SBS to screen Outrage doco
SBS will screen gay filmmaker Kirby Dick’s controversial documentary on anti-gay politicians who are gay themselves as part of its Hot Docs series on November 2.
Outrage caused controversy when it was released in the United States last year by outing a number of conservative politicians, and the film questions the ethics of outing and the mainstream media’s complicity in keeping those secrets.
Michael Rogers, a gay activist interviewed in the film who has outed conservative politicians throughout his career, sums up his motivation as, “not outing people who are gay, but reporting on individuals who are working against the community they then expect to protect them”.
The film examines recent scandals around figures including US Senator Larry Craig who was accused of soliciting sex from an undercover police officer in an airport men’s room, New Jersey Governor James McGreevy who resigned after an extramarital affair with another man, and David Dreier, a closeted gay California Congressman who voted against a range of gay rights measures while in office.
The documentary includes candid discussions with some of these men, post political life, with McGreevy telling the film makers about his struggle to accept his sexuality.
“You deny this thing but … it comes out in dark places. You begin to believe that it is shameful because, for me, I was acting in shameful ways,” McGreevy said.
info: Tuesday 2 November 10pm, SBS One
