Petrelis Files

Deleted! NYT's About.com Removes "Gay Bowel Syndrome" Entry

In a message dated 5/4/2006 9:47:57 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, menshealth.guide@about.com writes:

Dear Michael,

Thank you for alerting me to this blog entry. In fact the article you refer to was originally posted in 2005 and removed immediately it was deemed inappropriate - as a result of your email. You may have seen that the blog entry on the site acted as the link to the original article. This should have been removed from the site at the same time the article was deleted. I have tracked the entry and deleted it and it disappear completely from the site in the next few hours.

In your recent blog you suggest an apology is appropriate. I have absolutely no difficulty in offering this apology. It was certainly never my intention to provoke a negative reaction over what I believed at the time to be the commonly used terminology for a particular set of symptoms. I also believe that, over time, several other health sites have also removed references to 'gay bowel syndrome' from their sites as the message has become more widely understood.

I hope you will accept that this was not a malicious entry. I have, I believe, a genuine and sincere interest in all aspects of men's health. My approach has been to provide an eclectic health resource for all men and to provide useful tips and guidance. You have quite rightly engaged with me over this particular issue, for which I have apologised previously, and again now.

Best Wishes

Jerry

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Hey Jerry,

Thanks so much for your understanding about this matter. I am very appreciative of the fact that you wrote back, quickly removed the offending entry on "gay bowel syndrome," offer up a genuine apology and very importantly, have deleted the entry from About.com. I think you must know, after having heard from me a few times about this, just how outraged it makes me when this fictitious syndrome is given credence. Again, thank you for doing the right thing.

Best,
Michael

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About.com has deleted the offensive entry: http://menshealth.about.com/.