August 5, 2017 | Sex & Society

A dead British lord was outed and some peopled are miffed

Gay lord outed after deathWe've always believed that outing someone -- unless they have acted out against the LGBT community -- is wrong. It is up to each individual to decide how and if and when to share a part of themselves that they may have kept hidden for decades.

That said, we're not sure that outing someone posthumously is the same thing. After all, the guy is dead!

Last month, Britain's National Trust revealed that the former lord of Norfolk’s Felbrigg Hall, Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cremer, was gay. Since he had died in 1969, no one thought it would be a big deal.

Well, it was for some.

The man's family was upset because they felt his privacy had been violated. They said he was a very private man, and only revealed his sexuality to his closest friends. Of course, that was at a time when being gay could have landed Ketton-Cremer in jail.

The family claimed that if he were alive today, he would be horrified by the Trust's decision.

Professor Richard Sandell was part of the team that looked into the lord's past. Sandell admitted that he had struggled with the thought of outing the man, but he felt doing so served a greater good.

“We discussed this extensively. I would strongly argue that we cannot perpetuate the values and attitudes of the past,” he said. “You would only continue to conceal these truths if there was still a stigma attached to being gay. It is important to people today that we talk openly -- just as we do about the personal lives of people who were heterosexual."
 
Still, during a recent event on Ketton-Cremer's old property, which was part of the London Pride festivities, 10 National Trust volunteers refused to wear rainbow lanyards out of anger the man's secret past was exposed. They claimed they had trouble sleeping and felt ill because of the decision. Ugh!
 
The volunteers were sent home.
 
 
 
National Trust volunteers refusing to wear gay pride lanyards in protest over 'outing' former lord of the manor [The Independent]
 
Stephen Fry and National Trust outing our godfather as gay was a despicable act of publicity [Telegraph]

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