The Morse situation relies on several layers of homophobic misinformation, particularly the homophobia endemic to western Massachusetts; but people from all of the country totally ignorant of this history of anti-gay slander have decided they know everything forever.

A thread.

1) Because Morse is 31 now, he was 31 forever. This is rooted in the assumption that gay men are predators of little boys. It is propped up by obfuscating ages. In fact, Morse was Mayor at 21, and the 5 colleges have programs that keep many students in school until 30.

2) Further obfuscation is achieved by the constant use of "mayor" and "students" which imply very different ages, to describe people the same age. The only time actual ages are mentions is that Morse is 31 now, and some time in the last 10 years, he spoke to an 18 year old.

3) It also requires the assumption that a 20 something gay man *speaking to an 18 year old* constitutes sexual predation. Which is another manifestation of the "all gay men are sexual predators" mythology.

4) The only specific allegation is that Morse did not mention his job before hooking up, consensually, with a partner his own age who does not consider the hookup assault. This story is re-phrased to imply that Morse used his title as mayor to force a boy to have sex with him.

5) Other than that, the allegations raised by the college dems of WMA are that he uses various common social media apps socially. Tthese are phrased inflammatorily, to imply that, as a gay predator, he is forcing boys to have sex with him when he... meets grown men on tinder.

6) There is a local context that many national critics are also ignoring. Namely, that since the 5 colleges became queer havens, there has always been immense, violent, and inescapable pushback by the surrounding rural, conservative communities.

Beat for beat, this is the same homophobic attack slander than has been used against every queer politician in Western Massachusetts for decades. It may be new for the rest of the country, but it has been happening for decades here, always exactly this way.

Homophobic claims are made during campaigns, timed to create media controversies before the election, with the knowledge that no investigation can realistically be completed until after, at which point it comes out yet again that all of the claims were false.

This has happened in every local level election featuring a queer politician for decades. It's a constant of politics here, even if it seems foreign to people in other regions, because of the unique combination of queer visibility and anti-queer backlash in rural Mass.

Another unique factor of WMA: the 5 colleges ARE queer culture in WMA. There are two demographics here: queer people who came to one of the largest queer spaces in the world, and non-queer people who HATE how disgustingly GAY everything is now.

When you have a culture of literally thousands of queer folks congregating in a closed network, surrounded on all sides by literal lynch mobs ready for the latest fagdrag, it is natural for the culture of queerness to become closely tied to the institutions that protect us.

Queer people in WMA make entire lives of being research aides and post-grad students at the 5 colleges, because trying to be queer outside the safety nets of the colleges is a great way to get killed. Ask me how I know (it's because I'm a queer in WMA not associated with them).

In the context of Western Massachusetts's unique queer and political landscape, the phrase "mayor dates local student," does not mean, "middle aged man forces 18 year old to sleep with him," it means, "21 year old man hooks up with 19 year old man who lives in town."

This political landscape unique to WMA why this story is infuriating. The allegations were phrased to dogwhistle 'gay pedophile' on dating people your age in your home town, knowing full well that it would take insane measures to explain the history being abused.