Gay City News Seeks Reporter/ Digital Editor
BY MATT TRACY
Gay City News is hiring a reporter and
digital editor tasked with maintaining
a digital-fi rst approach to reporting
on stories of interest to the LGBTQ
community in New York City and beyond.
The reporter will contribute to building Gay
City News’ prominent digital presence in daily
news postings while assisting in the production
of the newspaper’s print edition every other
Wednesday.
Candidates should be skilled writers with a
fi rm grasp of the queer landscape in New York,
politically and otherwise, as well as of the community’s
agenda and challenges nationwide and
around the world. They should be conversant
with leading social media platforms, e-newsletter
creation, SEO best practices, and tracking
trends in digital traffi c. Experience with content
➤ BIGOTED RANTS, from p.6
cer Daniel Pantaleo put him in a
chokehold — as “a morbidly obese,
diabetes havin’, high blood pressure
ignorin’, asthma havin’, chicken
wing eatin’, grape soda drinkin’,
loosie sellin’ fat bastard.”
Kobel also laced several posts
with homophobic rhetoric, the
Council report alleges. When out
gay City Council Speaker Corey
Johnson sought an investigation
into stop-and-frisk cases, “Clouseau”
wrote, “Perhaps we should
all take a step back from Stop,
Question, and Maybe Frisk, until
dear old Corey ends up the victim
of a crime in one of the local bathhouses.
You know what he’s looking
for… Assault with a ‘Friendly
Weapon.’”
The disgraced NYPD offi cial’s
allleged anti-LGBTQ rhetoric was
also on display when he posted
about a news article regarding
whistleblower complaints in the
Offi ce of the Special Commissioner
of Investigation for city schools.
“As long as the allegations are
against Wilhelm and Chico Carranza,
they go no where sic,”
Kobel allegedly wrote. “Unless of
course some random sector fi nds
Carranza going down on a one
legged lesbian Eskimo who speaks
with a lisp and identifi es as a jelly
fi sh.”
As if that were not enough, Kobel,
who previously worked as the
second in command of the EEO,
described Councilmember Inez
Barron, who is married to State
Assemblymember Charles Barron,
as a “lesbian mule wife,” the report
said.
Furthermore, in March of this
year, he allegedly said Hasidic New
Yorkers would struggle to social
distance in the coronavirus era
because they have “a whole lot of
incest going on.” He also suggested
that high rates of COVID within
that community would “reduce”
the “number of people fraudulently
claiming welfare benefi ts.”
“Clouseau” also spouted insensitive
remarks about Russian individuals
who live in his building,
describing them as “animals” and
“bottom feeding savages, only a
couple of steps above the savages
living in the Lincoln Houses,” a
housing development in East Harlem.
The Times reported that the
City Council fi rst started looking
into Kobel over the summer when
an investigator working for Bronx
Congressmember-Elect Ritchie
Torres, the out gay City Council
Oversight and Investigations Committee
chair, read a story about the
message board in New York Magazine.
The investigator then started
snooping around the message
board and could not help but notice
the outrageous rhetoric emerging
from “Clouseau.”
The NYPD’s Internal Affairs
management systems such as WordPress
is ideal.
Coverage responsibilities range from feature
pieces to breaking news articles, and the reporter
should anticipate tackling multiple topics
daily — in areas from politics, crime, and
health to entertainment and community events.
Responsibilities include some on-the-scene reporting
on evenings and weekends.
Gay City News is owned by Schneps Media,
whose benefi ts include healthcare and dental
coverage and a 401k program.
Candidates of diverse backgrounds, including
racial and ethnic minorities, women, transgender
and non-binary individuals, and people
living with disabilities are highly encouraged to
apply.
Qualifi ed applicants are encouraged to email
their résumé, four samples of your reporting,
and a cover letter to editor@gaycitynews.com.
PHOTO: REUTERS/ KEVIN LAMARQUE
Bureau launched an investigation
into the case in October in
response to The Times’ inquiry
and police investigators appeared
to have corroborated some revealing
information included in Kobel’s
posts, including his engagement to
his wife, general information about
his family, and his mother and father’s
death dates. Those investigators
found further ties between
“Clouseau” and Kobel when they
obtained his personal cell phone
and computer, which contained a
saved version of the avatar he used
on the message board.
As Kobel faces an internal probe,
Christopher Monohan, who heads
up the Detectives Endowment Association,
stood by him, telling The
Times, “Clearly, he has angered
some people along the way.”
Following the release of the City
Council’s 31-page report, published
by Torres’ committee, Johnson
vowed to move forward with a
EMPLOYMENT
hearing.
“This is outrageous and inappropriate
behavior by an NYPD
offi cial, and will not be tolerated,”
Johnson said in a tweet on November
5. “The Council will hold a
hearing on this matter. Thank you
to Oversight and Investigations
Chair Ritchie Torres for uncovering
this reprehensible behavior.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a
tweet on November 6 that Kobel
would be booted from the NYPD if
the investigation confi rms the allegations,
saying, “This vile, racist
language is an attack on every New
Yorker and an insult to our city’s
values. This is under investigation,
and if it’s true, he will be fi red. End
of story.”
Torres, meanwhile, has seen
more than enough.
“It is true,” Torres wrote on
Twitter in response to the mayor.
“James Kobel should be fi red. Justice
delayed is justice denied.”
GayCityNews.com | November 19 - November 25, 2020 27
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