Diversity Rules Magazine

3 Diversity Rules Magazine November 2016 David-Elijah Nahmod is a film critic and re- porter in San Francis- co. His articles appear regularly in The Bay Area Reporter and SF Weekly. You can also find him on Facebook and Twitter. David developed Post Traumatic Syndrome Disor- der (PTSD) after surviving gay conversion therapy as a child and has found that many in the LGBT community suffer from severe, often untreated emotional disorders due to the extreme anti-gay traumas they endured. This column chronicles his journey. According to Wikipedia, Spirit Day is an annual LGBT Awareness Day commemorated on the third ursday in October. On Spirit Day, LGBTs are urged to wear purple and to display purple on Facebook as a show of support and solidarity for LGBT youth who have been bullied or committed suicide. Spirit Day has been heavily promoted by GLAAD--the Gay and Les- bian Alliance Against Defamation--and by e Trevor Project, the influential LGBT youth suicide preven- tion advocacy group. As with most projects which come from these orga- nizations, Spirit Day has become a self-serving info- mercial for the organizations themselves. ese orga- nizations aren't saving any lives. Anyone recall the now forgotten It Gets Better Project of 5-8 years ago? Did all those inspirational videos save any lives? Did they accomplish anything at all? Spirit Day is particularly hypocritical when one consid- ers the absolute refusal of organizations like GLAAD and Trevor Project to adhere to their mission state- ments when LGBT people turn to them for help. Much has been written about Cathy Brennan, a self- described "radical lesbian feminist" with an obsessive fear and hatred of transgenders. Brennan has libeled hundreds of people on her now dormant blog Gender Identity Watch, where she regularly posted false accu- sations of stalking, harassment, and even hate group affiliation. Brennan targets not only transgenders, but any gay man or lesbian who declines to support her anti-trans gang bang. ere are now verified cases of trans teens being hospitalized in a suicidal state as a direct result of Brennan's attacks--Brennan is middle aged, yet she has gone after minors without hesitation. ousands of people, transgenders and otherwise, have publicly condemned Brennan's abominable be- havior. ousands have signed petitions and written letters asking that Brennan be held accountable for her bullying, her lies, and her attempts to destroy people's reputations. Brennan has in fact done this to me twice, posting in- flammatory half truths about my personal life and my relationship with my former partner, who's conserva- tive anti-gay Christian friends and relatives harassed me to the point of my needing police intervention: http:// blogs.timesofisrael.com/a-gay-jewish-man-learns-that- hate-can-come-from-the-most-unexpected-places/ Like scores of other gay and lesbian "activist bloggers," lies and hate are all Brennan has to fall back on in their never-ending quest to hurt other LGBT people. e silence from GLAAD and e Trevor Project has been deafening. In fact, many LGBT people report of being ignored when they turn to these organizations to ask for help.Is it any wonder that LGBT suicide prevention statistics are so high? As a journalist I've reported on the rampant slander and bullying which goes on across the gay blogosphere. In my 2013 story Bullying Is Not a Gay Right, which I wrote for South Florida Gay News, I reported on the behavior of Kevin Patrick O'Neil, a then 50 year old gay activist who participates in the bullying of suicidal LGBT kids. A young lesbian suicide attempt survivor named Rinna Hoffman provided me with abu PTSD - Con't on page 10 If You Could Read My Mind Gay Activists and the Hypocrisy of Spirit Day By David-Elijah Nahmod

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