OUTRAGE The Movie : Dave’s Review

Ethically Unsuitable to Serve Our Country

No, I’m not talking about Judge Sonia Sotomayor; don’t EVEN get me started on that subject!  Last week I happen to get a last-minute ticket to OUTRAGE, a documentary by Kirby Dick.  OUTRAGE opened during the TriBeCa Film Festival in early May, but still only remains at one theater in Chelsea.  If you’re not in a major city, view it online right now!  I saw the trailer and knew that infamous Larry Craig and the public bathroom episode was going to be featured.  Quite frankly I thought it would be more about gay marriage than anything else.   I was never that political, so this documentary really gave me a great history of being a gay male and an American with AIDS.  Politics, just like Hollywood has its share of closeted “stars” or “wanna-be-stars,” OUTRAGE shows the hypocrisy of both Republican and Democratic leaders, much to my surprise, during the entire history of AIDS.  During the early 1990’s, gay became the new black with issues like don’t asked don’t tell, hate crimes, which was made into law recently, gay couples given the right to adopt children, and of course gay marriage.  Not to discount these concerns, because I still do feel like a second-class American citizen, but unfortunately AIDS has come to the forefront of my life and I’m pissed.     

President Reagan isn’t gay, let’s get that straight (pardon the pun,) but it did take him six years to actually utter the word AIDS.  There were people in his administration that were closeted gay males ignoring the issue and disregarding the countless deaths to hold onto their sense of power.  For a politician, except for a small minority, being gay is WRONG, and even the idea of anything related to anything being gay is shunned.  When Senator Larry Craig demonized President Clinton, calling him a “dirty, naughty boy” during his impeachment trial, Craig was probably talking about himself.  It’s one thing to be a hairdresser who’s still in the closet, but these congressmen, or governors, or mayors of our cities are directly affecting me, feeling like a second-class citizen, not to mention the fact that I’ve AIDS.  Do we have time to deal with Washington’s “coming-out” process?  The documentary rates the voting average for each “allegedly” gay congressman,  all voted NO on anything gay-related, but what really gets me most of them voted against President Bush’s PEPFAR, when he launched it during his first term...argh!  OUTRAGE is thought-provoking, very disturbing, and hopefully it will give us that extra bite in our fight for equal rights and/or the end of AIDS.

Trying to be positive,

Dplus