An Open Letter to Travis Mayfield

I got this email and I really struggled if I should post it or not?

But, the person that wrote it really wanted me to do so.

I have decided to fulfill his wish.

Here is the letter:

An Open Letter to Travis Mayfield

Travis,

You don’t know me and I certainly don’t know you.

You also don’t know Scott Jones from FTVLive and your attack against him is way off base.

Let me share my story.

I’m a gay journalist and have been out for almost a decade now. About a year ago, I was going through a really tough time.

My partner was ill, he didn’t have the insurance to help him get the care he needed and the only income coming in was my paycheck. I’m not in as big a market as you, so I can assure you, I don’t make as much as you.

While all this was happening I had a manager at work that was harassing me, solely because I ‘m gay. I din’t want to take it to HR for fear of retaliation and the fear of losing my job.

I was at wits end and I reached out to Scott at FTVLive.

I don’t know Scott, and he has never mentioned me on my website. But, I felt after reading FTVLive for years that I could at least tell him what I was going through and see if he had any advice on how to handle the manager?

I told him about the harassment from my manager and Scott listened to what I had to say. He was going to post a story on FTVLive about what was going on, but I freaked out and told him that I wanted to keep it private.

I was so scared of losing my job, my boyfriend was in bad shape and I felt lost and very afraid.

Scott decided not to do the story after I begged him not to. But, it did not end there.

Scott called the manager and I have no idea what he said, but he scared the hell out of the guy. The manager apologized to me and I have never had a problem with him since.

I asked Scott about the conversation, but he would not share any details with me. I appreciated so much that he stepped up for me, even though he never did a story about it. I was blown away that a total stranger would do something so nice.

But, it didn’t end there. Not long after he talked to the manager, Scott sent a Venmo to me for $1000 to help me and my partner out. I could not believe it and tried to tell him he had done more than enough already. Still, he told me to keep the money and that hoped that it helped.

Fast forward 5 months later, my boyfriend recovered and went back to work and the manager I had trouble with has been nothing but respectful to me.

After getting back on our financial feet, we reached out to Scott, telling him we wanted to pay him back the thousnad dollars. He declined the offer and asked if we would just donate the money anonymously to a cause that was near to us.

You want to call Scott Jones a Homophobe, but you are 100% wrong.

I know Scott doesn’t need me to fight his battles, but he help me fight my battle and I owe it to him to have his back.

Thanks for listening Travis.