Son Of 'Proud Homophobe' Professor Comes Out Of The Closet

[romantico]

Posted: 10/11/10 at 6:39pm

Isaac Katz came out to his parents as a gay man this summer after returning from college.

He did so about a month after his father, a Washington University professor, was booted from a panel of scientists assembled to help stop the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Gay activists pushed the Obama administration to remove Jonathan Katz because of an essay he had written and posted online declaring himself a proud homophobe.

In an essay he submitted to the Post-Dispatch to publish, the physics professor's son, Isaac Katz, comes out publicly — not as a jab to his father or to embarrass other relatives, he said.

Rather, he said, he hopes the personal account of his struggles will help others, particularly in light of a spate of recent suicides by young gay men who had been bullied because of their sexual orientation.

After coming out, Katz persuaded his father to remove from his website the "In Defense of Homophobia" essay, written in 1999, when Isaac was 11. His father's essay said, among other things, that gays should be shunned because they are physically and morally responsible for the AIDS epidemic.

While critical of his father's views on sexual orientation, Katz questions what homophobia has to do with the ability to offer expert advice on stopping a massive oil spill.

Katz, meanwhile, is living with his parents, working at the St. Louis Galleria and hoping to get accepted to a master's program in Los Angeles and focus his energies on becoming a screenwriter.

Katz's father was offered a chance to respond to his son's remarks. He did not reply.

(more)

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_d629ecf2-2f92-56ad-868e-5510eff8ef20.html

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/12/10 at 11:49am

I wish he was more (or at all) expressive about what his relationship is like with his father now that he's come out.

And yeah, I guess the dad's beliefs shouldn't have prevented him from helping with the oil spill, but it's really hard for me to even feel a shred of sympathy for the guy.

[tazber]

Posted: 10/12/10 at 11:55am

It's always easy to be a homophobe when you don't (think you) know any gay people.

I used to hate lion tamers until I met one. Now I understand how difficult they have it.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/12/10 at 11:59am

People always say that, but my personal experience shows that it doesn't do much, just as often as not. Plenty of people "accept" their gay family, friends, etc, but still go out and vote against them in elections.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 10/12/10 at 12:01pm

I quote TEEN WITCH:

Top THAT! Top THAT!

Posted: 10/12/10 at 12:06pm

You associate with Lion Tamers, Taz? And I used to think you were cool.

You're dead to em now.