Total Recalled

Posted on | December 7, 2005

So Spokane, WA, mayor Jim West got voted out of office. The closet case deserved it too. More than sixty percent of the voters cast ballots that recalled West from office. He must leave the office when the results are certified on Friday, December 16th.For those of you not familiar with Mr. West, he was a closeted homosexual Republican Mayor with a history in the legislature of being the perfect party storm trooper. If it had to do with things like gay rights or abortion, Jim West opposed it like the good little follower his was. He voted against allowing the state to distribute information on preventing AIDS because the information is “something people buy in dirty magazines.” That all changed one day back in April when Jim West, conservative, Republican, and supposedly heterosexual, logged on to Gay.Com where he had met an eighteen year-old using the screen name Cobra82nd and later RightBi-Guy. The two met for a date and ended up having sex.

In the April chat session, Jim West struck up a conversation with an individual whom he thought was an eighteen year-old high school senior. The supposed high school student turned out to be a plant hired by the newspaper in Spokane attempting to verify Westâ€™s presence on the service. Tumors of his homosexuality had been floating around since his days in the state capital but now someone might have been able to get actual proof. Turns out West really wanted to meet this supposed eighteen year-old and even went so far as to offer him things like an internship in the mayorâ€™s office.

When the news became public the city launched an independent investigation, the recall effort was launched, and the FBI began its own investigation.

Jim Westâ€™s online antics are not the only ones though. One of my favorite blogs is BlogActive which has a campaign to out closeted homosexuals who work against gay issues. I fully support campaigns like these because these individuals are collaborators and they need to be exposed. Period. BlogActive has outed former Representatives Ed Schrock, Virginia, and Mark Foley, Florida. Both were Republicans.

This issue of publicly exposing closeted homosexuals divides LGBT activists and the community at large. I can see the other side since coming out is a process and, in general, no one deserves to have that thrust upon them. In regards to the Jim West case, I was against certain logs being released to the general public not because it would embarrass West, but rather might potentially expose the individuals with whom West had chatted with. I do draw the line though at public officials. Why? Because as public officials they willing submit themselves to the scrutiny. No one is elected to office against their will and even if they were they could always resign. They speak with both words and actions and they should be held accountable to the public that elects them and pays them. For example, the people in Virginia who elected Ed Schrock to the US House had a right to know that their candidate who was supposedly a champion for family values (Note: Schrock got a 0% rating from the Human Rights Campaign and a 92% rating from the Christian Coalition) was calling up gay sex hotlines and recording ads looking for a younger man to fuck.

My personal opinion is that such outing campaigns need to be expanded to groups like Focus on Family, the American Family Association and individuals like Pat Robertson. During the Monica Lewinsky matter, First Amendment champion Larry Flynt put out a bounty on Republicans asking for proof of their marital infidelity while they were vilifying Bill Clinton for his. I think they same thing needs to be done here. Individuals like Pat Robertson and James Dobson (Focus on Family) get up on their soap boxes and vilify homosexuals as immoral deviants. So what secrets are they hiding? What skeletons are partying in their closet? Both of these individuals, and all others just like them, need to just get the fuck off the mount cuz ain’t one of them Moses.

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