By Wayne Besen

In 2001, David Bianco was at the pinnacle of his career in GLBT journalism. He was the founder of Q Syndicate, a content provider for gay media, and wrote, “Past Out,” a widely distributed GLBT history column. He was also the author of, “Gay Essentials: Facts for Your Queer Brain.”

With great irony, the man who made his living by revealing the glorious gay past was quietly reinventing his own personal history. He had allegedly given up sex with men and was rapidly moving towards Orthodox Judaism.

In September 2003, Bianco went public with his conversion in an interview with The Washington Blade. He denounced, “having all kinds of Internet hook-ups and doing the urban gay male lifestyle thing,” and said he could no longer remain closeted about his metamorphous.

“It was increasingly odd to be supervising content for the gay media on a day-to-day basis when in my own life I was moving away from gay identity,” Bianco said. Then he complained about the reaction he received from colleagues saying,  “Nobody gets a parade for leaving the gay community…”

While his exit elicited no parade, Bianco did create a media circus - changing his name to Benkof and appearing on the “Ricki Lake” show to oppose same-sex marriage. Basking in his beloved spotlight – it seemed that Benkof was poised to become the right wing’s latest star.

Then, he just fell off the radar for nearly five years.

Unfortunately, he could not bear anonymity in our celebrity culture and burst back on the scene this year – using the California marriage decision to catapult him to newfound notoriety.

Benkof opened shop with a deceptively titled blog, “Gays Defend Marriage,” and started a new column, “Fabulously Observant,” in which he posed as a pro-gay activist who just happened to give up sex for religious reasons. (Read More)

In a startling turn of events, writer David Benkof - formerly David Bianco - has closed down his blog, Gays Defend Marriage, and vowed to stay out of the fight in California. In a statement to Truth Wins Out, Benkof said the following:

“I no longer feel comfortable being allied with the people running the Prop. 8 campaign, and the same-sex marriage movement in America in general, with a few exceptions - most notably Maggie Gallagher. I have made a tentative decision not to publicize the disturbing information that caused me to end my promotion of man-woman marriage in the United States. But there is very little that I know about those subjects that a journalist, blogger, or activist cannot find out through diligent googling and asking the right questions of the Prop. 8 campaign.”

Benkof had made waves in recent weeks with a string of high-profile anti-gay op-eds in major mainstream newspapers, including the Minneapolis Star Tribune and the San Francisco Chronicle.

We are pleased that Benkof has decided to do the right thing and step aside. It is also helpful that he has raised the red flag about the people running Prop. 8.