07/18/2005
Randy Cohen, the NYT ethicist, tackled the outing of elected officials in this Sunday's edition: "My guideline is this: the more aggressively, the more centrally, an official participates in a policy struggle, the more reasonable it is to out him. A counterargument could be made in defense of hypocrisy, or at least for its irrelevance: a policy should stand on its merits, not on its advocates' behavior."
Posted 1:15 PM EST by Andy Towle in Elsewhere | Permalink
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Normally I agree with Cohen, but I think he missed it this time. He starts off by saying someone can be outed if being hypocritical, then in the final paragraph adds that a gay official can also be outed if promoting gay policies because of the conflict of interest.
If you follow his logic, a gay official either has to be out or recuse himself from any gay issue in order to act ethically, and I just don't see that. Even elected officials have some right to privacy.
Posted by: Chuck | Jul 18, 2005 7:35:30 PM
Funny, Cohen doesn't even contemplate outing staff members, something that comes quite easily to Mike Rogers and his sewer-dwelling comrades.
Posted by: Matt | Jul 18, 2005 8:25:54 PM
Haven't read a more interesting and informative blog in ages. Sarah
Posted by: sarah | Jul 18, 2005 10:13:07 PM