Local Iowa Editor: ‘The LGBTQXYZ Crowd And The Gaystapo’ Are ‘The Enemy’

That map you see above is a map of the state of Iowa. The little red dot is the tiny town of Newton. Population 15,254. 

A local Newton, Iowa newspaper editor wrote a lengthy religion-based piece on his personal blog (not the paper’s website) warning about what he sees as the gay community’s attempts to change the Bible.

In “The deceivers are hard at work,” Bob Eschliman, editor of the Newton Daily News, a small, Monday-Friday paper with a circulation of 4000, wrote:

I’d like to talk a little bit about deceivers among us, most notably the LGBTQXYZ crowd and the Gaystapo effort to reword the Bible to make their sinful nature “right with God.” A few weeks ago, I came across the website for the Queen James Bible (because King James was a flaming homo, don’t you know). The editors are very keen to let folks know they didn’t remove passages from the Bible, but instead reworded them to “make it more relevant.”

…

“If you ask me, it sounds like the Gaystapo is well on its way. We must fight back against the enemy.”

That post was published last week.

Iowa, as you know, has had same-sex marriage since its Supreme Court ruled in 2009 that its ban on marriage equality was unconstitutional.

Veteran journalism blogger Jim Romenesko reports:

I asked Eschliman in an email if his paper can cover gay issues fairly and objectively when he’s declared gays the enemy. I also asked if he’d let one of his reporters write a similar blog post.

Yesterday, Romenesko published an update:

Shaw Media’s Newton Daily News has dismissed editor Bob Eschliman for a post on his personal blog blasting “the LGBTQXYZ crowd and the Gaystapo” for trying “to reword the Bible to make their sinful nature ‘right with God.’”

Fired.

Noting that the “The First Amendment does not eliminate responsibility and accountability for one’s words and actions,” Eschliman’s now-former bosses wrote that while he “is entitled to his opinion, his public airing of it compromised the reputation of this newspaper and his ability to lead it.”

In the past week, we have lost some of that public trust that is so vital to our existence. Today, we hope to begin earning it back.

There will be some who will criticize our action, and mistakenly cite Mr. Eschliman’s First Amendment rights as a reason he should continue on as editor of the Newton Daily News.

As previously stated, he has a right to voice his opinion. And we have a right to select an editor who we believe best represents our company and best serves the interests of our readers.

From Brendan Eich to Donald Sterling to Bob Eschliman to David and Jason Benham, people are saying, “No, you cannot treat our fellow Americans that way any longer.” It doesn’t matter if it’s racism or homophobia or misogyny or any one of a number of hate-based beliefs. Americans have had enough.

(Funny how the crowd that ran to Brendan Eich’s defense was no where to be found when Donald Sterling’s hate was exposed. Funny how it’s not OK for someone to lose their job for their personal beliefs when it comes to homophobia, but about racism, that’s another story. It shouldn’t be — because at its core, it is the same story.)

Noting that America is “rapidly approaching” a “tipping point,” Dan Savage today observes:

Once upon a time white people used to be able to go on TV and say the most racist shit imaginable (argue against legal interracial marriage, argue in favor of segregation) and keep their jobs and be invited back on TV to say that shit a second time. Then one day you couldn’t say that shit (not on TV, at least) and keep your job and be invited back to say that shit again. Opinions that used to be considered “respectable” were suddenly toxic career enders. We are rapidly reaching the same tipping point on LGBT issues. You can believe whatever you want, but you have to be careful when and how you express your anti-gay animus. Because it could cost you.

In 2009 while at Fox News, Glenn Beck unleashed and enabled the anti-immigrant, racist, anti-gay, anti-women crowd with his “not racist – not violent – no longer silent” motto that indeed enabled racism and hatred.

In small towns and big cities, all across the country, Americans are saying it’s time for that evil genie of hate to be locked back up in its bottle.   

Image via Wikimedia