Amandala Editors Lies: Reflections of the Editor about the New York times piece

Posted: May 31, 2015
Written by Kay Johnson


An indignant opinion piece entitled The New York Times Magazine Lies! was published in The Amandala on May 29th, 2015, by Russell Vellos, regarding Caleb Orozco, and UNIBAM - http://amandala.com.bz/news/york-times-magazine-lies/
Vellos' outraged spluttering was an attempt to buttress The Amandala's penchant for slandering the LGBT community. It seems poor Russell Vellos is under attack at every turn by those not in sympathy with the Amandala's blatant bigotry.
In fact, in an opinion piece from 2011, Vellos portrayed himself as being constantly in fear for the sanctity of his body, due to his irresistible attractiveness to men. Amandala - 25 November 2011, by Russell Vellos http://amandala.com.bz/news/of-this-and-that/
Using the "find" feature, search for "homosexual" (found 54 times) and you'll see clearly who is obsessed, to the point of a seriously unhealthy fixation.
If his words are to be believed, Vellos spent his youth dodging predatory males, and in fact, lived a hellish life due to his astounding ability to attract unwanted attention from men.
Poor Russell!
The story, of course, is a gross exaggeration regarding the life of Russell Vellos. It was written to garner sympathy and support for oppressed straight men, seemingly under siege from aggressive gays. Unfortunately, we cannot know much about Vellos’s real life, but Belizeans who know, see and interact with him would condemn the greater part of the story as a flaming tall tale.
No less than four times in his life, poor Russell claims he was subject to unwanted attention from a man. Shudder in vicarious fear, as Vellos describes in detail how, forty years ago, a man telephoned him! (If Vellos was so "young" how could he go to a bar? Or be employed? This fairy tale does not add up, nor does it even remotely indicate that gays are predators on the "young") Another man asked Vellos to a party! A man invited him to his house for a few beers! Tremble in terror as you realize that poor Russell had no earthly idea the man was one of "those" types, finding out later, much to his everlasting horror and dismay!
Of course, if every adult female in Belize toted up all the unwanted attention in their lifetimes, including telephone calls, leering looks, disgusting comments, rude gestures, filthy cat-calls, unwanted date invitations, lewd street accosting, gropings, (and worse) from arrogant, obnoxious, pushy males, the count would be in the thousands, if not tens-of-thousands. People like poor Russell Vellos simply cannot abide being treated the way many men constantly treat females.
While there are many Belizeans who are homosexual, they nevertheless know that Vellos just AIN'T alla dat!
"The other thing I want to talk about is the homosexuals’ practice of name-calling, a time-honored and proven way of getting people who abhor their way of life to quit opposing them, and just shut up, leaving them to their stated policy of trying to change the world from “Adam and Eve” to “Adam and Steve.” Oh yes, they call you all sorts of names: homophobic, backward, stupid, uneducated, ignorant, and the like."
Let's compare being called ignorant and backward with some of the terms and phrases The Amandala (Evan Hyde, Colin Hyde, and Russell Vellos) have used to label the LGBT community over the past four years: "predator" - "danger" - "disgusting" - "evil" - "an abhorrence" - "perverted" - "scourge of wickedness" - "disgusting" - "drooling" - "dribbling" - "sickening" - "prey on young boys" - "wicked" - "sick" - "blasphemous" - "depraved people" - "misbegotten creatures" - "nastiness" - "aggressive" - "a nasty, despicable, God-forbidden way of life" - I'll leave you to decide just WHO is doing the vast majority of name-calling, and of the worst sort.
There are people who will mock Vellos, of course, but there were simply not enough of these incidents to even faintly buttress Vellos' argument that he lives a life pursued by aggressive men, slavering after his derrière.
In fact, not only does Vellos' tale itself appear to be a skillful fabrication in pursuit of the Belize Action Anti-Gay Agenda, (which falsely claims gays are "after the children") but it also seems Vellos’s histrionics regarding his close calls were penned under the coaching of Pastor Scott Stirm, and Pastor Louis Wade.
The Amandala, Belize's largest newspaper, published a page-long editorial under the headline UNIBAM divides Belize http://amandala.com.bz/news/unibam-divides-belize/ which properly points out that the churches need to clean up their act before pointing fingers elsewhere.
The Amandala has ALSO published many anti-gay screeds, among which was this: "Homosexuals are predators of young and teenaged boys,’ wrote the editor-in-chief, Russell Vellos. ‘Woe unto us, Belize, if homosexuals are successful in our court. Woe unto us! In fact, since ours is a ‘test case,’ woe unto the world!"
I have checked Google and can categorically state that the entire quote was published by The Amandala and is only one among numerous other such poison-pen pieces. The EXACT words Vellos denies, (and was unable to find, in his own paper's archives) do indeed appear in a section called "Of This and That" - Features— 17 November 2011— by Russell Vellos
If Russell Vellos can blatantly lie about such a thing to suit his purposes, then the veracity of his entire newspaper has to be questioned.
The puzzle for me is, why would a media entity such as The Amandala think it necessary to resort to “gutter journalism” in pursuit of their anti-gay agenda? Ain't nobody got time fo' dat.

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