Marion Barry: Bringing stalking to the forefront

So the most recent fiasco Marion Barry has gotten himself into involves a women who he was stalking. Now I don’t care to discuss too much about Marion Barry but more the responses that we printed in the washington City Paper following a 2 page article on the man’s latest crazy and criminal acts. Please feel free to read the article (it is very thorough and interesting) as I will only be focusing on the responses. The link is as follows:

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/display.php?id=37514

While there were a great deal of responses admonishing the former mayor of DC there were too many responses such as this:

Ok. I admit. I love Marion Barry! He makes life and politics interesting and I must say, he is what he is! He is a womanizing, old school politician who knows how to get things done in DC. He is a great public servant and an imperfect human being in his personal life. I listened to the recordings and read the text messages. Silly, yes. Stalking – no way!

I am disappointed that a person would take a job, attempt to share a room and take other perks from her relationship with the councilman, former mayor – but scream stalking when he wants more than friendship.

I am confused for multiple reasons…why can’t his continous persuit of the woman be considered stalking again? And why has everyone forgotten that the woman has cancer and apparently no job which most likely mean no healthcare and with Barry throwing huge sums of money at her ($20,000 at one point) why wouldn’t she put up with his stalkerish ways and relent to meeting with him? She trying to save her life people!! Some of these comments amazed me! How can a man who kicked a woman out of a hotel room (because she wouldn’t suck his dick) subjecting her to spend the night in his car be considered a “great public servant” what public service is he doing? How can someone who leaves harrassing messages which turn into stalking be considered a “great public servant”? Marion Barry has a INFALLIBLE RECORD of womanizing amongst other things…why is it so hard to believe that he is a stalker?! Not only has this turned into victim blaming but it also turned into a gay bash:

This is a waste of time. Listened to the tapes and I do not hear anything that would get him fired. I would vote for him again and again becuase he works for the people. I wonder if David Catania is mad at him becuase he was the only one that voted against gay marraige and this is something as a result. I know i heard him call him a bigot becuase he represented the people in his district rather than special interest. These recordings is a strong attempt to get somebody to visit the site and try to sell papers. This aint sh*t…I can not wait to vote for him again! Seems like you can not help anyone anymore. This is a witch hunt and i bet its becuase he was the only one that voted against gay marraige!

Hmm. Now how did this gay marriage issue come up? I thought we were discussing a public servant who was stalking his lover. This is the problem these days. Anti-Gay Proponents will insert their anti-gay rhetoric wherever – despite its relevance in the conversation. I truly appreciate the seemingly intelligent person who answered this post as such:

Forget about stalking for a second! Supporting a man who kicks his girlfriend out off the hotel room and makes her sleep in a car because he couldn’t get a bj? How ethical is that?

Barry has been a gay rights allies for a longtime. David Catania is actually not even liked by gay groups. Especially after David C. cut most of the funds of Elizabeth Taylor clinic. Blaming these tapes on gay marriage show how intelligent Barry’s supporters are!

I couldn’t have said it better.

In Feminist Solidarity,

Bessem Sarah Bate

oob intern