The Hooksexup Interview: Kirby Dick

May 13, 2009

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In such documentaries as Sick (1997), his affectionate, unnervingly funny requiem for "super masochist" Bob Flanagan, and This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006), a muckraking examination of the MPAA rating system, director Kirby Dick staked out his territory at the point where sexually transgressive artists go head to head with the forces of repression. Consequently, the movies were at least implicitly political. There's nothing implicit about Dick's latest, Outrage, a look at the self-immolating subculture of closeted gay politicians who, as part of their cover, vote against gay rights and sign on with the hateful agenda of the religious right.

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Outrage includes choice news footage of the besieged, perpetually seething Larry Craig, he of the wide stance. There's also a primer on the ambitious Florida governor Charlie Crist, whose timely marriage last year (and support for Florida Amendment 2, the anti-gay-marriage rule that was added to the state's constitution last election season) Dick attributes to the governor's desire to quash rumors about his personal life. The movie also devotes a lot of time to blogger Michael Rogers and writer and talk-radio host Michelangelo Signorile, who see it as their duty to expose the hypocrites hiding in the "family values" playpen.

Although Outrage makes room for those (such as Andrew Sullivan) who are troubled by the ethics of outing, Dick's heart is clearly with the outers. (He is, after all, the guy who, for his previous film, hired a private eye to help him get the names of "secret" members of the MPAA's ratings board.) This aspect of Outrage has already sparked controversy. But the most remarkable thing about the movie may be its testimony from those who freed themselves from the closet, including Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank, former New Jersey governor Jim McGreevey, and former Arizona Congressman Jim Kolbe, who made the announcement in order to get ahead of others who were about to do it for him. There may be no more touching scene in theaters right now than that of Jim Kolbe talking about coming out and feeling years of fear and deception melting away. When Kolbe began making the rounds to tell his colleagues, including John McCain, what they already knew, he wasn't prepared for the wave of acceptance that greeted him; something he'd always dreaded as a march up Calvary turned out to be more like a victory lap. There's a lot of anger in Outrage, but there's also an outstretched hand being offered to those who might risk enjoying the freedom and release that comes with living an honest life.

We spoke with Kirby Dick last week, between the movie's successful premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival and its theatrical release on May 8.

How did you come to this story?

I was in Washington, D.C. in August 2006 promoting my last film, This Film Is Not Yet Rated. That was a story I knew about, really, because I was inside the film business. And I thought, here I am in Washington, D.C.; there must be many stories that these people inside politics would know that I wouldn't know. I started asking around and quickly came upon the fact that there are a great many closeted gay politicians, and a great many of them vote anti-gay. But what I found out is that this is a story that the mainstream media has not reported on. I realized that was an important subject on its own.

Why do you think the media shies away from it?

I said, "Do you mean to say that your company's policy on outing trumps your company's policy on reporting!?"

I think they're reluctant to write about gay sexuality. Barney Frank says that they'll write all kinds of personal details about him but they won't say he's gay, as if there's something wrong with it. And of course, that message gets disseminated, and it stokes the homophobia. Also, a lot of these news outlets are owned by major corporations, which do a lot of business in Congress. They are very reluctant to do anything that they think might affect a vote that, in turn, might affect their bottom line.

It's interesting; the reporters themselves, the ones I've engaged with, are very supportive of this film and really want to write a story about it. But it's the people above them. . . I had somebody come up to me and say, "I really want to write about this, but I can't, because our company has a policy against outing." I said, "Do you mean to say that your company's policy on outing trumps your company's policy on reporting!?" And of course, he had nothing to say. This is what their job is. As political journalists, their job is to report on hypocrisy. In some ways, there's nothing more important for them to do than to report on public officials saying one thing and doing another.

Did you find, as you were asking around, that you met a lot of people who were grateful for the chance to finally talk about this?

Oh, yeah. Many of my interview subjects, both Democrat and Republican — most of them are gay. And they knew the cost of the closet. They've been in the closet themselves, they've known people who've been in the closet and suffered in the closet; they've been close to politicians who'd voted anti-gay to protect the closet. And they saw how those votes affected millions of Americans. They wanted the story told.