Page "Outing" Paragraph 23

Their aim is not only to reveal the hypocrisy of those in what Branch termed the " closets of power " but also a gay person awareness of the presence of gay people and political issues, thus showing that being gay and lesbian is not " so utterly grotesque that it should never be discussed.

" ( Signorile, p. 78 ) Richard Mohr noted, " some people have compared outing to McCarthyism ... And vindictive outing is like McCarthyism: such outing feeds gays to the wolves, who thereby are made stronger .... But the sort of outing I have advocated does not invoke, mobilize, or ritualistically confirm anti-gay values ; rather it cuts against them, works to undo them.

The point of outing, as I have defended it, is not to wreak vengeance, not to punish, and not to deflect attention from one's own debased state.

Its point is to avoid degrading oneself.

" Thus outing is " both permissible and an expected consequence of living morally.