Edward S. May

Edward S. May is the American co-proprietor of anti-Islam blog Gates of Vienna, along with his wife, who uses the pseudonym Dymphna. Prior to blogging, May was "a mathematician, a computer programmer, and a landscape artist" . Based in central Virginia, and using the pseudonym Baron Bodissey, May is a central organiser in the development of anti-Islam Counterjihad networks in both the United States and in Europe, such as the 910 Group, which came into being as a result of discourse in the comments section of Gates of Vienna blog. The 910 Group changed its name in 2007 to the Center for Vigilant Freedom, and since c.2009 has operated as the International Civil Liberties Alliance . May was also listed on the International Free Press Society (IFPS) Board of Directors as Outreach Coordinator for 2009. His position on the Board of Directors for IFPS did not continue into 2010.
A 2008 study by the Royal United Services Institute noted Gates of Viennas role in the rise of the Counterjihad movement:
::Very much like Al-Qai’da’s violent jihad, the counter-jihad discourse is a product of globalisation and the internet. Counter-jihad blogs such as The Brussels Journal, Atlas Shrugs, the Gates of Vienna and until very recently Little Green Footballs (see below) and websites such as FrontPage and Jihadwatch have served to amplify the work of a small number of writers and academics.
Counterjihad Europa
Counterjihad Europa began as a project of the Center for Vigilant Freedom (now International Civil Liberties Alliance) and has held annual summits or conferences in European cities since 2007.
On 14 April 2007, May spoke at the first Counterjihad Summit in Copenhagen, which was organised by the Center for Vigilant Freedom and hosted by SIAD and Danish operatives from the international Counterjihad network. Also present were: Chris Knowles (aka Aeneas) and Ann Marchini (aka Gaia) as leaders of the UK chapter of the Center for Vigilant Freedom; members of the Sweden Democrats party, including Ted Ekeroth, and; "several Norwegians" including Peder Jensen (aka Fjordman). Paul Beliën founder of the Flemish separatist blog The Brussels Journal was unable to attend.
In June 2010, May attended the Counterjihad Europa annual Counterjihad conference hosted in Zurich. Also present were: Chris Knowles and Ann Marchini, who represented both the UK chapter of the International Civil Liberties Alliance and the English Defence League;
In September 2011, May attended the Counterjihad Europa annual Counterjihad Conference hosted in London, where he met with: Paul Weston (then of UKIP); Chris Knowles and Ann Marchini; Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff; Kenneth Sikorski (aka KGS); Henrik Ræder Clausen; leaders of the British Freedom Party: Peter Mullins, Lee Barnes, Simon Bennett and Dr. George Whale, and; the current leaders of the English Defence League, namely Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson), Kevin Carroll, and Robert Renton (aka Jack Smith). As an outcome of the 2011 Counterjihad conference in London, it was announced in November 2011 that the former-British National Party activists who'd founded the far-right nationalist British Freedom Party would step down, and Paul Weston, formerly of UKIP, would take the helm as chairman. Additionally, an alliance between far-right street-protest movement English Defence League and British Freedom Party was also announced.
Breivik Controversy
According to Guardian journalist Andrew Brown, blog was an influence on Anders Breivik:
::Breivik referred to something he called "the Vienna school of thought", which consists of the people who had worked out the ideology that inspired him to commit mass murder. He named three people in particular: ; the Norwegian Peder Jensen who wrote under the pseudonym of Fjordman; and the American Robert Spencer, who maintains a site called Jihad Watch, and agitates against " the Islamisation of America".
::But the name also alludes to a blog called Gates of Vienna, run by an American named , on which Fjordman posted regularly and which claims that Europe is now as much under threat from a Muslim invasion as it was in 1683, when a Turkish army besieged Vienna.
After the Utoya massacre, the New York Times noted:
::The Gates of Vienna, a blog that ordinarily keeps up a drumbeat of anti-Islamist news and commentary, closed its pages to comments Sunday “due to the unusual situation in which it has recently found itself.”
::Its operator, who describes himself as a Virginia consultant and uses the pseudonym “Baron Bodissey,” wrote on the site Sunday that “at no time has any part of the Counterjihad advocated violence.”
In July 2011, May acknowledged that Breivik may have commented on the Gates of Vienna in September 2008 and October 2008.

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