Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

GLAAD Calls Reader "San Diego's Most Gay-Friendly Alternative Weekly"

Gay-Rights Organization Singles Out Paper for Praise In Wake of SDGLN's Numerous Difficulties With San Diego CityBeat

"Say what you will; the Reader never uses 'faggy' in its editorial content."

SIPPING A LATTE AT THE CORNER TABLE IN LESTAT'S ON PARK - The strained relationship between the recently redesigned San Diego CityBeat and San Diego's GLBT community may finally have reached a breaking point.

In a recent essay detailing the community's frustration with the paper, San Diego Gay & Lesbian News Editor in Chief Ken Williams wrote, "the irony is that CityBeat has tried to tout its support for the LGBT community and purports to care about our issues. It would be logical to suggest they may have wanted to review [mayoral candidate Nathan] Fletcher’s record on LGBT issues before writing a fawningly favorable editorial on him, especially when he has voted against many issues dear to the hearts of the LGBT community...Here in America’s Finest City, San Diego CityBeat is practicing the best of tabloid journalism these days. Oh, from time to time, CityBeat may publish a story that has journalistic integrity, but chances are that its writers are just shooting first, asking questions later. It is a mystery why CityBeat fails to practice basic journalism."

Now, however, Williams & Co. seem to feel that the otherwise progressive paper has veered from merely shoddy reporting into outright offensiveness. The boiling point, apparently, came when columnist Edwin Decker wrote about a frustrating encounter with a biker, an encounter which led him to look up the names of some California biker gangs. According to his account, he found one called "A Few Good Men (which is not what you think; though, you have to wonder how it was possible not to notice the gayness dripping off that name)."

Decker then felt inspired: "Speaking of homosexual bikers, I absolutely had to Google 'gay motorcycle clubs' when researching this column. Alas, all that came up were totally inoffensive, non-hilarious monikers like The LGBT Motorcycle Club, The Golden Gate Guards and The Spartan Motorcycle Club. What a disappointment! I was hoping for some totally awesome, totally faggy, gay-biker-gang names, like The Sodomites, or The Truck Stop Cruisers, or the queer chapter of the Mongols Motorcycle Club—The Mangols. Or how about The Fag Hags, for a motorcycle gang composed of meth-addled straight chicks who follow The Mangols. Or, my all-time favorite gay-biker-gang name I just made up: Hell’s Anals."

SDGLN's Twitter feed was quick to respond:

San Diego CityBeat's Kelly Davis noticed the tweet and fired back:

"What Ms. Davis eats for dinner is none of my business," said Williams when reached for comment by SD on the QT. "But I can think of several slurs involving Asian stereotypes that I might use to make a joke about her dietary choices. Of course, I won't make that joke, because I find those kinds of slurs hateful and divisive. Sadly, Mr. Decker had no such scruples."

Decker, for his part, was quick to take to his own Twitter feed in order to declare his love for gay people everywhere. (At one point, he asked "Who do I have to have sex with to prove I love gay people?" prompting Williams to reply, "I don't know - a dude?") But it was too late. This morning, GLAAD issued a statement in a press release sent directly to SD on the QT: "In light of the recent shenanigans over at CityBeat, we would like to officially commend you and your paper for your evenhanded, objective coverage of San Diego's GLBT community. And by the way, that bit on Fletcher you did a while back was totally hilarious."

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Filmora 14’s AI Tools Streamline Content Creation for Marketers

Next Article

WAV College Church reminds kids that time is short

College is a formational time for decisions about belief

Gay-Rights Organization Singles Out Paper for Praise In Wake of SDGLN's Numerous Difficulties With San Diego CityBeat

"Say what you will; the Reader never uses 'faggy' in its editorial content."

SIPPING A LATTE AT THE CORNER TABLE IN LESTAT'S ON PARK - The strained relationship between the recently redesigned San Diego CityBeat and San Diego's GLBT community may finally have reached a breaking point.

In a recent essay detailing the community's frustration with the paper, San Diego Gay & Lesbian News Editor in Chief Ken Williams wrote, "the irony is that CityBeat has tried to tout its support for the LGBT community and purports to care about our issues. It would be logical to suggest they may have wanted to review [mayoral candidate Nathan] Fletcher’s record on LGBT issues before writing a fawningly favorable editorial on him, especially when he has voted against many issues dear to the hearts of the LGBT community...Here in America’s Finest City, San Diego CityBeat is practicing the best of tabloid journalism these days. Oh, from time to time, CityBeat may publish a story that has journalistic integrity, but chances are that its writers are just shooting first, asking questions later. It is a mystery why CityBeat fails to practice basic journalism."

Now, however, Williams & Co. seem to feel that the otherwise progressive paper has veered from merely shoddy reporting into outright offensiveness. The boiling point, apparently, came when columnist Edwin Decker wrote about a frustrating encounter with a biker, an encounter which led him to look up the names of some California biker gangs. According to his account, he found one called "A Few Good Men (which is not what you think; though, you have to wonder how it was possible not to notice the gayness dripping off that name)."

Decker then felt inspired: "Speaking of homosexual bikers, I absolutely had to Google 'gay motorcycle clubs' when researching this column. Alas, all that came up were totally inoffensive, non-hilarious monikers like The LGBT Motorcycle Club, The Golden Gate Guards and The Spartan Motorcycle Club. What a disappointment! I was hoping for some totally awesome, totally faggy, gay-biker-gang names, like The Sodomites, or The Truck Stop Cruisers, or the queer chapter of the Mongols Motorcycle Club—The Mangols. Or how about The Fag Hags, for a motorcycle gang composed of meth-addled straight chicks who follow The Mangols. Or, my all-time favorite gay-biker-gang name I just made up: Hell’s Anals."

SDGLN's Twitter feed was quick to respond:

San Diego CityBeat's Kelly Davis noticed the tweet and fired back:

"What Ms. Davis eats for dinner is none of my business," said Williams when reached for comment by SD on the QT. "But I can think of several slurs involving Asian stereotypes that I might use to make a joke about her dietary choices. Of course, I won't make that joke, because I find those kinds of slurs hateful and divisive. Sadly, Mr. Decker had no such scruples."

Decker, for his part, was quick to take to his own Twitter feed in order to declare his love for gay people everywhere. (At one point, he asked "Who do I have to have sex with to prove I love gay people?" prompting Williams to reply, "I don't know - a dude?") But it was too late. This morning, GLAAD issued a statement in a press release sent directly to SD on the QT: "In light of the recent shenanigans over at CityBeat, we would like to officially commend you and your paper for your evenhanded, objective coverage of San Diego's GLBT community. And by the way, that bit on Fletcher you did a while back was totally hilarious."

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Emotionally distressed biker sues city

Cop saw five rings as brass knuckles
Next Article

I'm So Glaad

Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader