You know the LGBT blog Joe.My.God.? Of course you do; you’re gay. Well, yesterday the blog’s writer Joseph Jervis was just minding his business, doing his thing—which is to write some of the most informative, educational, funny, poignant and up-to-the-moment LGBT news around—when a nasty comment appeared on his site.
The commenter? Well apparently a homophobe calling himself (or herself) “Jimmy” had something to say with regards to Joe.My.God.’s posting about “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” That something? “All faggots must die.”
Not willing to take the comment lying down, Jervis put a call out to his readers for help in identifying the poster. Why? Because, according to Jervis, “Among the files in which gay people are over-represented is the IT field.” Jervis and his readers tracked down the IP address of the poster to none other than the offices of the U.S. Senator from Georgia, Saxby Chambliss.
At first, the office of Senator Chambliss rebuked Jervis’ findings. In an official statement released by Chambliss’ office, CNN said, the senator’s office acknowledged that they were looking into the matter, but stopped short of confirming that the post originated in their office. When CNN contacted the office for further comment, Chambliss’ spokeswoman referred CNN back to the office’s original statement.
Then the feeding frenzy began. Media outlets on both sides of the aisle covered the story, as have bloggers worldwide. Finally, less than 24-hours after the initial comment was posted, Senator Chambliss’ office admitted the IP address in question was one of their own, and that the hate post did in fact originate in their very own offices.
Senator Chambliss’ office issued a statement saying it was unclear who, specifically, was responsible for the hate post, but they said that the matter has been referred to the Senate sergeant at arms.
The Journal-Constitution of Atlanta reported a statement from Chambliss spokeswoman Bronwyn Lance Chester, who told the newspaper, regarding the investigation of the comment, “This office has not and will not tolerate any activity of the sort alleged.” We shall see. As of the time of this posting no punitive action has yet been taken by the Chambliss camp.
Keith Olbermann covered the story and had author Dan Savage on his show to speak about the incident. Savage said, with regards to Saxby Chambliss, “This is what they believe. This is how they talk about us in private. It’s no surprise. Saxby Chambliss is a homophobe and he employs homophobes and this is how they talk when they’re alone in a room and they think no one is listening…Senator Chambliss we know to be a homophobe from his voting record. We don’t have to peer into his mind; we have seen the evidence of his homophobia and his bigotry and his hatred in his votes. Particularly in his votes this week to keep gay and lesbians out of the military.”
We are, in the words of Joseph Jervis, “standing by for your apology, Sen. Chambliss.”
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While this was an awful incident, we can’t say it was a surprise to anyone that the kind of hate that was written originated from the source it did.
[...] late September, we wrote about the death threat hate post originating from the office of Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss’ [...]