The Most Feared Man on the Hill?

Mike Rogers of Blogactive was one of the first people to break the news of Idaho Senator Larry Craig (R) being gay and has been steadily and accurately calling out gay Republicans. (By Marvin Joseph -- The Washington Post)

Critics, though, say he's a "pariah" who's hurting the gay community more than he's helping it.

"To many of us, coming-out is a process, a very personal journey dictated by the individual. My objection to outing is not about the people who are being outed. It's about us," says Mark Agrast, a former top aide to former representative Gerry Studds, the Massachusetts Democrat who was the first openly gay member of Congress. Agrast was one of the founding members of the Lesbian and Gay Congressional Staff Association.

"We don't have to admire the choices that Craig has made in his life," says Agrast, "to feel some compassion for a 62-year-old man who seeks anonymous encounters because he can't come to terms with who he is."

To some of the people on Rogers's list, such as former GOP official Dan Gurley, Rogers is "despicable."

Rogers blogged about Gurley, the former national field director at the Republican National Committee, in September 2004. Gurley, as Rogers tells it, had signed off on an RNC flier sent to conservative voting districts that shows one man proposing to another man. "The GOP wanted to scare voters. 'Look what will happen if the Democrats win!' " Rogers says. Gurley, however, says that he raised objections to the flier and that it wasn't his decision.

"What was I supposed to do?" Gurley says in an interview. He adds: "Who does Rogers think he is? God? What gives him the right to bully people around and tell us what to think or how to conduct our lives?"

When Rogers posted Gurley's Gay.com profile on his blog, the GOP fired Gurley, who's left Washington and lives in North Carolina.

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Rogers is sitting on his apartment's balcony, feet stretched out, still sipping soda. It's been a very busy week. He's been on CNN, the "Today" show, National Public Radio. Repeatedly he gets asked whether he feels vindicated. The answer's always yes.

So does he have any secrets?

"Don't we all?"

Has he ever had sex in a public bathroom?

"How is that relevant? Look, I'm not a politician making laws and rules and regulations for 275 million people. You know what happens when you're in the U.S. military and you're brought up on charges of being gay or lesbian? Your life is ruined. You're at risk for death, for physical violence. And there's Craig . . . who was chairman and was the ranking member of the Veterans Affairs Committee, not allowing gays to serve in the military?"

A little volume titled "The Book of Questions: Business, Politics and Ethics" is tucked under his coffee table. There, on Page 193, is the question: "How much right do we have to know about the private lives of elected officials?"

Rogers says, "When those private lives are in direct conflict with the public policy that these officials espouse, I think it's fair game that their private lives be brought into this. And I have to blog to do that with. Here's the question: What community is expected to protect its own enemies? Don't beat up the gay community, and then expect us to protect your secrets and your double life. It's just not right."