Oswald in the doorway: the blog of the Oswald Innocence Campaign, by Ralph Cinque

Joseph Backes is gay. That is my concerted opinion. And, I'm willing to state it publicly. 

You can sue me if you want, Backes, but it would pretty odd considering that you've been calling me gay for two years. 

But, the difference is that he is just saying it to malign me, whereas I really believe that he is gay. And I am not the only one. 

Early on, in 2012, a woman wrote to me and asked me if Joseph Backes is gay. She pointed out that straight men do not refer to each other as "bitches" but, it is something that gay men often do. After all, "bitch" is a derogatory term applied to women- not men. And, it certainly isn't done by straight men. Personally, I had NEVER heard of one man calling another man "bitch" until Joseph Backes did it, and I was pretty shocked.   

But, at the time, I responded to her that I didn't know if Backes was gay, but I suspected he was. 

And, that suspicion has only grown since then because of his behavior.  Over and over, he keeps responding sexually to images of young men, talking about "lusting for male flesh" etc. Why does he do that? I know that he's baiting me, but I'm in my 60s, and he's in his 50s. Who does this? Maybe teenagers, but not mature men. 

I have friends in the JFK community who have been around a long time, attended a lot of events, etc., and I have asked them about Backes. Bottom line: I am more convinced than ever that Joseph Backes is gay.

Normally, I would never bring this up. No matter how much I despised him- and I despise him a whole heck of a lot- I wouldn't do it. But, I am in the weird position of being accused of being gay by a man who is gay. 

Just last night, Linda wanted to watch a Robin Williams movie- because of what tragically happened. So, we have this Amazon Prime, and we settled on a movie of his called The Birdcage. We didn't know it, but it happens to be about gay men. And that's OK; I didn't mind. But, when it got to the point of showing men kissing, that was it for me.  I told Linda, no mas.  I have nothing against gays, but watching men kissing is not entertainment for me.

But, here's the deal, Backes: You stop this gay-baiting right now. You do, and we'll drop the whole thing. I won't say another word. We'll just debate JFK, as we should be doing. But, if you don't stop, you better start by declaring your own sexual orientation. Are you willing to state for the record that you are not gay? I'm stating for the record that I am not gay. This wouldn't be an issue, except you have made it an issue. And remember that Joseph Backes is your real name. It is not an alias. It is your real identity, your real person. YOU-not me-YOU have made sexual preference an issue in this battle.  OK, fine. I am stating for the record that I am straight and have always been straight. Now, Backes, for the record, are you gay?