Sexual Orientation

Mark Kleiman wrote yesterday about when your sexual orientation is my business.

He’s reposted an interesting discussion he had about it in regards to Congressman David Dreier’s difficulties with the issue.

Personally, my first instinct would be to say “of course it’s a private matter,” simply because it’s part of that general sphere of “private life.” But after a little bit of thought, I can’t come up with any good reasons it shouldn’t be a legitimate question.

It’s (probably unfortunately) relevant to politics at the moment. There are social issues that will probably be affected by one’s sexuality, so that’s a reason why it would be relevant. The thing is, eventually I hope that being gay isn’t going to be very important in elections. As Mark points out:

Ethnicity is an interesting comparison case. If someone decided to “out” a Southern Republican for having a black great-grandmother, I’d be disgusted. Wouldn’t you?

I would be. But at the same time, I don’t think it should necessarily be a secret. Espeically recognizing the difference between asking a senator if they’re black vs if they’re gay. One is usually (not always!) easier to guess.

So bottom line is, I don’t think it should be a secret. But I don’t think it should really matter that much, either.