Earlier this year, Dan Savage (pictured), editor of The Stranger, threw his support behind Pennsylvania Democrat Bob Casey Jr.'s run for the Senate. Savage sent Casey's campaign a $2,100 check, and encouraged the Seattle alt-weekly's readers to donate also -- not because he agrees with all of Casey's views, but because of his dislike for Casey's opponent, the incumbent Rick Santorum. In fact, after Santorum compared gay sex to incest and bestiality in 2003, Savage asked readers of his syndicated advice column to create a new sex-related definition for "santorum," with a memorable result. Casey's campaign learned of Savage's Santorum-related activities and returned his check, the editor announced Tuesday on Slog, The Stranger's blog. Savage is donating the money to the group Philadelphians Against Santorum instead.
On May 21, Dan Savage wrote a post on Slog, the Stranger's blog, drawing attention to what he believed were misleading tactics used by volunteers for Jamie Pedersen, a candidate for state representative in Seattle's 43rd District. According to Savage, Pedersen's volunteers at a local street fair were "making it sound like Jamie was the only candidate running in the 43rd who supports marriage equality"; Pedersen is the only gay candidate, but all six Democratic candidates support marriage for same-sex couples."You got my attention, Jamie -- and lost my vote. Way to be a weasel, Pedersen," Savage wrote. A subsequent story in the Post-Intelligencer said the rant created a "teapot tempest" that is "a window into the complex world of gay politics in Seattle and reflects the power wielded by a man known as much for his explicit sex advice as for his iconoclastic punditry and journalism." Pedersen denied being deceptive and told the daily that he still hoped to get the Stranger's endorsement. Expressing surprise at the hoopla, Savage said, "If I really wanted to put a knife in Jamie Pedersen, I would have put all this crap in the paper," adding that he wrote the blog post while drunk.
Or perhaps "speculates" would be the proper way to describe Savage's remark, which was made at the beginning of a presentation promoting his most recent book, "The Commitment," at the Tattered Cover book store in Denver. Apparently Mr. Savage Love and the editor of Westword went out for a couple of drinks prior to the speech. Unfortunately, Savage's other slanderous allegations cannot be published on this family-friendly Web site. For the 20-second MP3 version, click here. And if the kids are out of the room, you can listen to the entire speech here.
The Stranger's staff was ready for a protest after running the controversial Muhammad cartoons last week, Editor Dan Savage writes on Slog, The Stranger's blog. Instead, they were targeted by four members of Catholic Youth Abstaining (C-YA) who were upset by the paper's humorous coverage of their efforts to put the "Saint" back in "St. Valentine's Day." The blog also contains a photo of the four "humor-challenged, orgasm-deprived kids" holding a sign with a picture of Jesus and the words "be mine." Savage reports that the protest ended abruptly after 10 minutes and speculates,"Maybe they were afraid we were going to come down and fuck them?"
The editor of The Stranger publicizes his latest book, "The Commitment," in a new interview with Boulder, Colorado's Dirt. Among other topics, Savage also discusses the process behind his weekly sex column, the kind of people he likes to hire at the Stranger, and why he thinks "newspapers are a graveyard for people who have lost their ambitions and passions."
