Gerald Hannon is an award-winning freelance writer and part-time instructor at Ryerson Polytechnic University in Toronto. In a series of media stories beginning Nov 14, 1995 he came under attack for his views on sexual relations between adults and younger people and, on later media revelations that he is a prostitute, was suspended by Ryerson. After investigation Ryerson reinstated Hannon, with a reprimand, on Dec 20, 1995. His contract runs to May 1996; whether Ryerson will renew it remains an open question.
This story has a much deeper history. Gerald Hannon was author of a Dec 1977 article, "Men Loving Boys Loving Men," and was on the collective that ran The Body Politic (TBP), the paper in which the piece appeared. After a series of attacks in The Toronto Sun, TBP was charged with publishing immoral , indecent or scurrilous material. Endless trials and appeals ensued, with the case ending - in victory for TBP - only in Oct 1983.
There are many parallels between the events of the late '70s and those of 1995. Common issues include pedophilia (so called) and its use as fodder for moral panic, and the media creation of "reality" and "personalities" - on which the media then, claiming innocent objectivity, simply "report." Pros titution, a venerable excuse for moral panics, became an element only in the 1995 case - and became an excuse for humour. Soon there were Gerald Hannon jokes: about his views, practices and even physical appearance, all in the public domain - as reported by the media. The relationship to reality wa s often tenuous. But then, that's they way it is with jokes. And with the media....
Rick Bebout, January 14, 1995 [actually Jan 14, 1996]
November 28, 1995: Toronto Sun columnists Gary Dunford and Liz Braun make initial contributions to what will become a minor genre: Gerald Hannon jokes. Braun says the "freelance hooker, occasional actor and blabbermouth extraordinaire" (in the same issue of The Sun where Heather Bird likens him to Norma Desmond) "is now the butt of jokes everywhere rather than the butt of, oh - you'll have to finish that sentence yourself, this being a family newspaper and all." Dunford's column includes paired items on Princess Diana as a "globe-trotting trade hustler" and Hannon as a prostitute: "If he can sell the mug in yesterday's paper, he can sell anything." (Odd juxtapositions with the Princess of Wales will become another minor theme.)
November 29, 1995: The Toronto Star reports in a news brief that "Police can't charge Ryerson prof" for his activities as a prostitute.
November 30, 1995: Hannon student Carolyn Gleeson writes to The Sun in his support, noting that "he does not preach his visions of child pornography [sic] to the class." The Sun runs it as its "Letter of the Day" and says at the end "Not all your classmates agree. Tomorrow we'll run an oppos ing view."
December 1, 1995: The Sun's "Letter of the Day" is an opposing view from Mark De Wolf, who says "I am not a student of Hannon's, nor will I ever be." The Sun follows his letter with: "We just hope this ugly incident isn't doing Ryerson irreparable harm." (Note that not all letters to the edi tor are recorded here. Those in The Sun are often most noteworthy for The Sun's own last-word editorial comments.) In a page 7 story in the same issue, "Fantino: Prof-cum-hooker is offside," London Police Chief Julian Fantino uses "Hannon's most recent revelations" to discredit his Globe and Mail p iece, "The kiddie-porn ring that wasn't" (see Mar 11, above). He says they "speak volumes about the integrity of the article, the integrity of Mr. Hannon and the integrity of the Globe and Mail, or lack thereof."
In a Toronto Star commentary called "Hannon's conservative classroom," former Ryerson student Margot Manson says, "to be fair ... he taught me the skills I needed to sell my first feature article. But I was frustrated with his rigid teaching style."
December 2, 1995: The Saturday Globe and Mail runs 10 letters, of mixed views, under the headline: "The much examined life of Gerald Hannon." Part-time Ryerson teacher Morris Wolfe and University of Toronto Faculty Association director Suzie Scott strongly support Hannon's right to continue teaching.
In her weekly Toronto Star column, titled "How media changed its tune in Hannon case," Naomi Klein, citing a history of press attacks on "political correctness," asks: "So what happened to the press's unflinching belief in academic freedom? ... It all became clear when, at Hannon's press conference last Monday, a reporter prefaced her question with this comment: 'I have a 9-year-old daughter and....' Suddenly, Hannon was facing a mob of angry parents. ... Only someone who is already an outcast from society's sexual norms could have been discarded with such head-spinning speed and with such a chilling display of institutional force."
In her Toronto Sun column, "The last word on Hannon," Heather Bird says "This will be the final word (one hopes) from this space on Ryerson's philosophical pederast (or, if you prefer, peddle-your-ass) professor." She quotes extensively from Hannon student Adam Hunt, in a Ryersonian piece titled "H annon's ideas test students and school. Open your minds, don't lock classroom doors." Hunt concludes that on the issue of pedophilia, "Hysterics merely shield us from seeking out a realistic, overall picture." Bird carefully casts this as the insidious effect of "Hannon's reported charisma."
December 3, 1995: "Princess Di or Gerry? Icebelt folks choose a hero." Toronto Star columnist Susan Kastner asks: "If you could be born again, would you rather come back as Princess Di or Gerry Hannon? ... with Di's nerves, 16 years from now, will she hold a candle to Gerry? Look at the guy, I say, face like a spaniel on acid, and, he claims, he still gets paid for it." The Toronto Sun's cartoon "Greener Pastures" shows a large-nosed floozy with the caption: "Tara doesn't see anything wrong with intergenerational sex... especially if it's with the older, richer generation."
December 4, 1995: Xtra managing editor Eleanor Brown writes The Sun to congratulate Christie Blatchford, a sometime critic of Xtra, for her Nov 28 column, "Ryerson gutless in handling of Hannon." The Sun responds: "We like Christie best when she's making you mad." Two letters in The Globe an d Mail take Bronwyn Drainie to task for her Nov 30 column, "Sometimes, defending freedom of speech stinks." "She's in favour of freedom of speech, as long as what's said is politically correct," one writer says. The other picks up on the media notion of Hannon as media-hungry: "Perhaps, as Ms Drain ie suggests, [he] wants the focus squarely on himself.... It does seem clear he is being opportunistic in all this."
December 5, 1995: The Sun's "Greener Pastures" cartoon: "When Chuck heard that his latest course was being taught by a prostitute, Gerald Hannon wasn't exactly what he had in mind." A letter-writer in The Sun says he finds it "extremely strange that ardent feminists such as [retired York Uni versity sociology professor] Thelma McCormack and the Sun's own Christie Blatchford" could defend Gerald Hannon. The Sun replies: "We've heard Christie called lots of things, but never an 'ardent feminist.'"
December 6, 1995: In a "Talking Point" column in The Toronto Star, titled "Disciplining teachers for what they do outside class," Canadian Civil Liberties Association general counsel Alan Borovoy says: "In my opinion, Hannon's views are not simply rebellious, they are revolting. But, despite my reservations about his moral judgment, I would not dismiss him for either his prostitution or his extra-curricular pronouncements on 'inter-generational' sex."
The Ryersonian issue of Wed, Dec 6 runs five pieces related to the Hannon affair:
In "Prof conduct code? Tory MPP calls for rules after Hannon fiasco," writer Jennifer Mondoux follows up on The Sun's Nov 29 story ("Hooker prof flouting law"), in which Oakville South MPP Gary Carr had said that "What the province should do is have some standards right across the board" regulating the conduct of university professors. "The ones who are afraid of such a code," Mondoux quotes Carr, "are the ones we need to worry about. We are far too lenient with academic freedom." The story reports mixed reactions within Ryerson, some of them on the University's "teachnet" Internet discussio n group. English Department professor John Cook and learning and teaching co-ordinator Dorothy Buchanan say that "Hannon's activities outside the campus may indeed require legal investigation and a response by Ryerson to those findings. In the meantime we would have hoped that this university might have responded with the instincts of scholars, not those of the Sun."
The paper's back page, flagged "Voices: A page of invited opinions" has pieces by Hannon student Dan Brown ("Media miss mark: Subtle shades of grey in Hannon case lost in 'black or white' press coverage"), Mark De Wolf ("...voices from the other side speak out against Hannon: Rye's tough stance wit h Hannon applauded by student as a rare display of 'moral courage'") and Danica Riley ("Student finds Hannon's 'other' part-time profession more than enough reason to ban him from Rye"). De Wolf writes: "This little scrap will only escalate as long as Hannon is allowed to weave his perverse magic. Like some salacious leprechaun, he has mesmerized his students, manipulated the media, betrayed his colleagues and dehumanized Ryerson. Not bad for a week's effort." Riley opens her piece by noting that her mother had called from Vancouver, saying "I heard about that professor at Ryerson. He's not one of your teachers, is he?"
In a full-page news feature, "Hannon talks: about life, sex and the media," Christine Purdy interviews not only Hannon but friends and former lovers. Hannon "says he is upset with people who say he went to the Sun with the story that he's a prostitute just to get more media attention. According to Hannon, the Toronto Sun went to him for confirmation on the story. 'My feeling was eventually the story would get in (the Sun) and I did not want to be a coward and say no comment." Purdy cites Hannon "...sitting a foot away from me talking casually and openly, the words 'whore,' 'fuck' and 'double -bagging' (using two condoms while having sex) rolling off his tongue like they're everyday words," and says he is "the most straightforward and outspoken man I've ever met."
December 7, 1995: Bill Graham, president of the University of Toronto Faculty Association, writes The Sun, saying that "To deserve the title university, an institution must guarantee free speech and free research." The Sun comments: "In Hannon's case, we hate to think what 'free research' mi ght entail."
The Sun reports that the gay and lesbian caucus of the Canadian Association of Journalists has issued a statement saying that "Hannon's suspension calls into question Ryerson's commitment to constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech." The story, titled "Hannon backed," appears at the bottom of page 48, which carries two other items: "Threatened, boys say: Brampton man admits molesting 3"; and "Pervert dad gets 8 years." In his column in the same issue, Dick Smyth says that "The politically correct gang jumped all over Philippe Rushton like jackals on the kill when he linked race to intel ligence. ... Yet many of those same Rushton foes now defend the bizarre notions of Gerald Hannon."
December 8, 1995: Xtra reports the case in a story headed "Gay hustler suspended: Ryerson investigates journalism professor," using another still from Nik Sheehan's film Symposium, of Hannon in bed with a young man.
Xtra publisher David Walberg writes in a commentary: "The players in this story are archetypes. Hannon is the outsider, the effete intellectual, the vain, selfish homosexual. Steed plays the overbearing mother. She's nurturing, emotional, somewhat hysterical and overprotective enough to believe tha t adult students in their mid-20s need her mothering. Steed is the mastermind here, but she likes to play the woman behind the man. Heather Bird plays Dad and does most of the talking. Bird and the Sun are stern and unrelenting, demanding that the school take action to protect the children. ... Def icit consciousness has filtered beyond the realm of finance into other spheres of life. High-minded talk of controversial ideas, academic freedom and gay lifestyles seems frivolous. We can't afford it. We're getting back to basics and sticking to what we know."
Xtra writers Bert Archer and Shawn Syms share a full page flagged "Analysis" and titled "The kids are alright: Paedophilia deserves rational discussion - not media-fed hysteria."
Archer writes: "The gay community is, understandably, seeking to distance itself from the age-old equation of gays with paedophiles. ... And so it is on Church St [the centre of Toronto's visible gay community] that one can find some of the most vehement condemnation of men having anything sexually to do with younger men and boys. This is bad. ... A brief look at the commentary on Gerald Hannon shows that there is little thought and no reflection going into this discussion. Hannon is labelled 'repugnant' and filed away. The similarity of this approach to the way homosexuality was treated 30 years ago shouldn't need pointing out."
Syms, in a sidebar titled "My secret lust," says "I've had a crush on Gerald Hannon since I was a teenager. ... To no avail. I guess I wasn't his type. Too young, maybe." He writes of an encounter, at 17, with a man twice his age, and says: "This intergenerational encounter was one of the most impo rtant experiences of my life - and I wish it had happened five years earlier. Maybe then I might not have felt so utterly, terribly alone when I was growing up."
December 11, 1995: Maclean's runs a 1-page article by D'Arcy Jenish flagged "Ethics" and titled "Testing the limits: A professor admits he was a prostitute." Jenish cites Ryerson journalism student Cathal Kelly, who "said that Hannon was open about his homosexuality, but never used his teach ing position as a podium for propagating his views. However, other students maintained that Hannon's beliefs, particularly about 'intergenerational sex' - his euphemism for pedophilia - make him unfit to teach. 'His comments, especially those around pedophilia, are very disturbing,' said student co uncil president Paul Cheevers. 'He's definitely pushing the limits of academic freedom.'"
December 13, 1995: In a Globe and Mail column titled "Blunders spill from Sunday Morning pulpit," Robert Fulford criticizes CBC radio host Ian Brown for factual inaccuracies in a broadcast commentary about Gerald Hannon. Fulford quotes - and corrects - Brown: "Needless to say, Mr. Hannon's p rofile as a writer has been raised considerably. Sales of his next book - wrong again: Hannon plans no such book - should be quite brisk."
December 17, 1995: Frank magazine runs a parody cover of the Ryerson Review of Journalism ("Entertainment for Men Loving Boys"). The photo is the Symposium still used in The Toronto Sun's Nov 25 story, but with right-wing curmudgeon Michael Coren tipped in as Hannon's bed partner. The main d raw reads: "Bone up for Christmas exams!" Others read: "Earn $300 an hour 'freelancing' by Gerald Hannon"; "Spend $300 an hour 'unwinding' by Michael Coren"; and "Two words: Bangkok: Bill Thorsell's letter from Thailand." (Thorsell is editor-in-chief of The Globe and Mail.)
December 19, 1995: Ryerson notifies Hannon by phone that they have completed their investigation and will meet with him on Wed, Dec 20. The University does not, as it did on Nov 26, issue a press release the same night, waiting this time until the next morning.
December 20, 1995: A letter-writer in The Sun, responding to the Dec 7 letter from the U of T Faculty Association, says "Maybe Mike Harris should consider further spending cuts to some of these magnificent institutions of higher learning unless they get their priorities straight." The Sun co mments: "Government censorship is not the answer."
10 am: Ryerson vice president Michael Dewson meets with Hannon, giving him a letter signed by Dewson. The entire body text follows:
"This letter serves to inform you that the University has concluded its two investigations into your conduct and we have come to the following conclusions:
"1. It has been determined that you did not expressly endorse paedophilia nor advocate your personal views of the subject with your students. Further, it has been determined, notwithstanding your references in the classroom to paedophilia in the context of journalism, that you did not incite or attempt to validate your personal views on paedophilia in or outside of the classroom with your students. The university has concluded that there has been no breach with respect to the Collective Agreement provision on Academic Freedom, and, as a result, no disciplinary action will be taken.
"2. We find that your conduct in openly engaging in discourse and interviews in the media with respect to your sexual activities as a prostitute, including the Ryersonian article of December 6, 1995, is conduct unbefitting the status of a member of the teaching community of an academic institut ion. Such conduct has had a detrimental effect on Ryerson's reputation within the community and, in our opinion, you have exercised extremely poor judgment in your handling of this matter. The University, therefore, will be placing a copy of this written reprimand in your Performance and Conduct Fi le.
"I trust you will govern yourself accordingly in the future, failing which you may be subject to further disciplinary sanctions, up to and including discharge.
"We will, therefore, require you to commence your full teaching duties effective January 8, 1996."
Ryerson president Claude Lajeunesse, in a letter addressed "To the Ryerson Community," reiterates the terms of Hannon's reinstatement, and notes that he "will resume his teaching activities for the remainder of his contract, which expires in May 1996."
"As abhorrent as we find Mr. Hannon's views, we have acted in accordance with the terms of our collective agreement. Ryerson completely dissociates itself from any views or behaviours that could be interpreted as supporting or condoning the physical and emotional abuse of children."
1 pm: Gerald Hannon and supporters hold a press conference at the Croft Chapter House in U of T's University College. Speakers include artist and anti-censorship activist Lisa Steele, U of T professor David Rayside, Thelma McCormack, Don Obe of the Ryerson School of Journalism, Hannon studen t Stacey Langbein, Angela Ross of CUPE Local 3904, and Hannon himself. (Most had also appeared - though not noted by name above - at Hannon's Nov 27 press conference; lawyer Frank Adario, representing Hannon, was at both events. Also not noted above was a statement from PEN Canada, prepared by its president Nino Ricci, read at the Nov 27 event.)
Rayside gives Ryerson qualified praise for its reinstatement of Hannon; Obe attacks the school's attempt to suppress his speech outside the classroom. Ross reiterates the union's position that the investigation had been invalid, since no complaint had been made about Hannon, and says that the union will file a further grievance over the reprimand, saying it infringes on the private lives of staff.
Questions focus on Hannon's work as a prostitute, which he says he will continue, adding that he's glad for the chance to defend the rights of sex workers. One reporter asks if, by speaking now, Hannon is violating Ryerson's order not to talk about "your sexual activities as a prostitute."
He responds: "Presumably I can discuss almost anything else except the explicit sexual stuff. And it has occurred to me that if I was a good prostitute, I'd probably charge for those details anyway."
Broadcast media coverage on the evening news is extensive, though with some confusion of the issues: at least one report says that Hannon has been reprimanded by Ryerson for his views on pedophilia. The reporter who had asked about Hannon's potential violation of Ryerson's media gag order says that , when contacted, the University had no comment.
December 21, 1995: The Toronto Sun reports the story with a top-of-page-1 banner: "Hannon fights Ryerson gag ruling: Prostitute professor can return to the classroom but sex talk is banned. Page 5." (The main page-1 headline is: "Queen Tells Di, Charles: Get A Divorce.")
The story inside, one-third of a page, is headed "Hooker professor keeps job," with a photo captioned "Gagged..." A box features Hannon's press conference comment (above) about probably charging for details, with the attribution: "Gerald Hannon on Ryerson's policy on discussing 'explicit sexual stu ff' with his students [emphasis added]."
The Toronto Star's page-2 story is headed: "Ryerson allows professor back: Officials call his views 'abhorrent.'" The accompanying photo is captioned: "Suspension lifted" and shows Hannon smiling. "Toronto Star reporter Judy Steed ... said Ryerson had no choice but to keep Hannon because civil libe rtarian groups lined up behind him 'to a ridiculous degree.'"
The Globe and Mail's page-8 story is headed: "Ryerson professor reinstated, given warning letter." John Miller, chair of Ryerson's journalism department, "says he foresees no difficulty in obtaining a renewal of Mr. Hannon's contract, which expires next June. 'I'm expecting it's our [ie, the depart ment's] decision, as it always has been,' he said. But Ryerson vice-president Michael Dewson said that Mr. Hannon was hired on an emergency contract and 'no one has any business one way or the other saying if he'll be back next year.'"
In The Globe's "Fifth Column" commentary, Martin Levin discusses different visions of public and private manners. The title is, simply, "Gerald and Jane." The Jane is Austen; the Gerald, Hannon.
December 22, 1995: Rosie DiManno's Toronto Star column is titled: "Yakety-yackety yak! Why can't this lot just put a sock in it?" DiManno's list of "individuals who could make the world a lovelier place if they were never to be heard from again" begins with Princess Diana and includes, among others, Michael Coren, Preston Manning, Lucien Bouchard, Conrad Black and "The entire O.J. cast."
The piece begins: "This is too rich. Gerald Hannon - pedophilia proponent, prostitute, professor and proselytizer of puerile ideas - has been returned to his teaching position...."
"In essence, the yakety-yakety Hannon has been gagged by the school, gag also being a synonym for retch, which is what most of us want to do whenever Hannon opens that orifice just beneath his nose." DiManno wonders about Hannon's credentials in teaching freelance writing, "at which he himself must be so inept that he has to augment his income by selling his bony butt."
Xtra publishes 3 letters under the heading "Regarding Gerald." All are critical. One says: "Gerald Hannon's behaviour has actively discredited the gay cause in the public eye. ... This man is a menace. As long as social misfits provoke front-page attention, our goals of responsibility, equality and coexistence with mainstream society will never be achieved."
December 23, 1995: In a Globe compendium piece, "Larger lives," on prominent people who died in 1995, Gerald Hannon writes about Elizabeth Spedding, better-known as The Contessa, "probably Canada's oldest whore and undoubtedly the country's most famous madam." Hannon's biographical note says he is a "writer, prostitute, university instructor."
In her Saturday Sun column, Heather Bird offers "Some random thoughts on the final chapter of the Gerald Hannon saga. (Well, not the final, final chapter, of course, there are three magazine pieces in the works which will, presumably, continue to shed light on who did what to whom and why.)"
Bird says of the Sun's Nov 25 "astonishing interview" ("Ryerson Prof: I'm a Hooker"): "Hannon claims he made the admission because he feared we were going to break the story anyway. Not true. We were as surprised as anybody when it happened." Bird feels "the entire debate has moved wildly off the point ... [which is] Hannon's views on adult-child sex." "Finally, it has been extremely interesting to watch the rush to pick sides. ...many media colleagues rushed to defend [Hannon]. It's further evidence of an elite group out of touch with the real world."
December 24, 1995: In its International section, The Washington Post runs a piece from the Guardian Weekly titled "Canadian Professor Stirs Freedom Debate." Charles Trueheart ends his story: "Jonathan Knight, an official of the American Association of University Professors, said he could thi nk of no recent case involving a faculty member in a U.S. university facing sanctions because of private sexual conduct or ideas."
December 27, 1995: Responding to a letter critical of Ryerson's reinstatement of Hannon, The Sun says: "We'll know what they're made of if they renew Gerald Hannon's contract."
December 29, 1995: In a compendium "Lowlights of a (bleep) year," The Sun's Christie Blatchford talks mostly about killers Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka, but also writes: "Yes, but how does that explain his success? Rumpled, bespectacled, bony-shanked Ryerson Polytechnic University hooker prof Gerald Hannon says ... 'I had friends who were hustlers and they told me there were markets for older guys with good bodies...'"
December 30, 1995: In a Globe year-end piece, "Words, words everywhere and no one stops to think," Liam Lacey offers: "Well, there's that suspended Ryerson professor Gerald Hannon, who really understands freelancing as well: 'One of the things a writer is for is to say the unsayable, to spea k the unspeakable, to ask difficult questions.' - Salman Rushdie."
The Moscow, Russia daily newspaper Sevodnya (Today) runs an article about Gerald Hannon titled "By day - in the faculty, by night - on the streets." It covers Hannon's career from Men Loving Boys Loving Men through to the recent controversy and his reinstatement. Its last sentence expresses surpris e that someone who has "entered their sixth decade" could "enjoy commercial success" as a prostitute. (E-mail communication from Dan Healey in Moscow. There was also a later verbal report, unconfirmed, of coverage in a newspaper in Jakarta, Indonesia.)
December 31, 1995: The Star's Rosie DiManno says "Farewell '95, the year of dumb and dumber," with more than 75 snippets, among them: "No, Gerald Hannon has not been appointed to the bench: The Ontario Court of Appeal rules that teenagers under 18 are free to have anal intercourse" and "Whor e we to complain? Gerald Hannon, pedophilia proponent and part-time hooker, is reinstated as a teacher at Ryerson provided he no longer blabs about his lifestyle to the media."
In The Sun, Michele Mandel lists "The 10 people we hope not to hear from in 1996, but suspect we will." Fifth on the list is "Diana, the Princess of Wails"; sixth is "Ryerson prof and part-time hooker Gerald Hannon."
In a segment on its New Year's Eve show, CBC's Royal Canadian Air Farce cuts to a man in a suit jacket, black panties, red garters, nylons and high-heels - ostensibly at the Department of Justice in Ottawa. The voice over: "It looked like the faculty lounge at the Ryerson School of Journalism."
In "The Bores of '95" (copy on hand undated), Frank magazine list Gerald Hannon as Number 9 out of 20 (with three-time winner Michael Coren as Number 1). "We'll pay him not to have sex. Gruesome leatherboy could scare [noted queer playwright] Sky Gilbert straight. Some alternative. Some lifestyle."
The Montreal Gazette runs a cartoon by Aislin (copy on hand not fully dated) with the caption: "Oxymoron of the year: Journalism professor will also continue to work as a prostitute..." The cartoon Hannon (who bears a striking resemblance to CBC broadcaster Peter Gzowski) is saying: "Six of one..." (The real Gerald Hannon later notes that Aislin's joke is a tautology, not an oxymoron.)
January 4, 1996: Toronto's eye weekly runs as its regular "eyedentical twins" photo pair "Culturally flaccid broadcaster Peter Gzowski" and "Sexually active freelancer Gerald Hannon." Two other eye bits related to Hannon (on-hand clipped, context unclear), are titled "You'd Want To Give Him 20 Lashes But He'd Probably Like It" and "The Nutty Professor."
Peter Worthington asks in his Toronto Sun column, "Who hired Hannon anyway?" Worthington picks up Rosie DiManno's "bony butt" line and says "What seems to irritate the Ryerson administration is not that Hannon discusses pedophilia in the classroom or is a hooker on the side, but that he seems to re lish notoriety...."
"Of course, the case it catnip to the media, whose coverage has been pretty sensible. The Sun's Heather Bird broke the story and has led the follow-up stories, never expecting Hannon to be so co-operative in commenting on and explaining his proclivities for which, I suppose, he deserves credit for forthrightness. Should he be fired? I think so. But I don't expect it. Traditionally, academic institutions aren't known for courage...."
Two protesters begin a "vigil" at Ryerson. As later reported in The Eyeopener (Jan 10), one is fundamentalist minister Ken Campbell. "There is no place for hate-mongers in publicly funded classrooms," he says, comparing Hannon to Holocaust-deniers Ernst Zundel and Jim Keegstra. Campbell acts as nat ional director of Canada's Civilized Majority - "a little group of movers on the cutting edge," he says. In 1979 he had been a prosecution witness in the first trial of Men Loving Boys Loving Men. The Eyeopener says that "passing students were oddly silent except for one engineering student. 'Fucki n' A, man, fire that faggot,' he said."
January 6, 1996: Theatre critic Kate Taylor opens a review in The Globe with: "What's the difference between Ryerson journalism prof Gerald Hannon and Toronto's Canadian Stage theatre company? Hannon's main source of income is teaching."
The Toronto Star runs a "Life" feature called "Sexual politics," originally appearing in the Edmonton Journal, on right-wing attempts to link pedophilia and homosexuality. Writer Scott McKeen notes that this "bogeyman scenario" has resurfaced. "Most recently in Toronto it hit the headlines with the case of Gerald Hannon ... who says sex with children is not always wrong [and who] was suspended in November following charges that he was using the classroom to promulgate his views on pedophilia. A Ryerson investigation cleared Hannon of those charges and his suspension was lifted last month."
January 8, 1996: The Toronto Sun runs a one-column story headed "Hooker prof returns to class." "Ryerson shock prof Gerald Hannon returns to the classroom today, saying his time in the headlines has been a good lesson for the aspiring journalists he teaches." Hannon "said his notoriety hasn' t helped [his freelance writing] career, since no magazine has hired him to write about the whole affair. 'They're just hiring everyone else to write about it,' he said." (Journalists Sandra Martin and Kalyani Vitala were already doing interviews for feature stories, Vitala's slated for This Magazi ne's March '96 issue; Martin's for the April '96 Toronto Life.)
Hannon returns, to a class of new students. A few reporters and photographers are on hand, including a camera crew from CITY-TV. At least one other station reports the story on the evening news, but using old footage.
January 9, 1996: The Toronto Sun reports on page 4 (with no page-1 draw), "Hooker prof back at the blackboard." Writer Thane Burnett recycles his Jan 8 opening phrase, "Ryerson shock prof" in a story inset in a half-page photo of Hannon. He is smiling and has one hand held up; the caption is : "Teacher's Rules: Part-time Ryerson prof cuts short a brief chat with reporters on his first day back in the classroom." The story ends: "Outside, a few protesters showed up with a petition of 300 names calling for Hannon's dismissal." No stories were found in The Globe and Mail or The Toronto St ar.
January 10, 1996: The Eyeopener reports the protesters (see Jan 4, above; a third demonstrator showed up on Mon, Jan 8) with a photo of one, headed "Grumpiest old man," and reports their cause on the same page: "Oh boy, Hannon's back." The story's last paragraphs note that "Hannon's troubles are far from over. His contract is up for renewal in May and no one at Ryerson is willing to speculate on whether Hannon will be teaching here next year. RyeSAC [the Ryerson Student Administrative Council] is urging Ryerson administration not to renew the contract." In his page-4 "Resolutions for the fightin' year," Eyeopener editor Matthew Shepherd's first resolution is to "Stop arguing about Gerald Hannon with numbskulls. He doesn't bring it up in class. None of his students have ever complained. What he does on his own time is his business. Thank you and good night."
January 13, 1996: A draw at the top of page 1 of the Saturday Ottawa Citizen leads to a page B1 "Observer" section piece called "Gerald Hannon 101," an extensive report on the case by Citizen education writer Patrick Dare. The case has "been a continuous and sometimes tiresome labor- atory f or Ryerson journalism students," Dare writes. "Reporters badgered them for comment, only to misquote them or use what they said out of context in simplistic stories. Editors called Hannon a 'prostitute prof' when in fact, he was a part-time instructor making $13,000 a year. They called him a pedoph ile when there is no evidence that he has sex with kids. 'The Gerald Hannon affair was the best course we took last semester,' says Dan Brown, editor of the Ryersonian student newspaper and a former student of Hannon's. 'It was a lesson for us in how the media works. Black and white.'" Hannon is qu oted near the end of the piece: "There are gay people who wish I would shut up. But the more you assert your rights, the more likely you are to get them. It's as simple as that."
January 18, 1996: Under the heading "Hannon Hype," Xtra runs five more letters, four critical. "Will the talents of Gerald Hannon never cease?" one man writes. "Once he was a mild-mannered Ryerson professor with a few controversial ideas, then he became an overnight media darling. What next? A cross-dressing supermodel with a diva complex? ... Many men and women in the community are fed up with the hypersexual image which has followed us like a bad smell. If Hannon wishes to keep those views, that is fine. But for Xtra to print his views and, in the same issue, print a story on spousa l rights, seems a little two-faced."
Responding to Burt Archer's Dec 8 piece, "The Kids Are Alright," a woman writes: "Why does Xtra assume the audacity of highlighting this essay as analysis when it fails to include the very real and very present voices of survivors of childhood sexual abuse?" Another man says: "Regarding Gerald Hann on's qualifications as a teacher of journalism: Working as a prostitute is probably an asset."
January 26, 1996: In an item in his Globe and Mail column, Rick Salutin notes that "A strange aspect of the Gerald Hannon/Ryerson J-school affair was how disapproval centred less on Hannon's qualified support for pedophilia than his part-time work as a prostitute. ... In Maclean's [the piece is not recorded above], Barbara Amiel wrote, 'If one of my teachers was a hooker, I would fire him.' ... Hannon and others have pointed out that selling parts of yourself for money is a basic economic act in our society; so why make a big distinction over hooking when not even the law does? Is som ething else at work, like the rise in prostitution as jobs and income decline? ... Here in Ontario the Harris cuts ... may well lead more adults and kids onto the streets. Denial, anyone?"
Updated to January 27, 1996