Fellow gay blogger Joe Jervis has appeared all over the national media today in response to anti-gays calling the FBI regarding “threatening” messages at Joe.My.God. Last week, several commenters on Joe’s site responded to Christian fundamentalists (and the defeat of marriage equality in Maine). The first commenter suggests that he would hate to see violence replace the years of peaceful gay rights protests. Another commenter follows up with a joke about violence not being a bad idea at all. Apparently, some took offense to the comments and reported the comments to the FBI.
Today’s Village Voice summarized the situation:
It started when JMG encouraged his readers to book seats at the anti-gay Americans For Truth About Homosexuality annual banquet, presumably as a prank. “Homosexual Hate Site Targets AFTAH Staffer for Phone Harassment,” responded Americans for Truth.
The October 24 banquet passed without incident, though there were some protests outside: Illinois Review claimed “gay activists lined the street,” then reproduced a pictured of about seven people with P-flags. “It’s about to get just a little harder to be a Christian in America,” keynote speaker Matt Barbour of Liberty Counsel told the banqueters.
That seemed to be that until Monday, when Americans for Truth reported “Homosexual Activists on ‘Joe.My.God.’ Blog Warn of Gay ‘Domestic Terrorism’ against Pro-Family Leaders including LaBarbera, Gallagher… Gay writer says ‘well-organized terrorism’ against pro-family leaders is ‘just what we need.’”
A careless reader might think Jervis had made the remarks, but AFTAH was referring to JMG commenters, who said things like “Maybe a bit of well-organized terrorism is just what we need,” “Will someone please give me a gun?” and “There will be radicals who will begin to hunt down haters like LaBarbera and Gallagher” vis a vis anti-gay crusaders Peter LaBarbera and Maggie Gallagher.
Joe removed the comments in question and warned readers that the blog is read and watched closely; he later removed the blog post entirely. The right-wing Americans for Truth has the post in its entirety here.
As this story grows in the media, Joe has made the rounds of the media circus today. Joe, my support goes out to you. But, Joe, you are right – nothing is ever private on the Internets these days. I only wish I had reported all the threatening comments I’ve received over the years here at DanNation – everything from “burning in hell” to many verses regurgitated from Leviticus verses. Ugh.
