UNITED KINGDOM
Michelangelo Sigorile
Cardinal Keith O’Brien, Britain’s highest-ranking Catholic cleric until he resigned last week, now admits that he did in fact engage in inappropriate “sexual conduct” with priests, as the Vatican scandals rock on in the wake of Benedict XVI’s resignation. But O’Brien’s story appears to underscore a larger, more pervasive reality about the dangers of the closet in society, and how it can be a corrupting force when combined with power, as I pointed out in a post a few weeks ago about former New York City Mayor Ed Koch.
Powerful closeted gay men, driven by an almost pathological fear of being exposed, many times engage in two often destructive activities: 1) speaking out against gays and homosexuality, or courting those who are anti-gay, in a desperate attempt to show that they are not gay themselves, and 2) seeking sex through risky channels, feeling that they have no choice because they’re unable to freely have sexual encounters via public, everyday social situations, like dating or going to bars or public places.
We’ve seen this over and over again: the homophobic hypocrite caught trying to have gay sex in public restroom stalls or posting nude photos online. However, another way that the powerful and closeted seek sex is by engaging in workplace sexual harassment and abuse of men who are compromised (sometimes, but not always, closeted and conflicted themselves) and fearful of being fired from their jobs if they rebuff these sexual advances.
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