Everyone loves a good outing.

It's one of the few comic comments -- nobody denies it -- in "Outrage," Kirby Dick's potent documentary indictment of closeted politicians who actively support anti-gay legislation in America.

The title would have been better two words than one: "Out Rage" consumes both sides of the issue, but especially the film's primary source-commentator Michael Rogers, founder of the BlogActive Web site, which is obsessively devoted to unmasking homosexual hypocrites.

Toe-tappin' Republican Sen. Larry Craig, that wild-and-crazy guy from Idaho, is the first and best-known of the doc's installed subjects. More interesting are such lesser-known politicos as arch-conservative Reps. David Dreier (R-California), Jim McCrery (R-Louisiana) and GOP campaign strategist Ken Mehlman, who orchestrated the cynical -- but extremely effective -- anti-gay-marriage state initiatives that crucially helped George W. Bush get re-elected in 2004. The film's most fascinating moment is a CNN clip in which Larry King pushes comedian Bill Maher into outing Mehlman.

Less fascinating is Dick's dogged pursuit of Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, whose alleged hidden homosexuality is more circumstantial -- and less venal -- than Craig's.

---

Outrage

3 1/2 stars = Very good
Ratings explained

• Rating: PG-13 in nature for subject matter.

---

And then, inevitably, there's former New Jersey Gov. James McGreevy, who lied to his wife and the public for years but, on and after his 2004 resignation, seemed sincerely contrite and is now teaching ethics at Kean University and reportedly working on a divinity degree at an Episcopal seminary. Dick might have picked someone better for the tearful film-ending testament to honesty. My candidate would've been affable, articulate Arizona Rep. Jim Kolbe -- good friend of John McCain -- who outted himself (just before The Advocate could do it for him) in 1996.

One could also quibble with the posthumous outing of Malcolm Forbes -- intriguing but gratuitous.

There is no quibbling, however, with the meticulous sourcing of facts and voting records. This isn't the first time Dick has taken on America's moral guardians. He addressed the Catholic Church's sex-abuse scandal in the Oscar-nominated "Twist of Faith" (2004) and the MPAA ratings system's sins in "This Film Is Not Yet Rated" (2006). He eschews the on-camera, in-your-face belligerence of Michael Moore and musters a modicum of objectivity -- even a certain sympathy -- toward his targets.

The result is a provocative film sparking a serious ethical debate. "Outing" in general -- of famous athletes and actors, in particular -- is a wholly reprehensible practice for sensationalism's sake. When, if ever, is it OK? Dick argues that the difference between closeted celebrities and politicians is that the latter can actively harm people's lives -- and take away their rights. Says one federal health official: "The closet can kill people." When secretly gay politicians vote to cut money for AIDS research/prevention out of fear voters might think or find out they're gay, real people actually die as a result.

The fact that the "villains" here are disproportionately Republican is -- well, a fact. (The lone prominent Democrat targeted is ex-New York Mayor Ed Koch.) Do politicians have a right to sexual privacy? If so, Dick argues, the GOP's anti-gay "family values" platform negates it. "There's a right to privacy," says Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the first congressman to come out on his own. "But there's no right to hypocrisy."

Rogers puts it more aggressively: "They've been chasing us for years -- now we're gonna chase back."

Why do closeted pols persecute their own kind -- self-loathing, or some perverse notion of "atonement"? I don't know -- that's beyond my pay grade, as President O. would say. It's a matter better left to Dr. Freud and some psychologist's doctoral dissertation (well, at least master's thesis). If I were writing one, I'd start with J. Edgar Hoover's relentless purging of "queers" from the FBI.

People who live in glass closets ...