Once again, another person dedicated to serving the community has been brought down because the press wants to get the “scoop”. Have we already forgotten about the ugliness reported not long ago involving Constable Mike Dupree? I have always been an advocate of what may be an obsolete concept, but in high school civics class the policy taught has always been innocent until PROVEN guilty. Period, no exceptions!
However, when it comes to a person in some level of authority such as the Constable and now Shannon Bailey the media prefers not to let due process take it’s course, but instead reports story after story about the seedy double life these people allegedly live while we’re not looking.
The Dallas Police Department doesn’t help either, choosing to paste the mugs of the alleged violators on their web site before these people have a chance to answer in court. The press, including the fine people at The Dallas Voice push the issue with news stories that print sexy details of late night rendezvous with nameless strangers meeting in the dark recesses of the city engaging in activity worthy of the cheapest porno paperback you can buy at Crossroads Market.
Does anyone really think about the damage these stories do to the community? It only gives more ammo to the Christian right to portray all of us in the GLBT community as sexaholics and perverts. I would expect the straight media to jump on stories like this, but The Voice? It used to be our advocate in cases of this nature, providing a very valuable sounding board to combat negative press. When others only reported the juicy tidbits, The Dallas Voice always used to be there to report the “other” side of the story. Times do change.
I guess this really shouldn’t come a too much of a surprise, after all it’s been proven sex does sell and the newspapers have to pay the light bill just like the rest of us. Without stories like this, there would indeed be an awful lot of white space to fill on the page.
In getting the story, have we forgotten these people are citizens of the United States and worthy of the same rights we would expect to be given to us if we were in similar circumstances? At this point the damage has been done and another candle burning to help those of us in the GLBT community has been snuffed out.
3 comments:
I have to say that while I feel sorry for Shannon's personal problems. He does need to step down as President of the Stonewall Caucus to keep from hurting the effectiveness of the group.
Do you think that Shannon bares any of the blame or responsibility for engaging in activity that would illicit this type of response?
To Anonymous -
Of course he needs to bear the responsibility for whatever he might have done, only if he is guilty. My complaint is simply, we are assuming he is guilty before he is proven otherwise. If he is found guilty, then it's time to step down, but until that time he has every right to remain in his post until his case goes before a judge.
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