But Are you Heterosexual?

Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer of South Carolina addressed the stories out there asserting that he is gay, as the media still tries to claim this is a smear by his opponents (and Gov. Sanford) when it is a gay activist, Mike Rogers, simply exposing truth. Anyway, in this interview he says the rumors are "silly" and "don't matter" but he doesn't say he's straight. Interesting.

Media Distorting Bauer Outing Story

It's pretty bizarre, and I can only conclude that reporters don't want to give legitimacy to the story by actually crediting activist and blogger Mike Rogers (who has a 100% track record), but media reports on the discussions of South Carolina's Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer's sexual orientation keep attributing the rumors to a smear campaign by embattled Republican Governor Mark Sanford and his allies.

Politico claims this and so does CNN and McClatchy. It's true that Republican State Senator Jake Knotts,an ally of Bauer, is charging that it's a smear campaign by Sandford. But the reporters doing these stories know full well that that is simply not true: The claims are emanating not from political opponents in South Carolina but from gay activist Mike Rogers, pointing to the hypocrisy of yet another right-wing Christian conservative politician.

These media outlets are not only distorting the story and downplaying what might be the truth of the rumors (by not attributing Rogers, who has always been right) but they are really helping to smear Sanford, since they know it's not him putting the rumors out there and yet push this idea. Don't they have a responsibility to get all the facts? Or are they afraid that they're then confirming it because it's Mike Rogers -- who was right about Larry Craig and others -- and they don't want to actually say that someone might be gay, which to them and their editors appears to be the worst thing imaginable? Whatever the reasons, it's distorting the news, and that's not journalism.

Newscaster Threatens Mike Rogers

A DC newscaster threatened to punch outing blogger Mike Rogers in the face: This is how passionate responses are to the film Outrage. We were going through it all on the show yesterday. Reviews of the film out today, opening day, and most are pretty great. (Second clip is the guy saying he won't apologize.)

Mike Rogers on Hardball

This appearance is from earlier in the week but between our awards and the holiday I didn't get a chance to play it. I think Mike Rogers did an exceptionally good job of throwing this guy off. He turned it around, saying we're winning because Rick Warren scrubbed his web site, and this just changed the script and the other guy did not have that script! Mike takes risks rather than doing the predictable, something others who do the talk shows should do now and then. Sometimes risks pay off.

GOP Hyper-Hypocrisy Alert

Antigay Virginia Republican Congressman Virgil Goode -- a man with a zero score from the Human Rights Campaign -- obtained a $150,000 earmark for the producer of a gay-themed film ("Eden's Curse"), a man who also owns an art-house theatre and got taxpayer dollars to keep the theatre up and running. But wait, it gets better: A la John McCain's press secretary Mark Buse, antigay Virgil Goode's press secretary is a glass closet gay man -- and he had a role in the gay-themed film! And more: He's on the board of the theater that got the earmark! Mike Rogers teamed up with video activist Mike Stark to expose this, and it's all revealed on Blogactive:

So, how does an anti-gay Republican US Congressman come to support a movie that is filled with lots of gay sex and lots of drug use? Well, the best place to start is with Linwood Duncan, Goode's Press Secretary. Linwood is gay (an open secret in DC) and has aspirations to be a movie star. In 2003, Ed Henry, then with Roll Call, reported about Linwood and his dreams of the silver screen: "Who knew that Linwood Duncan, the unassuming press secretary for Rep. Virgil Goode (R-Va.), has been dabbling in acting on the side and turns up with a bit part in the new movie “Eden’s Curve”?...

...You're thinking "what's the big deal?" Who cares if Roll Call wrote about a movie starring a right-wing Congressional staffer that was "especially popular at gay and lesbian film festivals across the country because the lead character gets mixed up in relationships with his male roommate..."?

I'll tell you who cares. The anti-earmark conservatives care and the anti-gay troglodytes care... A LOT!

Check out Mike Stark's video:



Here is how Eden's Curse is described on IMDB:

This is Peter's story; an 18 year old boy who takes a journey through a conservative southern all-male university in order to discover himself. With the help of his roommate, Joe and his roommate's girlfriend, Bess, Peter begins to explore more about himself and his values only to be crushed by those who love him.

Mike Rogers has all kinds of things for you to do on Blogactive to make sure this gets a lot of attention and also make sure that members of Congress and religious right leaders hear about this, so go and take some action on his site.

On Today's Show

In the 2 PM EST hour: Activist and closet-buster Mike Rogers of Blogactive will join me to "co-break" a story that you're all going to find very interesting. He will tell us who he gave a "Roy Cohn Award" to on Friday, and at the same time, this blog will publish a lengthy and sourced piece about the individual, and we're going to talk all about it on the show and get your reactions.


In the 4:30 EST hour: How the rights of all Americans, not just those targeted by the Bush administration as terror suspects, have been compromised in Bush's war on terror. I'll speak with Steven T. Wax, author of Kafka Comes to America: Fighting for Justice in the War on Terror, A Public Defender's Account.

Listen to The Michelangelo Signorile Show weekdays live from 2-6 pm ET on Sirius Satellite Radio’ s OutQ, Channel 109. Not a subscriber? Not a problem! Listen online any time with a free three-day pass.