Ryan Gierach, the publisher of the former WeHo News, has claimed that he is being harassed at his new home in San Pedro because he is gay.
Gierach made the claim in an interview broadcast on KTLA5, which can be seen in the video posted above.
“When I came here my neighbors directly across from me began calling me names — all of them revolving around gay epithets,” he told KTLA reporter John Fenoglio.
Gierach said things got worse after he displayed rainbow flags in honor of Gay Pride month. Then, he said, neighbors began calling him names and assaulting him.
“A few months ago, someone posted flyers around the neighborhood accusing Gierach of being a pedophile,” Fenoglio reported. “The notices stated he was ‘a child molesting sex offender,’ followed by a slur, and included his home address.”
Gierach launched WeHoNews.com in 2005. It was the primary news source for West Hollywood until the launch of Patch.com, which later merged its West Hollywood site with other Westside Patch sites, and WEHOville.com, which launched in September 2012. Gierach effectively closed WeHoNews several years ago in the midst of financial and addiction struggles that he was very public about. He eventually sold the WeHoNews.com url to the City of West Hollywood.
Ironically, Gierach himself has been accused of abusing neighbors.
In March 2016 he sent out a mass email announcing that he and his partner, Marcus Fant, had been homeless for most of the past two years. He also said he had spent four days in jail after his arrest on charges of felony assault, felony elder abuse and felony making of terrorist and criminal threats stemming from conflicts with his apartment building manager and other tenants of the Hayworth Avenue building. He also had been evicted from his apartment at 1050 N Laurel Ave. in West Hollywood, where his neighbors had complained about his abusive behavior and his landlord claimed he failed to pay his rent.
Unhappy account. There has been much to say about Ryan’s chaotic life, and I knew well some of it. However, he published almost 100 essays and op-eds from me in WehoNews. That was the engine that pulled me back into the writing game. Forever grateful. Happy to know he is still alive; sad to know his demons are still with him.
Yes, regardless of what one thinks of him, his publication was a very valuable resource and it isn’t even active anymore. It would be nice if someone paid for hosting it somewhere, so we’d have the archive of West Hollywood news, op-eds and history.
The City of West Hollywood purchased the website last year before the election and wiped the archive clean- the good, the bad, and the dirty.
That is a shame. He doesn’t have a backup of his own site somewhere? It doesn’t have to be hosted under the same URL.
So he himself is deeply flawed, or at least was, but it takes two to tango as they say. He accomplished a lot in his life and no doubt helped a lot along the way. No one deserves to be harrassed by people they don’t even know, whatever the reason. Always remember that everyone you meet carries a burden you can’t see. So be kind.
True that. However, if the burden one carries is HABITUALLY bestowed on others, then there is a problem. I was the recipient of this problem at 1050 N. Laurel, as well as on others on N. Hayworth.
There is no excuse for what his neighbors said, if they said it. (the video shows no verbal evidence). There is also no excuse for Ryan pouring beer on his neighbors cat, blaring loud music (1 song repeatedly) at his neighbors, following his neighbors down the street calling them names, staring in their windows and refusing to leave or throwing hot coffee on them. All of which he did at his previous residence. I know. I was there. My sadness is that his current neighbors fell for his antics and, if they did what he said, they made him a… Read more »
Yep. I was at 1050 N. Laurel , and I was one of the recipients of his erratic behavior, with his ex, Marcus. If his recent story is true, then that is terrible. I want to give him the benefit of a doubt. But, really, knowing him, he must have incited something firsthand. I am sorry…the “crying” bit is a little too dramatic, and cliche now. Everyone does it for dramatic effect. Maybe I am jaded…
I feel bad for what Ryan is going through now. No one deserves that, but I saw what Mohib went through and its resulting effects. No apology or explanation from Ryan. Disgusted.
Now that more straight people are taking over our LGBT hoods we will have to deal with this type of pathetic situations. Let me just put it on out there.
They are trying to gentrify the gays to get us out and now claiming sexual assaults? Disgusting. This elder gay man has to go to court because these evil people live in our neighborhoods now. Disgusting human beings.
I feel sorry for you. It seems you want to live in segregated neighborhoods. But sorry to break your bubble, but at no time have the LGBT population in West Hollywood been the majority. We, the hetero population, have been living amongst you the whole time the City has been in existence. I know because I have lived here since before the City incorporated.
With all due respect, there is evil on both sides. LGBT has it’s own monsters also. No one or group is Holy, We are all human. I, as an Indian-Muslim gay man, who was a resident in Weho for almost 30 years, was one of the recipient of Ryan Gierach’s and his ex, Marcus Fant’s evil, and race-bashing, at 1050 N Laurel Avenue. Concocting xenophobia. They are known bullies. Ryan has a history. I was there in the building for 25 years there, with no problem, until the last few years there. The story is long, but I have posted… Read more »
Wow, this ‘story’ is horrendously one-sided.
“Ironically, Gierach himself has been accused of abusing neighbors.”
The ‘abusing’ in this line refers to Gierach spouting racial slurs at his neighbors of color, blasting a very short playlist of music repeatedly, and leaving messages with not so subtle threats of violence scrawled on the sidewalk.
Of course, this situation absolutely flows both ways, but, as JJ mentioned, “troubles seem to plague this gentleman wherever he goes”.
Yes, seems like it but in the past. Not to discount it but if he has done nothing to these people except to be gay then his past is of no consequence. You could say hanging a rainbow flag is looking for trouble but if the building allows it then he is in his rights. If he is truly innocent then these people need to pay dearly. As in the case of racism, no different, they should be fired from their jobs and arrested and charged as the law allows. So far we have only heard one side of the… Read more »
Horrendously one-sided, is there some great ethical justification for committing hate crimes we are all missing? Did you notice the “Black Lives Matter” flag he had along his rainbow flag? A search of his past publications does NOT indicate any racist positions but, rather a great deal of support for oppressed minority groups. NO it’s NOT a matter of situations like this “flowing both ways” considering that the power structure is likely to favor someone scapegoating a member of the least popular group unable to defend themselves. If someone happens to be a member of the most scapegoated group at… Read more »
This is very sad. My heart felt wishes to Ryan, who is a good person. It appears here that children are being taught to shame gay people, even in public, in the light of day & even on camera. Teaching children to hate does not bode well for a future of tolerance & understanding. Welcome to the real world. May be time for a reassessment of the “we have overcome” & “we can live anywhere” rhetoric coming from those in gay leadership roles & others. It’s dangerous propaganda. I once read an article saying that this is “the post gay… Read more »