Parker Molloy Resigns From Advocate, Lashes Out At Former Colleagues
After Advocate.com and freelance writer Parker Molloy quietly parted ways this month, it took less than three weeks for her to go on the attack. Molloy’s latest tirade was apparently triggered by a phone call in which a customer service rep mistakenly assumed Molloy was male. Molloy took to Twitter to vent, first trolling SNL comedian Michael Che before trolling Advocate.com editor Lucas Grindley and his staff with a profanity-laced diatribe.
In addition to going after Grindley, Molloy slammed Grand Editorial executives Matthew Breen and Aaron Hicklin, as well as Here Media’s Diane Anderson-Minshall and Tracy Gilchrist, claiming their “transphobia” and coverage of celebrities associated with trans issues are “on par with Breitbart,” the right-wing news site. Molloy also criticized their coverage of Apple CEO Tim Cook’s coming out column:
Hey, gay media throwing a fit because Tim Cook didn’t come out during a product launch (instead, choosing some personal tact), fuck off. Also, fuck all of you (looking at you, @outmagazine) who have outed him without consent for years. Oh, BTW, I’ve chosen to not write at explicitly LGBT outlets like @outmagazine (only 1 piece there) or @TheAdvocateMag anymore bc this shit.
Molloy has a history of lashing out at former colleagues, including editors at HuffPost Gay Voices and Thought Catalog.
Grindley had welcomed Molloy back to Advocate.com in October following Molloy’s one-month suspension. Although the nonprofit Trans Violence Tracking Portal issued an advisory about Molloy following her verbal attacks on a trans woman, Grindley’s team assigned Molloy to cover anti-trans violence anyway.
Other reports of Molloy’s behavior began to surface after her advocate.com return, including an incident where Molloy was enraged at a nonprofit that honors trans community members. Molloy vowed to punish the nonprofit, saying she’d be “freezing them out of anything I ever write” for not acknowledging her journalistic efforts.
According to Molloy, her “publicly calling out an employee” on October 8 was the final straw. Grindley defended himself and his staff, saying, “That’s not what you told us when you left. I thought you explained your resignation well on [Facebook].” Grindley quoted from an October 10 message Molloy published, which said in part that her attacks on colleagues and LGBT leaders “have given way to distraction that overshadows the topics I took so much pride in covering.” Molloy’s message continued:
Anyone can rant and rage. What I’ve found is that universally denouncing someone, that ‘calling someone out’ just for the sake of calling them out, does little other than cast others as pariahs. Lately, I’ve been trying to promote a message of inclusivity, rather than division, and I’m the first one to admit that I’ve been guilty of fostering attitudes of division and anger in the past. […] Hopefully you can see the marked change in attitude and tact.
In March, I said that I ‘f*cking hated’ someone. […] In August, I responded to a critical comment by calling someone a stupid c*nt and telling them to ‘drink bleach.’[…] All that’s left is for me to never ever make that sort of mistake again, to grow, and to learn from it. […] my future writing will no longer feature the ‘rage-y,’ ‘call out culture’ style some love and some hate. […] you’re not going to see me launch personal attacks on anyone.
Less than three weeks later, Molloy resumed her pattern of behavior, concluding that her departure from advocate.com was “fine by me.” Shortly before deleting the entire rant, Molloy said that she did not appreciate “the transphobia by HERE Media honchos” who she claimed would “shit-talk” her in public.
Molloy then accused Grindley of a “major violation of privacy” and begged him to delete his responses to her, and she did the same. Below are copies of Molloy’s deleted posts.
Jeremy Kinser
Australian artist Adam Seymour has cruised a hell of a lot of Grindr profiles, but when he taps “load more guys,” it’s more for inspiration than recreation.
