Homophobia: The issue of the era

The aftermath of the Prop 8 failures is still driving the discussion about equal rights in the country. The Coloradoan posits that homophobia could be the issue of our era:

Fifty years ago the Civil Rights movement was the issue of the era. Martin Luther King and several others fought to make blacks an equal part of this country, and his life was sacrificed for this cause. Now, we as a country can proudly say that we are past that sort of thing. I mean we have a black president now for Pete's sake. Two women were prominent figures in the presidential race. Discrimination against race and sex is a thing of the past, right? That's certainly cause for celebration, but there is still another hurdle or two for us to leap over before we can safely say that America is the land of equality.

Today there's a new battle being fought in the war against discrimination, and it is that of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) rights. Bigotry in this country has, for the most part, left behind the racist and sexist themes but that of homophobia is still around and as strong as ever. There are many definitions and ideas of the word homophobia, but what does it really mean? Merriam-Webster defines it in the following manner:
Homophobia (n.) [hoh-muh-foh-bee-uh] - The irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals; From the Greek words homs (one and the same) and phbos (fear, phobia).

To me, homophobia is that and a little more. Every true homophobe I've ever encountered has been repulsed by the very mention of homosexuality. Every one of these same people has probably never known a homosexual person, much less befriended them, much less tried to open their mind and understand the nature of homosexuality. It is, in many minds, a black-and-white matter. You choose to be gay or you choose not to be; if you so happen to choose to be gay, then you are so choosing a life of discrimination and intolerance. That is just how it is. Ok so perhaps that is a bit of an extreme outlook on the matter, but it's actually how a lot of people think, which is a scary concept. This is America, the land of the free; where people are welcome to be what they are and believe what they want, right? Wait, I said welcome. I should have said free, because while I have the legal right to be gay, I am not necessarily welcome to be gay wherever I want to be. If you looked at a fancy statistics map that gave different colors for different areas of the country where gays were accepted and tolerated, sure you'd see splotches here and there around the country where it's acceptable, but there's still a lot of work to be done.

You can read more after the jump...

Gay man shot, killed in Logan Circle

Here in Washington, DC, Durval V. Martins was killed last night on his way home from the 17th street bars in the area of 11th and Q. This is the same general area where Tony Hunter, another gay man, was killed a few months ago. The Washington Blade reports:

A 35-year-old gay man was shot in the head and killed shortly after 3 a.m. Tuesday at 11th and Q streets, N.W., while walking home from the Fox & Hound, a restaurant and bar near Dupont Circle, according to D.C. police.

The victim was identified as Durval V. Martins of the 200 block of Bates Street, N.W. A police statement said Martins also suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the body.

Acting Lt. Brett Parson, who oversees the police’s Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit, said the motive for the killing was unknown but could have been robbery. He noted that officers found the victim’s wallet in his hand.

Martins’ credit cards, cash, cell phone, and jewelry were still in his possession, Parson said.

The victim lived off of New Jersey Avenue near Q Street, Parson said. The residence is located about 16 blocks from the Fox & Hound.

Parson, who also responded to the scene, said a police officer on patrol along the 1000 block of Rhode Island Avenue, N.W., “heard multiple gunshots and observed several individuals fleeing north on 11th Street.”

Upon arriving on the scene, the officer found the victim unconscious with a gunshot wound to the head, Parson said. Emergency medical responders found no signs of life.

Parson told the Blade that people who knew the victim said he had patronized the Dupont Circle gay bar Omega and the 17th Street restaurant Jack’s before going to the Fox & Hound.

People who knew the victim said he was openly gay and apparently worked at a D.C. restaurant, Parson said.

You can find out more about this incident after the jump...

American gay rights advocate dies in Scotland

Sad news of a student activists death has crossed the Atlantic. 365gay.com reports:

(Edinburgh) Cody Lavender, an American exchange student, has fallen to his death from a dormitory room window at the University of Edinburgh.

Police are investigating but say there is nothing to indicate foul play.

Lavender, 20, had been watching television with friends when he suddenly plunged through the window witnesses said.

He was to have returned this week to the US for Christmas.

Lavender was raised in southern Arizona and in 2006 headed east to Dartmouth College to major in women and gender studies . He became co-chair of the student LGBT group Gender Sexuality XYZ and was an outspoken advocate for LGBT rights.

Earlier this year he went to Edinburgh as a part of Dartmouth’s foreign study program to take a religious studies course.

For the rest of this tragic story jump here...

Faith Leaders from LGBT Groups Issue Joint Statement Denouncing Vatican, Supporting UN Resolution

The Vatican has taken a position against decriminalizing homosexuality as the UN moves to encourage such a measure in countries around the world that hold on to such draconian laws. HRC has just released a statement about the Vatican's decision:

WASHINGTON – The Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender civil rights organization, along with faith program directors from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and National Black Justice Coalition today issued a joint protest over the Vatican's recent decision to oppose an initiative to decriminalize homosexuality. Advocates are pushing the U.S. State Department to support the initiative and urging media to cover this life and death concern.

The following joint statement was issued on United Nations Human Rights Day and the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

“For far too long people around the world have been ostracized, imprisoned, tortured and denied basic rights to housing, health care and employment simply because they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT). In more than 70 countries people can be imprisoned for homosexuality and in several countries same gender love is a crime punishable by death.

“This is why the French government, backed by 27 European Union nations, put forward a proposal, on Human Rights Day to recognize that LGBT rights are human rights and to decriminalize homosexuality. Such a statement simply affirms the most basic of rights for LGBT people: that they be allowed to live in dignity and safety. As faith leaders who work every day with LGBT people who feel the stigma of discrimination, this UN initiative speaks to our core belief that we show our love for God when we care for our neighbors, particularly those who are shunned and marginalized.

“As faith leaders we were shocked by Vatican opposition to this proposed initiative. By refusing to sign a basic statement opposing inhumane treatment of LGBT people, the Vatican is sending a message that violence and human rights abuses against LGBT people are acceptable. Most Catholics, and indeed most Catholic teachings, tell us that all people are entitled to live with basic human dignity without the threat of violence. The Catholics we know believe that Scripture asks us to be our brother and our sister's keeper. Many are speaking out against this immoral stance in the name of religion.

“Compounding the Vatican's opposition is the inaction to date of the government of the United States. As faith leaders and citizens of the United States, we call on the U.S. government to join the 50 countries throughout the world that have officially supported this U.N. proposal. We urge U.S. leaders to stand against discrimination. It is time to let the teachings of the world's great religions guide us toward justice rather that encouraging prejudice, fear and violence. It is time for the U.S. to stand as a moral leader for LGBT people and to help create a more just world for all of us.”


Harry Knox, Director
Religion and Faith Program
Human Rights Campaign Foundation

The Rev. Rebecca Voelkel, Director
Institute for Welcoming Resources and Faith Work
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force



Dr. Sylvia Rhue, Director
Religious Affairs
National Black Justice Coalition

Ann Craig, Director
Religion, Faith & Values Program
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)

The Lexington News reports an officer has been found guilty of killing his gay lover because he feared the student would reveal their relationship to his wife and family. The officer slashed the students throat and left the young man's body in the yard of a neighbor.

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- A former Columbia police officer was convicted yesterday of first-degree murder in the death of a gay college student from Kentucky with whom he had an affair.

The jury, brought in from Clay County, Mo., deliberated nine hours before convicting Steven Rios of slashing Jesse Valencia's throat last June. Valencia, 23, of Danville, was attending the University of Missouri-Columbia.Rios, 28, was also convicted of armed criminal action and faces a mandatory sentence of life without parole for the murder conviction.

The jury recommended a 10-year term for armed criminal action. Formal sentencing was set for July 5.

"I hope every day he's in prison, he suffers," said the victim's mother, Linda Valencia of Perryville, Ky. "I never felt compassion for him while I looked at him because he had no compassion for my son."

You can find the full account after the jump...

US researchers find evidence that homosexuality linked to genetics

The Guardian is reporting that scientist are drawing closer to proving a genetic link to sexuality. On the one hand this is encouraging, but on the other it's scary. Does this mean that parents will be able to request gene therapy to ensure they child doesn't turn out to be gay? Is that even ethical...

Compared to straight men, gay men are more likely to be left-handed, to be the younger siblings of older brothers, and to have hair that whorls in a counterclockwise direction.

US researchers are finding common biological traits among gay men, feeding a growing consensus that sexual orientation is an inborn combination of genetic and environmental factors that largely decide a person's sexual attractions before they are born.

Such findings - including a highly anticipated study this winter - would further inform the debate over whether homosexuality is innate or a choice, an undercurrent of California's recent Proposition 8 campaign in which television commercials warned that "schools would begin teaching second-graders that boys could marry boys", suggesting homosexuality would then spread.

Some scientists say the political and moral debate over same-sex marriage frequently strayed from established scientific evidence, including comments by Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin that homosexuality is "a choice" and "a decision".

Until 2007, CNN polls had found that a majority of Americans believed gay people could change their sexual orientation if they chose to; it was only last year that a majority for the first time said homosexuality was an inborn trait.

You can read more about these latest discoveries after the jump...

Is gay the new black?

The New York Blade is taking its cue from the Advocate and ponder whether gay is the new black. I find a few things problematic with this article, for example, "Racism was defanged by Obama's triumph, leaving gays as perhaps the last group of Americans claiming that their basic rights are being systematically denied." Racism still has it bite though, trying being me and catching a cab...

Gay is the new black, say the protest signs and magazine covers, casting the gay marriage battle as the last frontier of equal rights for all.

Gay marriage is not a civil right, opponents counter, insisting that minority status comes from who you are rather than what you do.

The gay rights movement entered a new era when Barack Obama was elected the first black president the same day that voters in California and Florida passed referendums to prevent gays and lesbians from marrying, while Arizonans turned down civil unions and Arkansans said no to adoptions by same-sex couples.

Racism was defanged by Obama's triumph, leaving gays as perhaps the last group of Americans claiming that their basic rights are being systematically denied.

"Black people are equal now, and gay people aren't," said Emil Wilbekin, a black gay man and the editor of Giant magazine. "I always have this discussion with my friends: What's worse, being a black man or a black gay man?"

"Civil rights have come much further than gay rights," he said. "A lot of people in the gay community have been condemned for their lifestyle and promiscuity and drugs and sex, so it's odd that when they want to conform and model themselves after straight people and have the same rights for marriage and domestic partnership and adoption, they're being blocked."

You can read more after the jump...

Gay is the New Black

Check out this interesting article in the Advocate! Provocative title but great writing:

By Michael Joseph Gross
Excerpted from The Advocate November 12, 2008

The night before Election Day, a black woman walked into the San Francisco headquarters of the No on Proposition 8 campaign. Someone had ripped down the No on 8 sign she’d posted in her yard and she wanted a replacement. She was old, limping, and carrying a cane. Walking up and down the stairs to this office was hard for her.

I asked why coming to get the sign was worth the trouble, and she answered, “All of us are equal, and all of us have to fight to make sure the law says that.” She said that she was straight, and she told me about one of the first times she ever hung out with gay people, in New Orleans in the 1970s. “I thought I was so cool for being there, and I said, ‘You faggots are a lot of fun!’ Well, that day I learned my lesson. A gay man turned on me and said, ‘A faggot is not a person. A faggot is a bunch of sticks you use to light a fire.’ ”

The combination of Obama’s win and gay people’s losses inflicted mass whiplash. We were elated, then furious. I’d spent the week in the No on Prop. 8 office in the Castro, a neighborhood where our defeat was existential. For the next few days, wherever I went -- barbershop, grocery store, gym, bars -- I heard people talk of almost nothing else.

The next day, Barack Obama was elected president, and gay marriage rights in California were taken away. At the same time, Arizona voters amended their state constitution to preemptively outlaw gay marriage. Florida went further, outlawing any legal union that’s treated as marriage, such as domestic partnerships or civil unions. Arkansas passed a vicious law denying us adoption rights.

You can find the rest after the jump...

‘Uniting for the greater cause’

Transgender Day of Remembrance is right around the corner and this is a very important day in the LGBT community. For more information about TDOR click here.

By DYANA BAGBY
NOV. 14, 2008

After honoring the Transgender Day of Remembrance for 10 years, Tracee McDaniel says it never becomes easier.

“It’s always emotional for me, but it’s always good to see we have support,” said McDaniel, executive director of the Juxtaposed Center for Transformation.

McDaniel is an organizer of Atlanta’s Transgender Day of Remembrance ceremony, set for Nov. 20 at the State Capitol.

Each year on Nov. 20, cities across the globe take time out to remember transgender people who were killed or died because of who they are. Remembering their names once a year is an important way to mark the discrimination transgender people face on a daily basis, McDaniel said.

“We just need to keep awareness out there that there is discrimination against transgender people and until we get some kind of legal protections, employment protections, we will continue to raise awareness,” she said.

This year’s theme for the vigil is “Community Uniting for a Greater Cause” because, McDaniel said, “we are all one community regardless how we identify.” (Southern Voice)

Find more after the jump...

Black gays celebrate Obama’s win

The Washington Blade steps into the black LGBT community to get their take on the Obama victory:

Black lesbian activist Sheila Alexander-Reid, founder of D.C. based Women in the Life, is struggling to put her thoughts into words on the morning of Nov. 5.

“I am so incredibly exhausted,” she says.

Reid is speechless for other reasons, too. She cannot believe that the U.S. has elected a black man to its highest office.

Carlene Cheatam, a lesbian activist and one of the original organizers of D.C. Black Pride, said that on election night, she was “totally filled.”

Though she had never really thought about whether she’d see a black president in her lifetime, she said she “knew he would win.”

“The impact that he has on people here and around the world, I think, is amazing, and I’m grateful to be here today,” she says.

Alexander Robinson, executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, a black gay group, said he had faith the American people would eventually support a black president, but didn’t believe it would happen this soon.

Earline Budd, longtime transgender rights activist and former executive director of Transgender Health Empowerment Inc., said that as an HIV-positive transgender woman, Obama’s presidency means health services that are important and vital to her life will not be eliminated and will be given more consideration.

Budd worked to get transgender people in D.C. registered to vote in time for the election. A lot of her clients, she said, were voting for the first time.

And she admits that she never thought she’d see this day.

These longtime gay and black activists professed their belief that the administration of president-elect Barack Obama will be the best in history on gay rights.

Find more after the jump...

What can we expect from an Obama administration?

Now that Obama has won the election, one question remains: What now? Ethan Jacobs of the Boston Edge examines what we can expect from an Obama administration:

With the election of Barack Obama and the expanded Democratic majority in Congress LGBT advocates are hopeful that they will be able to move forward with a federal agenda that had largely stalled under the Bush administration. Yet despite the change in leadership in the White House, advocates say it is unclear when the new president and Congress would begin taking action on some of the big-ticket items on the LGBT political agenda - passage of an inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), expansion of hate crimes laws to include sexual orientation and gender identity, repeal of "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell," repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), and passage of the Uniting American Families Act, to name a few measures Obama said he supports during the campaign.

Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), said HRC and other advocates would be assessing the make-up of the new Congress and the priorities of the new Obama administration to determine when different agenda items would be most viable.

"As a community and as a movement ... before we go back to talking about how [different agenda items] might play out, I think the first thing for us to do is evaluate what the face of the new Congress looks like. ... But I think you then have to move with an evaluative look at a whole range of LGBT issues, and I think you can see that different issues are at different places along the spectrum," said Solmonese.

He said hate crimes legislation, which passed in the House and Senate last year but was dropped from a defense authorization bill before final passage, would potentially be an easier victory in the short term, since lawmakers in both chambers have passed it and Obama has announced his support for the measure. ENDA would require more work, Solmonese said; last year the House passed a non-transgender-inclusive version of the bill, and the Senate has not yet voted on it, so there would be more work needed to build support for it in both chambers. Repealing "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" will require significantly more work, Solmonese said, since Congress has not voted on any repeal legislation and the new administration would have to win the support of the Defense Department and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Allison Herwitt, HRC’s legislative director, said as of the morning of Nov. 5 it was too soon to tell how supportive the new Congress would be.

Find more after the jump...

You can’t take this away from me: Proposition 8 broke our hearts, but it did not end our fight.

An Op-Ed from Joe Solmonese, President of HRC:

Like many in our movement, I found myself in Southern California last weekend. There, I had the opportunity to speak with a man who said that Proposition 8 completely changed the way he saw his own neighborhood. Every “Yes on 8” sign was a slap. For this man, for me, for the 18,000 couples who married in California, to LGBT people and the people who love us, its passage was worse than a slap in the face. It was nothing short of heartbreaking.

But it is not the end. Fifty-two percent of the voters of California voted to deny us our equality on Tuesday, but they did not vote our families or the power of our love out of existence; they did not vote us away.

As free and equal human beings, we were born with the right to equal families. The courts did not give us this right—they simply recognized it. And although California has ceased to grant us marriage licenses, our rights are not subject to anyone’s approval. We will keep fighting for them. They are as real and as enduring as the love that moves us to form families in the first place. There are many roads to marriage equality, and no single roadblock will prevent us from ultimately getting there.

And yet there is no denying, as we pick ourselves up after losing this most recent, hard-fought battle, that we’ve been injured, many of us by neighbors who claim to respect us. We see them in the supermarkets, on the sidewalk, and think “how could you?”

By the same token, we know that we are moving in the right direction. In 2000, California voters passed Proposition 22 by a margin of 61.4% to 38.6%. On Tuesday, fully 48% of Californians rejected Proposition 8. It wasn’t enough, but it was a massive shift. Nationally, although two other anti-marriage ballot measures won, Connecticut defeated an effort to hold a constitutional convention ending marriage, New York’s state legislature gained the seats necessary to consider a marriage law, and FMA architect Marilyn Musgrave lost her seat in Congress. We also elected a president who supports protecting the entire community from discrimination and who opposes discriminatory amendments.

Yet on Proposition 8 we lost at the ballot box, and I think that says something about this middle place where we find ourselves at this moment. In 2003, twelve states still had sodomy laws on the books, and only one state had civil unions. Four years ago, marriage was used to rile up a right-wing base, and we were branded as a bigger threat than terrorism. In 2008, most people know that we are not a threat. Proposition 8 did not result from a popular groundswell of opposition to our rights, but was the work of a small core of people who fought to get it on the ballot. The anti-LGBT message didn’t rally people to the polls, but unfortunately when people got to the polls, too many of them had no problem with hurting us. Faced with an economy in turmoil and two wars, most Californians didn’t choose the culture war. But faced with the question—brought to them by a small cadre of anti-LGBT hardliners – of whether our families should be treated differently from theirs, too many said yes.

But even before we do the hard work of deconstructing this campaign and readying for the future, it’s clear to me that our continuing mandate is to show our neighbors who we are.

Justice Lewis Powell was the swing vote in Bowers, the case that upheld Georgia’s sodomy law and that was reversed by Lawrence v. Texas five years ago. When Bowers was pending, Powell told one of his clerks “I don’t believe I’ve ever met a homosexual.” Ironically, that clerk was gay, and had never come out to the Justice. A decade later, Powell admitted his vote to uphold Georgia’s sodomy law was a mistake.

Everything we’ve learned points to one simple fact: people who know us are more likely to support our equality.

In recent years, I’ve been delivering this positive message: tell your story. Share who you are. And in fact, as our families become more familiar, support for us increases. But make no mistake: I do not think we have to audition for equality. Rather, I believe that each and every one of us who has been hurt by this hateful ballot measure, and each and every one of us who is still fighting to be equal, has to confront the neighbors who hurt us. We have to say to the man with the Yes on 8 sign—you disrespected my humanity, and I am not giving you a pass. I am not giving you a pass for explaining that you tolerate me, while at the same time denying that my family has a right to exist. I do not give you permission to say you have me as a “gay friend” when you cast a vote against my family, and my rights.

Wherever you are, tell a neighbor what the California Supreme Court so wisely affirmed: that you are equal, you are human, and that being denied equality harms you materially. Although I, like our whole community, am shaken by Prop 8’s passage, I am not yet ready to believe that anyone who knows us as human beings and understands what is at stake would consciously vote to harm us.

This is not over. In California, our legal rights have been lost, but our human rights endure, and we will continue to fight for them.

Third Gay Elected to Congress

365gay.com is reporting that the third gay representative has been elected to Congress:

(Washington) Colorado Democrat Jared Polis will become the third openly gay member of Congress when he is sworn in in January.

Polis, a 33-year-old entrepreneur who made millions creating Internet-based businesses, beat Republican Scott Starin to represent the 2nd District , which includes his hometown of Boulder.

He will join fellow Democrats Barney Frank (Mass.) and Tammy Baldwin (Wisc.) in the House.

There have been at least five other gays and lesbians in Congress, including currently serving Reps. Frank and Baldwin. Frank came out while in Congress. Baldwin was open about her sexuality when first elected.

Frank and Baldwin had little difficulty Tuesday winning re-election.

Polis’ 2nd District is firmly Democratic, but he took no chances and ran a strong campaign, putting much of his own money into the run. He also had the support of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund.

Previously, Polis was elected statewide to the Colorado State Board of Education from 2001 - 2007. During that time he served a term as vice-chairman and one as chairman.

Find more after the jump...

Bittersweet Day for LGBT Americans

Nov. 5th marks a bittersweet day for LGBT Americans. There is great celebration within our community surrounding the election of Barack Obama to the presidency. His efforts of inclusion were exemplified again in his victory speech, where he made mention of gay Americans. This is a remarkable achievement of progressive advocates everywhere, that work so hard to see Obama elected.

Unfortunately, discriminatory measures were passed in states across the US:

WASHINGTON—Voters in Arizona and Florida passed amendments to their states’ constitutions enshrining discrimination against LGBT people and denying marriage, and in some cases civil unions or domestic partnerships as well, to same-sex couples. Proposition 8 in California still remains too close to call.

“We all know that our marriages did not begin with a court decision and they will not end with a vote on a discriminatory amendment,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese.

“In California, we firmly believe that all votes should be counted before calling the race. Several million votes in CA have yet to be counted. We are waiting to see the final results from those ballots and we should not be speculating about something as important as people’s fundamental rights,” continued Solmonese.

“Although we lost our battles in Arizona and Florida, we will not allow the lies and hate—the foundation on which our opponents built their campaign—to break our spirits. We are on the right side of history—and we will continue this journey.

“The continuing movement in public opinion underscores that it is only a matter of time before we undo this loss and add more states to the march for marriage equality,” Solmonese continued.

HRC played a key role in the efforts to defeat Proposition 8 and other the other ballot measures in Arizona and Florida. (HRC Press Release)

We must continue the fight to bring fair-minded Americans together in support of equality, as well as support a president that values who we are as a community.

Transsexual gene link identified

For those that look to a science to explain phenomenon like male to female transsexuals, there argument has gotten stronger. The BBC is reporting a new break through in genetic science concerning out transgender brothers and sisters:

Australian researchers have identified a significant link between a gene involved in testosterone action and male-to-female transsexualism.

DNA analysis from 112 male-to-female transsexual volunteers showed they were more likely to have a longer version of the androgen receptor gene.

The genetic difference may cause weaker testosterone signals, the team reported in Biological Psychiatry.

However, other genes are also likely to play a part, they stressed.

Increasingly, biological factors are being implicated in gender identity.

One study has shown that certain brain structures in male-to-female transsexual people are more "female like".

In the latest study, researchers looked for potential differences in three genes known to be involved in sex development - coding for the androgen receptor, the oestrogen receptor and an enzyme which converts testosterone to oestrogen.

Comparison of the DNA from the male to female transsexual participants with 258 controls showed a significant link with a long version of the androgen receptor gene and transsexualism.

Find the rest of this article after the jump...

Gay priest is true to his faith, at odds with his church

Steve Lopez of the LA Times writes about Father Geoffery Farrow, a Catholic priest that came out as gay and in opposition to Proposition 8 (the discriminatory Calif. ballot measure that would strip marriage rights from gay couples).

So who is this Catholic priest from Fresno who stood up and spoke out against Proposition 8, putting his career on the line? As a gay man who finds the church's views on homosexuality so objectionable, why has he been a priest for more than 20 years and subjected himself to such moral conflict?

After reading my colleague Duke Helfand's story about Father Geoffrey Farrow and his recent career-suicide from the pulpit, I was curious.

Farrow agreed to meet me for lunch in the middle of a schedule that's gotten very busy since he became persona non grata to his employer. He's been asked to appear all over the state for rallies against Prop. 8, which would amend the California Constitution to say marriage can only be between a man and a woman.

Father Farrow, who was suspended by his bishop two weeks ago, strolled into the lobby of the Kyoto Grand Hotel in downtown Los Angeles wearing the collar.

"I'm still a priest," he said over lunch, though he fully expected to be disciplined for speaking to his congregation about Prop. 8 and wouldn't be surprised if he's ultimately fired.

For the moment, he's staying with friends in Los Angeles. Farrow, 50, doesn't know what he'll do after the election. He was suspended without pay and said his medical benefits run out at the end of the month.

Find the complete article after the jump...

FBI Reports Six Percent Increase in Hate Crimes Based on Sexual Orientation in 2007

WASHINGTON—The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, responded today to the Federal Bureau of Investigation report which showed the incidence of bias-motivated crimes based on sexual orientation increased by 6 percent in 2007. Hate crimes based on sexual orientation remain the third most common type of hate crimes, behind race and religion. This increase comes as the Hate Crimes Statistics, 2007, also reported that the overall incidence of bias-motivated crimes decreased in 2007.

“The FBI’s 2007 hate crimes report shows once again that hate crimes protections for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community are long overdue,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “We are hopeful that after next week’s election we will finally have a President and a Congress that will enact federal hate crimes legislation into law.”

The FBI report shows the continuing crisis of hate violence in America. This month marks the 10th anniversary of the death of Matthew Shepard from hate violence. In those ten years, the FBI has documented over ten thousand hate crimes based on sexual orientation alone. A decade after Matthew’s death, federal hate crimes legislation protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens has yet to be signed into law.

Last year, Congress passed federal hate crimes legislation in both the U.S. House and the Senate in a bipartisan vote. Unfortunately, President Bush’s veto threat blocked enactment of the legislation.

Federal legislation is crucial to ensuring local law enforcement is given the tools they need to combat hate violence in our communities. If signed into law, the Act would give the federal government expanded jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute violent crimes based on a person’s race, color, religion or national origin as well as their sexual orientation, gender identity, gender, and disability. It also provides assistance to local law enforcement to investigate and prosecute bias-motivated violence. Existing federal hate crimes law covers only certain hate crimes that are based on a victim’s race, color, religion and national origin.



BACKGROUND:

Historical Pervasiveness of Bias-Motivated Violence

Each year the FBI releases statistics of bias-motivated crime in the United States. While thousands of crimes are reported by hundreds of jurisdictions each year, the Human Rights Campaign believes this is only a fraction of the actual number of bias-motivated crime that occur in any given year. Reporting by state and local authorities to the FBI is voluntary and many jurisdictions lack the time and training to effectively report each incident of bias-motivated violence that occurs in a year.

While the FBI statistics provide a glimpse of the pervasiveness of bias-motivated violence in the United States, these statistics should be used as a starting point, not a comprehensive number. The Human Rights Campaign compiles media reports of hate crimes throughout the United States, in 2007 alone the media reported dozens of incidents of violent, bias-motivated crime that were clearly not reflected in the FBI report. While not authoritative, the Human Rights Campaign was able to match up several jurisdictions that reported zero incidents and non-reporting jurisdictions with media reports of bias motivated violent crime towards the LGBT community.

FBI statistics show that since 1991 over 100,000 hate crime offenses have been reported, with a slight decrease in the number of hate crimes reported in 2007. In 2007, 2,025 law enforcement agencies reported 7,624 hate crime incidents involving 9,006 offenses. This is a decrease from the 2006 report in which 2,105 law enforcement agencies reported 7,722 incidents involving 9,080 offenses.

Violent crimes based on race-related bias were by far the most common, representing 51 percent of all offenses for 2007. Violent crimes based on religion represented 18 percent and ethnicity/national origin, 13 percent. Violent crimes based on sexual orientation constituted 16.6 percent of all hate crimes in 2007, with 1,265 reported for the year. This is an increase from the 2006 report where hate crimes based on sexual orientation totaled 15.5% of incidents reported (1,195). The FBI does not report hate crimes based on gender identity.

In contrast, the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP), a non-profit organization that tracks bias incidents against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people,1 reported 1,833 incidents for 2007 from only 14 regions, compared to the 2,025 agencies reporting to the FBI in 2007.

The historical trend regarding hate crimes based on sexual orientation is unclear. While violent hate crimes based on sexual orientation declined from 2004 to 2005 according to both FBI statistics and the NCAVP, the NCAVP records show that one-year decline merely dropped the levels back to the pre-2003 levels.

Police Candidate Sues for HIV Discrimination

Don't let anyone tell you the stigma around HIV/AIDS is dead. An Atlanta man is suing the police department for job discrimination because of his status, the Advocate reports:

A man who applied to be police officer in Atlanta is suing the department after higher-ups claimed he could not be admitted because he is HIV-positive. Suing under the pseudonym Richard Roe, the applicant said the department violated his privacy and that it has a history of not accepting officers who have HIV, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Monday.

City officials say the department did not turn Roe away because of his HIV status, but city documents sent to the the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission show that Atlanta disqualifies potential officers with blood-borne diseases, such as HIV. "Diseases passed through the blood present a hazardous condition and as such are disqualifying conditions," the city wrote to the EEOC about Roe's case.

Atlanta Human Resource Department director Alfred Elder said that Roe disqualified himself because he did not return phone calls from a police recruiter.

The Americans With Disabilities Act prohibits employers from firing or denying employment to those with HIV.

Roe was working another job within the department when he applied to become an officer in 2006, according to court documents. He claims he was told that the routine blood test was strictly for drug use. The department says Roe was notified that he was also being tested for HIV. The doctor administering the test told Roe he was HIV-positive and that the police department does not hire people with the virus. (Michelle Garcia, The Advocate)

You can find the original article after the jump...

Fresh Face on Cable, Sharp Rise in Ratings

The NYT's is published a story today about out lesbian and successful political pundit, Rachel Maddow. Here's what they're saying:

Rachel Maddow, a woman who does not own a television set, has done something that is virtually unheard of: she has doubled the audience for a cable news channel’s 9 p.m. hour in a matter of days.

More important for her bosses at MSNBC is that “The Rachel Maddow Show,” her left-leaning news and commentary program, has averaged a higher rating among 25- to 54-year-olds than “Larry King Live” on CNN for 13 of the 25 nights she has been host. While the average total audience of her program remains slightly smaller than that of Mr. King’s, Ms. Maddow, 35, has made MSNBC competitive in that time slot for the first time in a decade. The channel at that hour has an average viewership of 1.7 million since she started on Sept. 8, compared with 800,000 before.

Given that advertising dollars — and the reputations of networks — rise and fall on prime-time ratings, Ms. Maddow’s rise has been closely watched by media executives.

“I’m pinching myself,” said Phil Griffin, the president of MSNBC, who used to caution that it “takes two or three years for a show to find its audience.” That was certainly true for Keith Olbermann, whose five-year-old “Countdown” program at 8 p.m. (which leads into Ms. Maddow’s program) now beats CNN in the 25-to-54-year-old demographic segment every evening.

You can find the entire NYT's article after the jump...

The Full Spectrum of acceptance

Members of the gay-straight alliance group Spectrum at UNLV are on a mission. They want to raise awareness for their one-of-a-kind organization, which is also known as the gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender-questioning-queer-and-straight alliance group, or GLBTQQSA for short. Try saying that five times.

By: Anela Saday for The Rebel Yell

UNLV has had a diversity awareness group on campus for more than 15 years. This was the predecessor of what would later become Spectrum, UNLV's only current gay-straight alliance group. The name was adopted six years ago. Spectrum encompasses all the different groups of the GLBTQQSA, said Lillian Nadeau, vice president of Spectrum.

"We welcome everyone who wants to be a part of something great," she said.

Spectrum is for anyone who is against discrimination. You do not have to be gay to join.

Spectrum's constitution explains their purpose: "Since it is our belief that all forms of oppression are related, and because gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people come from all walks of life, Spectrum at UNLV will cooperate with other organizations which combat racism, sexism, ableism and other forms of oppression."

Find more after the jump...

Soulforce Activists Arrested at Christian College in Alabama

Three gay rights activists were arrested for trespassing at a Christian university on Friday after attempting to deliver letters advocating for the acceptance of LGBT students. The activists, all women, are affiliated with Soulforce's Equality Ride, which is touring university campuses across the South this fall to promote religious tolerance of gay students.

The Equality Riders met with one student during their stop at Heritage Christian University in Florence, Ala., who described the atmosphere on campus as a "homophobic panic." Faculty and students had been warned by school administrators not to communicate with the Riders.

The three arrested were Caitlin MacIntyre, 19; Katie Higgins, 26; and Taueret Manu, 21. Equality Ride codirector Jarrett Lucas said in a statement that the university is clearly unwelcoming of LGBT people. "The school’s choice to arrest us shows just how far they will go to suppress the message we bring," Lucas said. "HCU trains missionaries to go beyond the walls of their school to spread the inclusive gospel of Christ, but today they chose not to uphold the principles they preach."

HCU is the sixth school on the tour, which ends in November. The Riders are also planning to visit Mississippi College, the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and the Simmons College of Kentucky. (Michelle Garcia, The Advocate)

State lawmakers move to dismiss lawsuit by transgender employee

By MATT SCHAFER, Southern Voice | Oct 17, 6:11 PM

Three state lawmakers have asked a federal judge to dismiss a discrimination lawsuit filed against them by a former employee who alleges she was fired after announcing her gender transition.

Vandiver Elizabeth Glenn claims she was fired from her job as a legislative editor last year because of her transition from male to female. A lawsuit filed this summer named Speaker of the House Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram), Senate President Pro-Tempore Eric Johnson (R-Savannah), Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, lawyer Sewell Brumby and Robyn Underwood, the state’s legislative financial officer.

Cole Thaler serves as transgender rights attorney for Lambda Legal, which is representing Glenn. Thaler said he was aware of the motion to dismiss but had not reviewed the motion with enough detail to comment.

The motion, filed by the lawmakers' attorney on Oct. 16, contested Glenn’s ability to sue and said she did not state a claim upon which relief can be granted.

“Asking this Court to determine if (Glenn) is similarly situated to other employees requires the Court to second guess the subjective, individualized assessments that are a part of any employment decision. It would make every decision by a government employer a constitutional matter,” the lawmakers' attorney argued in the motion.

Find more after the jump...

Gay teens face hard times in Tri-Cities

By Sara Schilling, Herald staff writer

Gay and lesbian teens in the Tri-Cities say they've been targeted in the community and at school because of their sexual orientation.

They've been whispered about, laughed at and called names such as "faggot" when they're on the street and in school hallways, they say.

"I've had people try to fight me because I'm gay. I've had people try to fight me because I hang out with people who are gay and stand up for them," said Alex, 17, who goes to high school in the Tri-Cities.

The Herald agreed not to fully identify students to protect them from harassment.

Their experiences are backed up by a national survey released this month. It found that 86 percent of students who identify themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered -- abbreviated as LGBT -- had been verbally harassed at school in the past year.

Find more after the jump...

Donnie McClurkin Goes International

Our good, good judy, Donnie McClurkin took his ex-gay ministry on the road this past week. McClurkin spoke in Barbados where he suggested that gay men are the product of abuse and compares them to drug dealers and prostitutes.

For more on McClurkin's spreading of the good news, check out Rod 2.0...

Surrogates for GOP, Dem. campaigns rally Ga. voters

By MATT SCHAFER
OCT. 17, 2008


As polls show a tightening presidential race in Georgia, high-ranking openly gay supporters of candidates Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) made their way to Atlanta last week to shore up support and get a look at conditions on the ground.

Patrick Sammon, chair of the national Log Cabin Republicans, and Tobias Wolff, chair of Obama’s LGBT Policy Committee, both made visits to Atlanta to speak with the party faithful about the Nov. 4 election.

Wolff’s visit was higher profile, incorporating public stumps at an “Out for Obama” event at Bazzaar and the Human Rights Campaign’s “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” fundraiser. Sammon’s visit was more informal, but he met with several Log Cabin Republicans at Einstein’s on his swing through Atlanta.

Both men said their presidential candidate is the most open on gay issues ever nominated by their party.

McCain “is not perfect on our issues, but certainly has an inclusive record,” Sammon said. “He’s promised he would be a president for everyone.”

Wolff, no relation to the author of the same name, said he originally tried to keep a count of how many times Obama mentioned gay rights in public.

“I have tried to keep track of the number of states and number of times he has mentioned gay issues in his stump speeches, and I’ve long since given up on trying to keep a tally,” Wolff said. “That’s very important. I don’t think presidential politics will ever step back from that.”

Find more after the jump...

BLAGOSAH's Back: Howard University student group revives for 8th anniversary at HRC Hype '08 launch

Check out this article in the Metroweekly on the amazing event we had in conjunction with the GLBT student leaders at Howard University:


There was a full agenda in one particular room of Howard University, Monday night, Oct. 6. Outside, the quad offered a peaceful, moonlit, academic oasis. Inside a theater of the Blackburn Center, however, peace made way for progress, as the Human Rights Campaign launched ''Hype '08,'' and the Bisexual, Lesbian and Gay Organization of Students at Howard (BLAGOSAH) stirred back to life after a sort of hiatus, marking the group's 8th birthday that very evening.

Hype '08 is HRC's new, nationwide program partnering with about a dozen historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to discuss issues such as hate crimes, HIV/AIDS and discrimination in the context of HBCU student issues.

For this launch, four speakers tackled these sorts of topics with about 60 people in attendance. The speakers were Jasper Hendricks, who directs field operations and political programs for the D.C.-based National Black Justice Coalition; Chris Scalise, president of the D.C. chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans; Courtney Snowden, recent president of D.C. Black Pride; Jeff Marootian, vice president for political affairs of the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club here in D.C.; Chris Scalise, president of the D.C. chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans; and Courtney Snowden, president of D.C. Black Pride from August 2007 to August 2008.

While much of the evening was spent discussing the presidential election, the room -- both panelists and the audience -- was largely behind Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama, though Scalise was able to spend some time discussing his club's support the GOP nominee, Sen. John McCain. Opinion from the audience also brought Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney into the mix.

The dialogue was most intense when discussing hate crimes, with Joey Gaskins of HRC and the evening's moderator, sharing that some students may be carrying mace and box cutters to protect themselves in the Shaw neighborhood that abuts the campus, scene of a recent attack that left one gay man, Tony R. Hunter, dead.

''Carrying a gun is not the way to go,'' insisted Hendricks. ''Carrying a knife is not the way to go. You're not kids. You're young men and women.''

From her seat in the audience, Roberta McLeod, BLAGOSAH's faculty advisor, reminded students, ''You're still black in America,'' and that carrying weapons may make them more suspect than people of other races.

Clarence Fluker, of the Mayor's Office of GLBT Affairs, also in attendance, offered that representatives of the Metropolitan Police Department's Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit would be available for come to campus and speak to BLAGOSAH members if requested. He added that the office would likely be releasing a report soon to underscore that, statistically, bias crimes against GLBT people in the District are declining, compared to this time last year.

Along with Fluker, other notable attendees included Donna Payne, HRC's associate director of diversity; Phil Attey of Obama Pride Metro-DC; and Falls Church City Councilmember Lawrence Webb, the first openly gay, African American elected to office in Virginia.

Sterling Washington, an original founder of BLAGOSAH closed out the evening, along with the group's current president, Amari Ice. Washington challenged the revived BLAGOSAH to win to the student group of the year award, as the group did when he was leading, for which he received a standing ovation.

Find the original article after the jump...

Separate is not Equal

This New York Times editorial draws on one of the tenants of the 1950's and 60's civil rights movment:

With a 4-to-3 ruling on Friday that granted gay and lesbian couples the right to marry, the Connecticut Supreme Court ended a serious injustice within its own borders, and the national debate over the issue was catapulted forward. The ruling made Connecticut the third state to legalize same-sex marriage, following Massachusetts in 2004 and California in May.

Connecticut’s Supreme Court was considering a ruling by a lower court that found that there was no denial of equal protection in excluding gay people from the institution of marriage. The lower court cited supposedly comparable protections and benefits afforded by the state’s civil-unions law. The Supreme Court’s decision correctly rejects that standard, which is the same as the excuse of separate but equal once used to rationalize racial segregation.

Justice Richard Palmer wrote in the majority opinion that segregating heterosexual and homosexual couples into different institutions constitutes a “cognizable harm” in light of “the history of pernicious discrimination faced by gay men and lesbians, and because the institution of marriage carries with it a status and significance that the newly created classification of civil unions does not embody.”

Because of that history of discrimination, the decision properly treats sexual orientation as a “suspect classification” entitled to the sort of heightened legal scrutiny applied to distinctions based on race or sex.

The new ruling is especially timely. Californians are about to vote on a ballot initiative that in effect overturns the May ruling that gave gay people the right to marry. Its message about the unfairness of treating the relationships of same-sex couples as somehow inferior needs to be taken to heart.

Find the original article after the jump...

Longtime friends say Obama would benefit gays

Want to know what kind of president Barack Obama would be for gay Americans? Just listen to his longtime gay friends.

That was the thinking of the Human Rights Campaign PAC, the political arm of the nation’s largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender group.

So after endorsing Obama, HRC sent a camera crew to Chicago to interview gay folks like activist Gail Morse who knew him way before the rest of us.

“We’re going to have a partner in the White House. We’re not going to have an enemy,” Morse says in the “Friends” video. “He sees us as people with issues that government can address.”

On the night Obama accepted the Democratic presidential nomination, HRC e-mailed the “Friends” video to nearly 900,000 of its friends and urged them to forward it.

The video is part of HRC’s all-out effort to persuade gay Americans that by helping Obama win they’ll get a real friend in the White House, who could help Uncle Sam catch up with changes in the states.

Find more after the jump...

86% of LGBT teens face harassment in US schools

By Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk

The most comprehensive study ever undertaken into the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students in the United States has found they face widespread abuse.

GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, released the 2007 National School Climate Survey yesterday.

6,209 middle and high school students took part.

GLSEN said nearly 9 out of 10 LGBT students (86.2%) experienced harassment at school in the past year, three-fifths (60.8%) felt unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation and a third (32.7%) skipped a day of school in the past month because of feeling unsafe.

“The 2007 National School Climate Survey reveals that, on a whole, the situation is still dire for many LGBT youth when it comes to school safety,” GLSEN Executive Director Kevin Jennings said.

Find more after the jump...

State of emergency: Black gays, Fenty, Lanier must all be more visible in D.C.’s hate crimes fight.

Local activist, Brian Watson, writes into the Metroweekly about important community partners being missing from the fight against hate-crimes in DC:

RECENTLY, I WAS asked to attend the second meeting of Gays and Lesbians Opposing Violence (GLOV), as a leader in the African-American gay community.

I became involved in the community’s hate crime dialogue when several friends of Tony Hunter asked me to help organize a candlelight vigil to draw attention to the attack. (This occurred prior to Hunter’s death.) I was eager to hear what GLOV organizers, other community leaders and the GLLU had planned to combat the recent rash of suspected hate crimes in the District.

While the meeting was well attended, I couldn’t help but notice that there were very few people in the audience from my own community, even though Hunter was African American. At the candlelight vigil held this past Sunday in remembrance of Hunter, I noticed the same thing. While there were more African Americans in attendance at the vigil than that meeting, there was definitely not the support from the black community that there should have been after such a horrible crime.

I personally sent e-mails to many friends and local and national activists I knew, and spoke with print media and TV reporters. I wondered where the other African-American LGBT community members were and what was so important that they couldn’t take time to honor a life that was lost and make a statement to city leaders that this type of violence would not be tolerated. I also wondered where Mayor Fenty and Chief Lanier were and why they had not attended the GLOV meeting or the vigil.

Find more from Brian after the jump...

Gay man injured in new D.C. bias attack

By JOSHUA LYNSEN | Oct 3, 5:47 PM

D.C. police arrested two men today after a gay man was attacked in Georgetown.

Acting police Lt. Brett Parson said the “aggravated assault” occurred near the neighborhood’s canal area around 3 a.m. Parson declined to discuss the circumstances surrounding the attack, but noted it was being handled as a hate crime.

Parson said that police arrested two men soon after the attack. Prosecution was being handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which confirmed that both men were in custody today and would be arraigned Saturday.

Parson said the gay man who was injured in the attack was treated and released from a local hospital.

A source familiar with the case told the Blade that the injured man, a 23-year-old Georgetown medical student, was walking along the canal path with a 22-year-old man when two men approached them.

The source said the men, who he described as Muslim and being of “Middle Eastern descent,” asked the other men if they were gay. When one of the men answered yes, the source noted that the man and his companion began using “profane language.”

At one point, the source said, the two men told the gay men, “If you were to do this type of behavior back in our country, you’d be stoned,” and that “a man’s asshole is for shitting not fucking, you fucking faggots.”

Find more after the jump...

Siciliano: LGBT teen homelessness is an epidemic

By Carl Siciliano, Executive Director, Ali Forney Center
09.25.2008 10:49pm EDT

As National Coming Out Day approaches, I find myself wondering if the LGBT community is failing too many of the teens who come out.

When a teen comes out, and their parents are able to accept them, it is a wonderful thing. However, recent studies have shown that as many as 25 percent of teens face rejection by their parents and families when they come out. Our nation’s homeless youth population is swollen with LGBT youth who have been thrown to the streets as a punishment for their honesty and integrity in coming out.

In last year’s report “An Epidemic of Homelessness,” the Task Force cited studies showing that up to 40 percent of all the homeless youth in the United States are LGBT.

It is upsetting and disturbing to hear the stories kids tell us when they seek help from the Ali Forney Center. We hear of kids being battered and beaten by their parents and family members. We hear of kids being told that they are damned and unloved by God by their religious leaders.

We hear of kids being gaybashed in youth shelters, most of which in our country are “faith-based.”

A common theme I hear in the stories our kids tell us is how, in the eyes of their families and communities, their being LGBT cancels out their human value. They become no longer worthy of love and protection in the eyes of their parents.

A common theme I hear in the stories our kids tell us is how, in the eyes of their families and communities, their being LGBT cancels out their human value. They become no longer worthy of love and protection in the eyes of their parents.

This is where the broader LGBT community must come to the table.

We need to show our kids that they are loved and cherished for who they are. We have an obligation to our youth to create and support structures that protect queer youth when their parents refuse to do so.

In every city we need to be advocating that youth shelters be safe for LGBT youth, and that distinct programs be created and funded to meet the needs of LGBT youth. Paying closer attention to the needs of our kids needs to be a higher priority for us as a community on local and national levels.

I am proud of the Ali Forney Center’s trailblazing efforts in responding to the urgent needs of homeless LGBT youth. We opened in 2002 with six cots in a church basement. Since then, we have grown to offer eight seperate residential sites with the capacity to house 50 youth per night. We have a drop-in center that offers food, showers, medical and mental health care, HIV testing and prevention services, and vocational and educational assistance to over 500 youth per year.

We offer the kind of guidance, support, and protection that youth should be receiving from their families.

When Ali Forney, a homeless queer youth, was murdered on the streets of NYC in 1997, this kind of support for LGBT youth did not exist. Ali was faced with the choice of staying in a Roman Catholic-run youth shelter where gaybashing was notoriously prevelent, or of struggling to survive on the streets. Ali chose the streets, and was mudered on a cold December night.

It is wonderful now to see how our youth are able to thrive when given the kind of nurturing and support they need. We were so proud this past summer when one of our former clients, Lamont, was fearured in a New York Daily News article about his courageous efforts in founding the first LGBT student club at Medgar Evers College, where he became a student while living in our housing program.

We were also filled with pride last summer when Andre, another of our kids, was given a full scholoship to dance at the Alvin Ailey School.

Most recently we have exhaulted in the accomplishments of Isis, who came to us last year with a fierce determination to pursue a career in fashion, and moved from our housing program in June to become the first trans woman contentent on America’s Next Top Model!

However, the Ali Forney Center is a rarity. There are only a small handful of programs in our country dedicated to housing LGBT youth - there are tens of thousands of LGBT youth enduring the terrors and humiliations of homelessness on our streets.

The protection and safety of our youth must become a central priority of our community. We need to show these kids, and ourselves, that they are valued. When a kid is thrown to the streets for being gay, it is an assault against each one of us.

We need to do a better job, so that when kids come out of the closet, they do not have to be thrown to the streets.

"Every day, I was afraid for my sister. The world, the way it is, most people wouldn't accept who she was."

By Monte Whaley
The Denver Post


BRIGHTON — Angie Zapata's life was becoming more complicated and dangerous by the day.

As she neared her 19th birthday, she needed to shave daily to keep up appearances. Her Adam's apple was growing larger, an emerging tip-off that Angie was not exactly whom she claimed to be.

She was living in Greeley away from her protective older sister, Monica, and other family members for the first time. The striking, 6-foot-tall Latina began running with a bad crowd that sold drugs.

Angie was restless. She needed money for cosmetology school and for counseling to prepare her for hormone treatments so her breasts would develop.

"Every day, I was afraid for my sister," said Monica Zapata. "The world, the way it is, most people wouldn't accept who she was."

Born Justin Zapata, Angie wanted to live and love as a transgender female.

Her quest for a normal life on her terms ended in July, when she was beaten to death in her one-bedroom, $300-a-month apartment.

Her alleged assailant, 31-year-old Allen Andrade of Thornton, met Angie on a dating website. He grew suspicious while looking at photographs of Angie in her apartment, according to Greeley police. He confronted her about her sexual status; she allegedly said: "I'm all woman." Then he grabbed her crotch and felt a penis, police said.

Enraged, he first hit Angie with his fists. Then he used a fire extinguisher, hitting her up to five times, prosecutors said.

He covered her body with a blanket and left the apartment, taking a credit card belonging to Monica Zapata as well as Monica's 2003 PT Cruiser.

Find more after the jump...

Google opposes ban on gay marriage

By Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk • September 29, 2008


Internet company Google will publicly oppose an attempt to ban same-sex marriage in California.

Co-founder Sergey Brin said in a blog posting that the company, which is headquartered in the state and employs nearly 20,000 people, sees the issue as one of equality.

It is unclear if Google will contribute to the campaign opposing Proposition 8.

In the past weeks Hollywood celebritities Brad Pitt and Steven Spielberg have donated to the campaign.

Proposition 8 is an initiative measure on the 2008 California General Election ballot in November.

It would amend the state Constitution to "eliminate right of same-sex couples to marry."

In May the California Supreme Court overturned a ban on same-sex marriages in the state.

The Court voted 4 to 3 to strike down the ban.

Opponents of gay marriage raised over more than a million signatures to place the initiative on the November ballot.

"While there are many objections to this proposition - further government encroachment on personal lives, ambiguously written text - it is the chilling and discriminatory effect of the proposition on many of our employees that brings Google to publicly oppose Proposition 8," wrote Mr Brin.

Find more after the jump...

Police ‘very close’ to arrests

LOU CHIBBARO JR
Friday, September 26, 2008

Police homicide detectives said they were “very close” this week to arresting one or more suspects in the murder of Tony Randolph Hunter, a gay Maryland man who died after he was attacked near a D.C. gay club.

Assistant D.C. Police Chief Diane Grooms said Monday before a meeting of Gays & Lesbians Opposing Violence (GLOV) that investigators were “very close to closing” the case.

Find more after the jump...

Hunter died Sept. 17, 10 days after four men attacked him near BeBar.

Grooms and acting Lt. Brett Parson, director of the department’s Special Liaison Units, including the Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit, said at the GLOV meeting that police officers stationed near the scene of the Sept. 7 attack against Hunter and his friend, Trevor Carter, saw the attackers fleeing the scene from about one block away.

Grooms and Parson said they could not disclose additional details of the investigation, but noted they were hopeful that arrests would be made soon.

Gay man flies under radar as major mover and shaker in Obama’s campaign

Steve Hildebrand has the opportunity to become one of the highest-ranking openly gay members of a presidential administration if Sen. Barack Obama is elected this year.

Hildebrand has been with the campaign since before it officially formed, and currently serves as deputy national campaign manager.

“I was the Kool-Aid drinker from the beginning,” Hildebrand said, smiling during a recent trip to Atlanta.

Hildebrand grew up in a small South Dakota city best known for the Mitchell Corn Palace. He wears his graying hair in a buzz cut, and admits to feeling unfashionable at some of the campaign’s more trendy events. He doesn’t enjoy talking about himself and hates having his picture taken.

Hildebrand started in politics working for Democrats in western states. Quickly earning praise for his field operations skills, he ran the Gore Iowa Caucus campaign in 2000 and managed campaigns for Sen. Tom Daschle and Sen. Tim Johnson in his home state. He was also one of the first to talk about an Obama presidency.

“I was the one who was literally emailing 300 people Barack Obama clips every day for months, driving people crazy,” he said. “I then got connected with him and had a long series of meetings around a conference table trying to make sure that this made any sense.”

Find more after the jump...

‘These kids are invisible’: An LGBT youth shelter in words and pictures

It’s a gorgeous mid-September Tuesday evening in New York City and the setting sun warmly glows over the streets of Midtown. Chelsea, New York’s gayest enclave, shifts into party mode just a few blocks south. To the northeast, the world is starting to queue up for Broadway hits. Meanwhile, commuters rush to the comforts of home.

But for thousands of gay youth in Gotham, there will be no partying, no theater, no playing tonight.

And once again, no home.

Estimates say that a staggering 20,000 young people are homeless every night in the city, - anywhere from a quarter to a third of those are LGBTQ kids. A lucky fraction of that number has found its way to Sylvia’s Place, tucked here on the city’s far west side, so near and so far from so much wealth.

Sylvia’s Place is the subject of Queer Streets, a new Logo documentary shot in 2006 which followed seven LGBT teens who frequented the shelter. To see what Sylvia’s place is like now, I step into this surreal and humbling world to meet with Kate Barnhart, director of Sylvia’s Place since 2004.

Tonight, like every Tuesday evening, dinner is being served by a small team of volunteers from the adjacent Metropolitan Community Church of New York. I take a seat on a metal folding chair next to Kate’s desk, not quite sure where to put my manpurse amidst the overflowing boxes, plastic bags, and just plain stuff that’s everywhere. She motions for me to throw it into the area behind her, with a dozen other backpacks and handbags.

“Behind my body is the safest place, so everyone stashes their stuff back here,” she says.

Find more after the jump...

Dallas Southern Pride adds black/Latino summit, literary reading to 2008 event schedule

By Ben Briscoe
Sep 25, 2008



Dallas Southern Pride, an annual celebration for the African-American LGBT community, will run Oct. 2-5 and has a significantly different direction this year than in the past, according to organizers.

“Last year there was a big focus on parties, but this year we are going to focus on our daytime events as well,” said Cochair Venton Jones. “The community felt the need to extend our programming and services to foster holistic change with African-American, Latino and LGBT communities.”

Jai Makokha, of Legacy of Success Foundation, is excited about the new direction.

“I think the coordinators are bringing a much warranted change,” he said. “This event is really about uplifting the community, and I think this will do that.”

This year’s theme for the event, which normally draws about 10,000 people, will be “Come Out and Play.” The two biggest additions to the celebration will be a literary reading showcasing national black LGBT authors and the “National Black & Brown Summit.”

The reading will bring in Michael Christopher, Fiona Zedde, Tim’m T. West, Nikki Rashan. It will take place Oct. 4, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m at the same location as all of the other Southern Pride events, Sterling Hotel Dallas.

Find more after the jump...

100th Post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you to all our readers for continuing to support this effort. Please be sure to let friends and family know about us...about our truth and our voice!



This is HBCU+HRC Blog 100th post!!!!

Nashville conference to support gays in the pews

Does God love and accept His gay children? Is it possible to be gay and religious? Where do struggling parents, friends and family go to understand and accept a gay family member? These questions are at the heart of the Our Family Matters conference held Wednesday, Oct. 22 through Saturday, Oct. 25 at Second Presbyterian Church in Nashville.

Launched as a live version of Kim Clark’s documentary, God and Gays: Bridging the Gap, the four-day conference offers a contemporary Christian perspective on being gay and Christian. The schedule includes a film festival, live concerts, national keynote speakers (Dr. Jack Rogers, Rev. Deborah Johnson) and three days of workshops.

Reverend Jim Kitchens is pastor of the event’s host church, and is elated this conference is coming to his hometown.

“There are many more affirming churches in Tennessee than most initially think. Most mainstream congregations are very inclusive and welcome everyone as they are, with open arms. Especially given the recent shooting at the Unitarian-Universalist Church in Knoxville, it’s important that we all stand together to give public witness to our love for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters,” said Kitchens.

Clark agrees that Our Family Matters comes to Tennessee at a crucial time.

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Activist tries to break cycle of gay teen suicide

"Why did God create me this way?"

That's what Mitchell Gold asked himself as a teenager in the mid-1960s as he hid his homosexuality from family and friends. The better he got at the hiding game on the outside, the more torn up he became on the inside.

What he called "the black cloud" swallowed him up. And he found himself thinking of ways to kill himself -- from overdosing on sleeping pills to driving off a cliff.

Gold felt completely alone, but the sad truth is that countless other gay and lesbian teens were feeling just as painfully isolated. Unlike Gold, many gay and lesbian teens of his generation didn't make it. Many gay teens are still not making it. And this tragic pattern won't change unless all of us -- gay and heterosexual alike -- help break the cycle.

hat's the latest message of the once self-hating gay teen who grew up to become the successful co-founder of the Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams furniture company and an innovative gay-rights activist.

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VP Nominee Joe Biden to Address HRC Dinner

With Barack Obama's campaign continuing its outreach to LGBT voters, Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden is expected to speak at the Human Rights Campaign National Dinner this weekend in Washington, D.C.

Biden’s decision to speak comes on the heels of the Obama camp’s landmark policy call discussing the Democratic presidential ticket’s opposition to “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Biden has long supported a repeal of the policy.

"If the support Senator Biden has proven on our issues is any indication of the type of vice president he will be," HRC President Joe Solmonese said in a statement just after Biden was added to the Democratic ticket, "then our community can be assured that Senator Obama has chosen a thoughtful and staunch advocate for equality as his closest adviser."

Biden returned the compliment, expressing his support of the HRC in a statement.

"I'm honored to participate in this event," Biden said. "Discrimination has no place in this country and I am proud to stand with HRC in the fight to end it."

In recent years Biden served as one of the most vocal advocates of repealing the U.S. ban on HIV-positive visitors and immigrants in the latest renewal of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

Biden has also vocally opposed “don’t ask, don’t tell” and the Federal Marriage Amendment. Additionally, Biden supports extending hate-crimes and job bias protection to LGBT people. (The Advocate)

Sam Ronson is a "Fresh Kid", says Kanye

Star rapper and fashion icon, Kanye West, featured Sam Ronson on his daily blog as today's Fresh Kid. Kanye's Fresh Kid post is reserved for fashionable, up and coming entertainers and known personalities. Ronson has gain more fame over the last few months because of the speculation that she and Lindsey Lohan are an item. Here's what he had to say about Ronson:

In 2000, Ronson spun live for MTV New Year's Eve 2001's show from the network's studios in New York Times Square. In 2002, it was announced Duncan Sheik would be co-producing an album for Ronson that would be out in the spring. In 2004, she opened for JC Chasez on his Schizophrenic tour.

Ronson distinguished herself by becoming the first rock act signed to Roc-A-Fella Records. She released four songs under the label "Super" with very little public interest: "Pull My Hair Out", "Fool", "If It's Gonna Rain" and "Built This Way," and wrote and recorded her first album, Blue. "Built This Way" was featured in the movie Mean Girls starring Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams. RED was never officially released, though song downloads were made available from her MySpace page. Ronson has also made a number of appearances on mix tapes produced by artists on the Roc-A-Fella label. In a January 2008 interview with MTV News, it was revealed Ronson had parted ways with her label and is currently focusing on DJing.

Ronson was co-owner of the New York City nightclub The Plumm, along with actor Chris Noth among others.

While comments on the post seem to varied, I have to agree that Ronson is indeed a Fresh Kid...if only for bagging the very ovah Miss Lohan!

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Indictments in N.J. killings

Six defendants were indicted Monday on murder and other charges in the brutal killings of three teenagers last summer in Newark, N.J. A fourth victim survived and two of the suspects are charged with sexually assaulting her.

Essex County Prosecutor Paula Dow said yesterday that robbery and gang activity were factors in the case, but she declined to reveal what police think is the motive for the attack.

The Blade has been reporting all along that the real motive for the killings was anti-gay bias. At least two of the victims were gay and sources have told us that jewelry, cell phones and other items of value were found at the crime scene, eliminating the robbery motive. The teens were said to be en route to a Black Gay Pride event in New York.

It’s been more than a year since the grisly murders, the full details of which the Blade and other media outlets have declined to report. And yet in all that time, mainstream media still won’t touch the gay angle. The New York Times mentioned the gay rumors in passing, but local media in New Jersey are colluding with police to cover up the true motive for the attack. If the Blade can uncover sources in Newark — activists, friends, politicians — who knew the victims to be gay and are urging a full investigation of the hate crime angle — then surely the New York Times, the Newark Star-Ledger and other nearby outlets can do the same. I’d be happy to share our sources with them.

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LGBT group focuses on voter registration

Shannon Simcox
Daily Collegian, The


Daniel Kolbe said this election will directly affect how he lives his life.

"It's important to me to have the right to be an equal citizen in our country," said Kolbe, a member of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community (LGBT).

Passionate about his beliefs, Kolbe is president of LGBT Students for Obama, created in March. Kolbe (junior-information sciences and technology) would like to bring LGBT issues into the spotlight this election by informing voters.

Both Kolbe and Zachary Zabel, president of Penn State Students for Barack Obama, said Obama has the community's best interests in mind.

At this time, LGBT Students for Obama is focusing mainly on registration, with a forum planned for the upcoming Coming Out Week. In the future, Kolbe has strong goals for the group.

"One of our plans, our goals, I guess is to try and include the State College community with it. We also want to basically try and bring a lot of LGBT and basic human rights issues to the front and have people look honestly at all the issues within the campaign and make informed decisions on who they are going to be voting for," Kolbe said.

Obama addresses many of the issues the LGBT community is interested in, Zabel said.

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Racist "Obama Waffles" Sold at "Value" Voters Summit

Black, gay blogger extraordinaire Rod 2.0 is reporting this story, take a look:

Over the weekend at the Values Voters Summit, conservative activists eagerly bought boxes of "Obama Waffles" that featured several racist caricatures of Sen. Barack Obama on the front, back and top flap. The Democratic presidential nominee is depicted with "popping eyes and big, thick lips" and another image depicts Obama wearing an Arab-like headdress on its top flap. "Point toward Mecca for tastier waffles!" reads the instructions.

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PFLAG to counter ‘ex-gays’ at Palin church-supported conference

(Anchorage, Alaska) Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays intends to offer support Saturday outside an Anchorage conference of the controversial “Love Won Out” conference in Anchorage.

The conference, which claims homosexuality can be “cured” through prayer, is being promoted by Gov. Sarah Palin’s church. “Love Won Out” is part of Focus on the Family, the national Christian fundamentalist organization.

Mainstream psychiatrists and psychologists have discredited the group’s assertion that homosexuality is learned and can be reversed.

Gay rights advocates call the conference “dangerous.”

“Families never win at Love Won Out,” said Jane Schlittler, president of PFLAG’s Anchorage, Alaska chapter.

“The conference’s organizers maliciously target often well-meaning parents who are dealing with a difficult issue in their lives, and in the process put their kids’ well-being at risk. Make no mistake: There is far more ‘preying’ than ‘praying’ taking place at these meetings, and far more harming than healing in the doctrine of Love Won Out,” she said.
Critics of the so-called ex-gay movement say groups like “Love Won Out” use outmoded medical theories and radical religious beliefs.

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Obama’s gay mentor speaks out

By LOU CHIBBARO JR, Washington Blade

As an 18-year-old undergraduate student at Occidental College in Los Angeles, Barack Obama was among a coterie of students who spoke regularly with Lawrence Goldyn.

Goldyn, an openly gay political science professor who served as a mentor and friend to many of the school’s minority students, said Obama joined him and other students in discussions about social and political issues at a time when Obama was beginning to develop an interest in politics and civil rights causes.

“He was one of those unusual, straight young men who was secure enough in his sexuality that he was not fearful of being associated with me, whether that involved taking a class or just talking socially,” said Goldyn, who also served as faculty adviser for Occidental’s gay student group.

Goldyn, who was at Occidental from 1978 to 1981, has since changed professions and now works as a physician and medical director for a clinic in Northern California, with a specialty in HIV medicine.

He decided to speak with the Blade about his interaction with Obama during their years at Occidental after Obama told the Advocate, in an April interview, that Goldyn had a “strong influence” in his understanding and perception of gay people and gay rights.

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Anti-Gay Protest Fizzles, Obama Pride Sizzles in NYC

by Kilian Melloy
EDGE Contributor
Tuesday Sep 9, 2008

An Obama Pride gathering sizzled in New York City last weekend, while a few blocks away a Hispanic anti-gay demonstration fizzled.

Sunday, Sept. 7 saw two very different gatherings taking place in Manhattan, with one--a GLBT Obama rally--attended by a supportive throng, while the other--an anti-gay protest led by Hispanic clergy--drew only a relatively paltry crowd.

The anti-gay clergy and their supporters met at 25 Federal Plaza, even as the Obama Pride crowd assembled mere blocks away.

As noted by gay Web blog Blabbeando, the NYC Obama Pride gathering took place at City Hall, while an estimate 250-300 people showed up for the anti-gay event, which Blabbeando reported featured homophobic speeches, including an address from "the very non-Latino... Joseph Mattera of the Christ Covenant Coalition," whom Blabbeando said had "been at work in 'diversifying' religious opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion-rights for more than a few years perhaps in order to make discrimination a tad bit more palatable to the general masses."

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