Another in HBO’s excellent summer documentary series, The Out List is a talking head documentary about the value of being out – both personally valuable and to the community. There are the celebrity performers that you would expect: Neil Patrick Harris, Cynthia Nixon, Wanda Sykes and Ellen DeGeneres. But it’s amazing to hear from Lupe Valdez, a lesbian Latina Democrat elected by the fine people of Dallas County, Texas to be their Sheriff. (There’s also the current favorite in the race for Mayor of New York City Mayor, Christine C. Quinn.) The most compelling stories come from drag queen promoter Lady Bunny, personal finance guru Suze Orman and transgender writer Janet Mock.
Their stories represent the range of all human stories – some funny, some touching and some both at the same time. Like in every group of humanity, there is some edginess and not everybody is trying to be appealing. But I would doubt that anyone could watch The Out List and still feel justified to be a hater. The Out List is not just for those interested in LGBT issues, but for everyone with an interest in people, society and the human experience.