Miami New Times listened in on a speakerphone call between anti-gay Christian leader George Alan Rekers and the "rent boy" (here identified as Lucien) who accompanied him on his vacation:
"During that talk — which took place at about 1 a.m. Thursday in a Fort Lauderdale home — Rekers told Lucien several times not to talk to the press. He also never challenged two statements by Lucien: 1) that the minister had found the 20-year-old escort on an internet site, and 2) that they 'did the whole massage thing,' referring to Lucien's contention that he gave Rekers nude massages during their two-week trip to Europe."
Part of their story:
Rekers assured that if the escort just remained silent, the whole story would soon die down. He began muttering darkly about "activists with an axe to grind" and "nothing better to do."
Lucien suggested that perhaps "the media" had a point and that Rekers really had done harm to the gay community. He insisted that Rekers' struggle wasn't his, and said he had considered making a statement to the press.
"Well, don't do that," said Rekers. "It just causes more harm."
"What was going through your mind when you went on that website?" demanded Lucien, referring to rentboy.com, the gay escort site where he had posted his profile.
Rekers paused for several seconds, considering. "Well, I'd be happy to sit down and talk to you more about that." He paused again. "We have to deal with the situation that we have, and make sure it doesn't get worse."
"Sometimes I feel like I should just tell [the press] what happened on the trip."
"No," said Rekers quickly, "Please don't do that. Please don't let them pressure you into it."
"But I'm getting pressured out of the gay community!" Lucien was fairly screaming now. "If I ever wanted to be with someone — it wouldn't work out! This is my fucking name!"
After some cross-talk, Rekers tried to calm Lucien down: "I've been through things like this in the past –"
Lucien cut him off: "Well I haven't! I'm 20 years old! If you've been through this, you shouldn't have gone to that website, you shouldn't have hired me — why did you make so many choices [for me]?"
The conversation was too sad, by then, and we couldn't bear to follow it.
I hope someone in South Florida is stepping up to give Lucien some good advice and offering him some support. The young man really sounds in need of guidance, though I do commend him for speaking out for what he believes and exposing this dangerous, anti-gay hypocrite.
