Frontline: A Hidden Life

For those of you who watched the Frontline episode “A Hidden Life” I have set up this discussion board to express your thoughts, opinions and debate about the outing of Jim West.

The episode details, interviews and additional footage can be seen at Frontline. The producers have set up a moderated discussion board and has some interesting commentary from around the country.

This discussion board is not moderated and is geared toward our local community; all you have to do is click on the “comments” link at the end of this article and post away!

I watched the episode and felt a distinct sadness for Jim West and his “living hell”. It will be a great day when people are not so intolerant that they force people into the closet and to live a dual life – one life in public and a second, hidden life that has to be repressed. This duality is what causes people like Jim West, Ted Haggard and Mark Foley to move to the extremes of both lives.

While I am disappointed in Frontlines choice to focus on the life of Jim West instead of the struggles of the local gay community to gain acceptance, I think the episode did a great job of documenting the tragedy of living in the closet.

I also think the episode demonstrated that the Spokesman Review manufactured the story out of tenuous information at best.

Here is what they are saying about us on the Frontline site:

“The show's presentation of the views of some Gay people at what appeared to be a single meeting was distressing to me. I suspect and hope this was not the majority view of the so-called "Gay Community" in Spokane. Again, they seemed to be mostly concerned with what others (straights) thought of them, and how the mayor's acts would reflect on them if they gave him compassion. Their compassion for him seemed to come with the condition of repentance for past acts. Ironically, it too all sounds like stuff learned and drilled in them from the Bible in their early years. It can take a lifetime or more to unlearn those years of brainwashing.”
Mark Pope
san francisco, ca

What has happened to our American foundation of "innocent until proven guilty in a court of law"?
Margie Palmrose-Mace
Portland, Oregon

Yes, Mr. West had a secret life. Yes, in some ways he was a hypocrit. Yes, as an elective official he can expect exposure. Nevertheless, he did not commit any crimes, and he did not really offer jobs for sex. He was accused by a newspaper with an agenda, they kept forcing their agenda on him, and the public.
Michael Miller

I, too, am an editor. However, I would never approve of a reporter so blatantly destroying a man's life - and certainly never with so little evidence.
Michelle Willms
Elko, NV

What did you think of the episode?
Who was the bad guy, Jim West or the Spokesman Review?
Was the Spokesman Review justified in using a fake identity to dig into the Mayors personal life?
Comments?