Editing Outing (section)

===United States===
In the 1950s during the [[Lavender Scare]], [[Tabloid journalism|tabloid publication]]s like ''[[Confidential (magazine)|Confidential]]'' emerged, specializing in the revelation of scandalous information about entertainment and political celebrities. Among the political figures targeted by the magazine were former Under Secretary of State [[Sumner Welles]]<ref>Benjamin Welles, ''Sumner Welles: FDR's Global Strategist: A Biography'' (NY: St. Martin's Press, 1997),370-1</ref> and [[Arthur H. Vandenberg Jr.]], who had briefly served as President Eisenhower's [[Secretary to the President of the United States#Appointments Secretary|Appointments Secretary]].<ref>{{cite web|work = The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume 18|publisher = [[Johns Hopkins University Press]]|year = 1966|title = Document 48: Eisenhower To Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (February 23, 1957)|access-date = August 16, 2013|url = http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/second-term/documents/48.cfm|url-status = dead|archive-date = May 15, 2007|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070515212540/http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/second-term/documents/48.cfm}}</ref>

Outing may be found to be [[Defamation|libel]] by a court of law. For example, quite paradoxically, in 1957, American pianist [[Liberace]] successfully sued the ''[[Daily Mirror]]'' for merely insinuating that he was gay.<ref>{{cite news|last=Lovece|first=Frank|work=[[Newsday]]|title=Michael Douglas plays pianist Liberace in HBO film|url=http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/movies/michael-douglas-plays-pianist-liberace-in-hbo-film-1.3238287|access-date=28 August 2012|date=11 October 2011|quote=The highly popular Liberace, who died in 1987 at the age of 67 of AIDS-related causes, publicly denied being gay or bisexual.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url = http://www.ukpressonline.co.uk/ukpressonline/getDocument?fileName=DMir_1956_09_26_006&fileType=PDF|title = Yearn-Strength Five|newspaper = [[Daily Mirror]]|date = 26 September 1956|page = 6|first = William|last = Connor|author-link = William Connor}}</ref>  The newspaper responded that columnist [[William Connor]]{{'s}} words (written under his byline 'Cassandra') did not imply that Liberace was gay.  Their defence contended that there was no libel as no accusation had been made, rather than arguing that the accusation was true.<ref>{{cite news |title=High Court Of Justice; Queen's Bench Division, "I Don't Care What My Readers Think", Liberace V. Daily Mirror Newspapers Ltd |date=June 12, 1959 |page=16 |newspaper=[[The Times]] |url=http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/keywordsearch.arc?queryKeywords=High+Court+Of+Justice |ref=CS268786892 |quote=They all say that this deadly, winking, sniggering, snuggling, chromium-plated, scent-impregnated, luminous, quivering, giggling, fruit-flavoured, mincing, ice-covered heap of mother love has had the biggest reception and impact on London since Charlie Chaplin arrived at the same station, Waterloo, on September 12, 1921.}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>   Following Liberace's death from an AIDS-related illness in 1987, the paper asked for the award to be refunded.<ref>{{cite news |agency=[[Reuters]] |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-02-11-mn-1861-story.html |title=How About Refund? Tabloid Says of Liberace Libel Award |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=1999-10-09 |access-date=2013-11-02}}</ref>  In a 2011 interview, actress and close friend [[Betty White]] stated that Liberace was gay, and that she often served as a [[Beard (companion)|beard]] to counter rumors of the musician's homosexuality.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-wTJ2hQCK8   |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/i-wTJ2hQCK8| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|title=Betty White: Bea Arthur was not fond of me |work=CNN|date=4 May 2011 |access-date=May 23, 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

{{rquote|right|I outed [[Rosie O'Donnell|Rosie]] and [[Ellen DeGeneres|Ellen]], and it's hard to even ''imagine'' now that they ever were in the closet.  You have to educate the new people and say, 'Guess what, they were in the closet at one point.'  It's hard to believe that Rosie was doing this delicate dance on her talk show where she was the 'Queen of Nice' and the single mother who had a crush on [[Tom Cruise]] and I was pointing out the absurdity of it.|[[Michael Musto]], one of the original journalists outing celebrities.<ref>[[n:An interview with gossip columnist Michael Musto on the art of celebrity journalism|Interview with Michael Musto]], David Shankbone, ''[[Wikinews]]'', October 7, 2007.</ref>}}
After the [[Stonewall riots]] of 1969, [[Gay lib|gay-liberationists]] came out in the 1970s, crying out: "Out of the closets, Into the streets!"<ref>{{cite web |url=https://beltmag.com/queer-resistance-stonewall/ |title="Out of the Closets and Into the Streets" |last=Howard |first=Annie |date=June 28, 2019 |website=Belt Magazine |access-date=May 23, 2021}}</ref>

[[Oliver Sipple]], who helped save the life of United States President Gerald Ford during an [[Gerald Ford assassination attempt in San Francisco|assassination attempt]], was outed by gay activists, most prominently [[Harvey Milk]]. The negative impact the outing had on Sipple's life later provoked opposition.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wbez.org/shows/radiolab/oliver-sipple/3022e3dc-c854-493c-b26e-3dae0273a3bc|title=Radiolab, Oliver Sipple|date=September 22, 2017|website=[[WBEZ|WBEZ 91.5]] [[Chicago]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170922232947/https://www.wbez.org/shows/radiolab/oliver-sipple/3022e3dc-c854-493c-b26e-3dae0273a3bc|archive-date=September 22, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://allthatsinteresting.com/oliver-sipple |title=Meet Oliver Sipple, The Vietnam Veteran Who Saved President Ford's Life - And Was Punished For It |last=Ishak |first=Natasha |date=April 27, 2020 |website=All That's Interesting |access-date=May 23, 2021}}</ref>

Some political [[conservatism|conservatives]] opposed to increased public acceptance of homosexuality engaged in outing in this period as well, with the goal of embarrassing or discrediting their ideological foes.  Conservative commentator [[Dinesh D'Souza]], for example, published the letters of gay fellow students at [[Dartmouth College]] in the campus newspaper he edited (''[[The Dartmouth Review]]'') in 1981; a few years later, succeeding ''Review'' editor [[Laura Ingraham]] had a meeting of a campus gay organization secretly tape-recorded, then published a transcript along with attendees' names as part of an editorial denouncing the group as "cheerleaders for latent campus sodomites."<ref>{{cite web |last1=O'Connor |first1=Rory |title=Laura Ingraham: Right-Wing Radio's High Priestess of Hate |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/rory-oconnor/laura-ingraham-right-wing_b_106034.html |website=Huffington Post |access-date=11 June 2018 |date=10 June 2008}}</ref>

In the 1980s, the [[AIDS]] pandemic led to the outing of several major entertainers, including [[Rock Hudson]].

One of the first outings by an activist in the United States occurred in February 1989. [[Michael Petrelis]], along with a few others, alleged that [[Mark Hatfield]], a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[United States Senate|Senator]] from [[Oregon]], was gay.<ref>{{cite book  |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8IoG84QtfNIC&q=Mark+Hatfield++Michael+Petrelis&pg=PA86 |title=Queer in America: Sex, the Media, and the Closets of Power |last=Signorile |first=Michelangelo |year=2003 |publisher=Univ of Wisconsin Press |isbn=9780299193744 |access-date=May 23, 2021}}</ref> They did this because he supported homophobic legislation such as the [[Helms Amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act|Helms Amendment]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Neumann |first=Caryn E. |date=2004 |title=Outing |url=http://www.glbtqarchive.com/ssh/outing_S.pdf |access-date=2023-04-16 |website=GLBTQ, Inc.}}</ref> At a fundraiser in a small town outside of [[Portland, Oregon|Portland]], the group stood up and outed him in front of the crowd. Petrelis later tried to make news by standing on the [[United States Capitol|U.S. Capitol]] steps and reading the names of "twelve men and women in politics and music who ... are secretly gay." Though the press showed up, no major news organization published the story.<ref>Gross, p.&nbsp;85</ref> Potential libel suits deterred publishers.

[[Michelangelo Signorile]], and editor of ''OutWeek'', outed the recently deceased [[Malcolm Forbes]] in March 1990.<ref>{{Citation | url = http://outweek.net/pdfs/ow_38.pdf | last = Signorile | first = Michelangelo | author-link = Michelangelo Signorile | title = The Other Side of Malcolm | magazine = [[OutWeek]] | issue = 38 | pages = 40–45 | date = March 18, 1990}}</ref> His column "Gossip Watch" became a hot spot for outing the rich and famous. Both praised and lambasted for his behavior, he garnered responses to his actions as wide-ranging as "one of the greater contemporary gay heroes," to "revolting, infantile, cheap name-calling."<ref>Johansson & Percy, p.&nbsp;183</ref>

Other people who have been outed include [[Fannie Flagg]], [[Pete Williams (journalist)|Pete Williams]], [[Chaz Bono]], and [[Richard Chamberlain (actor)|Richard Chamberlain]].

In 2004, [[LGBTQ rights in the United States|gay rights]] activist [[Michael Rogers (blogger)|Michael Rogers]] outed [[Edward Schrock]], a Republican [[United States Congress|Congressman]] from [[Virginia]]. Rogers posted a story on his website alleging that Schrock used an interactive [[phone sex]] service to meet other men for sex. Schrock did not deny this, and announced on August 30, 2004, that he would not seek re-election.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://buffalonews.com/news/ex-buffalo-activist-is-d-c-s-most-feared-man-mike-rogers-a-founder-of/article_42477f7c-af99-5c75-839f-9bbed74d17f5.html |title=Ex-Buffalo Activist is D.C.'s 'Most Feared Man' Mike Rogers, a Founder of Gay Men's Chorus, 'Outs' Closeted Conservatives on his Blog |last=Zremski |first=Jerry |date=September 9, 2007 |website=The Buffalo News |access-date=May 23, 2021}}</ref> Rogers said that he outed Schrock to punish him for his hypocrisy in voting for the [[Marriage Protection Act]] and signing on as a co-sponsor of the [[Federal Marriage Amendment]].

[[New Jersey]] Governor [[Jim McGreevey]] announced that he was a "gay American" in August 2004.  McGreevey had become aware that he was about to be named in a [[sexual harassment]] suit by [[Golan Cipel]], his former security advisor, with whom it was alleged McGreevey had a sexual relationship. McGreevey resigned, but unlike Schrock, McGreevey decided not to step out of public life.  [[John McCain]]'s Presidential Campaign removed images of Alabama Attorney General [[Troy King]] from its website after he was outed in 2008.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pensitoreview.com/2008/07/11/homohating-alabama-attorney-general-and-chair-of-mccain-campaign-outed-as-gay/ |title=McCain's Alabama Chairman Reportedly Outed – Attorney General Troy King Has a Record of Homophobic Rhetoric |first=Jon |last=Ponder |date=July 11, 2008 |website=Pensito Review |access-date=May 23, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080714101528/http://www.pensitoreview.com/2008/07/11/homohating-alabama-attorney-general-and-chair-of-mccain-campaign-outed-as-gay/ |archive-date=July 14, 2008}}</ref>

Some activists argue that outing is appropriate and legitimate in some cases&nbsp;— for example, if the individual is actively working against [[LGBTQ rights]].<ref>{{cite news |author=Doug Ireland |url=http://www.laweekly.com/ink/04/44/news-ireland.php |title=THE OUTING &#124; David Dreier and his straight hypocrisy |publisher=Laweekly.com |date=2004-09-23 |access-date=2013-11-02 |archive-date=2008-09-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080907131707/http://www.laweekly.com/ink/04/44/news-ireland.php |url-status=dead }}</ref> United States Congressman [[Barney Frank]] argued during the 2006 [[Mark Foley scandal]], "I think there's a right to privacy. But the right to privacy should not be a right to [[hypocrisy]]. And people who want to demonize other people shouldn't then be able to go home and close the door and do it themselves."<ref>{{cite web| title = "Episode Guide – episode 86" HBO's ''Real Time with Bill Maher''| publisher = [[HBO]]| date = October 20, 2006 | url = http://www.hbo.com/billmaher/episode/2006_10_20_ep86.html| access-date = 2008-02-26}}</ref>