Rainbow Outreach Chair makes public statement

Rainbow Outreach Board Chair George Broadway made a statement on the ExGayWatch blog earlier this evening regarding the GayLibrary.com controversy.

In response to the situation regarding the website gaystraightalliance.org, and related sites, the Rainbow Outreach GLBT Center is not and never has been involved in any manner with the websites in question. The Rainbow Outreach GLBT Center was unaware of the content of the website until receiving inquiries regarding the website’s content. The Center does not advocate nor condone the use of violence under any circumstance, whether in response to bullying or to any other perceived provocation. The Center does not condone even the suggestion that it may approve of violence. Therefore the webmaster, Mr. Wyant, has voluntarily stepped down from the Board of Directors and is severing all connections with the Center in order to best protect the interests of the Rainbow Outreach GLBT Community Center, its supporters, programs, and the community.

Thank you,

George Broadway

Board Chair

Rainbow Outreach GLBT Community Center

Omaha NE

[email protected]

I need to add that I have not confirmed that this comment is really from Mr. Broadway since he will not answer emails from me. I spoke with Mr. Broadway when this controversy came to light and he said he would ask Mr. Wyant to call me but he himself did not want to discuss the matter. Mr. Wyant is still listed as organizer of the GLBT Youth Night at the center.

19 thoughts on “Rainbow Outreach Chair makes public statement”

  1. Thanks, Jayhuck.

    I do also understand that the emotional impact of your recent discovery may have contributed to the excesses on this thread. Please believe me…I’m not trying to silence you. I honestly missed you for the week or so that you weren’t posting.

    Peace–will catch up to you on another thread!

  2. Eddy,

    I’m sorry – you are absolutely right. I will refrain from posting in areas where I have no interest.

    I wasn’t trying to criticize the people in this discussion, I was more curious why Warren felt the need to have several posts on the matter – he answered that question, in part, above

    J

  3. Jayhuck,

    Seriously now, you’ve posted 5 times in 2 days on a thread in which you admit you have virtually zero interest. Please consider that there is actually another alternative to coming to a topic and devaluing it’s worth…It’s really quite simple: just resist the compulsion to read and post on topics that don’t interest you. It would be more fair to those of us who do have an interest in the topic and would like to discuss constructively. I find it pretty outrageous that you have the gall to criticize any of us simply for what we choose to discuss. It would be one thing if this was the only topic on the table but there are 4 or 5 others out there. Please respect the fact that we may have some topical interests that don’t align with yours.

  4. Warren,

    I get that – but I think the point has been made and the issue, hopefully, resolved. It was just one individual, right?

  5. Jayhuck – No one is obsessed. We are however, trying to bring awareness about an individual who owns a website that excused stabbing, shooting and poisoning as well as promoted other anarchies.

  6. Eddy,

    I never said this was a trivial topic, but I don’t think it deserves the amount of time we’ve spent on it given all the big things going on in and around the gay community.

    I also haven’t been blogging much over at XGW lately, but I’ll check it out and see if they are as obsessed with this guy as Warren seems to be – and if they are, I’ll say something

  7. Jag,

    Just for clarification…

    The words quoted in the sentence re Steve Gallagher don’t sound like they could be his words. Are you quoting him or the comments of the news source?

    BTW: I recall a number of topics or news stories that became part of our discussions here because someone brought them to Warren’s attention. A number of topics have been inspired by comments or topics posted on Ex-Gay Watch and Box Turtle Bulletin.

    Jayhuck–

    Your word choices seem to make it sound like Warren hopped on a bandwagon re the rantings of Wyant. It’s difficult to hop on a bandwagon when you’re the one driving. It’s also very difficult to control who hops on.

    All said, I remain impressed by how this situation was handled. It may be a small start but it’s the first time that I’ve seen any real measure of ‘coming together’ on this site. Working together we had a positive impact.

    I’ve heard reports here that others elsewhere added their own spin to this story but, as for Warren’s words, there was never any spin. The message of the original posting was “I found this site. It disturbs and puzzles me. What do you think? What should we do?”

  8. In truth, there are topics that have been missed that may be of interest to the blog (no one can keep up with all of them) such as…

    – Steve Gallagher, president of pure life ministries, expresses disappointment that “fewer evangelical Christians now support job discrimination against same-sex-attracted people who are teachers by profession.”

    – longtime foe of GLBT rights, Bob Allen, of Florida was charged with soliciting a gay prostitute (an undercover cop – ouch).

    – the presbyterian minister who violated church doctrine in performing a ceremony for lesbian couples in 2004, and 2005.

  9. Jayhuck-

    Warren doesn’t try to ‘steer’ this site very much at all. Granted, he’ll bring SIT topics to the table but, otherwise, the topics are pretty much ‘current events’. (Even if that site had been around for some time, the accidental discovery of it made it a current event.) I envision Warren browsing and searching in his ‘free time’ and, when he comes across something that he feels we could all chew on, he presents it here as a topic. Many of the topics are revisited because something new develops. In this case, Warren wanted to report the follow-up letter from the Rainbow Outreach GLBT Center.

    BTW: Warren indicates he got the text from Ex-Gay Watch, did you blog there today and tell them how trivial you thought the topic was?

  10. They probably have to contact their web guy and have him’her remove it. Give it some time.

  11. Warren,

    Perhaps you aren’t familiar with how events “advertising” works in the gay community. I highly doubt that this is a paid advertisement – these sort of non-profit community benefit listings are usually free. It probably just automatically pops up every Saturday in every month until the center notices that it still says “Wyant” and tells Out In to change it.

    And yeah, they probably should let Out In know (if they already haven’t), but it’s hardly any indication that Wyant is still involved. I certainly wouldn’t take this seriously.

  12. Eddy,

    I guess my question is – with all the important things going on in and around the gay community, why are we talking about something that seems to be such a localized and relatively small incident?

  13. TImothy – The Out in Omaha is an online calendar that a variety of groups can use to publicize events. The address for this event and every event on Fridays through September is the GLBT Community Center on Leavenworth in Omaha. So the website is not the center but the website is advertising an event at the Center organized by Mr. Wyant.

  14. Eddy,

    First of all, Warren wasn’t the only one who brought this guy to the forefront, as you say – others were talking about this besides us – but you are right, no one in their right mind would want to be associated with this “oddball”.

    I do apologize for going off topic again, but I was so completely shocked to find out what I found out today about Warren (maybe I shouldn’t have been), that it took me a long time to come to my senses. It has completely shaken my faith and my support for Warren, who I have really admired for a long time. I will do my best to stay on topic.

  15. Jayhuck,

    Ouch! That is quite a disparaging accusation you are leveling against Dr. Throckmorton. Sure you mean it? I believe he exercised integrity at every turn with this subject and reported very fairly on it. He also was in touch with other organizations and people from other blogs and they worked toward a common goal and attained it.

  16. Mr. Wyant is still listed as organizer of the GLBT Youth Night at the center.

    Warren, you are NOT referencing the center. You are instead linking to a page of a NEWSSITE, OutInOmaha, which appears to be a private business which operates in a number of cities under the “OutIn” label.

  17. Jayhuck–

    WHAT????? Just WHO did Warren align himself with purposefully? As I recall, while doing his usual browsing, he followed a link to a very disturbing website that had a name that would easily be confused with GLSEN. He then posted that discovery here. He pretty much documented all the actions he took…who he e-mailed or contacted…whether they replied or not.

    Oh, wait, I think I get it. Despite what the topic is, EVERYTHING is about the civil rights of gay people. So the ‘scientific data’ and ‘undermining the rights of gay people’ comments really have little or nothing to do with the thread topic. Is your point that we can’t discuss anything else until Warren ‘answers for’ the alignment you accuse him of?

    Warren,

    Thank you once again for stumbling upon this ‘oddball from Nebraska’, for bringing this discovery to light, for following through and, finally, for making a difference. You were right in your assumption that the larger gay community of Omaha would not want to be associated with such inflammatory rhetoric and, I feel, you did them a great service by bringing this matter to the forefront.

  18. Warren,

    The real issue here isn’t about some oddball in Nebraska who posted this nonsense, but about the fact that you aligned yourself with people who purposefully, and without any scientific data to back them up, tried to undermine the civil rights of gay people – I think you need to answer for that.

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