Wednesday, March 30th, 2005
Another 'Mafia Hit'
filed under: Free Speech , MediaPosted on 03/30/2005 11:19:59 AM PST by finnman69
GayPatriot, the anonymous gay Republican blogger, has officially signed off. In a statement, no explanation was given. With GayPatriot's permission, I am now able to recount the real story.
On Friday, GayPatriot posted "WANTED: GAY TERRORISTS" in which he identified gay activists and bloggers John Aravosis (Americablog) and Michael Rogers (BlogActive) as terrorists.
Wanted for crimes against the gay community. Wanted for repeatedly conducting outing witch hunts against gays who do not believe in radical liberal anti-American ideals. For repeated violations of privacy of gay Americans. For conducting systematic civil liberties attacks on gay Americans.
WANTED! Let's do something about these gay terrorists who have infected our community with their hatred and self-loathing bigotry of gay Americans who wish to live their lives in peace.
[WANTED: GAY TERRORISTS - GayPatriot - 03-25-05]
As many of you know, Rogers is the host and agent of a widely publicized "outing campaign" at BlogActive.com targeting closeted gay Republicans. One of the most notable results of this campaign was the dramatic retirement of a Republican Virginia Congressman, Ed Schrock. The most recent outing was that of Ken Mehlman, the new chairman of the Republican National Committee. Whatever you believe about the practice, it is difficult to ignore the political impact the campaign has had over the past year.
According to GayPatriot, who is also a client of mine, Michael Rogers called GayPatriot's place of employment on Friday immediately following the post above and spoke to GayPatriot's secretary and boss. GayPatriot had no idea Rogers would go to such measures and shared with me that both he and his secretary were very upset by the calls but that his boss was understanding.
Later on that day, Rogers personally called me and recounted much of the same account, adding that he had also called the police and is working with the authorities on the matter. Rogers expressed feeling threatened by the post and compared it to posts by anti-abortionists who posted the names of doctors performing them.
Rogers also said he asked GayPatriot to remove the post and replace it with a post about non-violence or he would launch a national boycott of GayPatriot's corporate employer and pursue any and all avenues necessary to protect himself. By the time Rogers had called, GayPatriot had already made the decision to remove the post and also remove GayPatriot from the blogosphere.
GayPatriot was silenced.
GayPatriotWest, a co-writer on the blog, will continue to bring a voice to conservative gay Republicans. While I personally have the opposite political ideology, I value healthy debate and the precious right of free speech in America. I am proud of serving a diversity of opinions online. I also understand that free speech isn't free of consequences. I am also sad to see this unfold.
As someone who has been the victim of passionate protests and death threats for public advocacy, I try not to question people's sense of concern for their safety. Rogers has every right to involve authorities in the matter and let them determine whether Rogers is in any danger. But I do question Rogers' choice to go beyond the work of authorities to ensure his safety by calling GayPatriot's place of employment.
If Rogers is genuinely concerned for his safety, any lawyer or authority investigating the matter would have advised him not to have called an alleged perpetrator's place of employment. That action alone shows the exact opposite of fear for safety. Rogers is not shy about calling offices, as the Washington Blade's Chris Crain noted the other day.
As the Blade reported last August, those on Capitol Hill in Rogers' crosshairs say they and their offices were subjected to as many as 20 phone calls a day, badgering office staff with details about closeted gays working there. Blade staffers are no strangers to these multiple, harassing phone calls. That's certainly not journalism, and it's not even activism. It's borderline stalking; and it ought to stop.
[GOP chief admits to being closeted - Washington Blade - 03-24-05]
Crain, the editor of the Window Media gay newspaper empire, is at the center of a controversy over allegedly thwarting his paper's reporting on recent outings of prominent gay Republicans.
Current and former staff members of the nation’s largest gay newspaper chain say the company’s top editor thwarted efforts to run a story reporting now-Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman was gay, RAW STORY has learned. The editor denies killing the story.
These staffers assert that the part-owner and chief editor for the company’s five newspapers including The Washington Blade, Chris Crain, refused to print an article regarding the sexual orientation of the then-campaign manager for President Bush’s reelection campaign.
[Staff: Editor of Washington gay paper thwarted story outing RNC chair Mehlman; Editor asserts he was offered Schrock tapes - RawStory - 03-25-05]
GayPatriot formed specifically in response to Rogers and his website and became a venue for criticism of outing Republicans. GayPatriot is currently in counsel with attorneys over this entire matter.
filed under: Free Speech , Media
It also appears this michael rogers is continuing to 'attack' other conservative bloggers.
I published a story about the attempt to shut down Gay Patriot. It turns out Michael Rogers wasn&'t done with his vendetta. When Robert posted the same article, complete with a 'Gay Terrorist' headline, Michael Rogers contacted his CSP and got his site shut down. Note please, that Mr. Rogers did not try to work things out with either blogger, or discuss the issues. Nope, he tried to cause trouble with one guy's job, and harassed another guy's Service Provider into dumping him. First Amendment? Never heard of it, I guess.
Here is Lime Shurbet's write-up. Note that Robert has saddled up with another provider. That alone deserves respect.
More details about Mr. Rogers gotta whack free speech' campaign can be found at My Pet Jawa.
I want to mention that I differ on the use of the word Gay Patriot and 'terroristdescribe Michael Rogers , because I do not use the word 'terrorist'; for anyone except a particular class of villain. That does not mean, however, that Mr. Rogers has any basis or merit in his vindictive attacks on honest bloggers, especially as he is apparently unable to argue his defense through facts or reason. Given the tactics he has used to harass his political opposites, Rogers is actually validating their charges against him, I would say. He's not a terrorist, but he is a thug. -- DJ Drummond
Plenty o'conservative bloggers are covering this:
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=15221_Gay_Patriot_Silenced&only=yes
http://www.darleenclick.com/weblog/archives/2005/03/all_your_gays_b.html
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/073290.php
http://wizbangblog.com/archives/005516.php
http://limeshurbet.com/2005/03/28/wanted-gay-terrorist/
If they want to vote Republican that’s fine, but pretending to be conservative is simply silly on its face. They can go sit with Lincoln Chaffey, Olympia Snow and the rest of the RINO and Liberaltarian crowd.
You are assuming homosexuals 'choose' to be gay. But that's another argument.
Surely you can agree the politics of personal destruction and vindictive witchhunts to disclose the personal details of individuals in response to silence their political voices is a disgusting and dangerous type of activity in our society. Simply ignoring this kind of typical LW tactic because you don't like the 'victim' is frankly ignorant and myopic.
If they can get away with when it comes to the bedroom preferences of individuals, what makes you think they will think twice about attacking you with some other bit of personal information.
Second, I never said I disliked the "victim", I simply dislike their unrepentant behavior. If there WERE unrepentant adulterer "conservatives" then I could care less if they were outed as well. They're still welcome to vote republican too, and probably will continue to do so...I'm pretty sure the republicans haven't lost "GayPatriot's" vote.
The left will always use the politics of personal destruction and shilling for those who practice perversion won't change that fact.
I agree with you. The lefties have been on a witch-hunt, and it is sickening.
Thank you. A voice of reason. Not only does it apply towards ANYONE with a political opinion, it also focuses on "cyberlynching" or blog vs. blog attacks which does include FR (although FR is not technically a blog).
Also, I would guess many who would ignore cybermob outings of gay conservative bloggers because they detest homosexuals, are currently embracing the lying, womanizing, shake down artist Jesse Jackson, getting his 15 minutes in with the Terri Schiavo circus.
Homosexual Agenda Ping.
Homosexuals eating their own. Liberal homosexuals being the predators, naturally.
If a "gay" "conservative" vote Republic or holds *some* conservative values, great. But if people want to keep their sexual depravity out of sight, they are running a constant risk that someone will find out and tell.
That's why homosexuals used to be a security risk. Or one of the reasons. Makes total sense. If a person has dirty secrets to hide, they shouldn't get too surprised if someone tells on them.
That said, the practice of "outing" is another symptom of the mental and spiritual illness aka as homosexuality.
Let DirtyHarryY2K and me know if you want on/off this pinglist.
These were not outings, they were smear campaigns, and totally untrue! And have been ignored for the idiocy they are.
Rogers is a blackmailer and yes, a terrorist. He has engaged in criminal activities and should be tried and sent to jail.
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