Yawn...yet another homophobic hypocrite from the right wing. GOP isn't the party of the big tent; it's the party of the big closet.

I'm short, so I have trouble putting my luggage in the overhead compartment, and I prefer the Clive Owen type. Who do I talk to about getting Rekers' brand of travel assistance?

I'd like to find this guy and slug him.

Because he hates himself for what he is, he gives himself license to hurt other people, people who never thought, said or did him any harm. Must demonize, attack and make life miserable for the nasty old faggots...least someone realize that he's a nasty old faggot himself.

You know, we joke about this, but it's really sick. It's sick and dangerous. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has reported that up to 30% of all youth suicides each year are performed by gays and lesbians.

(Please note, I said "up to." That's the DHHS's way of saying 30% or less. Or as they put it, "as many as 30%.")

I wonder how many of these suicides might have been directly or indirectly influenced by this sick fuck, who hates some aspect of himself so he makes his career out of harassing those who might have otherwise come to accept themselves for what they are. This guy is obviously steeled against this magnitude of shame. If he wants to believe that being gay is something vile and despicable, he has every right to hate that aspect of himself. But he has no right to assist the mindset that would teach impressionable youths that they're vile and despicable, who then act upon this conditioned self-loathing and blow their brains out.

He's no better than the Islamic imams who entice others to commit suicide and take as many of the despised population as they can with them.

It seems gays worst enemies are gays who are ashamed of being gay. Sad.

So... have you had your luggage lifted recently?

BlogDog writes:

It seems gays worst enemies are gays who are ashamed of being gay. Sad.

Oh, do I have a story to tell you...but later. I've got a Sociology final I have to get to. But I will. I promise. Amy, it's what I very recently shared with you.

man, do I hate guys like this. I wish they would shut the hell up already about other people's lives. We have a saying for this, and you can use it against his type:

How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. - Luke 6:42

and whose money was he using to hire such a high end escort for 10 days!?!?! Can you imagine how much this cost? You'd think such a liar would be discrete about such a thing, but maybe he wanted to be caught in some perverse way.

OI! get off my side.

>> and whose money was he using to hire such a high end escort for 10 days!?!?!

Ours! I saw this yesterday from Patrick's post at La Figa:

Rev. George Rekers–who rented a nice young man from Rentboys.com to handle his bags on a European getaway–earned a hefty sum from Florida taxpayers when he rented out his “expertise” to the state’s attorney general in a trial attempting to reverse a Miami judge who ruled Florida’s adoption ban is unconstitutional.

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum paid Rekers and his colleague $87,000 of taxpayer money for their testimony the 2009 trial. For that princely sum not only did Rekers testify that adoption by gay parents was not beneficial for children but also felt Native Americans should be denied the right to adopt.

Hey, Amy!

Yes, I will share it. I just finished my Sociology Final (and think I have an A for the course, thanks so very much).

Anyhow, when I was in the Army I worked in S2 (Intelligence and Security Section) of my Battalion and held a Top Secret clearance. Anyhow, a guy in my office was also my room-mate in the barracks. (The barracks in the military more resembled college dorms than the World War II "30 men in one room" arrangement.)

Anyhow, he was going through my bureau one day...looking for a comb, so he said, and he happened across some gay-oriented magazines of mine. He then ratted me out to the First Sergeant, then made me the subject of gossip among the battalion (despite his promises to both me and the First Sergeant). Conveniently, he had decided to change his MOS, and left the Battalion, and Ft. Bragg, to be retrained and I never saw him again. It was then that I learned about his loose lips.

The First Sergeant, by the way, did nothing about the information revealed to him. He was apparently a believer in "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Strictly speaking, I didn't "tell" him anything, and he wasn't going to ask.

Which didn't change the humiliation and damage to my reputation.

Anyhow, the other day, I was taking a break from my studies and just started doing a name search for people I knew from the Army. And I tried his.

And I found him, and he was the same guy. The dates of his schooling and service matched up with the guy I knew. And according to his profile, he's now married. So, I clicked on the link to his spouse's profile; judging by the name, I expected some Hispanic woman.

I was half right. His spouse is Hispanic...but NOT A WOMAN! (First name was "Les," which I assumed was short for "Leslie," but apparently it's "Lester."

I sent him a brief, scathing message via Facebook.

"So, (insert homophobic hypocrite's name here), so appalled to discover that his Army roommate from 6th PSYOP Bn is gay, is married TO A GUY! Hope you're proud of your hypocrisy, (insert homophobic hypocrite's name here), blowing the whistle on a gay roommate while firmly in the closet yourself."

I was going to end it here, but you're undoubtedly curious as to whether he responded. Actually, less than three hours later, I did get a response.

"Dear Patrick,

I won't attempt to justify my actions by any excuse, because all reasons are unacceptable. I'm incredibly sorry for what I have done to you. There is nothing that I can do to make up for the humiliation I had caused you. My actions were absolutely hypocritical and you have every right to be angry and pissed at me. I am embarrassed by my actions and how I treated you. I don't blame you for hating me. I would do the same. I don't deserve a response, but am willing to open dialogue with you."

As I indicated, I shared the exchange with Amy, and she gave her thoughts. And she can share them here if she wants to.

Wow, that's amazing, Patrick. Big of him to apologize at least.

What I don't understand is someone like Rekers, who is actively gay, yet also an anti-gay activist. One thing if you're in the closet and/or still in denial about your own sexuality, but here's a guy who is clearly aware that he's gay, even comfortable with hiring male prostitutes, yet he's living this life of total contradiction. Why would anyone continue to do that?

*GASP* There are lying hypocrites in politics?! NO! I never would have guessed.
Come on... really? Are people THAT surprised by this? History has shown that the ones that balk the loudest are usually the ones with the most to hide. ... doth protest too much and all that...

Patrick, thank you for sharing that story. I would love to hear the rest of the dialogue that took place. For no other reason then the learning experiance. I think everyone could learn from that.

That's harsh Patrick, at least he knows how much he messed up. People will often complain about something that they themselves do, to put off suspicion of themselves. Sometimes unconsciously.

The difference between Patrick's situation and Rekers is that Rekers won't own it, and probably doesn't believe he is wrong. It may well be that he thinks some things shouldn't apply to him. Or he may be applying the falsehood that he can speak out against something while doing it himself, as long as he asks for forgiveness. People like that are immune to the hypocricy, because they don't apply such rules to themselves.

Hopefully if Patrick's antagonist can really own all the pain he has caused, you can close that chapter of life.

What's harsh about it? The last I saw him, he tried to get me in serious trouble in the Army, and might have gotten me discharged if I had a chain of command that decided to interpret the presence of gay magazines as "telling."

He was ordered by the First Sergeant not to discuss what he found, but he defied a lawful order. And his indiscretion served no purpose but to humiliate me further.

So, what was exactly so harsh about what I said to him? It was all true and all deserved...

And yes, Sabrina, there is more...

Patrick, I thought you went easy on him! At least he said he was sorry. Probably he is, put I'd pass on the dialogue with him. Who's to say he wouldn't visit a whole boatload of undeserved drama on you?

But, not "put"...o.O

I took Swiss Army's "that's harsh" to mean what happened to Patrick was harsh, not Patrick's retaliation of getting on wiith his (hopefully wonderful)life to be harsh...

I'm never surprised when a heated opponent to (insert cause here) turns out to be whatever it is they are opposing. Just look up at the NOW against responsible fathers...and in turn becoming the abusive, manipulative people they consider men to be.

Maybe all us "sane" people ought to go in on a deserted island together...

sorry Patrick, I didn't mean you were being harsh, I meant it was a bad situation for you. You showed a ton of restraint, which shows in your character...

"I had surgery," Rekers said, "and I can't lift luggage..."

So, I guess he needed a little help with his "package" then. ;)

Hey, Flynne. I almost did tell him to go FOAD, but since I'm not in the military any more, and he's in California while I'm in Florida, he couldn't hurt me any more.

And I did feel the apology was sincere, so I decided to say so. And since I'm a believer in "what goes around, comes around," there's an ironic twist in what he reveals next. As you will see.

So, I replied.

Under the circumstances, that's the best response you could have given. Don't beat yourself up any more about it, (ihhnh). You can't change what happened, but you can do the right thing now, and it sounds like you are.

Let me guess. You realized you were gay, and you realized you didn't want to be. And in that respect, I think virtually all of us go through that. Some of us never leave it. And in your desire not to be gay, you needed to distance yourself from it. And to keep suspicion off yourself, you had to make it absolutely clear that you were firmly against it, so no one would find out about you...which meant telling on me to the First Sergeant.

Under the circumstances, I'm lucky I wasn't discharged, but at least our First Sergeant was apparently a believer in "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

If you want to talk about it, you can. If it helps you to get past it, go right ahead. But I don't hate you, and I'm not angry. I think I understand, and I am impressed by your reply.

And he replied:

Thank you for your reply. I'm glad you found me on here. I've looked for you on facebook and myspace multiple times, but couldn't find you. I couldn't remember how to spell your last name.

You are right, I was trying to distance myself in an effort to deny that I was gay. I was in great denial for many years. In fact I dated girls for a long time and was about to get married in 2000. I broke off the wedding and broke her heart two weeks before the wedding. I finally came to the conclusion then that I was in fact gay and couldn't go through with the wedding.

After nearly 12 years in the Army and after becoming a warrant officer, I was discharged under Don't Ask, Don't Tell in 2003. It was a humiliating and degrading experience and only then did I realize what I had put you through. Again, I sincerely apologize. Nobody deserves to go through that experience.

I have been actively involved with lobbying for the repeal of DADT. I will be in DC again next week to help the HRC to lobby for the repeal. I really hope that we can get this horrible policy repealed so that people like us won't have to go through the humiliation that you experienced and can live openly.

I hope life since the Army has treated you well. I want to invite you to be my friend on here, but understand if you ignore the request. Thanks for listening and understanding.

So, thanks all for listening. I hope you enjoyed the story.

Oh, SwissArmyD, sorry I misconstrued your words and misunderstood by what you meant by "harsh." I'm so used to be calling "harsh" around here, I guess I automatically assumed it was a reference to me.

Wow, Patrick. Just...wow. Thanks for sharing, that truly is an awesome outcome to something that could have been really terrible. You are one hell of a guy. And I mean that in a good way.

Patrick, two questions .... you know the armed forces is anti-gay, yet you joined anyway? And went into intelligence which is certainly a compromisable area .... And then you brought gay themed magazines on to a military barracks? What did you expect would happen?

and an update on the original story ... the gay escort has acknowledged what transpired

Link here:

http://www.exgaywatch.com/wp/2010/05/gay-escort-rekers-is-homosexual/

SwissArmyD writes: The difference between Patrick's situation and Rekers is that Rekers won't own it, and probably doesn't believe he is wrong. It may well be that he thinks some things shouldn't apply to him. Or he may be applying the falsehood that he can speak out against something while doing it himself, as long as he asks for forgiveness. People like that are immune to the hypocricy, because they don't apply such rules to themselves.

I personally feel that he thinks he can be free of his "demons," and that persistent gay-bashing is the way to be free of homosexuality. The ex-gay ministries teach this, by the way. The "fake it till you make it" approach.

Ron, I don't dispute that I made mistakes. But you know, heterosexuals were allowed to keep pornography. Why should I be held to a different standard?

And as for joining the military in the first place, I knew who and what I was, and I decided that the DoD was wrong in excluding people like me. And also decided beforehand that my sexual orientation was not going to be used as leverage to blackmail me. If I were faced with the proposition, "disclose military secrets or I will tell the DoD that you're gay and present them with these pictures of you engaged in some compromising situation with another man," I'd say, "Go ahead and do it, then."

Patrick, I guess my point is that what you are indirectly responsible for putting yourself in that situation, first by enlisting in an organization which has a knwon policy of not really wanting you, and second, by bringing incriminating evidence into a military installation. That is the moral equivalent of me pointing a toy gun at a cop and complaining when he shoots me. I am not judging your sexual ID, but your judgement of kind of flaunting it in a hostile environment and then complaining about the result.

Ron, I don't see any statement in Patrick's posts that could be possibly be construed as "flaunting" his sexuality.

Anywho...Patrick, that is just a jaw dropping exchange you had with him. It gave me goosebumps. Kudos to you for reaching out to him after all this time. Glad you decided to share with the rest of us.

sara, perhaps flaunting was abit strong, but the comment about "others having porn magazines" so why couldn't I. Again, Patrick put himself into an environment that in actuality didn't want him there. Not passing judgement on anything other than his choice of enlisting

the whole Rekers thing reminds me of this:

http://www.theonion.com/articles/why-do-all-these-homosexuals-keep-sucking-my-cock,11150/

"What I don't understand is someone like Rekers, who is actively gay, yet also an anti-gay activist. One thing if you're in the closet and/or still in denial about your own sexuality, but here's a guy who is clearly aware that he's gay, even comfortable with hiring male prostitutes, yet he's living this life of total contradiction. Why would anyone continue to do that?"

LS, that's what that depth of self-hatred will do to you. It will cause you to compartmentalize and split yourself to that degree.

This is hard for any straight person to understand because no straight person grows up with that kind of hatred directed at them. No racial minority experiences that in their own family at such a formative age the way a gay person does. Tell a child form the age of three or so that something is an abomination and then guess how ready he is going to be to admit that about himself. And at least for racial minorities there is no closet to deal with in the first place, mostly. A gay person learns this hatred the same way and as deeply as his first language. How important is English to you on a daily basis? How natural is it for you to think in Chinese or navajo? That's what it's like for a gay person to shed all that hatred and decide to live openly as gay.

Ron: Again, Patrick put himself into an environment that in actuality didn't want him there. Not passing judgement on anything other than his choice of enlisting

Not sure, Ron. Maybe because I got tired of people telling me what I shouldn't do, just because I'm gay. And there are points in my life that I was utterly convinced that if I didn't go places where I wasn't wanted, just because I'm gay, I would have shot myself.

Jim, thank you for a very thoughtful response, by the way. Every time I bring up gay discrimination, it's always demeaned. Someone on this board, for instance, went ballistic when she asked which Supreme Court decision stated that we have the right to marry, and I responded with the correct answer: Loving vs. Virginia.

She went completely off the deep end that it was sooooooo completely insulting to black people, that I would DARE compare the discrimination suffered by blacks with their legacy of slavery to the supposedly paltry suffering of gays.

No one is trying to insist that one equals the other, but we gays have our own issues to deal with that blacks know nothing of. As you yourself point out, blacks don't grow up in families that hate them for being black. Gays on the other hand, have that experience. Some kids have been kicked out their homes for being gay. Ask lovelysoul, if you don't believe me. When was the last time you heard of a black person worried about being kicked out of his house by his own family because he was black?

And yes, my family is not exactly warm and loving to gays. My father has a gay brother, whom he beat up and kicked out of the house.

Want to hear something incredibly ironic? My gay uncle is the only person from my father's family who has had a successful relationship. He and his same sex lover lived together for fifty-two years before his lover died from complications from diabetes.

I don't believe I was flaunting my homosexuality in the Army. I kept my magazines out of sight and I never admitted I was gay to anyone.

So, Blacks are so offended when gays compare their suffering to theirs or try to hitch on to the civil rights movement. So, what? That doesn't prove anything but that blacks hate gays...just like everyone else.

I don't understand how the Don't ask, don't tell policy works. Maybe I'm just naive but wow.

My grandmother was a horrible homophobe. My aunt struggled with her sexuality and it was only on her deathbed (couple years after granny died) that she was able to say she was a lesbian. I wish my aunt had the chance to be open about it before she died so she could have had a happier life than she did.

When I was 14, I loved hair metal bands. My grandmother told me that Jon Bon Jovi was a queer because of his long hair. SO I found a picture of Jesus (in all his long haired glory,) showed her, and said that if that's the case, Jesus is queer too. I don't recall her ever gaybashing after that, to me at least.

Anyway, not everyone hates gays Patrick.

"that I would DARE compare the discrimination suffered by blacks with their legacy of slavery to the supposedly paltry suffering of gays."

Because comparing them to gays would just be soooooo degrsading. What a bigoted piece of filth she was. Or because being hung in a tre and lynched somehow so much worse that being taught form birth you are an abomination and thrown out on the street when you cop to it - as if any comparison is possible or useful.

Patrick, I was active duty for 14 years, so I am completely familiar with the situation you were in. But hey, what kind of MI troop lets a secret out of the bag like you seem to have. Not very closeted, hnh?

"I don't understand how the Don't ask, don't tell policy works. Maybe I'm just naive but wow."

Kendra, this is how it is supposed to work: No askss about a peron's homosexual activity, and no one tells anout thier homosexual activity.

In practice it is much different. If somene reported a suspicion to the command, they would investigate, which necessarily required asking, but oh well. And then of course the actual enforcement was always subject to completley mercenary concerns about troop strength, and it's always been that way. rates of people being put out of the ilitary go way down in war and bounce back afterwards. It clearly has no connection, or an inverse relationship, to war-fighting capablities.

Now if you find that uselessly discriminatory, counter-productive, cynical and dishonest and can't make any sense of it no matter how hard you try....it's not because you are missing something.

Ha. I've often observed, that when a person rants and raves repeatedly about a specific issue, they often doth protest waaay too much.

Bingo, Dave.