In one sense Glenn Greenwald’s being gay has nothing to do with the work he’s done as a journalist and commentator, including the revelations of government surveillance he’s helped bring to light in recent months. On the other hand, as he’s stated himself, growing up gay has given him a keen awareness of injustice, and certainly that’s true with regard to a government collecting personal information about its citizens. More than that, Glenn’s being gay seems to have been used against him in recent months.

via Targeting Glenn Greenwald’s Partner Is an Attack on Every One of Us | Michelangelo Signorile.

From Mike Signorile’s column on Huffington Post. It’s a good read. Read it.

Also read this from Alan Rusbridger, the editor of the Guardian, the liberalish British newspaper that the American Greenwald writes for.

Finally, look at the New York Times‘ recent coverage.

A White House spokesman, Josh Earnest, told reporters Monday that the British government had given the United States notice that it intended to detain Mr. Miranda when his plane landed, but that there had been no American request to do so.

That’s from the Times. And are we expected to believe that? If anyone does, I have a lovely piece of swampland in the desert Southwest to sell you.

Glenn Greenwald (l) and his partner David Michael Miranda. A Brazilian national, Miranda was detained in transit at Heathrow Airport. Greenwald has written extensively on the Edward Snowden leaks case. |Image: The Spectator.

And finally, this long cut is from the Spectator — the Spectator, that bastion of conservative British thought:

Always remember mornings like these, the next time police officers and politicians demand more powers to protect us from terrorism. They always sound so reasonable and so concerned for our welfare when they do. For who wants to be blown apart?

But the state said its new powers to intercept communications would be used against terrorists. They ended up using them against fly tippers. Now the police are using the Terrorism Act against the partner of a journalist who is publishing stories the British and American governments would rather keep quiet.

The detention of David Miranda at Heathrow is a clarifying moment that reveals how far Britain has changed for the worse. Nearly everyone suspects the Met held Miranda on trumped up charges because the police, at the behest of the Americans, wanted to intimidate Miranda’s partner Glenn Greenwald, the conduit of Edward Snowden’s revelations, and find out whether more embarrassing information is on Greenwald’s laptop.

These are scary times for those of us who have been increasingly uncomfortable watching the inherent (or so we thought) protections of the Fourth Estate erode in recent years. The most troubling part for me is that it’s happening in the Obama Administration. As a friend of mine cheekily wrote on my Facebook yesterday, “You thought you elected Obama and then got Dick Cheney.” I don’t like the unsettling truth underpinning that reply.

Greenwald and Miranda live primarily in Brazil because, until a few weeks ago, DOMA prevented Greenwald from sponsoring Miranda for a green card. Given what’s happened in the last few days, maybe it worked out for the best.

P.S. — In tagging this story, I entered “NSA” and the helpful spelling wizard came up with “insanity.” Yep, that’s right, too!