Iowa editor fired for anti-gay post on personal blog

Bob Eschliman

The editor of a community newspaper in Iowa was fired recently for making disparaging remarks on his personal blog about religion, homosexuality and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

Bob Eschliman was fired as editor of the Newton Daily News for an April 29 blog posting in which he wrote: "I’d like to talk a little bit about deceivers among us, most notably the LGBTQXYZ crowd and the Gaystapo effort to reword the Bible to make their sinful nature 'right with God'."

Eschliman referred to a website about a book called the Queen James Bible, which "seeks to resolve interpretive ambiguity in the Bible as it pertains to homosexuality" by editing eight verses in a way that makes homophobic interpretations impossible, according to the site.

Eschliman wrote: "The editors are very keen to let folks know they didn’t remove passages from the Bible, but instead reworded them to 'make it more relevant.' Calling other versions of the Bible 'anti-LGBT versions,' the editors are very clear about their intent. They want to erase all references to sodomy as a sin." Eschliman also used the term "homo."

John Rung, president of Shaw Media, which owns the Daily News, wrote in a column for the paper: "The First Amendment does not eliminate responsibility and accountability for one’s words and actions. Last week (Eschliman) expressed an opinion on his personal blog that in no way reflects the opinion of the Newton Daily News or Shaw Media," Rung writes. "While he is entitled to his opinion, his public airing of it compromised the reputation of this newspaper and his ability to lead it." (Read more)

The newspaper has received several letters in support of the firing and in support of Eschliman. To read the paper's letters section, click here.