From the Editor: Why Perez?

Please! Like it or not, that Hilton creature is one of the most visible homos in the country and his words have had an effect on public attitudes. I find him vile and very non-entertaining, but I am curious about what makes him tick, why he is so popular and why he has such visibility. Thank you Advocate for profiling him and thank you for not just being a pr rag for the politically correct, the out of touch and especially thank you for riling up those self-hating, semi-closeted homos who get upset when anyone in our community isn't the boy or girl next door.

Your attempt to justify this is really repulsive. Shame!

WTF??... We go from having a TRUE and ELOQUENT spokesperson (Lt. Dan Choi) on the cover of The Advocate, then one month later we have Perez Hilton; a brainless twink with bad hair. C'mon Advocate, let's portray the BEST of the LGBT community, rather than someone whose entire life is a walking stereotype.

For a cheap buck, you have once again sold yourselves down the river. The Advocate and its editor are disgraces to the Gay Liberation movement, not advocates for it. There are so many examples of this, such as your issue promoting ex-Gov. Jim McGreevey (who was forced out of the closet and suddenly decided to use his coming out to mask his corruption scandal) . I'm so glad my local bookstore refused to carry your latest issue.

Get over yourselves! It's funny how we can all be so judgmental, especially about our own. Make no mistake, Perez is one of ours and, just like the rest of us, he has the right to be who he is. So what if he may be an attention whore, are we all so free of this sin? I appreciate him asking the question he did at the Miss USA pageant and, dare I say it, I also appreciate his use of the "F" word in his now infamous scuffle. It is a word that has long been used as a slur against our community and since words have power, we best own it.

How can anyone be any more mortified of your decision, except my your lame attempt to justify it. The very sheer notion that this chubby lame brain dared to ask only the most obvious of gay-prompted questions, in a pageant he had no business judging in the first place, earned him your cover spot makes me puke. You continue to prop up this loser, and for what reason, none of us have a clue. He is vile, he is cheap, he is tawdry. We do not accept him. We wish him the vile demise he deserves, and now, you merely lay down with the dog and your flea invested magazine is tainted as it should be. You are stupid. Your action is indefensible, and by defending it, you only are weaker.

The Advocate , under your editorship, is NOT a Gay liberation publication. It is a self hating "National Enquirer" trying to make a buck by any means. no matter how foul. Your previous articles-such as the one defending Fred Phelp's so called "right" to free speech (which advocated hate crime against us) and your asking if we are really at fault for a gay teenager's murder (because we are encouraging people to come out) are pathetic examples of your shameful politics. Here is another: this awful self hating vapid queen on the cover! I never buy The Advocate and ask my local newstand not to promote it. The sooner it (and its sister OUT-also run by you) folds the sooner a real liberation publication will step in to fill the void.

Is everyone so desperate for attention as this pairing: Mag and Mascot? I bet your advertisers are disappointed about this choice and if it weren't for the necessary lead time to publication I bet they would have reneged. If any intern five years ago had asked a decent editor if a guy so controversial as Perez could be a spokesperson for any community years later said editor would have kept them in the mail room. Stop this cycle of embarrassing melodrama. Its like the bearded lady already.

The Advocate needs to define its purpose because putting Perez Hilton on the cover is a setback for that goal. Perez does not advocate for equality except in his view of it and the media like in anything else sets the tone. Not everyone blogs, etc., and Perez took the market of the rag magazines and put it on line because our society craves gossip and controversy. Don't care for two year olds that whine and a grown man who does is just too sad. Equality means he has the right too but this is a key time in our fight and having Perez out there promoting stereotypes and the Advocate putting his picture on the cover felt like another knife in the heart of hope that I had with President Obama. Perez Hilton markets by exploiting and is only open to dialog and equality for people who agree with him. If that is what the Advocate has evolved into as opposed to building a meaningful dialog it has taken another step into Hilton's circus.

Worst Advocate cover since Howard Stern back in '95. Harvey Milk gets taken from us and yet this ass clown on the cover is allowed to "represent" us?