Dear Gawker,
So, you removed that post. You know, the one about a married man (whose name we will not be mentioning) trying to score some hot gay sex on the sly, away from his wife’s prying eyes — or maybe with her blessing, we don’t know the terms of their marriage, and neither do you. You have said you’re sorry, SORT OF. You SHOULD be sorry, not that your “apologies” really count at this point, since the story is already out there on the internet, even if you’ve removed it, and you’ve likely done immeasurable damage to him and to his family in the last 24 hours.
While we have made great strides in the world of acceptance for LGBT people, it’s still a sad fact that there are millions of men and women who are, for whatever reason, in the closet. When people like that inflict actual harm on the lives of LGBT people — voting against our rights, pushing “ex-gay” therapy on minors, riling up the far right from the offices of the Family Research Council or the American Family Association — and you find out about how they are sucking dick or getting assfucked on the side, GO FOR IT. Kick them the fuck out of the closet and hold them accountable for their actions, public and private.
But this man had no public actions to be held accountable for. His situation with his wife and family, made a hell of a lot worse by this one website’s shitty behavior, is his own private business.
We know, we know, we all want clicks. Here at Wonkette, we are well aware that we can write headlines that say “Sarah Palin, Elizabeth Warren, Josh Duggar, Andrea Tantaros Bikini, Dana Perino’s Husband Arrested,” post a cat video in lieu of actual content, and for whatever godforsaken reason, we will get ALL THE TRAFFIC on that post. But, snarky dicks that we are, we don’t like to punch down, and despite the fact that the subject of your now deleted piece is a wealthy man with some power, influence and connections, he’s a private citizen, and so are the members of his family.
Do a little research on the Barney Frank Rule, and next time an enterprising young reporter pitches a story like “Hey, let’s fuck a guy over FOR NO REASON besides the fact that we’re whores for web traffic,” perhaps this experience might lead you to pause, take a step back, and then tell that enterprising young reporter to fuck off.
Your friend,
Wonkette
