Clear thinker, Sex advice columnist and all-around positive influence Dan Savage hit the nail on the head today and shined a light on an important subplot in this ordeal, overlooked by those too transfixed by the salacious and damning info about Rekers. In a post entitled “Let’s Not Chew This One Up and Spit Him Out,” Savage implores that we “demand that one of the big gay orgs–HRC, Lambda Legal, NCLR–steps up and provides [“rentboy”] Jo-Vanni Roman (Lucien) with the lawyer and the advisors he needs.”
Let’s not treat this kid, who is just 20, like he’s done something wrong, or like he’s an embarrassment to the gay rights movement because–gasp–he was doing sex work, as has been reported, to pay his college tuition. This kind of hypocrisy–Haggard’s kind, Craig’s kind, Rekers’ kind–needs to be exposed. And it’s likelier to be exposed if the people who bring it to light aren’t treated like pariahs and are instead offered real and tangible support.
I am SO with Dan on this one. (Actually I’d like to be ON Dan but he is married after all)
Remember Mike Jones? The escort who came forward to spill the beans on his liason’s with Ted Haggard? Some in the communitywere not exactly kind to Jones and concentrated on his profession instead of the bravery and aacyual great deed that he did by coming forward and exposing Haggard.
Let’s not let that happen again.
