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arts & lifestyle Unfriendly Fire page 23 Tlie closeted halls of power New doc explores closeted, outed politicians, movers and shakers by Lawrence Ferber Contributing Writer Washington, D.C., house contractors must be used to building closets large and deep, judging from the controversial new documentary, "Outrage." A scathing indictment of closeted gay politicians who vote against or demonize the LGBT community (Sen. Larry Craig, RNC field director Dan Gurley, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist), thoughtful investigation of the whys behind this closet culture and the mainstream media's complicity in it, pro file of the activists and outers (Michelangelo Signorile, Michael Rogers and Larry Kramer) and a look at the good that ultimately comes from being, or coming, out in politics (New jersey's jim McCreevey, Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank and Wisconsin Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin), "Outrage" is directed by Academy Award nominated, gay-friendly filmmaker Kirby Dick ("This Film Is Not Yet Rated," "Twist of Faith"). A day before "Outrage" premiered to rave reviews at New York's Tribeca Film Festival (contrary to online reports, McCreevey did not storm out of the screening — he even stayed through its Q&A, although whether he enjoyed the film remains unknown), I sat down with Dick at Magnolia Pictures' Manhattan office for a one-on-one conversation. What was the genesis of this project? I was in Washington, D.C., during August 2006, promoting "This Film is Not Yet Rated," and I thought, the only reason I knew about this story of the ratings board was because I'm in the film indus try — there are probably a number of great stories for documentaries in D.C. that people only know inside the belt- way. I started asking around and very quickly this story came forward that these politicians are gay yet voting anti gay. The first thing was [a rumor] that Karl Rove was gay. There's no substantia tion for that, it's just a rumor. I sincerely hope he's not gay. I'll take a baker's dozen of J. Edgar Hoovers over one Rove. Right. Although his stepfather was gay. and actually he refers to his stepfather as his father. He's the man who raised him. Yes, there were. Rumors about a lot of other people, some of them very powerful, but there wasn't substantiation. Can you share those names now? I'd rather not. I'm sure you've probably heard them all. Were you surprised to learn about Crist? For years I had been following [the outing of politicians]. Not real closely, but I had been following it and I guess I had been in favor of outing in situations where there was very clear hypocrisy. Did any of the people who out politi cians, like Michael Rogers of blogactive.com, express a fear of Photo Credit: Magnolia Pictures Bizarre. And, Rove's still out there. He's still out there on FOX news. Did many other closeted politicians come up during research that you didn't include because there wasn't enough evidence or testimony? I learned about that very early on in the process. Well before I started shooting. As soon as you go online there are these rumors. What were your thoughts on "out ing" before this? meeting with an "accident," a la Karen Silkwood or Tom Wilkinson's character in "Michael Clayton?" Mike Rogers did. [But] I think most of see Documentary on 19 join us this season as we explore June I I - July 25 ^DANCE f ON A DIME (Ballet ^ Modern (ntA: 7fie Oil CHECK OUT OUR ENTIRE SEASON PLUS WEB-ONLY FEATURES AT: www.a merica n f estiva I .org Prints Hi RecordiHgAtti$i pCe Cowdoy) cnilse Boat CafTWlnno^^ onrdin @ 6:3A.m. cfflse ® 7:00^uM^.m. ckBtsWe$50j|r . ' Proceeds Sceiffb Crui^of the ^Hlsenelit VouUifliDS rRa^rolj|^B6QDinr^7 iiu or wore tofflSsrtiR or/fltiftsB-eaoajil .A I IIIIHMUI.I Register for FREE tickets to the American Dance Festival and Randy Jones concert cruise at www.a-notes.com www.q-notes.com/qliving
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