Comments on: Withers: A phone message left by a “fan”

By: L.J. Rhodes

L.J. Rhodes — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:02:00 +0000

“And while we are on the topic of my gentleman caller, I have a special note for him: why the nasty language baby? You didn’t talk like that when we were making that sweet sweet love last week. Instead you were calling out to the gods. But I understand. You are scared about your feelings and your boys are giving you grief for not being manly enough, so you had something to prove. And we always hurt those we love. But don’t worry. I know how you really feel you nasty boy.”

Exactly the kind of response I give to gay bashers when they decide to bow up…even face-to-face. Rock on, guy.

By: Jeff Barea

Jeff Barea — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 01:27:43 +0000

Me and my drunk dialing. When will I ever learn.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 01:08:11 +0000

Be careful dude. Can’t have anything happening to you. I enjoy watching you piss some people off too much for that.

By: Gay Man

Gay Man — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 23:57:41 +0000

Hang in there James. There are a lot of anti-gay bigots in the world. They are not your god, your decider.

By: cm

cm — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 22:27:47 +0000

James, sorry you have to put up with that crap.

By: Debra

Debra — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 22:00:21 +0000

James Withers said: “but our responsiblity is to gather the facts and the rest is up to you.”
I don’t know what that means, but thank YOU for the conversation. AND thanks for “keeping an eye out”.

Sincerely,
Debra

By: James Withers

James Withers — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 21:49:59 +0000

Debra,

“What if this becomes fact and you are left with only the option of reporting on it after the fact?”

But isn’t this our job as a news organization? To give the facts. You are right about findiing out if it is true, but our responsiblity is to gather the facts and the rest is up to you.

Thanks for the conversation.

James

ps: I’ll keep an extra eye out and if I find out anything, I’ll report it.

By: Debra

Debra — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 21:39:57 +0000

I realize things are whack in the Middle East in terms of punishment for “crimes”. I mean, they still hang people publicly there. There has been story after story of how they treat their population. The big interest in this story is the place in which it is taking place, namely, Iraq. We have the ongoing debate of DADT, and now this news, and I was curious why this gay site hasn’t addressed it. What if this becomes fact and you are left with only the option of reporting on it after the fact? It seems we could be contacting someone about this as we do when Governors threaten vetoes and such. We should be able to confirm with Barbara Boxer’s office that she was contacted about this and was going to check on it herself. That is interesting to me, and I want to know if this is really happening in the country where our soldiers, gay and straight, have died.

By: James Withers

James Withers — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 21:14:59 +0000

Debra,

There are alas way too many important stories for our small staff to cover on any given day. I saw Sullivan’s post and if I’m not mistaken it was also picked up by Towleroad.

Sincerely,

James

By: Jennifer Vanasco

Jennifer Vanasco — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 21:11:20 +0000

Hi Debra,

It’s not here because we really don’t know if it’s true. Right now it seems to be part conjecture, part Internet rumor. It looks like Iraq is executing 128 prisoners. Whether any of them are gay, or whether any were imprisoned for being gay, is not clear yet.