falls into this category themselves. 

I'm not suggesting that we begin a witch hunt, simply that we bring a topical and timely film to Pittsburgh to generate constructive conversation on the subject matter.  We've elected one openly gay person and may be on the brink of electing an openly gay judge.  This is the time to examine the need for elected officials (and their staffers) to remain in the closet, as well as to ponder the implications of members of our community working for people who want to keep us in second class status. 

One of the film's participants, Michael Rogers of PageOneQ media, was recently interviewed by a DC talk show.  During that interview, the male host told Rogers that he wanted to take him outside and punch him in the head.  Nice.  He then refused to offer an apology because he thinks outing hurts innocent people.  Personally, that's a bullshit argument -- the individual's choices to lie to their spouses and children are the source of hurt, not the reveal.  Their choice to promote an anti-equality agenda hurts a lot of people.  There are plenty of quietly LGBT persons who work for a fair agenda.  This is about hypocrisy, not a witch hunt.  Watch the video and ask yourself if a representative from any other minority group would  be subjected to a threat like this.

Admittedly, I am naive as to how to bring a film to town.  I took a shot in the dark and contacted some folks who may be able to advise me on that process. I also contacted a few local theater that show this sort of film and simply asked for their assistance.

Again, you may disagree with outing but that should prompt you to want to see the movie and understand the phenomenon better.