Ethnicity: Latino

Given that Rekers is a typical white Xtian conservative, I have to admit that this part gives some tiny amount of credence to his claim that he merely hired the fellow to carry his bags.

It was research, y’know.

It’s funny to post this on a high-traffic blog without checking with him to see if he minds, because he’s a bigoted hypocrite on a homophobic crusade who’s harmed a lot of people in his long, sad life…wait, no, no, he hasn’t.

Oh well, he’s a whore with his picture on the internet, so he totally doesn’t deserve any more human courtesy than an evil bigot does.

Will do anything you say as long as you ask

It’s extra funny how he doesn’t like getting sexually assaulted, which is so common in his profession he has to spell it out in his profile. Whores! Ha. 

Dare I hope that when someone digs up his full legal name, as they certainly will, you won’t help spread it around?

...wait, no, no he hasn’t.

If you honestly believe that, then you really have no idea who Dr. Rekers is.

Oh, and “Geo” has already been advertising his wares on rentboy.com for a long time; I can’t imagine this little post is going to change things much.

Rekers is a public figure, by choice.  Lucien isn’t.  Until he agrees to an interview and comes out publicly to identify himself, it’s kind of shady to drag him out into the public eye because his client’s an asshole.

Sophinisba, I’m going to tell you what I told my 5’9, 132 lb, 28” waist son: when you put something about yourself out on the internet, it is PUBLIC DOMAIN. Any “right” to privacy ends when you put something like this out there for everybody to see.

While this young man may have no “right” to privacy in relation to his profile on the Rentboy Web site, it seems to me that this post is nothing more than gratuitous piling on the wrong person.

Hey—good abs will help with the luggage carrying.  It’s all about the core baby!

Who’s piling on Geo - it’s Rekers who put forth his preposterous explanation after explanation and the profile was up on Rentboy - Geo could have taken it down at any point before this broke, or even after. Honestly, it will probably help his business on the site. The people to feel sorry for are Rekers wife and children—especially all those he fostered and the one he adopted. If I had kids I wouldn’t want them anywhere near this clearly disturbed homophobe ‘with issues.’

UHm.. wait a sec - funny, I didn’t see a lot of qualms about what was her name with McGreevy? er. Spitzer - Ashley Dupre?  Double standard much? 

and excuse me for not being in the know, but how do sites like rentboy exist as in not get busted for prostitution?  Aren’t there like weekly craigslist raids?

Given that Rekers is a typical white Xtian conservative, I have to admit that this part gives some tiny amount of credence to his claim that he merely hired the fellow to carry his bags.

Based on his pictures, the young man looks to me to be about as Latino as Cameron Diaz… he could easily pass himself off as white if he wanted to.  Blonde hair and blue eyes?  My guess is that he’s a fairly light-skinned Cuban from Miami.

Wingnuts tend to like their domestic servants to be obviously Hispanic, heavy accents and all.  “Geo” doesn’t really seem to fit that stereotype too well.  The only reason I know he’s Latino at all is because his profile says he is… if I had to guess based on the pictures alone, I would have assumed that he was a standard issue caucasian of European descent.

Wow. Just. Wow.

Wow.  Who knew that the learned expert had a Draco Malfoy fetish?

I understand why there is some worry about “Geo”.  Any prostitute, no matter how “upscale”, is likely to be subject to blackmail, coercion, abuse, and worse if he or she can’t bring in the money.  And this exposure can lead to some serious income challenges.

On the other hand, his client was a famous douchenozzle (or is it “enemanozzle” in this instance?) who was known for a public position against prostitution in general and male prostitutes in a more specific manner, especially in regard to his own preferences.  Exposing his client serves some purpose in this case.  Hypocritical public figures deserve to be exposed, especially when their actions do harm the rights of people like themselves and those they love or profess to love.  “It’s nobody’s business” is a two-way street.

On still another hand, there is the matter that a young man who spends lots of time at hair salons, gyms, tanning salons, and on his knees would have known that his client, Professor Rekers, was anything other than another lonely middle-aged white guy with a desire for some smooth cock and a bit of a Ricky Martin fetish.  I can’t say I had ever heard of the guy, and I’m sure I’m not alone in that.

In summation, this was newsworthy.  That hypocrite needed to be exposed, and I hope “Geo” gets a safer line of work.  Will he?  I don’t know, but I doubt this one website will make a difference either way.

I did feel kind of bad for the kid just from his interview in the Miami newspaper story - he was obviously trying to be as discrete as possible, but really, when a guy you met on the internet takes your sexy self on vacation and tells the reporters you were there to “carry his luggage,” he’s not giving you a lot to work with.  What awful luck for the kid.  There’s probably no way to be prepared for being in the center of this kind of shitstorm when there are so many other more likely risks that come along with being a travel companion/masseuse who just happens to be ok with anal.

Or, everything really is on the up and up and we should feel nothing but the deepest pity for Rekers - it must be tough to spend your entire life caring for all of God’s children only to have to turn to Rentboy.com in order to find someone willing to act as your valet in exchange for a free vacation.

Making life-saving inventions out of household materials!
MACGRUBER

Does the hypocrisy of these people ever get old?  I hope not.  The irony can’t stop my smile from coming through every time these people are exposed but honestly do you think it changes their follower’s position?  Cognitive dissonance and general hatred keeps these people funneling cash into his coffers and they’ll raise a new champion who prefers his prostitutes with a vagina next time.  That’s why you can’t really break these groups.  They’ll find bigots that are less of a screw up to keep the system going.  I just pray the progressive generation is still growing and learning as they watch these fools.

Would you have published the photos and profile if Geo was a woman?  I know they’re public, but still.  What makes this newsworthy is Reker’s homophobia, and the news should be all about him.
@ MsKate, and the ““right”” to privacy: just because someone doesn’t legally have a right to something it means nobody can do them the favour?

Is more publicity like this good or bad for Geo’s career?  I don’t know how things go in his line of work, but I was thinking that being involved in a big scandal might have some upside.

I do feel bad for the kid too.  I hope everyone who calls themselves liberal will first ask themselves “if this were a 19 you female prostitute, would I post this?”.

I have a real yucky feeling about this.  He’s already been exploited by scumbags like Rekers.  And God knows what else.  Putting his picture up and writing what can only be your own projections about how he’s happy to spank you and ram it up your ass?

Really not cool.  And Kate, the “if you put it on the internet you deserve whatever you get” is a BS excuse used by cyberstalkers.  We’re ALL on the net.  Doesn’t make it okay.

Pam, take the pictures down.  You’re wrong.  You’re letting your justified anger and maybe even hatred of homosexual bigots and self-hating projecting closet cases, lead you to taking part in something that is at best, unsavory.

I don’t understand why some people here think that it’s somehow invading this guy’s privacy to quote his advertisement.  If you want to be left alone, don’t take out an ad.

(And while Pandagon is pretty high-traffic for a political blog, I suspect the rentboy is much more heavily trafficked than this place)

What Rea said.

Also I’m uncomfortable with all the assumptions we’re jumping to in regards to the rent boys situation.

This post “whore-shames” the young man, and it is just plain mean. Rekers is despicable for many reasons and all of that should be soundly mocked and ridiculed. Making “Geo” an object of ridicule for doing what he presumably thinks he needs to do is unnecessary.

And BTW, I felt exactly the same way about the public “whore-shaming” of the woman that Eliot Spitzer was paying for sex.

As usual (except when he’s banging on about baseball) I agree with PhysioProf.  The kid’s young, he’s not to blame, and outing him may well put him in physical danger.

Since this is Pandagon, and we’re all insufferable music snobs, I can also quote Chrissie Hynde:

“But ha ha, too bad
You know what they say.
Stop sniffling
You’re gonna make some plastic surgeon a rich man
Oh, but the prestige and the glory
Another human interest story
You are that.”

In all fairness, Geo looks pretty fit.  I’m betting he can haul some luggage.

We ARE talking about luggage, right?  You know, as in Samsonite?

How does it hurt the young man to use his own advertisement? Hey, I’m not laughing at him. I’d hit it.

Rekkers on the other hand… Another anti-gay guy who turns out to be gay, same shit, different day!

“This post “whore-shames” the young man, and it is just plain mean. Rekers is despicable for many reasons and all of that should be soundly mocked and ridiculed. Making “Geo” an object of ridicule for doing what he presumably thinks he needs to do is unnecessary.”

I don’t read “whore-shaming.” I think the guy’s ad reads like you’d think a prostitute’s ad would read and I don’t see Pam trying to shame him for being a prostitute. I also see a difference between finding someone’s personal information on-line, when they clearly didn’t intend you and everyone to have it, and quoting from someone’s advertisement.

“I wonder why it doesn’t have any stats on number of bags Geo can carry, or whether he performs therapeutic massage for his john client to ensure the post-surgery Rekers has adequate comfort for physical recovery? Wait, I found additional information that closed the deal for Rekers.”

To me, that’s all ridicule of the explanation offered by Rekers, not of the prostitute in question.

The only shaming I see is Pam trying to shame Christian assholes out the belief that they should want/have the right to tell anyone else how to live.

Rea @22:

If you want to be left alone, don’t take out an ad.

How about “If you want to mostly be left alone except by people looking for a male escort, don’t take out ads anywhere except male escorting websites”? I think Lucien followed that piece of advice.

I wear clothes out to clubs that I wouldn’t wear to work. That’s public, right? Anyone could see me. And these clothes are a form of personal expression—like an ad, they EXIST to be seen…

So suppose someone emailed my boss with a picture of me looking trashy. Have they violated my rights? No, I wore those clothes out in public. But they’ve pissed all over one of my prerogatives as an autonomous human being: to present myself differently in different places. Everyone tries to do this, and everyone usually succeeds. Someone who goes out of their way to make me fail at this particular act of imperfect self-determination is causing me harm that didn’t have to happen, and if they do that even though they don’t actually wish me ill, they’re really kinda being an asshole.

I do think it is/was in poor taste to out “Geo” - whether it mocked him or not - just because his client is an asshole. If this were a female sex worker, we’d consider it misogyny to expose her because of her client’s hypocrisy, particularly because of the amount of hatred and violence that is directed at sex workers of any stripe, publicly and privately.

His bio looks a lot like the female escorts bios I know of.
Is posting it here “Whore-shaming”?  A significant percentage feel it is.
Though I’m not finding any argumetn to support it other than opinion.
I’m on the fence regarding whether it is or not, but if people have a better argument than “I know it when I see it,” I’ll listen.

Please expand on your ideas so I can see your point.

The photos have been removed from the Rentboy page and the name has been changed. I think that’s a good enough indication of this guy’s desires regarding privacy.

But they’ve pissed all over one of my prerogatives as an autonomous human being: to present myself differently in different places.

Which, of course, is exactly what we are doing to Dr. Rekers, isn’t it?  Are you offended on his behalf as well?

If “Geo” is smart, he’ll get himself interviewed in a few places and it will advance a modeling career for him.  In SE Florida and in the circles he is moving in, there is no particular shame in what he is doing.  In fact, he has a lot of competition.  This will help him get noticed and build up his client base.  Our area here is so saturated with sex that you can’t think in terms of him being outed in another area of the country.  The circumstances are just completely different.  Yes, all of the cautions that sex workers need to observe are still important here.  But “Geo” is not trying to be anonymous in terms of his sex worker identity.  I do hope that no one will publish his actual name like they did with Elliot Spitzer’s sex worker.

“Turns out Rekers is also available for hire. He was paid $87,000 by the State of Florida to be an expert witness in its defense of the adoption ban. Via Towleroad:
Florida taxpayer dollars were used to compensate George Alan Rekers, the “ex-gay” activist caught recently returning from vacation with a hustler from Rentboy.com, to defend the state’s ban on gay adoption.

While the ACLU defended Frank ‘Martin’ Gill and his sons, Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum paid Rekers and his colleague Walter Schum close to $100K to spread their falsehoods in order to keep children away from the loving care of gay parents.

They were the only witnesses the state called.
Some people will do anything for money.”

Lucien may be a rent boy, but Rekers is a whore.

And let us not forget that Rekers was defaming not just every gay foster parent, but two gay men who had given a loving home for four years to a baby and toddler traumatized by crack addict parents who had neglected to feed them.

http://pandagon.net/index.php/site/comments/family_research_council_founder_vacations_with_his_rent_boy_er_travel_assis/site/comments#199831

Despite Rekers lies, the Florida ban prohibiting gay adoption was ruled unconstitutional by the judge, but still I say there are hos, and then there are whores.

And Rekers is a whore.

His picture and bio are posted on a website that is geared towards a certain segment of population. So he actually could have a reasonable expectation to maintain some amount of privacy unlike, say, if he had posted it on facebook. For example, I’ve never visited rentboy.com, because I am not a prospective customer. This kid could have a very reasonable expectation that someone like me could interact with him without knowing anything about his sex work. Mist people do not hire sex workers or go on rentboy.com, so he very well could expect that most of the people he runs into on a daily basis would not have the faintest idea of what he does for a living. And he might want to keep it that way.

Pandagon is also geared towards a specific audience. I would hope most users here would never think of harming him.  But it’s still more public than rentboy.com and there are trolls visiting here and the story and photos could be picked up by other sites. This might not be whore-shaming, but it’s definitely outing. As others asked, would this be posted if he was a woman? I hope that a feminist and progressive blog is not a space where people are outed for doing sex work!

Pam, ethically, I’d leave the ad text and the name, but take down the photos. As Elena says, the photos were originally put up for a different audience - and they add nothing to the story.

Then we can get on with discussing Reker’s hypocrisy, which ought to be the real story.

Boy, the “privacy” crowd is really stretching here.  Really stretching.  Maybe you should help the “Quit Your Crying Constance” crowd out here - they need some fresh rationalizations for how their privacy was violated by reproducing things they put on the internet, too!

Yep, Ms Kate, worrying about who might see pictures of a GLBT youth outing him as a sex worker outside of the intended audience = bullying a GLBT youth. Exactly the same.

But I guess “whores” don’t deserve any respect or consideration. He asked for it by putting pictures on the Internet amirite?!

As usual (except when he’s banging on about baseball) I agree with PhysioProf.

MissPrism, what are you, some kind of Red Sock fan?

I’m disappointed in the outing of the escort and I believe it shows a blind spot to class privilege in some of the members of the online gay activist community. I think in particular of some comments on Joe.My.God which were claiming a moral equivocation between him and Rekers, because apparently by accepting to take money to sleep with closet case homophobes he’s as bad for the gay community as said closet case homophobe. IMO just alerting the media about Rekers’ hypocrisy was doing more for ‘the Cause’ than should have been expected from this young man.

I don’t think it’s whore-shaming. But then, I don’t think being a whore is shameful—maybe assumptions going in effect how one reads the post?

What I’ve noticed in the comments is simply concern for Geo’s safety and career prospects. And distaste for the guy who hired him.
In fact, it might be better to complain about the fat-shaming of Reker and his doughy ass.

However, if this was my blog, I’d leave out Geo’s real first name and blur the face—fsm knows we wouldn’t want to hurt his chances of leaving that business and getting a healthier job. Or get one of the right-wingers who read this site only to fume to get mad at him.

Rea: Sure, I guess that’s what outing is, in general. But I’m not mad on Rekers’ behalf; as I (tried to) say, putting an ad on rentboy.com may well cede your right to privacy… it just doesn’t opt out of the general live-and-let-live social contract that ends up protecting most of our ‘secrets’ from traveling far enough to hurt us.

Rekers opted way the hell out of that social contract a long time ago, at least when it comes to queer folks.

Yawn, Samantha.  I would imagine a trip to the salon, and no one would recognize Lucien/Geo/whatshisname if he got close enough for a lapdance.  Not to mention he’s twenty - in three years, he’ll probably look nothing like that photo.

The pictures of “Geo” should not be part of this post. Quoting his ad, maybe, or typical ads for these services makes a very straightforward point. But I can’t see the logic of any of the defenses of posting this person’s picture along with the story. Listen to the argument: “Geo could have taken it down at any point before this broke, or even after. Honestly, it will probably help his business on the site.” Why should he take his ad down? That will adversely affect his cash flow, right? So he should take it down to avoid… being ashamed? It’s not his job to research his clients on opensecrets.org or to turn slut-shaming this into a bonanza for his business. It’s his job to provide whatever sexual services he consents to for money, and maybe carry luggage. That’s why this conservative bigot should be embarrassed: he’s a hypocrite and an obvious liar. But the kid he hired? Why should some hypocrite/liar get to drive him out of business?

Sorry, but I’m just not seeing the shaming part.  The pics aren’t posted to embarrass him, and the comments don’t seem to either.  Most are of the evidence presentation type, which is that this person doesn’t seem to be of the physical stature that might add some credence to Rekers’ story.

I’m really disappointed to see that Pam Spaulding has still left Geo’s photos up, without explanation or apology.

I’m still disappointed to see that Pam Spaulding has ignored all the sensible points people were making about Geo’s right to privacy.

Geo did nothing wrong.  He’s not the one at fault here. The topic should be George Rekers. Pam still has the option of taking the photos of Geo down. I wish she would, rather than act like he exists merely an object with which to slutshame Rekers (not that Rekers doesn’t deserve to be slutshamed, but Geo is not an “object” and Pam shouldn’t be using him as one).