George Alan Rekers is a prototypical professional homophobe. He is a founding board member of the Family Research Council, a well-funded anti-gay organization that the Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled a hate group; an officer for NARTH, the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality, a pseudo-scientific group that disseminates anti-gay disinformation disguised as research; and a researcher for the American College of Pediatricians, which, despite its legitimate-sounding name, has been described as a “phony medical group attempting to peddle anti-gay propaganda to schools.”

Although he keeps a much lower profile than Tony Perkins, James Dobson and their colleagues in professional anti-gay activism, Rekers — who holds PhD in human developmental psychology from UCLA and doctorate in theology from the University of South Africa — did serve as an expert witness in two high-profile, state-level court cases on gay adoption. The first was in Arkansas, in December 2004. The second was in In 2008, when he was called by Florida’s attorney general, Bill McCollum — currently a Republican candidate for governor — to testify as a state’s witness in the adoption case known in re. Gill(PDF).

With such sterling anti-gay credentials, it is all but inevitable that Dr. Rekers was caught red-handed last month with a male prostitute. Miami New Times:

On April 13, the “rent boy” (whom we’ll call Lucien) arrived at Miami International Airport on Iberian Airlines Flight 6123, after a ten-day, fully subsidized trip to Europe. He was soon followed out of customs by an old man with an atavistic mustache and a desperate blond comb-over, pushing an overburdened baggage cart.

That man was George Alan Rekers, of North Miami — the callboy’s client and, as it happens, one of America’s most prominent anti-gay activists. Rekers, a Baptist minister who is a leading scholar for the Christian right, left the terminal with his gay escort, looking a bit discomfited when a picture of the two was snapped with a hot-pink digital camera.

Reached by New Times before a trip to Bermuda, Rekers said he learned Lucien was a prostitute only midway through their vacation. “I had surgery,” Rekers said, “and I can’t lift luggage. That’s why I hired him.” (Medical problems didn’t stop him from pushing the tottering baggage cart through MIA.)

Yet Rekers wouldn’t deny he met his slender, blond escort at Rentboy.com — which features homepage images of men in bondage and grainy videos of crotch-rubbing twinks — and Lucien confirmed it.

While the corporate media has completely ignored this story, it has been all over the Interwebs, especially on sites that cover gay politics. Rekers responded to the derision leveled at him by explaining that he took the young male prostitute to Europe because he couldn’t manage a hike on the Appalachian Trail so soon after his surgery by comparing himself to Jesus and John the Baptist:

Like John the Baptist and Jesus, I have a loving Christian ministry to homosexuals and prostitutes in which I share the Good News of Jesus Christ with them (see I Corinthians 6:8-11). Contrary to false gossip, innuendo, and slander about me, I do not in any way “hate” homosexuals, but I seek to lovingly share two types of messages to them, as I did with the young man called “Lucien” in the news story: [1] It is possible to cease homosexual practices to avoid the unacceptable health risks associated with that behavior, and [2] the most important decision one can make is to establish a relationship with God for all eternity by trusting in Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for the forgiveness of your sins, including homosexual sins. If you talk with my travel assistant that the story called “Lucien,” you will find I spent a great deal of time sharing scientific information on the desirability of abandoning homosexual intercourse, and I shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ with him in great detail.

Here’s how New Times describes what had to have been Dr. Reker’s process in finding his young “travel assistant”:

In his interview with New Times, Lucien didn’t want to impugn his client, but he made it clear they met through Rentboy.com, which is the only website on which he advertises his services. Neither Google nor any other search engine picks up individual Rentboy.com profiles, any more than they pick up individual profiles on eHarmony or Match.com. You cannot just happen upon one.

To arrive at Lucien’s site, Rekers must have accepted Rentboy.com’s terms of use, thereby acknowledging he was not offended by graphic sexual material. He then would have been transported to a front page covered with images of naked, tumescent men busily sodomizing each other.

Then Rekers must have performed a search. Did he want a “rentboy,” a “sugar daddy,” or a “masseur”? In what country? And what city? If Rekers searched for a rent boy in Miami, he would have found approximately 80 likely candidates. He must have scrolled down the first page, past the shirtless bears and desperate ex-models, and on to page 2. There, at last, was Lucien.

As a favor to Rekers, Lucien edited out the more explicit parts of his Rentboy.com profile — and now the entire profile has apparently been deleted. Fortunately, however, Pam Spaulding preserved it for posterity:

Weight: 132lbs (60kg), Height: 5’ 9″ (175cm), Body Hair: Smooth, Build: Lean/Swimmer, Eye Color: Blue, Hair Color: Blonde, Foreskin: Uncut, Cock Size: Large, Safe Sex: Always Safe, Sexual Position: Versatile, Sexual Orientation: Bisexual, Drugs: Non-Drug User, Smoking: Non-Smoker, Ethnicity: Latino, Languages Spoken: English, Spanish, Tastes / Specialties / Fetishes: Vanilla, Leather, Anal, Oral, Shaving, Spanking, Role Playing, Kissing, Toys, Feet, Talents: Modeling, Go-Go Dancing, Stripping, Massage, Travel Companion, Tour Guide, Interpreter.

And:

Massage, good times, Travel, escort for days, nights and weekends, My name’s Geo. 20 year old, 5’9’’, 130 pounds, 28’’ waist size,8×6” UNCUT, VERSATILE, NICE ASS. Puerto Rican, fair/light-Skin, blond hair, blue eyes and athletic/muscular built. I’m a college guy, masculine, educated, really easy-going, great to get along with, can hold a conversation and passionate You could just say I love to have a good time. Very clean, professional, HIV and Disease FREE. For a sensual meet or companionship. Will do anything you say as long as you ask ;D Repeat encounters are always more exciting for me and make it more casual and comfortable for you as well. Call or text anytime.

Finally from New Times, there’s this:

Well, it’s a good thing Rekers isn’t gay himself. Lucien tells us that Rekers frequently takes in foster children and that four years ago he adopted a 16-year-old boy. We found the boy, who is now Lucien’s age, on Facebook. He declined to be interviewed.

But a question remains. After a quick but thorough scour of the Intertubes, we were unable to answer a simple question: Is George Rekers, age 61, married?

(For a sampling of Rekers’ brand of smooth and buttery hate speech, check out his blog, where he compounds the creep factor by referring to himself as “Professor George.”)

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