Silence = life?
Kidnapped (and sprung) peacenik James Loney
is gay, and friends, family and media kept it under wraps for months.
"The co-director of the
Christian Peacemakers Teams says the family of freed Christian peace activist James Loney kept his sexual orientation quiet out of fear for his safety. Doug Pritchard says the family feared Loney might come to harm at the hands of his Iraqi captors had they known he was gay. Pritchard says it likely wouldn't have helped if Loney's partner, Dan Hunt, had come forward with public pleas for his release. Hunt made his first public appearance since Loney's ordeal began last November when he greeted his partner Sunday at the airport."
And the background: "The 41-year-old Loney was kidnapped in Baghdad along with fellow Canadian Harmeet Sooden, Briton Norm Kember and American Tom Fox, whose bullet-ridden body was found earlier this month."
ADDENDUM Tuesday: Only the truth we decide you'll know... Toronto Star media writer Antonia Zerbisias on the journalism blackout,
here.