This story has nothing to do with being gay.  Or being religious.  Or being deeply in debt.  Or unhappy in your marriage.  Or being gay…did I already write that?  Because ANY insinuation that being gay is an excuse for the most heinous of behaviors….is one of the most heinous of behaviors.  If I was a gay man, I’d want to kick Eric Myers in the nuts.

That has to be stated up front, because I’ve read comments on various stories about this man, that insist that gay men are so prejudiced against, that this man HAD to resort to the desperate act of disappearing – even though they will admit it was despicable.  And I’ve read comments that self-righteously state that religion and the Bible were responsible – because his religion made it impossible for him to admit he was gay to his family and make the necessary changes in his life.

Such utter bullshit.  This is a story of a deeply selfish, mean, deceptive, narcisstic TOOL of a man who abandons his family and has the chutzpah to show his face on national television with nut-kicking-provoking excuses.

The 20/20 story referenced in the link above was, as usual, salacious and all about ratings.  I’ve long since given up hope for honest, uplifting stories about the millions of really good people that don’t abandon their families.  Gay or not.  There’s no money in that kind of “boredom” I guess.

The 20/20 story emphasis is on the struggle of Eric Myers being gay, but still living a straight life with a wife and kids. He’s unable to deal with it, and society and religious intolerance “drove him” to do the things he did.  They are careful, of course, to include reporting on the heartbreak of the children and just how difficult life was after their father disappeared.  They do include his form of an apology: “But no one is all good, and no one is all bad,” said Myers”.  Gee.  Who knew?

The title of the 20/20 article, “I Escaped My Life,” indicates the blame or the reason for the anguished disappearance of Eric Myers clearly on being gay.  But, as Paul Harvey liked to remark ”and now, the rest of the story…”  The real 12 million reasons he’s back from the dead, and it wasn’t to make amends with his family.

The Arizona Republic presented a three part investigative story on this in 2011…sometime after Eric came back from the dead in 2007.  It is excellent coverage and the financial revelations are quite interesting.  I mean, you REALLY have to read the “rest of the story” to put the 20/20 sob story in the correct perspective.  Disgusted yet? You should be because it’s not “20/20″…it’s more like 20/400.

Here’s the back story…

Eric Myers stated in the Arizona Republic story:  “It took 17 years for me to accept myself,” he said, adding that, when he disappeared, he was sick from years of deception. But evidently, not quite sick enough.

“His father is worth an estimated $60 million,” said Anne Myers, Eric’s ex-wife. “Divided by five (siblings, including Eric), that is $12 million.”

That’s enough to make the most deceptively sick man decide it’s time to find self-acceptance and file to get his death certificate rescinded, don’t you think?

What we learn from this…story…is that a weak, spoiled, and selfish man could not take responsibility for his sexuality, his family, or his life.  On top of that, he’s a mean son of a bitch.   He drops out and never communicates with his wife and five children.  He decides, after a some 17 years of  working dubious jobs that don’t pay very well,  that it’s a good time to come back from the dead.  Dad isn’t doing too well and there’s a pile of money waiting to be claimed.  He knows it’s going to be messy to try to do it, and will again destroy the fragile peace his children have painfully achieved after 16 years, but Eric is up to the task.  He’s found “self-acceptance”.

Currently his abandoned family is appealing a lawsuit that requires they pay back an $800,000 life insurance policy paid out after he was declared dead.  But Eric vows that whatever agreement is reached, he will not pay a dime for benefits that were paid out as a result of his death.

“Why should I?” he said.”

I guess his idea of “self-acceptance” doesn’t include responsibility. And ABC News is quite willing and eager to let this scumbag blather about it.  Ratings, people, ratings!  Like Eric Myers, ABC is all about the financial incentive.

Being gay was the least of Eric Myers reasons to disappear.  He was deep in debt and kinda sick of having a family.  He took off and left a wide swath of despair behind him. His daughter, Kirsten, 8 years old when her father disappeared,  struggled for years with alcoholism and anxiety.  She isn’t swayed by his excuses:

“I know a lot of people who would never do this … absolutely never blame it on their homosexuality. I don’t believe that he is capable of love,”

“It almost hurt more to have him come back than it did for him to go in the first place”

If he were my father, I’d leave the word “almost” out of the above statement.