Homosexuality: A Public Issue?

Homosexuality: A Public Issue?

Richard Mohr believes that outing closeted homosexuals is morally justified. He argues that sexual orientation is not a private matter and therefore, does not violate a homosexual's right to privacy. He believes that outing will increase the homosexual community by creating positive role models. He argues that remaining in the closet is morally debasing and creates indignity to one's self. Claudia Card on the other hand, argues almost the complete opposite. She takes a utilitarian stance on outing "the big secret." The big secret is referring to one being a homosexual. She believes that outing is justified as long as it does no harm, which she believes is unlikely.

Mohr's definition of outing is making publicly acknowledged the sexual orientation of a homosexual without regard to whether the person I willing to have this information publicly acknowledged. Mohr argues that outing is both a permissible and an expected consequence of living morally. He says, "outing is to the gay person who lives morally what a ship's wake is to the ship that causes it as the ship cuts its course to its destination." In other words, in order for a homosexual to live morally, one must be outed. Mohr then takes the likely objections to outing and puts forth his argument.

Mohr states that the most common argument against outing is that it violates a homosexual's right to privacy. Mohr argues that people are confusing privacy with secrecy. He says that privacy is control over the access the others have to one, where as secrecy is the intentional concealment of something. He uses Sissela Bok to support his argument. Bok says, "privacy need not hide and secrecy hides far more than what is private." He also uses Bok's example of marriage to explain this. Bok says that whom one marries is a private matter, but it is virtually never a secret matter.

Mohr does not believe that outing one's sexual orientation violates any legitimate gay privacy interest. If someone sees you doing something in public that suggests that you are a homosexual, and that someone tells someone else, it does not mean that that someone has violated the right to privacy. There is no real control over privacy. He says that it is sexual acts, not sexual orientations that are protected by privacy. Sexual orientation is a part of whom one is and outing is merely ...

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...not just let people know about a person's part of life when they want it to be hidden. If someone is obviously anorexic you cannot just let it be known to the public. In a sense, it's like spreading a rumor because they have not admitted to it, even if it may seem obvious to you. The person can feel oppressed, depressed, and possibly suicidal. One can never tell what words can do to a person. People have different perceptions and will hear/see what they want to hear/see rather than hear/see what really is.

It does not seem like he has taken in considerations the harms that follow from outing. He forgets that there are small towns were hate crimes are not punished. He forgets that some individuals are very emotionally instable to handle the consequences of being outed. I do not believe that he has taken in considerations all the possible consequences of being outed where as Card does. I find it even more convincing that she is a lesbian and has been a closet case. I also think Card's solution is the idealistic way to resolve the issue and aid in many people's process of coming out. It does not do harm to anyone, but at the same time provides a role model and gets the word out.