Outed, but not ousted...

OK, the gay part. Personally, I cannot believe for a second that this would have been the story it was were it not for the fact that Johnson was "trolling" (that's such a Ross Mackenzie word, don't you think?) on a gay Web site. But the flipside is — and I'm not the only one to point this out* — that Johnson's sexual orientation may have helped him in the aftermath. Can you possibly imagine a standing ovation at the School Board meeting or outpouring of public support if he'd been "trolling" for ladies? He would have been a tacky embarrassment that colleagues would've wanted to steer clear of. Now, he seems to be some kind of symbol. And if he had been a straight guy trolling for ladies, would area ministers be organizing against him trying to oust him?

And as for the posting itself: I complained in my first post on the story (out of frustration as a straight supporter of gay rights) that it figured — it just figured that it had to be an over-the-top pornographic site that exactly represents the stereotype that all gay men are sex-crazed. But — and here's a question I ask quite sincerely — if I were to start checking out "gay internet dating Web sites" would that be the general tone of most of them? Is that really what straight dating sites are like?

*The T-D columnists finally break their silence after more than a week! Mark Holmberg wrote about it today, asking some of the same questions we've been asking here since the story broke. But when, if ever, will the T-D's editors explain why this was an A-1 story?