You may have read it here first two nights ago or perhaps you’ve seen the story from yesterday on Towleroad or JoeMyGod. Maybe you caught it on Fark.com or today on HuffingtonPost.
It seems that a parent was using Craigslist to sell their kid’s Macbook. In itself, it doesn’t seem like a big deal. But in this instance, the parent was getting him a new Macbook because after getting caught in “homosexual acts,” he was “choosing to be straight.” The new Macbook was to be his reward.
While this sounds ridiculous at first glance, this kind of behavior from parents around the world is not unheard of. But as it turns out, this particular story is a fake.
I’ve now done a great deal of research and this story has now been posted on dozens of other sites so, here’s the story…
The response I received was from a Clarence M. and despite my efforts, there was never another reply from that address. So, I googled the full name in Culver City and came up short. Then I just searched his name to see what I could find. other than the random “find someone’s phone number for $19.99” ads, one post jumped out at me.
It was a post someone made to GLAAD’s Facebook page in November, 2010:
The name was the same and the circumstances nearly identical. And lo and behold, one of the commenters to the GLAAD post has provided me with a screencap of the Las Vegas ad.
Having this new email address, I started another search – which wasn’t too hard. It seems Alex A. of Las Vegas, NV has been for some inconceivable reason, posting fake ads to Craigslist where he poses as the parent of a gay teenager, tells a story about catching his kid having gay sex and either decides to sell his kid’s things or reward him for “choosing to be straight.”
Judging from Alex’s Google+ and Twitter accounts, he’s a handsome young man. So I’m not sure why he sees the need to spend so much time trolling Craigslist with obnoxious, fake stories. I’m trying to figure out how one man’s life could be so boring that he feels the need to obsess over gay teenagers having sex?
And finally, I received a response after calling the poster out via email. It seems a young man named Daryl has been up to no good. Following our excerpts from some of our emails back and forth:
“Yes, I need to keep my aliases straight. It’s Daryl actually. I write horrible posts on Craigslist all over the country to see what issues make people angriest for a project I’m putting together. I’m sorry anyone that was offended.”
“It started out when I got my first computer, my friends and I put an ad on Craigslist saying we were selling Justin Bieber tickets. We made fun of the people that would write us. That gave me an idea to start putting up other things on Craigslist to see what people have passion about and to get reactions out of them. I want to write something about issues that people are most passionate about. I want to be a writer one day. I’m sorry about this all. I just don’t want this to affect me going to a good school one day. I’m sorry.”
“I guess I just never understood how bad it was for most people. I have no problem with gay people at all. It seems so foreign that someone would hate gays. I’m sorry. I never understood. One of my friends I think is gay. We have been friends since we were little kids. If anyone said something to him I would be pissed. I didn’t understand how bad some people were treated. I’ll never do anything like this again. I’m having panic attacks like crazy right now. I would never be against gays, ever. I’m sorry.”
Talk About Equality 
Good – let him stew in it for a while.
Is he saying that he posted the original ad in 2010 as well? Or was that a real one he copied?
This part makes no sense: “One of my friends I think is gay. We have been friends since we were little kids. If anyone said something to him I would be pissed.” If he’s not even sure his friend is gay, then how would he know he’s been harassed? In fact, if he thinks his friend is gay, how would he NOT know that his friend has been discriminated against (eg not allowed to marry, able to be fired, etc). His statements are so hypothetical that it suggests he in fact doesn’t know any gay people which is very odd (unless he is in fact anti-gay or a religious bigot).
That would make perfectly normal sense if you remembered anything about high school. Teenage boys get called gay if they like Lady Gaga or if they watch too much Sailor Moon. That kid may or may not be gay, but the homophobia is affecting him the same. Even the savviest HSers don’t think much about marraige equality or job discrimination, they worry mostly about getting beat up or harrassed in school.
Reblogged this on JimmieJoe.com and commented:
It turns out the Craigslist ad was just a kid unclear on the power and reach of the Internet. There is no Mom bribing her son straight with a new computer (at least in this instance!)
“I’ve now confirmed Daryl is who he says he is and I think he’s been significantly frightened away from pulling this kind of thing again. ” Yes all of us in the GLBT community are relieved to know a boy in high school won’t be making fun of homophobes again. Good work detective.
Most people who’ve told you you need a sense of humor have probably been homophobes themselves, so I can’t blame you, morally, for turning that part of your brain off. As a practical matter though it seems to be interfering with your ability to understand what it is you are seeing.
If you believe this person is going to stop you are a gullible as a teenage virgin he’s already moved on to his next fake ad and will be back with another gay one in a year or two
Actually, I now find the whole thing numerous! He did nothing wrong as far as I’m concerned. He is not a bigot and he got people talking.
Daryl, just relax. It’s all good!
Oh, and you know what? Keep on doing that! It actually helps our cause whether it’s real or not.
Hi, my name is Daryl. I drive around the country taking shits in public swimming pools for a project I’m doing about what makes people the angriest. I don’t have anything against public swimming pools, I’m just passionate about writing.
This is what I hate about trolls and idiots. No single raindrop thinks they are responsible for the flood. Yet we’re drowning in hate and stupidity. There’s nothing funny about it.
You may not be able to make it any better by preaching about it, but dropping more shit in the pool only makes it worse.
I don’t think his remorse is sincere. He’s just saying what he thinks we want to hear.