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outing
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Outing is the act of disclosing an LGBT person's sexual orientation or gender identity without that person's consent. Outing gives rise to issues of privacy, choice, hypocrisy, and harm in addition to sparking debate on what constitutes common good in efforts to combat homophobia and heterosexism. A publicized outing targets prominent figures in a society, for example well-known politicians, accomplished athletes or popular artists. Opponents to LGBT rights movements as well as activists within the LGBT community have used this type of outing as a controversial political campaign or tactic. In an attempt to pre-empt being outed, an LGBT public figure may decide to come out publicly first.
The term outing can also be used to refer to the disclosure of other kinds of information that might be considered private. In this sense, outing might for instance be revealing the real-life information online, or revealing the facts otherwise not linked to the person to that individual's real-life friends, family, or community.
In the culture of hacktivism, the practice of outing private information is called doxxing.
History
The term originates with the expression coming out of the closet as used in the LGBT community. In the 1990s, the gay media routinely forced celebrities out of the closet, calling the practice outing.
Outing may be deliberate or involuntary. Deliberate outing may be a weapon used by vigilantes or law enforcement officers to punish the person. Involuntary outing may occur when another person thoughtlessly links a person's nickname with another nickname, known as nick linking, or with a real-life person, or unwittingly supplies information that can be used to locate or identify a person.
Political outing
In 1991, queer rights activist group OutRage! set up a group called Faggots Rooting Out Closeted Sexuality (F.R.O.C.S.), a group dedicated to outing its opponents.[1]
Peter Tatchell, a prominent member of the group, has written a number of articles in support of using outing as a political tactic,[2] stating that it is "morally justified and necessary".[3]
Some gay activists, however, disapprove of outing as a political tactic, arguing that even anti-gay conservatives have a right to personal privacy which should be respected. Steven Fisher, a spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, said he opposed using "sexual orientation as a weapon."
In some cases well-known celebrities have been outed as transgender or intersex when no proof to substantiate the claims was presented, e.g., Jamie Lee Curtis.[4]
References
- ↑ Gross, Larry P. (1993). Contested closets: the politics and ethics of outing, U of Minnesota Press.
- ↑ Peter Tatchell: Outing Index
- ↑ In Defence Of Outing - The Ethics Of Naming Names. URL accessed on 7 February 2015.
- ↑ Jamie Lee Curtis rumor. snopes.com. URL accessed on 2013-11-02.
