Dreier outing hits the papers
LA Weekly has opened the door with a story reporting the online outing of the conservative Republican congressman. It will not hit major mainstream media of course, unless he goes around looking to get in front of a camera. The best news is that he likely will not be heard from again for a good long while. He is an annoyingly smug prick of an arguer. Wonkette suggests that his outing is not the best thing:

Our position on outing conservatives is simple: We think being a gay Republican must be torture enough. As for particularly virulent homophobes who are gay, well, they should be mocked and reviled because they're homophobes, not because they're gay homophobes.

LAWeekly believes they are employing the Barney Frank rule:

outing is only acceptable when a person uses their power or notoriety to hurt gay people.

Dreier clearly meets that standard, for his voting record is strewn with anti-gay positions. To cite just a few: He voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would have banned discrimination against gay people in hiring; voted for the gay-bashing Defense of Marriage Act; voted for banning adoption by gay and lesbian couples in the District of Columbia (3,000 miles away from Dreier’s district); voted to allow federally funded charities to discriminate against gays in employment, even where local laws prohibit such bias; and voted against the Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

Dreier is not just a political homophobe but a heartless AIDS-phobe as well, voting against the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) program designed to give shelter to the impoverished sick, and against funding for the federal ADAP program that furnishes the poor with the AIDS meds they need to stay alive.

In a just world of reasonable people, Dreier would--now that the mask is off--realize the folly of his ways: that his extreme conservatism was a form of self-denial and shame. Then he would reverse his positions, now that he more closely resembles a whole person, fight for gay rights and the empowerment of the disenfrachised, and change parties. He would lose his Republican house seat, but would be well-positioned for a Senate run, or Governor, on down the road. His place in the Democratic Party would be almost limitless, assuming his issue shift was convincing, honest, and well-articulated.

But, of course, that's not going to happen. He will likely fall the way of Congressman Livingston. Never to be heard from again.