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You can't swing a proverbial pussy cat in Manhattan without hitting a 'mo who works in media. It's a very queer company town all around. And yet Portfolio's Jeff Bercovici came up all but empty-handed when he went to see how gays at the New York Post deal with working at the most homophobic workplace on the Eastern Seaboard (I'd wager it easily beats the RNC for sheer nastiness).
The Post insiders I asked weren't much help. "I'm trying to think of any gay employees I worked with there, but I can't," said one former longtime editor. "I couldn't even tell you the last gay employee who worked there," said a writer....
After some more inquiries, I learned that the Post does, in fact, have a handful of gay staffers, some of whom have voiced objections to the paper's coverage to colleagues and higher-ups. (A Post spokesman was unaware of any complaints.)
If the news and opinion writing isn't bad enough -- and it is, Blanche, it is! -- the paper's gossip sheet, Page Six, some days seems to choose its story lineup based solely on how many gay or gay-sympathizing people it can malign in one fell swoop.
My favorite of late was their piece about lesbians -- gasp! -- in Hollywood and how great they have it now. That's what counts as subtle in their book. They also have championed the use of "toe-tapper" (thanks, alleged heterosexual Larry Craig) and insisted on referring to Out contributor Chandler Burr as "flamboyant," which from where I sit isn't an insult but you can bet your best D&G it was intended as one.
What's a girl to do? I do my best not to link back to Page Six, and to put any water-cooler-qualifying gossip they break in the context of their hateful management, with a healthy dose of skepticism to boot. Do you think gay gossips should boycott Page Six items altogether?
Answer in comments and I'll post the best responses later this week.
Previously > When your Manhunt goes Page Six
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