Chicago's gay community knows of the Heartland Cafe, and its owners, Katy Hogan and Michael James, as staunch supporters of GLBT causes, not only in recent years, but going back decades, when supporting gay rights took far more courage than it does today. However, loyalty to gay rights issues counts for nothing with Craig Gernhardt, publisher of Gay Chicago Magazine. In a recent post, Gernhardt made accusations that the Heartland Cafe is failing to pay the mandatory minimum wage. When questioned about what proof he had of these accusations, Gernhardt admitted that he had none, he was simply smearing their reputations by repeating something he claimed to have heard from an anonymous source.
Violations of minimum wage laws include criminal penalties. Falsely accusing a person of committing a crime is a form of slander. The Heartland Cafe and its owners now have a valid reason to sue Gernhardt for slandering them. Gernhardt uses his blog to proclaim his ownership of Gay Chicago Magazine. Could the Heartland Cafe sue the magazine? If they won a suit against Gernhardt, could they take his stock in the magazine?
We may never know. But if I were someone who owned stock in Gernhardt Publications, or worked at the magazine, I would feel very nervous about the stability of the situation right now. Craig Gernhardt is bizarre and unstable, and anyone near him runs a risk of that instability overflowing into their lives. Word to the wise.
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