Gay blogger Joe Jervis of Joe.My.God reports he received death threats after tweeting information about the Family Research Council's history of hateful activism.
After last week's shooting at the headquarters of the conservative
Family Research Council, Jervis tweeted out links to examples of the
organization's antigay efforts and, later, its president Tony Perkins's association with white supremacist groups. He also tweeted, "Remember how the FRC and all the rest declared it a 'badge of honor' to be called a hate group by the SPLC?"
That didn't sit well with conservative pundits who defended FRC. In a blog post
published Monday, Jervis posted two images from Twitter showing the
kinds of responses he got. One is from CNN contributor Dana Loesch, who
tweeted, "I'm blocking the Joe guy apparently celebrating the FRC
shooting, fyi. He worked really hard to incite hate last week, he needs
to rest."
Another Twitter user sent Jervis a photo of a person hanged from a
crane with the caption, "We plan on celebrating your lifestyle with
cranes."
Jervis informed Twitter Support, but was informed that the message was not in violation of Twitter's rules.
"We have a policy against violent threats, but the content of this
account lacks the specificity to meet the criteria of an actionable
threat. Receiving these types of messages can be frustrating; however,
removing content does not resolve the issue, but instead can make the
situation worse," Twitter Support responded to him via email.
Jervis wrote that he wasn't surprised by Twitter's response and that
he regularly receives similar messages via email. He also pointed out
something else that his critics seem to have missed: Last Wednesday, the
day of the shooting, he posted the joint statement
issued by dozens of LGBT rights groups denouncing violence and sending
well wishes to the shooting victim. He added to the statement, "I work
alone, but I too endorse the above statement."
1 comment:
I've never got into Twitter, it just never grabbed me. After reading this, I'm sickened by Twitters in-action to remove this post. SICK, TWITTER, SICK!!! Joe, keep well.
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