Sadly, I had only heard of Steve and read his writings after his death- but man, what a VOICE.

If Bai were reasonably prudent, he would have said to himself, “Gee, I am writing an article that a whole lot of family and friends of the deceased – a black-belt blogger and journalist himself – might read. Maybe I should double check the facts myself, rather than rely on an 19 year-old intern, since my by-line and rep are on the line…” But Bai is not reasonably prudent, only reasonably paid.

Jen (Gilly’s co-publisher) and I were talking earlier today about how badly they failed to get anything other than basic facts correct.

Trust me — Gilly was anything but the celibate impotent black geek boy the Times paints him as. Too bad Matt Bai is so threated by a strong black sexy man that he must emasculate him in order to feel safe.

He lamented that he didn’t know what it was to “wake up naked in a strange bed,”

Total crap.

Jen was neither Gilly’s lover or girlfriend, but as Jen and I talked about today, Gilly had girlfriends, lovers, and opportunities to just get laid. There’s something about a strong articulate man that simply turns smart women on — and Gilly had enough smarts and genuine strength for ten men.

If Matt Bai and the fact checkers from the Times had bothered to actually listen when they called Jen, or had bothered to check with the rest of us who worked with Gilly and have been privileged to serve his community after his passing, perhaps they might have got their facts straight, or even half-way bent.

That said, I will always be thankful that The New York Times saw fit to honor our friend in such a fitting way with the other notable passages of 2007. This article will mean a great deal to the Gilliard family, and that means a great deal to all of us at GNB.

In the end, what matters most is not the errors in the article, but what a great man Steve Gilliard was, and how he effortlessly touched everyone around him.

Trust me, it could have been a lot worse, but the Times does actually employ fact-checkers.