Tempus Fugit

Robert Shurbet: “I will not be silenced”

There might not be a “gay mafia” as jokingly portrayed on NBC’s Will and Grace sitcom, but there is such thing as a “gay hit man.” “Gay hit men” aren’t homosexuals who kill people, “gay hit men” are people who are dedicated to outing others as homosexuals in an attempt to silence their political beliefs.

“Gay Patriot” is a well-known gay blogger who wrote a blog by the same name. Gay Patriot posted on his blog a mock “wanted” announcement, naming two such “gay hit men”: John Aravosis and Michael Rogers.

Wanted for crimes against the gay community. Wanted for repeatedly conducting outing witch hunts against gays who do not believe in radical liberal anti-American ideals. For repeated violations of privacy of gay Americans. For conducting systematic civil liberties attacks on gay Americans.

WANTED! Let’s do something about these gay terrorists who have infected our community with their hatred and self-loathing bigotry of gay Americans who wish to live their lives in peace.

Gay Patriot

Michael Rogers saw this post, and interpreted it as a threat on his life. He called the police as well as Gay Patriot’s employer, threatening a national boycott of Gay Patriot’s employer if the post was not removed and replaced with a post advocating non-violence.

These wishes were carried out, and the man known as “Gay Patriot” announced that he was closing his blog.

In the interest of constructive political discourse and open and free discussion, GayPatriot.org and those responsible for its content always urge its readers to practice non-violence in their daily lives and political activities.

No posting on this site shall be construed as advocating for violence against anyone or any organization.

I love peace.

Gay Patriot: GayPatriot Advocates Non-Violence

For personal and professional reasons that I am unable to fully discuss, I have to stop blogging as GayPatriot effective immediately. This has been a great experience for me and I have learned a lot. And I have met a lot of good people along the way (if only through email). As of this moment, I am no longer affiliated with this blog and I turn over all control to GayPatriotWest who will keep the fires going. Thank you for letting me come into your homes since last September. It has been an honor.

Gay Patriot: This Is My Last Posting

Although it is not known if this decision was based on further threats from Michael Rogers, it doesn’t really matter. In the end, Gay Patriot was silenced by Michael Rogers for exposing Mr. Rogers for who he is: someone who “outs” homosexuals in an attempt to silence them.

Enter Robert Shurbet.

Robert Shurbet is a blogger who can be found at Lime Shurbet. Although I don’t really know him personally, Robert and I have run into each other more than once on comment threads and Mr. Shurbet could well be described as “a friend of a friend.”

In response to the threats made against Gay Patriot and his subsequent resignation, Robert Shurbet decided to paraphrase Gay Patriot’s “wanted” announcement. He provided a graphical reproduction of the “wanted” announcement, and added these closing words.

Don’t let Michael Rogers silence a voice of opposition. He can try to silence one - he cannot silence many.

I am gay. I am a member of the Republican party. Give it your best shot Rogers.

Lime Shurbet: Wanted: Gay Terrorist

Rogers took the bait. Roughly 27 minutes after the post went live on Lime Shurbet, Mr. Rogers left a voicemail on Mr. Shurbet’s phone.

He left me a message basically stating that I had misinformation on the blog and if I wanted to hear “the truth” I should call him back. I have the original voice mail. He voiced NO REQUEST WHATSOEVER that the content be removed.

Knowing his fondness for telephone recording equipment, I declined to call him back as he only uses that as a method of control and I was not about to give him the upper-hand. But I did offer him a chance to respond via email, which he refused.

E-mail: Robert Shurbet

The “fondness for telephone recording equipment” that Robert cites is documented here, describing an incident in which Mr. Rogers posted an audio file of U.S. Rep. Edward L. Schrock (R-VA) allegedly seeking gay sex. Rep. Edward subsequently resigned.

After vainly attempting to get Mr. Rogers to agree to an e-mail interview in which to get Rogers’ side of things, Mr. Shurbet was greeted with this e-mail from his web hosting provider.

Hello,

Unfortunately, we have been forced to suspend your domain account for the following reason:

Legal issues with defamation of character by the domain of limeshurbet.com. The person in the issues is about is Mike Rodgers. The “hit list” poster is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

For more information about this suspension, please contact abuse@vdeck.com. Thank you.

Regards,

vDeck Abuse Department
abuse@vdeck.com

Forwarded E-mail

The poster that Mr. Shurbet posted did not advocate a “hit,” actual or metaphorical. The poster concludes with an exhortation for people to e-mail Mr. Rogers and voice “disgust” with his actions. Elsewhere in Mr. Shurbet’s original post he encouraged people to be “mindful of the need for peaceful discourse” (emphasis his), an encouragement that I wholeheartedly echo.

Do I think what I did came up to “the line” - yes. Do I think I crossed it? No. I was clear about what action I was calling for. If you are idiotic enough to believe that I was calling for Rogers’ death simply by putting the word “Wanted” on the poster, well, there really isn’t much I or anyone else can do for you.

Bottom line: I dared Rogers to come after me and he did, so no one should feel sorry for me. Pity the hosting provider for their knee-jerk reaction, but not me. I can take care of myself. What people should be concerned with is the tactics being used by people like Rogers to further their own narrow agendas.

I am out.
I am a gay.
I am against the FMA and for gay marriage.

As long as that is where people stop, the left-wing and people like Rogers are happy. But, add “Republican” to that list, and you become a target.

This is about Rogers outing campaign, but it is also about the hate gay conservatives are greeted with.

Robert Shurbet: E-mail

After not receiving a response from his hosting provider, Mr. Shurbet moved his site to a new web host. The move was very recent, so for technical reasons it is possible that you might not be able to access the site (or any of the earlier links I made to his site) for several hours, so here is an excerpt from Robert’s first post after completing the move.

The “Wanted” parody is not a “hit list.” It did list the contact email addresses for blogACTIVE, along with a specific call to email him in protest of his terrorist tactics. But it made no mention of threat and nothing defamatory. Besides that, Michael Rogers needs little help from me showing people his true character.

The “Wanted” parody stays. I stay. Gay conservatives stay. I will not be silenced, Michael Rogers, if I have to get shutdown and move to another provider 100 times. I will keep moving and making sure people are aware of your terrorist tactics in outing good, well meaning Americans because they do not follow your radical agenda or follow your fascist ideology. “Think this way or else?” I think not.

I am gay. I am a member of the Republican Party, and I am not going anywhere.

Lime Shurbet: I Will Not Be Silenced

Michael Rogers is a bully. He bullies homosexuals who do not toe the Democratic Party’s line, and he bullies those who bring his actions to light. There is a good chance that I will be bullied merely for recounting the troubles Mr. Rogers caused Mr. Shurbet, even though a defamation lawsuit would be thrown out of court. Of course, a hosting company can basically take a site down at any time for any reason, so it’s up to them. Mr. Shurbet contacted his new hosting provider, Hosting Matters, after I asked if he had discussed the situation with them, as it is probable that Mr. Rogers will complain to the new host, as he did to the old one. This was their response.

Content cannot be defamation by definition unless it can be shown that the content is inherently and deliberately untrue. In your particular case, a simple google of “michael rogers gay” brought me to an article by The Independent (UK) about the very bullet points you have listed in the graphic, with quotes from him related to that subject. Further searches reveal other stories by regular journalistic outlets as well, with and without quotes. Suggesting people email him to voice their opinion of his actions is also not an actionable offense, since a look at his own site has links for email to the addresses you have listed - since he is inviting contact via email, and lists available addresses, your posting of them poses no violation of any of our policies or of any statutes. It is your opinion that his actions are as you describe them, and people are free to agree or disagree as they see fit, and post their own opinions, if they’d like to do so. In addition, there is nothing in your graphic that urges any violence against anyone - it reads, in fact, more like the sort of online boycott calls that go around from time to time. Therefore, we would take no action related to complaints by the individual about this item on your page other than to suggest he take it up with you.

Regards,

Abuse Investigations
Hosting Matters, Inc.
http://www.hostingmatters.com

Forwarded E-mail

There’s no question where I’ll turn if my site is ever shut down for a similar reason.

I encourage you to spread the word about this story far and wide. Mr. Rogers cannot silence us all, and the more voices we have, the sooner he will realize the futility of trying.

Added to the Beltway Traffic Jam