Monday, March 2, 2009

Power and The Closet

Here is the outcome of a case involving blackmail and gay sex. For a little more context you can read here. While I certainly don't condone blackmail, I find it fascinating that the victim's name is being withheld through a suppression order. Apparently, this is standard practice in Australia in court cases involving blackmail. I understand the logic, but since people with power and money are probably the only ones who get blackmailed in Australia (or anywhere, for that matter) the luxury of a suppression order seems a bit dodgy. Case in point, the victim in this particular circumstance is a politician, who is married. It leads one to assume in general what is really being protected here, and it's neither the victims' wives nor their families.

Over recent years in the US, there has been a series of politicians in similar circumstances. Most of these politicians have been of the right wing variety, who condemn homosexuality in public, but are sneaking behind their wives' backs to have sex with other men. These creatures are particularly loathsome because they make the lives of open gays and lesbians hellish by pandering to ignorance to remain in power.

I wonder if the closeted Australian politician is like his closeted American counterpart?

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