Posted on 07/07/2004 11:39:03 AM PDT by carlo3b
IT’S OUTING SEASON! (Has Sen. Barbara Mikulski, just been outed?)Ready for the federal marriage amendment?
By Michelangelo Signorile
As the July 12 date nears for a vote on the federal marriage amendment, an outing panic has gripped Washington's political and media circles. Some gay activists have vowed to expose those closeted members of Congress who are supporting the amendment, as well as the closeted gay staffers of any member backing it. And it's not only right-wing Republicans who should be on notice. After initially indicating that she would vote against the constitutional amendment that would make gays and lesbians into second-class citizens, Sen. Barbara Mikulski's opposition to the amendment appears to have gone into the closet: Now that a vote is near, the Maryland Democrat—who is up for reelection in November—is suddenly not returning reporters' phone calls seeking her intentions on the vote, nor is she issuing any statements on the matter.
Mikulski's position on same-sex marriage isn't the only thing in her closet: The sexual orientation of the forever-unmarried 67-year-old has been an open secret for many years. But Mikulski has apparently always worried about what her working-class Democratic base in Maryland might think of her sexual orientation, making her irrationally petrified of ever discussing it (except to make heterosexual allusions).
These fears have made Mikulski less than a champion of gay rights, perhaps lest anyone think she might be gay herself. Back in the 80s, when Mikulski was first running for the Senate, the Republicans brought in as her opponent none other than the nasty anti-feminist Linda Chavez—the columnist and pundit who years later would drop out as George W. Bush's Labor Secretary nominee amid a scandal over her having paid her housekeeper off the books. During the Senate campaign, Chavez engaged in her own bit of gay-baiting, accusing Mikulski of being a "San Francisco-style Democrat" who should come "out of the closet." She also attacked Mikulski for hiring an Australian feminist academic, Teresa Mary Brennan, as a congressional aide in 1981, and went after Mikulski for supporting the Equal Rights Amendment, charging that the ERA would "open up the whole question of homosexual marriage."
It had been widely reported that Brennan, at the time of her employment, was living with Mikulski at her Fells Point home for two months. Chavez's campaign manager told reporters that in the final two weeks of the campaign, tv commercials would focus on Mikulski's relationship with Brennan. Mikulski's response was to go gaga over a hunky guy at a campaign event.
"Are you single?" the short, squat Mikulski asked a body shop owner in the crowd. "Give me a call after the election. I won't be so busy then."
(As far as I'm concerned, Mikulski opened up her private life that day, implying that she certainly had a sexual orientation, though trying to make us believe it was of the heterosexual variety.)
Mikulski won the election by a wide margin, but she learned that she'd always be gay-baited, so it was perhaps best to vote against gays. This strategy seemed to culminate in 1996 when Mikulski voted in favor of the wretched Defense of Marriage Act, incurring the wrath of gay activists. At a Barnes & Noble in Chelsea that year—promoting a mystery novel she'd co-written, called Capitol Offense—Mikulski was confronted by several gay activists and journalists, including me.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypress.com ...
Woo Hoo..It's Pippin, long time no see.. How are you sweetie!
She does has a face only a lesbian could love.
Some of the responses on this thread are bad. It isn't right to make fun of someone's looks. The NY Post shouldn't take it upon themselves to "out" people anyway - isn't that up to the person in question? Homosexual behavior is regrettable enough without making a sideshow out of it.
Sounds like Mikulski could be in line to be Kerry's Attorney General (ala Janet Reno)...
How true.
This stupid threat of "outting" gay politicians who support the Constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and woman doesn't ALREADY remind you of a sideshow??
I don't think that the Widow Chaser picked the Ambulance Chaser.
He was told by SoreA$$ via the DNC who to pick!
His first choice was McCain, then Gephardt, and then the senator from Floriduh who can't remember where he was five minutes ago. So he writes everything down with a date and time. That would be called Alzheimers by many mds.
Visions of Siamese twins.
I don't have a problem with 'outing' the members of Congress who support the amendment. But the 'outing' of 'closeted gay staffers' shows the meanspiritedness of the homo activists.
On the other hand, the collective American shrug if these staffers were 'outed' would take the wind out of the activists' sails. Most Americans don't care if you are a homosexual, as long as you aren't parading around demanding that everyone 'celebrate' homosexuality.
Uh, yeah Signorile. She "opened up her private life that day." She gave you a blank check to rip it open and expose it. </sarcasm>
There is something very perverse about how Signorile and much of the gay left revels in outing people. If John Ashcroft was doing they outing, they would be weeping, rending their clothes, and screaming "fascism!" They're a creepy bunch of people (of course, pretty much all activists on the left are creepy...)
"I'm just an awkward old maid with a great affection for men."
-- Janet Reno
It's just another case of violating personal privacy. When they get in trouble, they'll say they're right to free speech is being denied them. IF this does happen, it'll likely be in the form of leaks, paid for by bribes to the leakers.
Michael Moore's mother?
LOL! Darn typos.
I know awkward old maids just like her. Usually, they aren't lesbians at all. Why offend them, or use them to promote homosexuality? Gays love to claim that they are soooo abused by teasing and the like. But 9.5 time out of 10, the teasing is directed at people who truly are NOT gay. They are just being used and abused by all sides of the argument. I think it's sad.
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