Two years ago, I started interviewing people in the theater world about the problems within that community.
All the subjects of the interviews remained anonymous to encourage people to speak directly and plainly without worrying that there would be consequences down the line.
(Of course, even then, some people felt like outing themselves and getting in hot water, but we're going to leave that water under another bridge.)
When I decided it was time to bring the series to a close, it was partly because I thought it had run its course, and partly because I had a new topic I wanted to tackle.
While I've had my issues with theater and the people who do it, I've never felt like I didn't belong there, whereas from the moment I came out, I've never truly felt like a part of the gay community.
To be clear, that probably has way more to do with me than the community, but it's something I wanted to explore, and I knew how I wanted to do it.
The theater interviews were always conducted with people who didn't live anywhere near me, and there was a reason for that. We like to think that if we can attach a problem to someone we know, we can fix the problem, and I've never found that to be the case. Problems within systems are not caused by any one person, but the system itself. That's the case in theater, and I believe it's the same for the LGBTQI+ community.
So I picked a city far from my own, and I started reaching out to gay men in that city. I spent a few months following as many of them as I could on social media, and then I began asking if I could interview them. The goal was to see if we could address some of the issues of the modern gay community and get to the heart of those issues while hopefully find some solutions.
Today I'm going to be speaking with a fellow blogger who I've heard about from nearly every other person I've spoken to in the past few months.
Here's the interview:
ME: Is it strange knowing you're going to wind up in someone else's blog?
DEVLIN: I'm excited to be on the other side of things for a change.
ME: Great. Let's start with the basics. How old are you?
DEVLIN: Twenty-six.
ME: How long have you lived in the Community?
DEVLIN: Forever. I grew up here.
ME: And what would you say your position was in the Community before you started the blog?
DEVLIN: I think--Everyone would say they knew me. I go out a lot. I'm friends with a lot of people. Well, I was. (Laughs.) Not so sure anymore.
ME: Has the blog alienated you?
DEVLIN: Definitely, I would say 'Yes.'
ME: Why do you think that is?
DEVLIN: I think everybody wants to read it, but nobody wants to be in it.
ME: Because it's a gossip blog?
DEVLIN: I don't think it's gossip. I think it's just showing what people are doing. If they don't want to be in it, just don't act like an *******.
ME: Why did you start the blog?
DEVLIN: When Parker moved here.
ME: Who is Parker?
DEVLIN: He moved here in 2019. At the end of 2019. He was here for, I think, a month, and he seemed cool. Um. He's cute. People were like--'Nice, nice, new guy in town. Always exciting.' Um. But he was posting things that were, like, at first, weird, and we--
ME: What was he posting?
DEVLIN: Anti-Um, or, everything was against Democrats. He posted a meme that was sexist and--It was about AOC.
ME: Okay.
DEVLIN: People were talking to him about it online, and we were all like--Wait, is this guy for real? Like, is he a Republican?
ME: Because that would be disappointing?
DEVLIN: Yeah. Because he had made friends with a lot of people by then, and, like, that never came up, and I think people were surprised, because he didn't seem like that would be how he would, um, identify himself.
ME: Did he confirm that he was a Republican?
DEVLIN: Yes.
ME: Then what happened?
DEVLIN: It was like--Unfriend, unfollow, bye.
ME: From you or from everyone?
DEVLIN: From most people, but that's where--Like, it got interesting, because he made a public post in his stories about how 'All these people are saying they're done with me because of how I choose to vote, but they're all in my DM's asking to come over still.'
ME: So he was saying that people publicly are distancing themselves, but privately they were behaving in a way that contradicted that?
DEVLIN: Yes.
ME: Did you believe him?
DEVLIN: Um. I thought he was exaggerating? Like, I could see that being true of a couple of people who were saying they didn't want to associate with him anymore, but I didn't think he would be talking about a lot of people.
ME: Did you feel strongly that gay people in the Community should be not be affiliated with Republicans?
DEVLIN: This was going into the election, and, it's not just that he was going to vote for the President, it's that, he was posting things that were racist and sexist and saying it was because he didn't like the people he was posting about, but that it wasn't about their race or if they were a woman or anything like that, and when you would try to talk to him about his politics--
ME: Did you try to talk to him about it?
DEVLIN: Yes, I did.
ME: How did that go?
DEVLIN: He tried to say that he doesn't like the President, but he agrees with him on taxes, he agrees with him on immigration, and I explained to him that the immigration policies the President has--or had, because this was the last President--that they were based in racism, and he brought up Obama, and I said, 'I'm not talking about President Obama, I'm talking about this President' and we got into it, and then he blocked me.
ME: So he wasn't really looking to have a conversation.
DEVLIN: No.
ME: Not shocked.
DEVLIN: No, neither was I, but I did try, because I was one of his first friends when he moved here.
ME: You try to talk to him, he blocks you, other people are saying they want nothing to do with him, and he says that's not true. What happens then?
DEVLIN: I got a photo sent to me of someone from here leaving [Parker]'s apartment building early on a Sunday morning.
ME: Who sent you the photo?
DEVLIN: I don't say who sends me anything. I keep that confidential.
ME: Okay. So were they trying to say that this person spent the night at Parker's apartment?
DEVLIN: Yes.
ME: And so that would have proved--
DEVLIN: This was one of the people saying 'He's so gross. I don't want to ever see him again.' This is a person who is--Who is on social media all the time, talking about petitions and going to protests, and, I would say, they talk about being a progressive all the time--
ME: And here they are doing the walk of shame on a Sunday morning out of a Republican's apartment?
DEVLIN: Yes.
ME: How did the person who sent you the photo get the photo?
DEVLIN: I don't want to get into the details of that.
ME: Okay. But you posted the photo?
DEVLIN: I did.
ME: On a blog?
DEVLIN: I posted the--No. I posted the photo on my Instagram first. That blew up. Then I got sent other photos of other people who had been hanging out with him.
ME: At his house?
DEVLIN: No, just, like, at other places around town.
ME: Okay.
DEVLIN: I wasn't going to keep posting them all on my personal Instagram, so I made a blog so I could post everything there.
ME: Why didn't you just create a new Instagram for that?
DEVLIN: Um, I didn't want to have manage a whole other Instagram page, and I have another blog where I post movie reviews and album reviews, and I like doing that. I don't think everything has to be on Instagram.
ME: How many photos were people sending you?
DEVLIN: What happened was people were sending me photos of, um, people from here who were with Parker at all these different places, and then I got photos of people doing other things too.
ME: Like what?
DEVLIN: Someone sent me photos of a big party that someone had during COVID.
ME: Like the person I interviewed a few months ago?
DEVLIN: Not that party, but another party, but I did hear about the person you spoke to.
ME: Because they were on the blog.
DEVLIN: Yes.
ME: We've had a lot of cross-over, actually.
DEVLIN: (Laughs.) I know. I was like, This guy's coming into my territory.
ME: How popular is the blog?
DEVLIN: Everybody I know reads it. Updating it is--It's daily now. It's like a full-time job.
ME: And so, is the point to expose hypocrisy?
DEVLIN: The point is just--If you're going to say something online, be prepared to do that thing. Don't say you're one kind of person and there's photos of you--The COVID thing is a good example, because you had people posting about how selfish other people were being, and there are photos of them with their shirt off at a party with no mask on.
ME: Or they're decrying the local Conservative and then sliding into his DM's?
DEVLIN: Yes.
ME: Do you think though that...I've had a chance to look at your blog, and, I do think that it might veer a little in the direction of--I don't know how to say this.
DEVLIN: Like TMZ?
ME: Well, yeah, but also--Crossing a line?
DEVLIN: How?
ME: You're waiting outside people's apartments and snapping photos of them as they walk out.
DEVLIN: I'm not doing that.
ME: You've never done that?
DEVLIN: Not--No, not at first.
ME: But eventually, you did do that?
DEVLIN: I had gotten a tip that someone--someone you've spoken to--was coming and going from 35 West. Do you know what 35 West is?
ME: I've seen it on your blog. It's an apartment building.
DEVLIN: It's an apartment building, but it's where a lot of these all-night parties were going on with no masks, no social distancing, no nothing. I asked if people would send me photos, and I wasn't getting any, but people were saying, If you go there, and you wait, you'll see somebody coming out of there, and it'll be, like, obvious what they've been doing.
ME: Do you know who at that building was having the parties?
DEVLIN: It was Parker.
ME: So Parker was having these parties in the middle of COVID?
DEVLIN: Yes.
ME: So it's still related to Parker?
DEVLIN: He wasn't the only one throwing parties, but his were, like, the worst ones. He's--He believes COVID isn't real.
ME: And other people in the community were going to these parties?
DEVLIN: Yes.
ME: How do you think he got them to go?
DEVLIN: He's cute. He's got a great body. He would invite his friends from the last city he lived in and from other--He's got, like, forty thousand followers on Instagram. He would get people to come to the parties from all over, and he would invite certain people from the Community to come, and they would go.
ME: And you were waiting outside taking photos of them?
DEVLIN: Going in and coming out.
ME: So did you stay there all night.
DEVLIN: What I did was--Well, I don't know if I should say what I did, but--
ME: Were you, like, sleeping in your car all night?
DEVLIN: No, I'll just say I had a way of getting the pictures.
ME: But it was you getting them at that point?
DEVLIN: Yes.
ME: Photos of all the guys there or--
DEVLIN: I have photos of--Some people were in there for days. I don't know what they were doing, but they were in there for a long time. I got photos of the people I could identify.
ME: You were taking photos of them as they were leaving his apartment?
DEVLIN: I would take the photos and I would upload them to the website.
ME: And you didn't see that as an invasion of privacy?
DEVLIN: I don't think you're one to lecture people on invading someone else's privacy?
ME: Oh, so you wanna get cute?
DEVLIN: I don't want to get cute, but you can't sit there and say 'You're invading people's privacy.'
ME: I'm not using your real name and I'm not posting photos of you.
DEVLIN: I didn't say of me.
ME: Then who are you talking about?
DEVLIN: You've threatened to do that to other people.
ME: Okay, fair. What are your goals with the blog?
DEVLIN: Just, to get people to do what they say they're doing.
ME: What does that mean?
DEVLIN: They're saying 'I'm not going to hang out with this person.' 'I'm not going to go to parties during COVID.' They're at his house. They're going to parties.
ME: So you're like the judge and jury of local gay hypocrisy then?
DEVLIN: No, I think that's what you think you are.
ME: And I'm very good at it. You are not very good at it. That's the difference.
DEVLIN: Why am I not good at it?
ME: Because I don't believe for one minute you would not be going to these parties if you were actually invited.
DEVLIN: Would you go to the parties?
ME: It depends who's at the parties. I'm not going to say 'Oh, I would always behave and you would never catch me doing anything wrong.'
DEVLIN: I didn't say that.
ME: But isn't that kind of implied if you're running a blog like this?
DEVLIN: I cannot go to a party like that. I would die.
ME: So are you jealous of people who can go to a party like that?
DEVLIN: Nobody should be going to parties like that.
ME: I'm not disagreeing with you, but is your goal just to make people feel bad about going?
DEVLIN: I want them to stop going.
ME: But they're not going to stop going. They're still going, right?
DEVLIN: No, because they stopped having the parties.
ME: They didn't stop having the parties.
DEVLIN: Yes, they did.
ME: Nooooo, they had one last week.
DEVLIN: I didn't know that.
ME: I guess one of us is really good at our job and the other one isn't then.
DEVLIN: I just moved on.
ME: So you failed and moved on?
DEVLIN: I didn't fail. I got a committment from the people at 35 West that they would not allow those parties to happen anymore.
ME: But you're not paying rent at 35 West, so I'm assuming they placated you and then kept letting Parker do whatever he wanted.
DEVLIN: Then I'll call them again.
ME: For what purpose though? You're not going anywhere. You're not seeing any of these people.
DEVLIN: It's dangerous.
ME: So is selling drugs.
DEVLIN: Right.
(Silence.)
ME: Right.
DEVLIN: I'm agreeing with you.
ME: You ever get nervous that running a blog like the one you run--
DEVLIN: Why is it okay for me to run my blog but not for you to run yours?
ME: I have no stake in the game in your Community. I'm not trying to get revenge on anybody.
DEVLIN: That's not what I'm doing either.
ME: Were you mad Parker blocked you?
DEVLIN: Yes, but only because I was trying to have a conversation with him.
ME: So now you want to destroy him?
DEVLIN: I don't want to destroy him.
ME: You don't want anybody hanging out with him?
DEVLIN: If they want to hang out with him, they can hang out with him, but don't say that's what you're doing if you're--
ME: Let them say whatever they want! It's social media. I once said I really enjoyed a friend's play I went to see and it was like getting a colonoscopy from Edward Scissorhands. People say all sorts of **** on there they don't mean.
DEVLIN: I don't think that's right.
ME: You don't have to. But you're sending these photos to people's employers--
DEVLIN: I don't do that.
ME: Devlin, yes, you do.
DEVLIN: I have never done that.
ME: Has anybody who reads your blog done that?
DEVLIN: I don't know.
ME: Do you think you have a responsibility if you put things on the blog to then think about what the repercussions of that could be?
DEVLIN: Do they think about it when they're ****ing someone who's a racist--
ME: No, no, no, listen, are you saying that if they're sleeping with him or using him to get close to other attractive people, that somehow that's proving some kind of point that being a Republican isn't all that bad?
DEVLIN: Yes, because why else would you be there?
ME: Because your **** doesn't care who somebody voted for--I don't think that means you're endorsing somebody's political views.
DEVLIN: What about when they go out to a restaurant with him? Because I have pictures of that too.
ME: Maybe he was like 'Before we can sleep together, I need you to buy me dinner.' Listen, if you want to make an argument that gay men are vain, you don't have to work that hard, and if you want to say they prioritize sex over their personal values, I'm with you on that too, but I don't think sleeping with someone is giving them leverage in some kind of greater argument.
DEVLIN: I think you're wrong. That's why he posted that story basically being like 'This isn't even going to affect me.'
ME: Did you guys ever sleep together?
DEVLIN: No.
ME: Did you ever try to?
DEVLIN: Me?
ME: Yes.
DEVLIN: No.
ME: Devlin, come on, buddy.
DEVLIN: I didn't.
ME: Do you get off on getting the kind of attention you get from running this blog?
DEVLIN: Like the way you get off from having yours?
ME: No, sweetie, my jawline and my f***ing fantastic hair get me all my attention.
DEVLIN: (Laughs.) If you say so.
ME: You have to be very careful when you do the kinds of things you're doing, and I don't think you're being careful at all, and I worry that as it starts to get harder for you to find content, you're going to do even crazier things. You went from posting photos other people sent you to taking your own photos and now I'm hearing that you're running things that aren't even true.
DEVLIN: Like what?
ME: Did you make up a story about Chet?
DEVLIN: No, I did not.
ME: Did you say that he was fired from his job for sexually harassing a co-worker?
DEVLIN: Someone told me that was what happened.
ME: That isn't true.
DEVLIN: It's what I was told.
ME: So you just posted it?
DEVLIN: It's what I was told.
ME: By who?
DEVLIN: I can't say.
ME: Well I'm telling you it's not true.
DEVLIN: I'll update the story and say somebody who doesn't even live here said it wasn't true.
ME: But you'll leave the whole story up?
DEVLIN: I believe the person who told me.
ME: Assuming there really is a person.
DEVLIN: (Laughs.) What?
ME: In the message you posted where that person is giving you the tip about Chet, the word 'occurred' was spelled wrong.
DEVLIN: So?
ME: So you misspelled that word four times in four other blog entries, which means, not only do you personally like using it, but you never bothered to learn how to spell it.
DEVLIN: It's a hard word to spell.
ME: Fraud isn't.
DEVLIN: You want to talk about fraud? Let's talk about you.
ME: Let's talk, babe. Let's talk.
DEVLIN: You told everyone you spoke with here that this was for a project you were doing--
ME: Isn't this a project?
DEVLIN: --You made them think that this was, like, a documentary or something--
ME: I never said 'documentary.'
DEVLIN: --And you're just using it to promote yourself.
ME: You know, if I really wanted to promote myself, I could use everybody's real name and post photos of you from four years ago doing coke off some guy's stomach at a Mardi Gras party, but I don't, do I?
DEVLIN: (Laughs.) I have some photos of you too, so I wouldn't.
ME: Post them. Do it.
DEVLIN: Why? So you can sue me?
ME: I'm telling you to post them. Go ahead. Would love to see them.
DEVLIN: Not sure you'd be allowed to keep your teaching job if people saw you dressed like Hitler.
ME: Wait--Hitler?
DEVLIN: You were dressed as Hitler.
ME: Yeah. In a play. I was in Passion Play. Hitler is a character.
DEVLIN: Oh so it was a play?
ME: Yeah, Sherlock, it was a play. Do you want me to send you the photo of me as Queen Elizabeth too or would you rather come stake-out my next production of Cabaret?
DEVLIN: You're acting like you're trying to help people, and you're not.
ME: Who are you helping other than yourself?
DEVLIN: People have thanked me for exposing what's going on here.
ME: Show me the 'Thank you' cards, please.
DEVLIN: You don't need to see them.
ME: Stop lying on that blog.
DEVLIN: I don't lie.
ME: Show a little integrity.
DEVLIN: You want to talk to me about integrity?
ME: You are heading into some very bad territory, little man. It's not fun. I promise.
DEVLIN: Worry more about the people you're associating with, because you're getting conned and you don't even know it.
ME: Am I?
DEVLIN: That's right. You've got all the sides wrong.
ME: You might be right, but here's the problem--I can't take anything you have to say seriously, because you have no credibility.
DEVLIN: If that's how you feel, that's how you feel.
ME: Let's do this--so we can end on something of a civil note--If you could point me at something and have me get the real story on it. Something you would like to see looked into. What would that be?
DEVLIN: What's going on at the apartments?
ME: At Parker's apartment?
DEVLIN: Not just his. It's the whole building.
ME: 35 West?
DEVLIN: Yes.
ME: You want me to look into a building?
DEVLIN: If you want a story, that's where you should go.
ME: You've already looked into it.
DEVLIN: I tried to. Maybe you can do better.
ME: Okay. What specifically am I looking for?
DEVLIN: I don't want to say.
ME: All right.
DEVLIN: But good luck.
Devlin shut down his blog four months after this interview was conducted due to legal threats.
For more background on this interview, check out The Community Podcast every Thursday on Patreon (www.Patreon.com/EpicTheatreCo)
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