Looks not attending Fresno’s Meet In The Middle “Leadership Summit” — where some 250 activists gathered to plot strategy to repeal Prop 8 and learn about new poll data — wasn’t a requirement to generate criticism over the Courage Campaign’s handling of things there. While Queerty wasn’t there (like many media outlets, we didn’t receive an press invite), one attendee tells us Robin McGhee’s weekend of action was anything but. Relays a source (emphasis ours):
I’m sure most of us were at “Meet in the middle” this Saturday. “Wasn’t it a great?” is what I would be saying if I was still drinking the Robin McGehee Kool-aid. I, like a lot of the gay Fresnans was involved with Meet in the middle. I went to every meeting so that I could help put together this monumental event. Despite the petty fights between a local group or two everything went rather smoothly. Fresno was about to put on a huge event that the entire state would attend and support.
It’s now Sunday, the morning after Meet in the Middle and I feel like a mushroom. Kept in the dark and fed shit. Robin played Fresno like a violin. Most of us that volunteered were nothing more than pawns used to do all the grunt work. The real power was held by the Courage Campaign. Not the local branch of the Courage Campaign but the main L.A. branch. I wonder how much of the money that was used for the event went to Fresno businesses and how much went to L.A. businesses.
I’m not going in depth about anything. What I’d like to do with this short message is get some of you to ask questions and find out what really happened and what you actually volunteered for or gave money to. I’m gonna end this with something I noticed during the ending speech given by “The gay mayor of Fresno” (Barf). Between fake tears she managed to thank a plethora of people for making this possible. Never once did she thank a single person from Fresno. Perhaps our money and manpower should be used to support something that is really local. Fresno Rainbow Pride is coming up and it has got short changed thanks to meet in the middle.
I will not be posting my name on this letter because it seems as though anyone who has had a descending voice against Robin has been dismissed and labeled as being against our community. I would still very much like to work in the gay community and help in any way I can. I just think that someone needs to say what we should all be seeing.
(Photos: AP; Steve Bott)
Cam
Just like the Poodle trainer in the movie “Best In Show”. It’s all about the power with those guys. Many seem to care less about changing things, and much more about who gets to decide what color napkins get passed out at the meetings.
galefan2004
This is an example of why you give to local organizations over national ones. This is an example of why you NEVER give to an organization that funds other organizations but give directly to that organization instead. It sucks that this person had to learn those two lessons the hard way, but now they know.
SallyQ.
Besides Queerty’s obvious one sided coverage of Meet in the Middle, I am appalled at the letter, which I saw last week, but to repost it is ridiculous. As a Fresno resident and organizer of the event, I have a feeling I know who wrote that letter, your “source” and I can tell you that they were not actively involved in planning Meet in the Middle. While everyone goes to blame others for this and that, how about pointing out even just one good thing? How about that Fresno Pride was the biggest it has ever been this year? What about a proclamation from the City and signed by a republican mayor of Pride?
Praenomenal
Queerty, I have supported you for a while even when you were out on a limb but Robin McGhee is a tireless worker for our rights. The woman stood beside me and spoke about the realities of our lives many times. She had supported and cared for many people and given many people a hand up and knowledge that anything is possible. As an out teacher in a community collage in a town that makes Fresno look liberal she was the only person who was standing up and this was 10 years ago.
There may have been problems with MM4M but she is not to blame. I would love to dialog with you over this, I would love it if you would post some of the other side, from what I have seen you have not responded to any of the criticism leveled against you. I invite you to comment back to me. Prove to me that you are willing to listen to voices that might not agree with you.
SFNative
I am also very appalled at the one-sided letter for a number of reasons. Our movement is not going to be perfect, and we are going to make mistakes as we go, but we are far better off handling our mistakes in a constructive manner from an improvement perspective as opposed to a degrading and dividing bitch-fest that could hamper our movement.
Phyllis Wilson
I’m not sure who the stooge is that wrote this letter — but I’ve got a hunch. Ten bucks says it’s the new local “field rep” for a certain piss-poor, A-list, lobbying group.
While I can tell you, as a volunteer with MITM from the get-go, that Courage Campaign was very instrumental in making this event happen — this was a local show, PERIOD. To claim otherwise is an insult to the 70+ Fresno volunteers who labored for four months to make this event happen.
Anybody who tries to tell you otherwise has another agenda.
We were adamant about doing everything we could to keep the money and business generated as a result of this in the Fresno LGBT community — even at the expense of pissing off the “Equality Army” out of LA that wanted to leech off of the event to make money for their group.
Still, I find it interesting that the letter writer invokes Fresno Pride, especially since the group that puts on Fresno Pride just gave the volunteers of MITM the “Volunteers of the Year” award at Saturday’s festival in a very touching ceremony. Also, the head of Fresno Pride spoke at MITM and ran the Friday press conference, was the first to publish anything on MITM and also attended every single meeting and provided tremendous support.
No, I think this is someone with a grudge against Robin McGehee, and certainly someone as active as Robin is going to have her detractors — and if they must remain anonymous to spew their lies perhaps it is because they know that their opinions are not shared by the overwhelming majority of Fresno’s LGBT community.
No money was made (for the organizers) off of MITM, we’ll be lucky if we pay our bills without having to fundraise after-the-fact. Money was made by local businesses, and money was made by and for Fresno Rainbow Pride through a fundraiser at one of the local clubs on MITM night (also, Pride had it’s largest ever showing this past weekend–something I’m sure we can attribute to MITM as well).
Now, might a certain statewide organization have come off with aMITM bump? Yes. I’m sure the Courage Campaign got a bump locally from MITM — and guess what? They deserve it. Courage Campaign has done more for the Fresno LGBT community in the past four months than EQCA has done in the past four years. And the local arm of CC in Fresno has been canvassing door-to-door since March. EQCA continues to do nothing but pass out “I Do” signs.
No, sorry again Queerty. In spite of your best efforts to once again smear the grassroots activists working on marriage equality — you have been played by a troll with ulterior motives and no factual basis for any of the crap they’re spewing. Once again, Queerty, you are moving yourself closer to blog oblivion as you consistently refuse to do any homework or legwork and instead publish prima facie bullshit like this. Why don’t you call one of the MITM organizers? Do some actual journalism — you might like it. It’s not like they’re hard to find.
Oh, and as far as not being mentioned personally from the stage? Grow the hell up! Those of us who worked on MITM for a reason other than our own ego could give a rats ass that we weren’t mentioned by name from the stage. There were 100 volunteers — she can’t name us all and most of us didn’t expect her to. That a certain anonymous letter-writer did, just goes to show that person’s shallowness.
One of the biggest problems the LGBT community has right now, that I’ve come to learn over the past few months of being thrust into statewide organizing as a result of MITM — is egos. There are too many “activists” who are more concerned with getting their face on tv, in print, on a blog, on a stage, of hearing their name mentioned or the sound of their own voice. If the LGBT community would put half as much effort into fighting for equality as they do into fighting for credit, we’d be done already.
Kelli Glazebrook
As one of the volunteers for Meet in the Middle, whoever this is that is making these ridiculous claims clearly has no idea what they are talking about. I am going to go through each of your faulty claims and sign my name to this even though you were too cowardly to do so.
What money is this person referring to? The money that Robin and others put up to make sure this event happened? I don’t recall too many others willing to put up their credit cards to finance this event. Meet in the Middle was operating at a huge deficit until the day of the actual event where many people opened the wallets to help pay for the event.
Fresno Rainbow Pride actually got a higher attendance this year than in years past. This is partly because of the Prop 8 situation, but also because Meet in the Middle was a galvanzing force in the community to get off the couch and into the streets!
Clearly you weren’t even at Meet in the Middle, because Robin thanked the volunteers from Fresno NUMEROUS times. She has never STOPPED thanking us publicly and privately. So if you haven’t gotten a thank you it was because you didn’t do anything.
Your claims about the Courage Campaign are ridiculous. The Courage Campaign doesn’t even have a “branch” in Fresno. Do you even know what the Courage Campaign does? There is a volunteer group of people in Fresno who work their asses off phonebanking and canvassing to get back YOUR RIGHTS! The Courage Campaign in LA didn’t get any money from Meet in the Middle, in fact they were responsible for financing the buses that brought people from all over the state to Fresno. If you had been to ONE volunteer meeting for Meet in the Middle you would know that.
It is clear that you are not going “into depth” about anything because you are full of shit and have nothing to back up your ridiculous claims. And shame on Queerty for posting this and for your vendetta against Meet in the Middle. Are you just pissed that you were caught with your pants down by not showing up to a major LGBT event?
edgyguy1426
@SallyQ.: “I have a feeling I know who wrote that letter…” – is this really good enough evidence to go on?
Casey
This letter is ridiculous! “Between fake tears”? Seriously? Could the writer get any cattier?
This obvious bias is getting old, queerty. I’ll take my readership to another gay blog that at least tries to stay neutral.
GrrrlRomeo
Why is Queerty trying to destroy the movement? Really, what’s in it for you? Maybe you wouldn’t have anything to write about if we had equal rights. Robin’s speech was awesome, and it moved people. Is Queerty self-loathing? Or…maybe you just hate women…because huh, it looks like the last several articles I’ve read on Queerty were criticizing women leaders.
Phyllis Wilson
@edgyguy1426: it’s about as much evidence as was provided in the posted letter isn’t it?
Praenomenal
Queerty, you get the comments. I am asking you to respond.
PATHETIC
Queerty is claiming they didn’t cover MITM because they “didn’t receive an [sic] press invite”?
Are you fucking kidding me? The event was OUTSIDE. You don’t need a press pass to walk/stand on the street, last time I checked.
To claim that as your excuse for not covering the largest LGBT civil rights event in recent memory is beyond pathetic. You knew what it was, you knew when it was, you knew where it was — a short drive away on a Saturday.
You are LAZY FUCKS.
Then you publish an unsourced, axe-to-grind letter from a single participant as evidence that you are on the right side of the discussion?
Queerty’s credibility in covering LGBT civil rights has been damaged beyond repair, in my opinion.
Definitely more so than the reputations of any of the grassroots activists or heads of national LGBT groups that Queerty likes to slander on a daily basis.
jd
@Praenomenal: Of course we read the comments! And we love hearing from readers, even those who disagree.
But let’s be clear: Queerty is not an activist site; we’re only pro-gay insofar as we happen to be gay. You won’t find the same kowtowing to gay leadership as you will on other gay blogs and newspapers. If you want that, you’re very welcome to abandon this site for one of those.
What we will do is hold gay leaders responsible — because if we won’t, who will? The mainstream press? Please. There’s no agenda here about equality organizers. When presented with information that’s impossible to ignore, we’ll share it with readers. I’m a firm believer in having more information at my disposal, not less. So heaven forbid someone thinks Robin McGhee is doing a bad job, well, they deserve to have their voice heard.
If you want to join the “follow the pack” mentality, and simply go along with whatever is spoon fed to you rather than engage in critical analysis of issues that (it’s clear) are important to you, please, find another site to read. No loss to us. For everyone else, we’ll continue bringing information from all sides, especially the stuff you literally cannot find on the other gay blogs who just reprint press releases.
heather gold
Hey,
I generally dig your blog and think that it’s important to call out organizations when they aren’t being transparent.
But having been at MiTM I can say that there was nothing fake about Robins tears. You can watch some video http://tr.im/nPgv and judge for yourself. She worked plenty hard to make that event happen and our movement needs a lot more Robins.
We also need openness and transparency and criticism. I don’t see it as an either/or proposition. My guess is that this isn’t terribly threatening to Courage campaign because they spend a lot of time on community management. To whomever your source is;: I encourage you to get in touch with CC and let them know what mistakes you think they made and what you think could have been better. Do it publicly if you think it will help.
My hunch is that if there’s something constructive there, they will take it to heart. Anyone organizing now needs to welcome helpful criticism.
heather
Praenomenal
@jd: Thank you for the response. I would ask that you consider this from another perspective.
Calling Robin “gay leadership” is interesting. I would not call her that except to say that she is both gay and a leader. The implication of that phrasing is that she is in some way like the people who let us down so fully in the initial prop-8 fight or who organized the decrepit and pathetic Supreme Court challenges.
Let me ask you a few questions:
Have you yourself ever been to Fresno?
I ask because I grew up in a town that is often thought of as a suburb of Fresno and I can tell you I NEVER thought it would be a gay political ground. It is not hyperbole to say that I moved from Fresno to PDX to be ABLE to transition, I could not find a Doc there to help.
Have you spoken to Robin?
I ask because she is a remarkably open woman who is willing to speak.
Why have you posted this letter from one person, whilst not posting comments from the number of people who were there that provide dissenting views?
Was it closed door? I don’t know, I could sadly not attend because well, I don’t have the $$$ to fly right now. I know people who were there however and have heard nothing but how amazing it was. I would be more than willing to try to put you in touch with a family who was there but not organizers if you want a real opinion.
I look forward to hearing back. Will check often.
Praenomenal
@jd: All of that said I am promising an open dialog with me and none of the hyperbolic rants. I want to understand.
Phyllis Wilson
@jd: What a crock of SHIT!
You’re not an activist site? Like hell you aren’t — you certainly aren’t a journalistic site, publishing unsigned letters with absolutely no substantiating evidence.
And what EXACTLY are you holding Ms. McGehee responsible for? Not crying convincingly enough for your anonymous source?
You may not have an agenda regarding equality organizers, but you sure as hell have an agenda regarding Fresno equality organizers and don’t think we haven’t noticed it. You know what happened the last time the Fresno gays got pissed? — we organized, MITM was the result of that organization and EQCA is regretting the day they ignored our calls, let me tell you.
So what “information” were you presented with that you just couldn’t ignore? There is no information in that letter. There’s an assertion — refuted by several commenters that Courage Campaign was in charge. There’s questions, also answered/refuted by commenters. There’s character assassination, though clearly there are plenty of others who feel differently about Ms. McGehee. Finally, there is somebody’s sour grapes that they didn’t get mentioned from the stage — but also, there are comments from other volunteers who didn’t see this as a slight.
So what, EXACTLY, is the important information you are providing Queerty? And now that you have been provided with FACTUAL information to the contrary — when are you going to turn that into a headline?
We’re not the ones following blindly, you are Queerty, you got spoon fed some shit and expect the rest of us to just swallow. No thanks.
You could not have had a more transparently run event than MITM — there were something like four conference calls per week that people were invited to call in and listen/participate on — bottom line Queerty, for all your bitching and moaning the fact is YOU DROPPED THE BALL. You could have covered MITM — from its INCEPTION — and you didn’t. So suck on that Queerty, you are pathetic lazy fucks — I couldn’t agree more.
Todd
@jd: I think people are asking you to actually verify the “information that’s impossible to ignore”. Which it seems in this instance you did not.
And to say you are not an activist site is quite disingenuous. In fact, I found that whole response rather limp and defensive.
Not really up to Queerty standards.
enigma-girl
Sounds like the ramblings of the boyfriend of the Marriage Equality USA Chapter Leader of Fresno. I’ve read his stuff before.
edgyguy1426
@jd: Why is a little criticism a bad thing? I never took Queerty to be an activist site (look, everyone it’s Neil Patrick Harris at the Tony’s!; here’s some pics of Courtney Love before AND after; will ya look at the abs on this guy?; Here is what Obama isn’t saying today; isn’t Adam Lambert’s boyfriend a hottie?)
This is an entertainment blog with a gay slant. I’ve never seen so many women post since, well, the Adam Lambert saga….
Clever way to go, Queerty, to get more women posting 🙂
Jason
Terribly divisive and hurtful. But, so was someone saying I or anyone else I know had something to do with it. As goes the gay drama. We can never seem to get along. If we only used this amount of energy to progress our movement than against each other we’d all be married by now.
queerty has become pathetic
Seriously?
What happened to Queerty? The new front page is filled with garbage and most of their political coverage involves them whining about the hard work of other people. I know read http://gayrights.change.org/ because I’m getting tired of Queerty’s BS and self-righteous whines.
edgyguy1426
@queerty has become pathetic: see ya
getreal
It is unfortunate that Queerty did not think it was important to actually attend this event but has spent more than a week now tearing it down with hearsay and anonymous opinion as their only proof. As someone who attended both events they were inclusive to a fault. Meet in The Middle organizers were so generous with stage time even offering me at the last minute time onstage to promote my event if I wished (this simply does not happen at ralies in my experience) they included a non-activists transperson at her request mid event just because she complain there were no transpeople of color represented. At the leadership conference ANYONE could stand up and voice their opinion,concern, or question. The leadership conference was very diverse and budding high school activists were seated next to leaders of powerful organizations, seasoned activists next to concerned citizens all were welcome. I understand that critical analysis is important particularly since things were bungled so badly with the Prop 8 passage. That being said Courage campaign was not in any way responsible for that loss and as someone who was devastated after Prop 8 passage that was the organization that was taking people training them as activists and treating people with true parity which I have since Learned is truly rare in the activism community. I am not on here to stump for Courage Campaign or Robin McGehee just to share my experience that although neither entity is perfect they are both inclusive almost to a fault and they both are creating opportunities for every day people who are concerned about these laws to work for change in their communities. There are organizations that exist in this rarefied air that have little or no use for the on the ground activist but seem to exist to hobnob with politicians and to hold expensive galas and there are organizations that are out there training people volunteer by volunteer doing the often sweaty and sometimes tedious work of activism. I don’t believe in sacred cows and I do believe that every organization should be held to a high standard but the characterizations of the organizations and the state of the marriage equality fight in california are erroneous almost to the extent that I wonder what is Queerty’s agenda. We are in a critical time we are likely going to be back on the ballot in 2010 and there are enough difficulties that face us to unprovoked attacks of on the ground activist seems unfair and could handicap this movement at a time when we need unity the most.
Praenomenal
@edgyguy1426:
“I’ve never seen so many women post since, well, the Adam Lambert saga….
Clever way to go, Queerty, to get more women posting :)”
Wow. That was unbelievably sexist and just wow.
You want to talk about disgusting. Let’s start with THAT comment.
So let me ask@jd this. whom do you want to represent. That guy? or fellow queers looking to do work?
Stacey
After learning about MITM and getting caught up in the, “YES WE CAN” fever of Robin McGeHee and the volunteer staff – I donated a decent amount of my personal time to this effort. This woman is amazing and needs to be scooped up by the first organization that is smart enough to realize her potential.
I read the “anonymous” letter on this thread and I’m quite certain I know who wrote it. All I can do is shake my head and try and understand why such unsourced bullshit would be printed.
Robin is amazing. I’ve seen it first hand…. and in this day and age inspirational individuals are hard to come by. We should be championing her effort and future.
Anytime you need anything Robin, just ask.
Praenomenal
@Stacey: Wondering if you are the Stacey I know.
Jackki Hirahara
I am upset by this letter and this post by your site. Since MITM I have noticed that this site is angered with the event. I have a few comments and questions for Queerty.Com.
First I am on the Fresno County Courage Campaign Equality Team. That may make me biased towards Courage Campaign but it does make me knowledgeable on the work we are doing here in Fresno. Our team was started about 4 months ago when Courage Campaign came to Fresno and trained Fresnans on campaigning and working towards full equality in the Central Valley. Since we have been canvassing and phone banking and making ourselves visible in the community. The work we do is hard work. This included knocking on doors for 2 hours in 100 degree weather and talking with towns in the central valley that voted 70+ percent Yes on 8. Those are some tough people to talk to but we still do it.
Now I am not going to bash other groups but I am going to speak some truth. Up until recently we have been the only group in Fresno doing this work since the election. The groups coming forward to do this work I feel like are copying and pasting our work into their new program. It is great that they want to get out there though. The more the better.
Now onto MITM I was at every Monday night meeting for the past 4 months. I also headed up committees where I was usually the only member doing hard work to make this day happen. Now some things did get out of our hands but all in all it was FRESNO event. I was in charge of the volunteer check in tent. We had over 200 volunteers helping us here in Fresno because they were excited to help Fresno become more gay friendly. After being there and being at Pride this last weekend I feel like she went above and beyond to thank the organizers and thank all the volunteers and to make sure that everyone knew that this would not have happened without us.
Also about her “fake” tears. That comment is just rude and disrespectful. The things Robin has been through and seen drives me to tears. As a straight ally to the LGBT Community I am driven to tears almost everyday meeting the people in this community and seeing that they are people like me that don’t have the same rights as I do and hearing their stories. It sickens me to think that anyone would say that Robin crying because her state and country do not recognize her as real person is FAKE. That is ignorant.
My questions for Queerty.Com are:
1.) Why did you not step up and ask to be represented and accounted for at MITM?
To think that you are such a great website that you would only attend because you had to be invited is lofty and self-centered.
I was not asked to participate in Camp Courage or asked to start the Equality Team here in Fresno. I stepped up to the plate and did what was needed.
2.) Do you think that bashing groups is helping grow the movement or stunt it? I am upset that this letter would even get posted. It hurts the work we are doing and makes Fresno look like a group of bickering children when we are working on setting aside out differences and work together on this cause.
If you have questions on what happened at MITM or the Courage Campaign role in MITM and in Fresno you can email me at [email protected]
John
I hate to agree with the person who calls Queerty out on why they didn’t attend Meet in the Middle but they are perfectly right. Everyone knew whent he event was, you don’t need an invite to go and be a part of IT. Bad excuse.
And reading the other responses, I have to agree, this news blog has become TOO dependent on photo’s of narcissistic gym guys in their underwear mixed with occasional news bits for me to stick around. I’m not interested in the models, if I were I would go look for a porn site.
I’m off to find a new blog to read.
PATHETIC
@JD: “What we will do is hold gay leaders responsible…”
Give me a fucking break. Queerty, you are not some crusading journalist standing up for the little guy in the face of corruption and injustice.
You aren’t even a journalist.
A JOURNALIST WOULD HAVE ACTUALLY GONE TO THE EVENT S/HE IS COVERING.
“Look! Be angry! They had a secret, exclusive, closed-door meeting!(…well, at least that’s what some reporter who was actually there said)”
It’s HILARIOUS that you’re trying to paint this as Queerty vs. the “kowtowing” gay press.
You sound like Fox News!
Queerty “is not an activist site”. That’s goddamned right. You’re not qualified to be an activist site, because you are so pathetically ill-informed and irresponsible in your ‘reporting’.
Worse, you do an enormous disservice to those of us working extremely hard — volunteers and staff at LGBT orgs alike — to advance LGBT civil rights and eliminate homophobia.
Queerty should just stick to celebutainment and pictures of dudes in underwear, and leave the reporting on important shit to people who actually give enough of a shit to go out in the field, get the facts, and do it right.
RJ
@enigma-girl: Everyone knows that I’m not shy about saying what I want about who I want. If I wrote this I would happily sign my name at the bottom. Besides, if I wrote it there would be a lot more curses. I can’t write something without at least one “Fuck” or “Cunt”. But it does warms my heart that you think of me when you see such venom.
Sara Martinez
After reading this-it does make you wonder who wrote it. My guess is that it could not have been the new Central Valley EQCA person-because we all know that he did not attend every MITM meeting. And by saying he did-when he actually didn’t would make him a liar-and we all know that EQCA isn’t down for liars-right??? And it couldn’t be the MEUSA Chapter Leader’s husband-because again he didn’t attend all of the meetings either. So this letter must have been written by someone who had nothing better to do that slam a person in this community-who has been doing the work. I will admit that I am biased-Robin is my closest friend. She is also the reason I get involved and do the work I do-not for money, not for recognition-but because I believe in the cause and because I believe in her ability to lead. And for calling her tears fake-well that is mean and hurtful. And I suppose you would also have us believe that little Sebastian’s tears and emotions were staged too-that he could not feel that overwhelmed by seeing his mother crying-that it also brought him to tears. What kind of mother would “create” a that kind of scene to invoke a reaction from her child-the main reason she has taken all of this on. Robin did put all of this on her credit card-not knowing if she was ever going to get her money back. And she is probably doing the same for the DC event-but if whoever wrote the letter-doesn’t have the courage to put their name to it-then they shouldn’t complain or bitch or moan!!! They can just sit back and let everyone else do the work for them-which is what I am assuming happened while this person was attending MITM meetings!!
Aaron Olson
I don’t know anything about Queerty.
But I do know this. If you can’t afford to come to a event in the future, that is put on by Robin, besides going to Washington D.C. I will fund it.
Two reasons. 1. I want to meet you and let you explain yourself. 2. Allow you the access to Robin and our family so you won’t need to hear about us from anyone else. You can be there to witness us trying to make a difference. There ya go, your invitation has been sent. It’s up to you.
As for the “lovely” crap you posted, well I would LOVE to meet that person. It is amazing how big one’s balls/ovaries get when they type. I would love some good old face to face conversation. I guess I’m old school. You wanna disagree with me? Do it too me personally, I’m a educated adult. I’m pretty confident we can get it resolved.
Popie
mike
thank god someone could tell the truth. I wasnt at the event but I have experienced the rath of not being on McGehees good side. No one person should posses such absolute power. it is one thing to stand on stage and on video and talk about us all getting along when the cameras are off its another story. me and my blog have suffered at her hand and hope more stand up to say what needs to be said
Nick b
Did anyone else notice the old editor who got fired is posting about this? http://Www.mattreview.com. I had forgotten how far Queerty had fallen til I read this.
Sara Martinez
@Mike-maybe if you did more for the community than your bank account-people wouldn’t have to call you out on your shit!
anonymous
@Praenomenal: I was there for the “closed door” meeting, and my boyfriend was not registered and walked right in during lunch time. And trust me nothing spectacular happened in there. We had poll data that seemed obvious, and some small group discussions that were fruitless.
edgyguy1426
@Praenomenal: Maybe you took it that I didn’t think more women posters on here was a good idea; I think it’s a GREAT idea! And the Adam Lambert comment wasn’t meant as a sexist remark, but oh the women that posted after that were legion! That being said: I don’t think Queerty wants to represent me or any individual here; but I do think Queerty was right in publishing the letter that was sent to it, anonymous or otherwise. I don’t think people are stupid- they can read between the lines; the first thing I thought was: may this person had an axe to gring or a personal vendetta. Maybe he or she was one of the many ‘grunts’ that feel underappreciated in what is known to be an often thankless job… do they deserve to be heard? Sure. Why not print the letter? I don’t see any harm in that. I can think critically, I can make my own mind.
– ‘That Guy’
Phyllis Wilson
@mike: I was wondering if you were “that” Mike, until I saw Sara’s response. Absolute power? That’s funny. But hey, thanks for taking time out from planning the next twink round-up to post. Also, your blog has been hurt because it sucks.
Jay Matthew
Who ever wrote that letter had no right to say any of that shit because they were not man enough to step up and say who they are. I would suggest not doing ANYTHING you don’t want to do from now on, cause i could give a fuck if you feel like you wasted your time doing stuff you chose to do.
edgyguy1426
@edgyguy1426: oops and I get on QUEERTY for not proof-reading! ‘grind’
Kelli Glazebrook
@mike: I don’t know who you are, but if you write on your blog in the same poor grammar and with as many spelling mistakes, no wonder no one reads it!
If Robin had absolute power, don’t you think things would look a lot different? Get your head out of your ass and do something. Don’t agree with what Robin is doing? Fine, shut up and do your own thing! Everyone who has the gall to tear down our leaders should take a good look at their own lives and really figure out what they are doing for the community. If you aren’t doing anything, keep your mouth shut.
Jennie
Shame on you for posting crap like this. This was my second and last time I will be on your website. MITM was an amazing event, and yes, many volunteers do have much respect and loyalty towards Robin. Ever wonder why that is? Maybe because nobody can say that she isn’t 200% dedicated to the LGBTQ movement, lives and breathes advocacy for many different causes, and is someone worthy of admiration as she is like a beacon, reminding us that THERE IS ALWAYS SOMETHING MORE THAT WE CAN DO! I’m sorry your feelings were hurt that you didn’t get the pat on the back that you felt like you deserved, but get over it. If that’s what you were looking for, go be a martyr for people who don’t have anything better to do; for the rest of us volunteers, we look ahead to see what more we can do to ensure equality for all. Maybe you’re hurt feelings are really coming from knowing that you too could have done more, and maybe you’re pissy because you know deep down that your required, proper “thank you” didn’t come becuase you probably didn’t deserve it. I’m not one to normally be so harsh, but again, shame on you. If you had any tact, you wouldn’t be slandering Robin or MITM, and you would have been grown up enough to go and talk to her instead of posting something like this. We are speaking up becuase nobody deserves to be treated with so little respect as to have a sneaky, underhanded posting be made by someone who apparently was “on our side.” Maybe if you can try to gain a little perspective you’ll stop worrying about your bruised little ego and stop trying to undermine this movement.
Kelli Glazebrook
And Queerty, why are reposting this as though this person contacted you anonymously and wanted you to put it on Queerty? I found this exact comment posted on the GayFresno website and it was dated 6-1-09. http://www.gayfresno.com/content/view/923/1/
Now it seems as though you are LOOKING for opinions similar to yours and posting it as though someone contacted you! This is not journalism, it is fake journalism. You took a random comment someone made on a webpage and made it look like someone gave you some exclusive bit of information. What a farce. And how stupid it makes you look.
Stop trolling the internet to find other stupid people who agree with you and start reporting what really happened. And show up to events you report on and come clean with where you are getting your info. You should have linked the letter you printed to its original source on GayFresno so people would know you were just copying and pasting.
Jason Chan
Even Robin McGhee?
Poor middle class Fresno based Robin McGhee is now in your sites for comeuppance?
Will every organizer who steps forward be torched by your zeal for pageviews, Japhy?
By this time next year we will have no campaign because every single person who dared pick up a marriage equaity banner, sign of bullhorn will be shamed for not contacting like every single lgbtiq person in the state first.
Jordan
Memo to Queerty: real news sources don’t publish “anonymous sources.”
O.M.G
As I sit here and read alllll of these extremely pointless comments I cant help but think what good is any of this doing? MITM brought together Fresno in ways that has never been done before. Robins involvement was just “lead organizer” that is all. If it werent for the Fresno community and the activist that ACTUALLY cared enough to help, MITM would have NEVER happened.
I think it is funny that Mike would actually chime in on this when all he does is hold “Social” hour. If you want to do some real good gather all the people that come to your “social” hour and get them involved. Better yet just TRY mentioning other events during your Booze Fest. I have not seen your blog do anything other than show up a pre-selected events where there are no other blog sites represented. Start putting all the dollars you make into something REAL and for the COMMUNITY!
I think a lot of finger pointing is going on back and forth as to who might have wrote the original letter. Why worry about what someone who obviously has a personal grudge against Robin has to say. We are allowing it divide an entire community in the light of what was an amazing event!
What good is any of this really doing?
denguyfl
@Nick b: Thank you for posting Japhy’s whereabouts. I am now headed to http://www.mattreview.com/ and replacing the Queerty bookmark in al of my browsers.
Trooper
@Praenomenal: I’m assuming so.
Centurian
Queerty is worse for the gay cause than Pat Robertson could ever be. Congrats!
Rob
@edgyguy1426: Do you work for queerty? You seem to be the only person on this blog who is in full agreement with their comments, and you are just as rude to the others making comments as the Queerty editors have proven to be. When one person stated that he was giving up on this site, your response was “see ya!” And then you follow up with condescending remarks about women posting on the site. How pathetic.
I used to be a faithful reader of Queerty, and I truly do appreciate its goal of providing “the other side” of the issues. But six months ago, I got tired of the rude remarks made by the editors, and Queerty’s refusal to ever be positive about ANYTHING in the gay rights movement. No, the movement isn’t perfect, but surely, Queerty, you can find something that doesn’t deserve your insults?
This was my first visit back to this site after 6 months, after finally having my fill of the Queerty insults to its readers. Unfortunately, the site editors are still just as rude and vile as they were six months ago. I had hoped that they would have grown up by now. So, this will be my last visit to Queerty once again. So go ahead, edgyguy1426, insult me and make your snarky little comments about this post. I’m sure that Queerty will put a little extra in your next paycheck for it. And it won’t bother me… I won’t be back here to read this one-sided insulting garbage.
Galefan2004
You go Queerty. You Rock! I love your site. I am going to continue to be heard now that I finally found a platform of peers.
edgyguy1426
….@Rob: ” you are just as rude to the others making comments as the Queerty editors have proven to be. ” I don’t get into name calling..ever…and if you take the ‘see ya’ remarks as rude..well I’m pretty tired of people threatening to ‘take their ball and go home.’
If you read post No.39, you can see I can see both sides of the argument a) that this might have been an atypical worker writing the letter out of spite because he or she felt underappreciated and b) if the letter was sent to directly to Queerty, they had every right to print it.
As to the comments about women posting on this site there was nothing fallacious about noting that I had never seen so many women post as I have when the Adam Lambert things came out-haven’t been posting on this site very long myself- it was just a personal observation on my part-what with all the man-flesh about, it wasn’t expected. It was a little sarcastic-aimed at Queerty, but I guess that was taken as being aimed at women- I sincerely apologize for that.
@ Qweerty: why didn’t you TELL me we could get paid for agreeing with you?(cheesey grinnin goin on) I wouldn’t have been so hard on you in the past.
J.T.
edgyguy1426
what is with the Pro-life Google banner Do you guys have any control over the banners that appear in the side bars?
getreal
@edgyguy1426: I agree with a lot of what Rob said and really how could you tell if someone posting is male or female anyway? I don’t think someone choosing to go elsewhere if they don’t like the content is taking their ball and going home. Just my opinion.
amy
@Phyllis Wilson: I agree that letter has Scotti written all over it.
mike
@amy: agreed, he wins if she fails
amy
@mike: He has already made so many enemies with his obnoxious behavior I think he will be on the bread line soon.
edgyguy1426
@getreal: That’s fair, of course. Unless guys are posting under the pseudonyms like Amy or Jennie or Kelli I pretty much assume they’re women- and it’s much better to have a mix of opinions on a site even though Qweerty is obviously skewed towards guys.
Maybe people think it’s important to let Qweerty know the reason they have quit the site, but you read it or you don’t, you comment or you don’t. Its just the self-important huff that people get in – that’s why I comment ‘See ya.’
I don’t want the commentary to be so one-sided- what good is it to only read comments from people that only believe what you do or think like you do?
amy
@edgyguy1426: That makes no sense you posted that there are no women posting now you are saying you assume everyone posting is a woman. What? I think it is presumptuous to assume you can tell people’s sex by reading their posts. There are a lot of gender non-specific names on here.
getreal
@amy: I don’t understand it myself.
edgyguy1426
Oh oh Amy when did I ever say there were NO women posting and now EVERYONE posting is a woman? Please get your facts straight before you make accusations like that- especially those of you that get on Qweerty for playing fast and loose with the facts are now doing the very same thing. Hypocritical much?
Robert
This is the first time I post a comment at Queerty, and let me say, I am shocked at all the divisivness I see. I am 19 and I just started looking at this site to try to find something that I can identify more with…
But the comments here make me confused. What the hell are you people arguing about?
I thought Queerty was going to be a cool place where we all got along. Aren’t we all LGBT? Whether your a man, woman, or trans? Why are you people so pissed off at each other?