Press Pass Q founder clashes with gay activists, journalists

Freelance writer David Benkof, founder of Press Pass Q and Q Syndicate, has a knack for ruffling feathers. First, he underwent a transformation from David Bianco, the gay activist, to David Benkof, the Orthodox Jew. For religious reasons, he told the Washington Blade in a 2003 interview, Benkof had given up sex with men, or as he put it, “having all kinds of Internet hookups and doing the urban gay male lifestyle.”

This summer, Benkof advocated passage of Proposition 8, California's ban on same-sex marriage. And in his new column “Fabulously Observant,” he urged gays and conservatives to find common ground on a number of social issues, including adoption, abortion, and support for troops in Iraq.

But that's not the whole of it. “He seems to have an ax to grind against our community, writing about some very ugly, negative stereotypes that are harmful,” said Wayne Besen, executive director of Truth Wins Out, a non-profit organization that counters right-wing propaganda and exposes the “ex-gay” myth.

Perhaps the worst stereotype perpetuated, Besen said, is Benkof's tying the gay community to NAMBLA [North American Man Boy Love Association]. In his recent column, “Anything but Straight,” Besen challenged Benkof for saying, “I have tons of data that shows how a significant subset of the gay community in America has always supported adult-child sex.”

But Benkof said Besen has taken that comment out of context. “I've never said gays are pedophiles,” Benkof said. Historically, however, “some leaders,” Benkof said, namely “Harry Hay and Frank Kameny, have linked gay liberation with lowering the age of consent laws.”

Earlier this year, “Fabulously Observant” ran in a few LGBT publications, including the Tampa Bay Gazette, Columbus Outlook, Tulsa Ozarks Star, and Dallas Voice – but not for long.

Take the Dallas Voice, for instance. “David Benkof submitted several freelance columns to us in the spring of this year,” said Voice editor Tammye Nash. “We ran two, maybe three of them. However, we got no reader response to the content of his columns and felt his work was not a good fit for our mission. So we have not published any since early June.”

Meanwhile, Benkof took his message to mainstream media [USA Today, Philadelphia Inquirer, New York Post, and Los Angeles Times] and the Jewish press. In an op-ed, Benkof argued that George W. Bush is the best president on AIDS.

In September, Benkof was appointed the first openly gay columnist for the Jerusalem Post, where “Fabulously Observant” will run weekly.

So why pay any attention to Benkof? “He's a very good writer with a knack for getting published in major publications,” said Besen. “He's using a national platform to hurt our community.”

A good role for LGBT media, Besen added, is “to talk to Benkof and see where he is coming from and find out where his relationship with the gay community soured so much that he writes in a very public fashion some derogatory things that have hurt people.”

At the same time, Besen applauds Benkof for breaking with backers of Proposition 8. “That's a step in the right direction.”

In fact, Benkof shut down his blog GaysDefendMarriage.com, he said, “because of homophobia and anti-Semitism among the organizers of that campaign. I no longer support Proposition 8 in California.”

What's more, “I do not have a vendetta against the gay community,” he said. “I don't want to hurt people I care about.”

Benkof also said he harbors no animosity toward gays and gay media. “My separation from Q Syndicate and Rivendell Media [which now owns Q Syndicate and Press Pass Q] was quite amicable,” said Benkof, who attributes his distancing from the community and gay press to a “religious transformation.”

In moving to Orthodox Judaism, “I came to the conclusion through study and fellowship with like-minded people that the Torah comes from God, and I needed to work my life around that fact,” he said. “I found my belief system and values to be inconsistent with my primary work in the gay press. It was a very gradual move, mostly from my religious transformation.”

Next year, Benkof, who self-identifies as gay or bisexual, but not ex-gay, intends to relocate to Jerusalem. — Chuck Colbert

Couretsy: PressPassQ (www.presspassq.com)