New DearMary.com ad threatens to out gay members of Congress & staffers

Heard on the Hill: "Outing on the Hill"
July 7, 2004
Roll Call
http://www.rollcall.com

Gay rights activists are making a not-so-veiled threat to “out” closeted gay and lesbian Members of Congress and staffers as part of their condemnation of the proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

Much like the “Call to Conscience” ad that ran in 1996 during Congressional consideration the Defense of Marriage Act, which was credited with helping Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) out of the closet, a “Final Call to Conscience” ad will appear this Friday in the local gay newspaper The Washington Blade.

The ad is sponsored by the Web site DearMary.com, named for Vice President Cheney’s lesbian daughter, which perpetually calls on her to urge her father to drop his support for the gay marriage ban. The ad makes a personal plea to Mary and “all the Mary Cheneys in Washington, DC and beyond.”

“If you are gay, end your silence,” the ad says, calling on gays in Congress to “stop aiding and abetting those who would make us second-class citizens.”

“If you are straight, end your hypocrisy,” it says.

Basically, says John Aravosis, founder of the group, that means: “If Congress wants to debate our private lives in public, we’re going to debate their private lives in public.” And it’s not just targeted at gays, he says. The ad is a shot across the bow to “the Jack Ryans of the world.” (Ryan was the Illinois Republican who dropped out of the Senate race recently after allegations that he had visited “sex clubs” came to light.)

“You are not alone, Mary. Far too many gays and lesbians in Washington, DC choose like you to be fence sitters and sell-outs — anti-gay by day and queer by night. We can no longer afford your silence. You can no longer expect our own,” the ad says.

Aravosis says there are “lots” of people who could potentially be outed, a move opposed by groups such as Log Cabin Republicans and Human Rights Campaign.