Saturday, May 08, 2010

Rekers Island

Just in case anyone out there hasn’t heard this already, the Rev. George Alan Rekers is a prominent antigay crusader, a cofounder of the Family Research Council. This job seems to have been lucrative, for the office of Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum paid at least $60,900 to for Rekers' "expert testimony" in a case defending that state's ban on gays adopting children. A judge later rejected Rekers' testimony, saying it was "far from neutral" because of his "strong ideological and theological convictions," stating that she could "not consider his testimony to be credible nor worthy of forming the basis of public policy."

The judge didn’t know the half of it. A few days ago an alert visitor at the Miami International Airport photographed Rekers returning from a ten-day European trip in the company of a 20-year old escort, at first identified simply as “Geo” or “Lucien.” According to Rekers, he hired the young man solely to handle his luggage. Curiously though, the snapshot shows the Rev handling his own bags with the twink looking on at the sidelines.

It seems that Rekers learned of the young man’s “qualifications” from Rentboy, scarcely a usual site for hiring luggage handlers. Bizarrely, Rekers claimed that he became aware of his companion’s homosexuality only half way through the trip, when he tried to redeem him (as is his wont in such cases) through an intense program of Bible study. He is not gay, the padre strenuously insists about himself, and never has been.

Contrary to popular belief, most escorts are thoroughly ethical people. At first “Geo” denied that any sex had taken place, protecting his client. That showed a lot of class.

Later, though, Geo conceded that he had given erotic messages involving the penis and anus of his older traveling companion. Erotic massages--with a "happy ending"--are one of the standard services ("vanilla" to be sure) provided by sex workers.

The Family Research Council has removed Rekers from their site. On late-night television his hypocrisy has been ridiculed by Stephen Colbert, Jay Leno, and others.

Still, this question is pertinent. Will Rekers be allowed to get away with his alibi that he did not have sex on the trip, even though, by contract, the young man was required to administer an erotic massage once a day during the trip?

In my view a bad precedent was set when supporters of Bill Clinton gave him a pass when he claimed that being fellated by Monica Lewinsky was “not sex.” It clearly was. And so is the indulgence by Rev. Rekers.

POSTSCRIPT. Perhaps the real reason Rekers got caught out was that he was so incredibly cheap. A little investigation will show that while good escorts charge $200-250 for an hour's session, an overnighter usually costs at least $1000. Geo (Roman) spent ten nights with the old reprobate, so that would be $10,000, plus expenses. There was a written contract between Rekers and Roman, which called for Roman earning $75 per day in exchange for spending eight hours a day with Rekers, carrying his luggage, and providing one massage per day. (That's $9.38/hour, according to one blogger's reckoning.)

Cheap, cheap, cheap. And yet the escort tried to be loyal to his john, all the same. That is one fine young man, I would say.

I wish, by the way, that the media would stop referring to Roman as a "male prostitute." That label is demeaning and unnecessary. The correct term is "escort." It is clear that, even though his client was supremely unworthy, the young man performed his duties of companion flawlessly. Long may he prosper.

SECOND POSTSCRIPT. Rekers has now been immortalized in the Urban Dictionary, that reader-written compilation of edgy slang. Here is what it says:

Rekers - (proper noun) A person who advocates the transition from homosexual to straight. A person who is bigoted. A closeted person who is self hating and loathing. A person who believes that family values only consist of a man and a woman living together.

(v.) (past tense) He rekersed on his vacation and came back with herpes. (present) He is rekersing in Bermuda with some teenage boy. (future) I can't wait for my vacation so I can rekers with that boy from rentboy.com.

(n.) Rekers is such a dick.

One can also buy Rekers mugs, t-shirts and magnets.

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