Military courts HS dropouts while banning college trained gays

(Washington) The U.S. Army, eager to fill its ranks amid wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is turning to high school dropouts, opening today a prep school to enable prospective enlistees to gain the GED.

The military has turned six World War II-era buildings at Fort Jackson, South Carolina into a mini-campus of spartan classrooms and barracks. Under the yearlong pilot project, classes of about 60 soldiers will enter the monthlong program every week.

“It’s academic immersion,” Col. Jeffrey Sanderson, chief of staff at Fort Jackson told The Associated Press. “Our studies show that with only three out of every 10 people of military age being capable of joining the Army, we are going to have to do something different.”

Last October, Army officials said they intended to expand the force by adding 74,000 soldiers by 2010, with the active duty force growing to a total of 547,000.

But while the military reaches out to high school dropouts the number of gays drummed out of the armed forces under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” continues to grow.

Under DADT two people every day are dropped from the military for being gay.

In the 15 years that DADT has been in force more than 10,000 personnel have been discharged as a result of the policy, including 800 with skills deemed “mission critical,” such as pilots, combat engineers, and linguists.

The number of gay men and lesbians turned away by military recruiters is unknown.

A study conducted last year for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network concluded that the U.S. military could attract as many as 41,000 new recruits if gays and lesbians in the military were able to be open about their sexual orientation.

A growing number in Congress support repeal of the controversial policy even though the military supports the ban.

Last month the Military Personnel Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee held hearings on a bill that would abolish the prohibition.

The first American wounded in Operation Iraqi Freedom told the sub-committee that many in his unit knew he was gay and it was not an issue but that it was not until he nearly died and then received a Purple Heart that he had to speak out against the policy.

Marine Staff Sgt. Eric F. Alva told the subcommittee that he had served in the Marine Corps for 13 years.

He said that he received the Purple Heart, along with visits from the President and First Lady. “I was told I was a hero,” he recalled.

“That landmine may have put an end to my military career that day, but it didn’t put an end to my secret. That would come years later, when I realized that I had fought and nearly died to secure rights for others that I myself was not free to enjoy. I had proudly served a country that was not proud of me. More importantly, my experience disproved all the arguments against open service by gays and lesbians – I knew I had to share my story.”

The hearing was the first time since it was enacted 15-years ago that a congressional hearing was held on the impact of DADT.

Susan Davis (D), Chair of the subcommittee has introduced legislation to repeal the ban but it is unlikely it will come to a vote before the session ends.

An ABC News/Washington Post poll released last month found that 75 percent of Americans believe LGBT people should be allowed to serve.

A similar poll taken shortly after Pres. Bill Clinton signed the law in 1993 found that only 44 percent of Americans supported the idea of letting gays serve openly.

A study published by a University of California think-tank found that “allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly is unlikely to pose any significant risk to morale, good order, discipline or cohesion.”

Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama supports repeal of DADT and the party platform contains language calling for an end to the policy.

By 365gay Newscenter Staff 08.27.2008 12:08pm EDT

A gay president?

Even many Americans sympathetic to gay rights will be startled by a new Zogby International poll indicating that more than 60% of registered voters would support a qualified gay candidate for the presidency. Romantic as it may be, the notion that anyone can grow up to be president long has served as a metaphor for the openness and fairness of American society. It is thus remarkable, and reassuring, that nearly two-thirds of respondents in the poll expressed a willingness to discard one of the oldest and most pervasive prejudices when they enter the voting booth.

Zogby's findings don't come entirely out of the blue. Last year, a Gallup poll asked respondents whether they would vote for a presidential candidate who was gay. Fifty-five percent answered yes (compared with only 45% who would support an atheist candidate).

Critics of such polls will argue that they reflect a homophobic version of the Bradley Effect -- named for former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley -- in which racist voters lie about their willingness to vote for a black candidate. But even if some respondents say they will vote for a gay candidate for fear of seeming politically incorrect, that is itself a comment on how far gays and lesbians have come.

Polls about the acceptability of a gay presidential candidate reflect a larger trend in support for gay equality. In a Field poll conducted shortly after the California Supreme Court's same-sex marriage ruling in May, 51% of registered California voters favored allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry. Another Field poll released last month found that by a 51%-to-42% margin, California voters opposed Proposition 8, which would amend the state Constitution to overturn the high court's decision.

With same-sex marriage, as with gay rights generally, the younger generation is leading the way. Last month's Field poll found that opposition to Proposition 8 was greatest among voters under 30 years of age. That was consistent with a finding by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life that roughly half of adults under 30 supported same-sex marriage. The trend is clear: Support for gay rights and same-sex marriage is being driven by generational change.

But differences among age groups cannot completely explain the greater tolerance for gays and lesbians. Thanks to the gay-rights movement, Americans of all ages are likelier to have openly homosexual relatives, neighbors and co-workers. Those personal contacts make it harder for decent people to accept discrimination against gays and lesbians -- including at the ballot box.

LA Times 8/28/2008

McCain Courts Female VP: Smooth Move

“America may not know much about Sarah Palin, but based on what our community has seen of her, we know enough,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese.

WASHINGTON – Today, presumptive Republican Presidential nominee Senator John McCain announced he has chosen first term Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his choice to be his Vice Presidential running mate. Although only holding an executive, state-wide office for less than two years, Gov. Palin has already shown that she is a fierce opponent of equality.

“America may not know much about Sarah Palin, but based on what our community has seen of her, we know enough,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “Sarah Palin not only supported the 1998 Alaska constitutional amendment banning marriage equality but, in her less than two years as Governor, even expressed the extreme position of supporting stripping away domestic partner benefits for state workers. When you can’t even support giving our community the rights to health insurance and pension benefits, it’s a frightening window into where she stands on equality.”

When asked about the right-wing’s reaction to the choice of Gov Palin, the New York Times quoted Ralph Reed, the former head of the Christian Coalition as saying, “They’re beyond ecstatic”.

Highlights of Governor Palin’s Anti-Equality Record

· Prior to being elected governor, Palin supported the 1998 constitutional amendment barring marriage for same-sex couples and has said she would support a ballot measure overturning a state supreme court decision mandating benefits for domestic partners of state employees

· She is close to “traditional values” groups, like Family Research Council, because she is strongly anti-choice

Marriage and Relationship Recognition

· Palin told the Anchorage Daily News that she supported the 1998 constitutional amendment on marriage.

· In addition, she told the Daily News that she would support a ballot question that would deny benefits to the domestic partners of public employees, which were ordered by an October 2005 decision of the Alaska Supreme Court, because, she said “honoring the family structure is that important." http://dwb.adn.com/news/politics/elections/governor06/story/8049298p-7942233c.html

· While she followed the Court’s decision and he also signed legislation –her first legislative act as Governor of Alaska—to put the issue on the April 2007 ballot for a nonbinding advisory vote. This was the only issue on the ballot and that election cost the state taxpayers $1.2 million. This measure passed, but the legislature did not follow the public’s advice and it chose not to take any further action to overturn the court’s decision.

· She did, however, veto legislation passed by the state legislature in 2006 that would have prohibited providing DP benefits to state workers, in defiance of the Alaska Supreme Court’s ruling. She did this after the Supreme Court had already ruled and the Attorney General (Republican) advised her that the legislation was unconstitutional. Palin went on to state that, as a matter of policy, she was in favor of the bill.

Ties to Anti-LGBT Groups

· She will be honored alongside anti-gay Representative Michelle Bachman (R-MN) at an event at the 2008 Republican Convention, the “Life of the Party,” sponsored in part by long-time opponent of GLBT rights, Phyllis Schlafly.

GOP Paltform Resoundingly Anti-GLBT

Rod 2.0, gay political and social commentator, is balking on his blog at the Log Cabin Republican's assessment of their party's platform. This years GOP platform is once again resoundingly anti-GLBT calling for the works, constitutional bans and all! But, the Log Cabin Republicans are saying that the platform is "symbolic". Here's part of what Rod 2.0 had to say:

Here is some straight talk for Scott Tucker, the Log Cabin Republicans and other gay McCain groupies: The Reopublican presidential nominee is just not that into you. What "battles" will you fight? McCain supports the marriage bans in California and Arizona and opposes pro-gay legislation such as ENDA or expanding hate crime definitions. The Log Cabinettes are quick to remind us that McCain opposes a federal amendment but he sure did campaign for the Arizona marriage amendment that ultimately failed. These are not “symbolic” gestures, these are positions and legislation that affects millions of gay men, lesbians and transgenders.

Find more of Rod 2.0's commentary on this issue after the jump...

Find the AP article on the GOP Platform here...

Michelle Obama drops in on LGBT Caucus

by Laura Kiritsy
Editor-in-chief of Bay Windows

DENVER, Wednesday - On the heels of a riveting keynote address to the Democratic National Convention, Barack Obama’s wife Michelle spoke to a luncheon of LGBT delegates Tuesday, telling them that "discrimination has no place in a nation founded on equality." And at the end of the day - in what amounts to her final concession speech - Hillary Clinton urged Democrats to work for an America "defined by deep and meaningful equality... from women’s rights to gay rights."

"America, we’re here!" said Barney Frank, one of two openly gay representatives in a 535-member Congress, in welcoming more than 600 people to a luncheon, sponsored by the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and the National Stonewall Democrats. It was an exclamation that conveyed what many LGBT delegates and alternates are saying at this week’s convention: that LGBT Americans and their issues have arrived. They feel fully ensconced, heard, and accepted in the Democratic party. And they talk the talk: They must see to it that U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) becomes President Barack Obama this November.

There was a roar of approval at Tuesday’s luncheon when Michelle Obama tipped her hat to Clinton, saying that her "historic candidacy banished forever the notion that a woman cannot be president." There were loud and prolonged cheers for her at Tuesday night’s plenary, especially when she uttered the word "gay."

Find more after the jump...

Clay Cane: "Homophobia Effects Me More Than Racism"

Prolific black, gay blogger Clay Cane tackles one of the issues we often struggle with at the intersection of race and sexuality. For those of us in the world of activism, we are sometimes challenged by statements like, "Racism is more of a problem than homophobia," or we are often asked, "What is more important, your blackness or your gayness"? Cane writes:

No one prepared me for homophobia. No one told me how to combat it, why it's there, or showed me documentaries. There wasn't a Martin Luther King, Jr. or Malcolm X for me to admire when the road got heavy…when I had been damned to hell too many times…when I heard gay men are destined to die of AIDS…when I was told it was unnatural…when I was told I could change if I really wanted to…when my family rejected me…when my family finally stopped rejecting me but I still can't mention "it" in their presence. On the daily, I am more affected by homophobia.

Find more after the jump...

McCain Rules Out "Pro-Gay" Running Mate. Pro-Choice Okay

By Stephen F. Hayes August 13, 2008 The Weekly Standard http://www.weeklystandard.com/

In aboard his campaign plane this morning, John McCain said that he is open to choosing a pro-choice running mate and named former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge as someone who merits serious consideration despite his support for abortion rights. McCain also criticized Barack Obama's presidential campaign for attempts to "politicize" the debate over Georgia and criticized President Bush for failing to recognize the true nature of Vladimir Putin.

"I think that the pro-life position is one of the important aspects or fundamentals of the Republican Party," McCain said. "And I also feel that--and I'm not trying to equivocate here--that Americans want us to work together. You know, Tom Ridge is one of the great leaders and he happens to be pro-choice. And I don't think that that would necessarily rule Tom Ridge out."

McCain's comments came in response to a question about comments he made to several reporters during the Republican primary season. During that exchange, McCain was asked whether New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg would make a good running mate. McCain offered strong words of praise for Bloomberg but said that Bloomberg's position on abortion--he is also pro-choice--would make it difficult to choose him as a vice presidential candidate.

In the interview this morning, McCain suggested that Ridge would be more palatable to social conservatives than Bloomberg.

"I think it's a fundamental tenet of our party to be pro-life but that does not mean we exclude people from our party that are pro-choice. We just have a--albeit strong--but just it's a disagreement. And I think Ridge is a great example of that. Far moreso than Bloomberg, because Bloomberg is pro-gay rights, pro, you know, a number of other issues."

Read More

GOP hopes that Biden will be a liability in the South

Earl Ofari Hutchinson | Posted August 25, 2008 3:52 PM for Thedailyvoice.com


The Georgia GOP committee wasted no time when it got word that Obama picked Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his running mate. It bluntly said that by picking him Obama had effectively killed any chances that he had to win the South. The issue for the committee is Biden's liberal record. He was ranked as the third most liberal Senator in 2007 by the National Journal. The most liberal Senators were Obama and Rhode Island Democrat Sheldon Whitehorse. The single biggest thing that earned Biden his high liberal rating is his civil rights record.

On the issues of busing, affirmative action, expanded hate crimes legislation, government set asides for minority business, a Rosa Parks commemorative stamp, and fair housing legislation, Biden has been a dream for civil rights leaders. The NAACP gave him a perfect 100 rating in his stance backing affirmative action.

On his Senate campaign website last year, Biden boldly touted what he called "The Biden Plan": Ending 21st Century Discrimination." This is a sweeping plan to end discrimination in education, the workplace, and the criminal justice system. Biden's civil rights record is so solid that even his unthinking loose lipped crack earlier this year that Obama was "clean" didn't hurt his civil rights standing. Jesse Jackson quickly stepped in and praised Biden as a strong supporter of civil rights.

If elected, Biden and Obama would be the best presidential tandem on civil rights since Lyndon Johnson and Hubert Humphrey in 1964. That's a scary possibility for Southern conservatives. So scary that it made the Georgia GOP declare that their civil rights passion virtually amounts to a political kiss of death for them in the South.
This is not inflated political hyperbole. For the past four decades, liberalism and civil rights have been tightly interlocked in the South. This election is no different. Obama and Biden know the mortal political danger that a too strong emphasis on civil rights and race pose to their White House chances. Their ginger step around the issue though won't make the issue disappear.

Find more after the jump...

ATL Black Pride This Weekend

FOR MANY, LABOR DAY WEEKEND is the unofficial end of summer, offering one last opportunity to grill out, picnic or catch a fireworks show. But with Atlanta’s Black Gay Pride Celebration taking place Aug. 27-Sept. 1, the holiday weekend also offers some alternative festivities.

“Time to Act” is the theme this year, a nod to the impending presidential election. But politics and activism will be only one aspect of the festivities. In fact, from a candlelight vigil at Tabernacle Baptist Church on Aug. 27 to a Girls in the Night outing to Magic City strip club Aug. 28, revelers will have opportunities for both sin and salvation.

For those more interested in the artistic side of things, there will be an erotic night of poetry, painted models and late-night dancing at SpeakFire on Aug. 29 and an all-female performance of “Walk Like A Man” at the Woodruff Arts Center on Aug. 30. And the “See Us in the Life” film festival will feature independent films and animated features revolving around topics relevant to African-Americans in the gay community.

Other festivities include various workshops and seminars, a health expo, fashion shows and nightly outings to area clubs. And the vendor area will offer clothing, artwork, home décor, and various other goods.

• THE 411: Black Gay Pride Celebration. $20-$85. Aug. 27-Sept. 1. W Atlanta Hotel, 188 14th St. N.E., Midtown. 404-683-1239 .... http://www.atlantablackgaypride.com/

By JONATHAN WILLIAMS For accessAtlanta August 21, 2008

McCain’s Yankee Doodle Daddy

Elizabeth Holmes reports from Phoenix on the presidential race.


John McCain made it clear who his daddy was Monday morning.

Daddy Yankee, the hip-hop star from Puerto Rico, endorsed the Republican candidate Monday morning. Wearing black aviator shades in the library of Central High School here, Daddy Yankee said, “I believe in his ideals and his proposals to lead this nation…He’s been a fighter for the Hispanic community.”

The students gathered for the event clearly were not told ahead of time that Daddy Yankee was part of the deal. As the Latin-Grammy-winning recording artist walked into the room, the girls shrieked and screamed, grabbed each other by the hands and gasped at the sight of him. One girl fanned the tears from her eyes.

“I just wanna say thank you, Daddy Yankee,” McCain said.

At the urging of McCain, Daddy Yankee hugged and kissed many of the girls on the cheek and shook hands with the guys. Meanwhile, McCain, holding the microphone, had a huge grin on his face. (www.blogs.wsj.com)

Find more after the jump...

An Inclusive First Day

Well-known LGBT supporter Sen. Edward M. Kennedy brimmed with emotion as he addressed the Democratic National Convention on its opening night Monday in Denver. "Barack Obama will close the book on the old politics of race and gender and group against group and straight against gay," Kennedy told the room of some 4,500 cheering delegates waving signs emblazoned with the senator's name.

Kennedy's appearance was a surprise given his brain cancer, which many thought would prevent him from attending the convention. But true to form, the 46-year Senate veteran persevered. “Nothing -- nothing -- is going to keep me away from this special gathering tonight," he said, later pledging to "be there next January on the floor" of the chamber to work with a President Obama.

His speech got the crowd pumped for Michelle Obama's headline address -- "I come here as a wife who loves my husband and believes he will be an extraordinary president," she said -- which ended the first day of the 2008 Democratic convention. Hours earlier, the first of two LGBT caucus meetings during the week took place, where the number of LGBT delegates -- 380, according to caucus chair Rick Stafford -- was trumpeted as a 41% increase over the 2004 total. "Our caucus will be unequivocal and enthusiastic in our support of Barack Obama as the next President of the United States," Stafford said.

Stafford was one of several speakers at the meeting, a gathering of LGBT delegates and convention participants in the Colorado Convention Center, where other caucuses and convention events take place before the main festivities begin later in the day at the Pepsi Center a few blocks away. Among those who addressed the caucus: Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI); Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights and the lead attorney in the California court case that legalized same-sex marriage there; and press-shy philanthropist Tim Gill.

Democratic National Committee secretary Alice Germond, who’ll call the roll for Obama’s nomination on Wednesday, knew exactly how to get the delegates going. "If you are LGBT...you are everywhere," she said in a booming voice. "You will make that critical difference of 1%, 2%, 3% in swing states, so that we don't have the hateful legislation we've seen proposed in the last four and eight years. We will change that!"

When Baldwin was introduced, she received a standing ovation from the room. "I started out a supporter of the candidacy of Hillary Clinton," she said to applause, but quickly added that both Clinton and Obama jointly asked her to be on the Democratic platform committee. "What an incredible honor and what an incredible sign of the two sides coming together," Baldwin said -- although die-hard Clinton supporters planned to rally in the streets of Denver on Tuesday.

As for the document she helped craft, which includes gender identity as a protected category for the first time and makes a point of including same-sex families, Baldwin said it was "by far the most pro-equality platform we've ever had. The language is unequivocal and we should be proud to support" it.

But it was Gill, who founded the pioneering publishing-software company Quark Inc., who arguably provided the most compelling remarks of the day. The man behind the Gill Foundation and the Gill Action Fund, whose mission is to knock off anti-gay state legislators by lavishly funding their opponents, described himself as a "career counselor."

"Rick Santorum is a wonderful example of a man who needed a change in career," Gill said, referring to the former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, to cheers and cackles from the caucus. "And there are thousands of people in this nation that are really in need of a new career," namely the Sally Kerns lurking in many state legislatures.

"The Republican Party is controlled by a bunch of bigots," Gill added, underscoring the stakes of this November's elections, from the White House on down, "and the only way the bigots are going to learn is if we take their power away."

Written by Sean Kennedy and Kerry Eleveld The Advocate 8/26/2008

Guide for victims of hate crime

By the BBC 8/22/08 06:43 UK

Victims of homophobic hate crime are being encouraged by police and a gay rights group to report attacks on them.

Stonewall Cymru believes attacks on gay, lesbian and bisexual people in Wales are underreported.

The gay rights group has worked with North Wales Police to produced a guide for victims of homophobic hate crime.

A spokesperson said: "It's essential for victims of homophobic hate crime to understand that criminal justice agencies are there to help them."

The guide is launched at the Inter Change, Old Colwyn, at an event to be attended by North Wales Police Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom and Social Justice Minster Brian Gibbons.

The event includes a theatre piece written by Gruffudd Jones based on a true life experience of homophobic hate crime.

Rachel, who has lived in small village near Swansea for the past seven years, said her experience showed people can benefit from reporting hate crime.

She said: "At times I think were seen as an easy target who can be picked on. I suppose the presumption is that nobody will stick up for us and that we're fair game.

"To begin with, I didn't go to the police about some of these things. It didn't occur to me there was any law against the name-calling. I didn't think I would get a sympathetic hearing from the police.

"A lot of my friends who are lesbian and gay told me of negative experiences that they've had when they tried reporting crime. There tends to be this negative idea in the community and it puts people off."

She said she had no response from the police one winter when young boys began throwing snowballs with stones in them at her windows.

She said: "The same boys came and did 'mooning'. Then, again, they were throwing stones.

'Arson attack'

"They put some handfuls of potential flammable rubbish through the letterbox. The local secondary school was burnt to the ground not very far from where we were living and it made me very frightened at that time that we might be at risk of an arson attack.

"It was at that point that I involved the hate crime officers. From that point on, I felt as if the service we were receiving from the police improved enormously.

"The fire service came and assess the fire safety of the house and the police started to take us more seriously, really and to pursue the culprits more effectively.

"A number of Asbos were issued. It has sent out a very strong clear signal to the young people in the community. We're treated with much more respect these days."

Here They Boycott Again...

The American Family Association - an ardent, socially conservative organization that uses the guise of 'family protections' and a skewed sense of Judeo-Christian morality to promote a radically anti-gay agenda - has issued a national boycott. Sound familiar? Recently failed boycotts include McDonald's and the Public Broadcasting Station. They have also called upon the Department of Defense and the Department of Justice to outlaw "adult publications" used by soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are a leading lobby in raising money for prop 8 - a proposition in California that will overturn the State Supreme Court's decision that has given same-sex couples the right to marry. And now, they are fighting the evil, disruptive, despicable.... Greeting card company, Hallmark?

The nation's largest greeting card company is rolling out same-sex wedding cards. Hallmark spokeswoman Sarah Gronberg Kolell says, "It's our goal to be as relevant as possible to as many people as we can." One card has an image of two overlapping tuxedos with the words, "Two hearts. One promise." This has not been Hallmark's first disgusting display of acceptance. Just last year, the card Goliath designed cards that celebrate "coming out". The AFA has branded Hallmark as the promoters of "same-sex marriage for profit" and has vowed to never use their premeditated sayings, witty jokes or endearing pictures to summarize their feelings toward someone on any given special day ever again. American Greeting Cards, Hallmark's top competitor, has no plans to promote "a lifestyle illegal in 48 states" (Note: the AFA believes that because same-sex marriage is only legal in two states, all LGBT people are illegal in the other 48).

The AFA is starting a massive campaign to derail Hallmark by bombarding the company with complaint mail and by supporting Hallmark's competitors - by the ineffectiveness of their McDonald's and PBS boycotts, I can only assume that this one will go just as well. I have made the effort to thank Hallmark for finally including us in their business plan. Below is contact information for Donald J. Hall - Chairman of Hallmark Cards. You'll also find a letter I have sent to the company. I encourage you to do the same.

Donald J. Hall, Chairman Hallmark Cards
2501 McGee Trafficway
Kansas City, MO 64108
Phone: 816-274-5111 OR 800-425-5627
E-Mail: Donald J. Hall

Dear Mr. Hall:

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for including same-sex marriage greeting cards in your merchandise. As a gay man, there have been many occasions when I have felt excluded and ashamed of who I am. This feeling is onset by not being able to identify with images that surround me. Before now, I walked into greeting card stores with the intent to find that special card for my significant other or that congratulatory note for my recently engaged friends, who happen to be both male or both female, and I have left empty handed and disappointed. Today, I feel validated and proud that you have decided to include us in your mission. Thank you again.

Sincerely,

Josh (a new lifelong patron)

Obama challenges McCain on stalled hate crimes bill

LOU CHIBBARO JR
Friday, August 22, 2008

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is challenging his Republican rival, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), to end his opposition to a federal hate crimes bill following reports of a recent surge in anti-gay and anti-transgender hate crimes.

In a conference call Monday, an official with the Obama campaign's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Steering Committee noted that Obama is a strong supporter of the Matthew Shepard National Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act while McCain opposes the legislation.

“We feel it's important to point out the stark contrast between Sen. Obama and Sen. McCain on this issue,” said Matt Nosanchuk, an official with the Obama LGBT Steering and Policy Committee.
“In Sen. Obama's vision for America, there is no place for hate crimes,” Nosanchuk said.

A McCain campaign spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
The Matthew Shepard hate crimes measure, named after the gay University of Wyoming student who was murdered in an anti-gay attack in 1998, would authorize the federal government to prosecute hate crimes based on a victim's sexual orientation, gender identity, gender or disability.

Find more after the jump...

Obama campaign reaches out to gay Georgians

- MATT SCHAFER
Friday, August 22, 2008

Georgia's electoral votes haven't gone to a Democrat since Bill Clinton in 1992, but some believe this is the year Georgia could turn blue.

George W. Bush handily won Georgia's 13 electoral college votes in the past two presidential elections. Republicans have also won most statewide races in Georgia since Gov. Sonny Perdue defeated Roy Barnes in 2002, giving Georgia the reputation as a red state stronghold.

But some believe the historic Democratic candidacy of Sen. Barack Obama — combined with a strong Libertarian contender from Georgia, Bob Barr, and the less dynamic campaign styling of presumptive Republican nominee John McCain — could tilt the state from red to blue. And to get there, Obama is counting on a bit of pink by openly courting gay Georgia voters like no other presidential candidate has before.

“You don't want to take anyone for granted. You want to let everyone know that their vote counts, that you care about their issues and that you're listening,” said Caroline Adelman, communications director for Obama's Georgia campaign, in an interview this week at the campaign's recently opened office in Atlanta.

The office serves as headquarters for the Democratic hopeful's Georgia efforts and is one of nine Obama campaign offices around the state. Obama's Georgia plans also include hiring a gay outreach coordinator for the state, Adelman said.

Read more after the jump...

Gay men across the globe hardest hit by HIV

By RYAN LEE

Gay and bisexual men have always been at the center of the HIV/AIDS crisis in America, but the global epidemic is typically framed as most affecting heterosexuals in developing nations. Data unveiled last week at the 17th International AIDS Conference show that around the world, men who have sex with men, like their U.S. counterparts, are the group hardest hit by the deadly disease.

“One thing that was clear is that men who have sex with men in every country that it has been studied in are 10 to 30 times more likely to have HIV than the general male population,” said Walt Senterfitt, an AIDS activist with the Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project.

The trend holds true across Asian countries such as Vietnam and Cambodia, African nations such as Kenya, Senegal and Zimbabwe, and in Latin America, where gay and bisexual men account for a majority of new HIV cases.

“Men who have sex with men have long been getting infected in these countries,” said Senterfitt, who attended the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City, Mexico. “It’s just nobody was looking for it.”

The seven-day conference was one of the first to shine a spotlight on the experiences of gay and bisexual men across the globe. In one of the most moving moments, Jorge Saavedra, head of Mexico’s AIDS prevention program, came out publicly for the first time during a speech calling for more funding for prevention efforts targeting gay men.

After the speech, he was thronged by men from Africa and India, the Associated Press reported.

“They told me that I was a hero, and that they wished they could do the same in their countries,” Saavedra, who drew applause when he displayed his partner’s photo during the speech, told AP.

COMBATING HOMOPHOBIA

The conference highlighted gay-related research from Ukraine, Cuba, Malaysia and many other countries. Complicating HIV prevention efforts is that homosexuality remains either illegal or so taboo that it provokes violence in certain parts of the world, highlighting “the need for supporting basic human rights for men who have sex with men in many countries in the world,” Senterfitt said.

The silence around homosexuality is a severe impediment to gay men in those countries receiving effective HIV prevention education. When researcher Michelle Geiss sought permission to do a gay-re
[SOVO - Kevin Fenton, director of the HIV prevention division at the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, said the fight against HIV must also combat poverty, racism and homophobia. (File photo)]
Kevin Fenton, director of the HIV prevention division at the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, said the fight against HIV must also combat poverty, racism and homophobia. (File photo)
lated study in the African nation of Togo, government officials told her there were no homosexuals in the country, Geiss said at the conference.

When Geiss located gay men in Togo, where homosexuality is still illegal, some of the study participants re-ported believing they were not at risk of contracting HIV because they did not sleep with women, and they be-lieved it was a heterosexual disease.

But there are also bright spots in the international fight against HIV in gay and bisexual men, such as in Cameroon, a West African country that has cut its HIV infection rate among gay and bisexual men by almost 50 percent in the last six years. Also, more than 1,500 gay and bisexual men enrolled in a study in Peru that administers anti-AIDS drugs to HIV-negative individuals with the hopes that the drugs will prevent them from contracting the disease.

“The ability to enroll people in a country like that where machismo is so strong and where gay organizations are still relatively new shows the effectiveness of hard work,” said Senterfitt, who is also an epidemiologist with the Los Angeles Department of Public Health.

RENEWED FIGHT IN U.S.

While drawing attention to the plight of gay and bisexual men across the globe, activists also used the conference to again call for a greater intensity in the fight against HIV in U.S. gay men, particularly black gay men. Recent Centers for Disease Control & Prevention figures show gay and bisexual men account for 53 percent of HIV infections in the U.S. in 2006, and are the only demographic experiencing “consistent increases” in HIV infection rates.

“It does not have to be this way,” said Kevin Fenton, director of the CDC’s HIV prevention division. “We need to insure that HIV does not become a rite of passage for gay and bisexual men.

“We know that we need to have more culturally competent interventions moving forward, and part of that cultural competence will be looking at interventions that focus on structural factors which address poverty, which address housing, which address racism and which address homophobia and which address homelessness in our society,” added Fenton, who is gay.

Fenton’s statement about the “structural factors” of HIV prevention echo the calls by activists for the government to recognize many factors beyond sexual acts help fuel the domestic epidemic.

“What we as activists have been working for and promoting for years has now become official policy,” Senterfitt said. “The question now is will they walk the walk. I think the CDC needs to put their money where their mouth is.”

Find the article here.

US Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones dead at 58

U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, the first African-American woman to represent Ohio in Congress, has died after suffering a brain aneurysm, said sources familiar with the situation.
She was removed from life support at 12:19 p.m. at Huron Road Hospital, the sources said.

Tubbs Jones, 58, served as a Cuyahoga County judge and prosecutor before succeeding U.S. Rep. Louis Stokes. She has served five terms in Congress and is expected to easily win her sixth in November.

The mood of supporters around noon was somber. Cleveland Councilman Roosevelt Coats was seen sobbing outside the hospital. He said that Tubbs Jones was unconscious and that her friends and relatives were preparing for the worst. (The Cleveland Plain Dealer)

Tubbs Jones was elected in 1998 as the first black woman to represent Ohio in Congress. During the 2008 presidential primaries, Tubbs Jones was one of Hillary Clinton’s biggest supporters. However, she changed her allegiance to Barack Obama in June after he was established as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. Tubbs Jones was scheduled to appear as a superdelegate in support of Obama at the Democratic National Convention in Denver next week.

Tubbs Jones was a avid supporter of LGBT rights and was given a 100% rating by the Human Rights Campaign for her pro-gay-rights stance. She voted against banning gay adoptions in DC, strongly favors same-sex domestic partnership benefits, fought for increased funding for AIDS treatment & prevention and supported more funding and stricter sentencing for hate crimes. (gaywired.com)

New Obama Website Targets Undecided LGBT Voters

Sen. Barack Obama got a little help Tuesday from some LGBT friends who independently launched a new website designed to woo the approximately 15% of gay voters who have yet to settle on their candidate for November.

LGBTforObama.com was the brainchild of Terry Bean, an Oregon Obama supporter and prominent Democratic fund-raiser who said in a statement, "I was appalled that George Bush got 24% of the GLBT vote in 2000 and again in 2004 and vowed to do all that I could to prevent that from happening again with John McCain." According to a Harris Interactive poll released Tuesday, LGBT voters favor Obama over McCain 68% to 10% in the presidential election, with 3% supporting Ralph Nader, 1% choosing Bob Barr, and another 15% remaining undecided.

The push to get gay and lesbian voters on board the Obama bus came on the heels of a campaign press call yesterday aimed at contrasting Obama's record on LGBT hate-crimes legislation with that of his Republican opponent John McCain. More gay-specific announcements are in the works according to sources close to the campaign.

The independent website will feature a star-studded lineup of bloggers, including such LGBT notables as former HRC executive director Elizabeth Birch, blogger Pam Spaulding, longtime activist David Mixner, and the Right Reverend V. Gene Robinson.

The site will also incorporate user-generated content. "We've integrated a number of Web 2.0 tools into the LGBTFOROBAMA.com platform," said site adviser Michael Crawford. "Users can engage in discussions, comment on news items, post video testimonials, and tell the world why winning this election is vitally personal to them." (Kerry Eleveld, The Advocate)

ANTM's Isis Defamed on Fox News

This season of America's Next Top Model features a fabulous, 22-year old transgender woman named Isis. Isis breaks the mold of TV personality, game show contestant and global supermodel. It was only a matter of time before Fox News chimed in with mockery and undertones of hate-speech against Isis and all trans-identified individuals. Fox News anchor Gregg Jarrett and Us Weekly Editor-at-Large Ian Drew spent time defaming the trans community while using Isis as their tangible target.

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation contacted US Weekly and Fox News, calling on both to apologize. US Weekly issued the following statement: “We apologize if any group was offended by our editor’s comments as it was by no means his intention.” Fox News anchor Gregg Jarrett issued an on-air apology moments later. Below is the original clip.

2 Teenagers Held in Killing

Two teenagers were ordered held without bail yesterday in the death of a Randallstown High School student who was stabbed and stomped to death after his fellow Bloods gang members found messages on his phone that suggested he was gay.

Steven T. Hollis III, 18, of Randallstown and Juan L. Flythe, 17, of West Baltimore - both of whom are members of the Bloods gang, according to police - were arrested and charged Thursday evening with first-degree murder. They are accused of killing a fellow gang member days before his high school graduation in May.

The body of Steven Parrish, 18, was found May 29 in a wooded area near his parents' home and Woodlawn Cemetery.

"It's awful," Baltimore County prosecutor William B. Bickel said in an interview after yesterday's bail-review hearing in Towson. "You're talking about a gangland-style execution because he was gay. They took him out back in a field and stabbed him to death."

An autopsy revealed that Parrish died of both blunt-force and stabbing injuries, according to court records. He suffered 50 superficial cutting wounds to his arms, neck, head, wrist and hands in addition to one stab wound to the chest that injured his heart and caused significant blood loss. He also had bruises on the left side of his neck.

A neighbor told police that Parrish left his parents' home with another young man and walked toward the woods. About a minute later, the witness and other neighbors heard someone yelling and pleading, "Stop! Why are you doing this to me? I didn't do anything!" according to court documents.

Investigators discovered that the victim was a member of a subset of the Bloods gang known as the Family Swans.

On the day before Parrish's death, several members of the gang met at his home, according to charging documents. There, Hollis and Flythe discussed finding what they believed to be "gay" text messages on Parrish's cell phone.

Angered by the messages and a photograph they found, they worried that their Bloods group would appear weak to others if word got out that they had a gay member, according to court records.

"As a result, they decided that Steven Parrish 'had to go,'" police wrote in charging documents. "There was no date or time discussed for the killing, but it was made very clear to all those present that Parrish was going to be killed."

Flythe later told his fellow gang members that he and Hollis confronted Parrish, who did not deny that the messages were "gay" in nature, according to court records. Flythe also told his associates that they stabbed and hit the victim before stomping on his neck, according to charging documents. A red bandanna was placed over Parrish's face and he was left in the woods.

Michael A. Jeter, an attorney for Hollis, told a judge yesterday that his client played football at Randallstown High before dropping out in the 11th grade and is working on his GED with training in heating, ventilation and air-conditioning work.

"It looks like other people are trying to make a scapegoat out of this defendant," Jeter told Baltimore County District Judge Barbara R. Jung.

A pre-trial services worker told Jung that Flythe, who was not represented by an attorney, dropped out of Baltimore's Forest Park High School in the 10th grade and did not finish a GED program.

By Jennifer McMenamin Baltimore Sun August 19, 2008

Gay Marriage and the Black Vote

By Timothy Stewart-Winter of the LA Times August 14, 2008

At a Democratic presidential forum on gay issues last year, the Washington Post's Jonathan Capehart prefaced a question to Sen. Barack Obama this way: "Now, you and I both know that there's a homophobia problem in the black community." Capehart seemed to suggest that he was disclosing a shared secret, but the belief that African Americans are disproportionately hostile toward gays and lesbians is widespread.

That notion will be put to the test Nov. 4, when black voters in California -- expected to turn out in record numbers to support Obama -- also will face a proposition to put a ban on same-sex marriage in the state Constitution. The foregone conclusion, expressed by prominent gay journalist Andrew Sullivan and others, is that this means trouble for gay newlyweds.

Don't bet on it. Although ordinary polls report lower levels of support for same-sex marriage among blacks than among whites, views on same-sex marriage are a rapidly moving target that's tough to pin down, even for experts.

And a funny thing happened on the way to the ballot box in the last presidential election. When constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage were on 11 state ballots in November 2004, blacks in Arkansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Ohio and Oklahoma were at least one percentage point less likely than whites to vote for them, according to CNN exit polls. Only in Georgia were blacks slightly more likely to vote for the amendment. (The remaining four states had too few blacks to make a meaningful comparison.)

Blacks, like whites, are divided on the issue. In March 2000, when Californians voted on Proposition 22 (the statutory ban on gay marriage that the state Supreme Court struck down in May), a Los Angeles Times exit poll showed that levels of support were very similar among the major ethnic groups, with Latinos slightly more opposed to allowing gays to marry, Asians and whites slightly less opposed, and blacks right in the middle.


But even that is no predictor. Voter turnout probably will be very different this time from 2000, when the vote overlapped with the California presidential primary. That year, Al Gore was coasting to the nomination and evangelicals came out in record numbers to vote against John McCain.

To guess how someone will vote on gay marriage, find out their age, gender, party affiliation and how often they go to church. Compared with these factors, race has a much smaller, more complex effect. In the most comprehensive study to date of black-white differences in attitudes toward homosexuality, Gregory B. Lewis of Georgia State University combined data from 31 national surveys conducted between 1973 and 2000. His study, published in Public Opinion Quarterly, concluded that "blacks appear to be more likely than whites both to see homosexuality as wrong and to favor gay-rights laws."

By invoking rights, the ballot's wording on Proposition 8 -- the title reads "Eliminates Right of Same-sex Couples to Marry" -- could turn off black voters. Proposition supporters sought a different heading, "Limit on Marriage," but a judge dismissed their case last week.

Across the country, black voters repeatedly reelect African American politicians who support gay rights. The nation's two black governors have forcefully backed gay marriage -- and each has spoken movingly about accepting gay people in his own family. Californians have seen Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums preside over an extraordinary series of weddings this summer, including the union of one lesbian couple that incorporated the traditional African American wedding practice of jumping over a broom.

Openly gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) has said African Americans in Congress are, "with no close second, the most supportive group for gays and lesbians" -- more supportive even than the gays in Congress, he added dryly, if you count those who are in the closet.

Obama, for his part, hasn't backed marriage for gays, but he did call Proposition 8 "divisive and discriminatory," whereas John McCain supports it.

Nonetheless, we can expect leaders of the religious right such as James Dobson and Tony Perkins to feature African American ministers prominently in their campaign to end gay and lesbian weddings in California.

It's a cynical strategy. Too often the media have played along. In 2004, for instance, we heard far more about the subset of Martin Luther King Jr.'s family opposed to gay marriage than about how the late Coretta Scott King denounced the "Federal Marriage Amendment" proposed by President Bush that year as "a form of gay-bashing." This year, the anti-gay gospel singer who appeared at a South Carolina concert for Obama got much more play than Obama's critique of black homophobia in remarks he gave on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

So if African Americans won't fill their media-designated role on gay marriage, what about Latinos? In California in 2000, Latinos voted to prohibit same-sex marriage at a slightly higher rate -- 3% -- than the statewide average. But in Arizona in 2006, it was just 1% higher; and in Michigan and Ohio in 2004, it was at a lower rate than blacks or whites. But none of that stopped Mike Luery, the Sacramento bureau chief for the Bay Area's NBC affiliate, from reporting in early June that according to state capital "insiders" and "several analysts," California's Latinos might be so fired up to vote against same-sex marriage that their "traditionally culturally conservative" values could cost Obama the state in November. Irresponsible at the time, this prediction seems ludicrous today, with Obama leading within this group by 40 points or more.

It is possible that California's African Americans this year, like those in Georgia four years ago, will vote for Proposition 8 in larger numbers than whites. But there is also reason to think that, as in six other states four years ago, the opposite might occur in the Golden State.

Opposition to gay rights takes culturally specific forms, and Capehart was right, of course, that there is "a homophobia problem in the black community." But it's no worse than the homophobia problem in America that belongs to all of us.

Black Churches Take on AIDS Issue

By Alice Turner 16:09, August 18th 2008

Black churches across the country are starting one by one to tackle one of the most important problems of black Americans today: HIV/AIDS. While African Americans, and especially black gay men, are leading by far new HIV infections, the churches serving mainly black Christian communities have remained more or less silent on the rampant spread of the deadly disease.

One of the reasons why pastors have tried to sidestep this delicate issue is that Christian faith does not approve of unfaithfulness and homosexuality, the main reasons behind HIV transmission. This has led in some extreme cases to reverends rejecting HIV positive faithful, telling them to ask forgiveness for their sins (which allegedly caused them to become infected).

Now, things are slowly changing and homophobia is often condemned too by church leaders, as communities open up to those hit by the disease who are yearning for moral and spiritual support from their fellows.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have announced early this month that the number of Americans who are infected with HIV has been undercounted for almost a decade. It appears that in 2006 there were at least 56,300 new HIV infections, significantly more than the 40,000 estimated in previous years. As expected, gay men are the most affected by new HIV infections.

Also, late last month, a report by the Black AIDS Institute has found that the United States spearheads the global response to HIV/AIDS abroad, but neglects problems with the disease at home, especially among black people. The so-called "Black America," which is made up of some 39 million African Americans, would rank 16th in the world in the number of people living with HIV. Blacks present a gene variant, which, while ensuring a higher level of protection against some types of malaria, increases the vulnerability to HIV infection.

NAACP plans courthouse rally to support hate crime laws

By Deb Kelly of The Tribune-Star 8/7/2008

TERRE HAUTE — Advocates of hate crimes legislation in Terre Haute are organizing a public rally next week to show support for the legislation.

The Greater Terre Haute Branch of the NAACP is inviting everyone to a community peace rally Thursday on the steps of the Vigo County Courthouse at 6 p.m.

A release from the group states, “In the wake of a recent string of hate crimes that have occurred in our community, the NAACP wishes for citizens of the Terre Haute community to stand united against hate in our community and urge the Terre Haute City Council to pass a resolution urging state lawmakers to pass a hate crimes bill that would punish perpetrators who commit criminal acts against individuals because of their race, sex, ethnicity, national origin, sexual preference, etc.”

Such a resolution is being considered in the City Council, and will be voted on next week.

A. Theressa Bynum, president of the Terre Haute NAACP, said Thursday, “I hope everybody in Terre Haute will be there – everybody who is concerned about the hate in this community, I want them to speak out against the violence and let it be known that we support hate crimes legislation.

“This is an opportunity for everybody who wants to put two cents worth in to let the legislators know that it is time for there to be legislation in the state,” she said.

“I think with the City Council’s support, hopefully it is going to signal some other communities to do the same thing,” Bynum added.

Indiana is one of only five states without hate crimes legislation. The others are Arkansas, Georgia, South Carolina and Wyoming, according to the Anti-Defamation League, online at www.adl.org. A federal hate crimes law currently contains a prerequisite that the victim had to have been engaged in a federally protected activity when the crime occurred to be eligible for federal jurisdiction.

Bynum said she thinks the reason it has taken Indiana so long to pass hate crime laws is that, “people in other parts of the state … have some agendas that keep confusing things; they have attempted over several years to derail this.”

City Council President Todd Nation, D-4th, said Thursday he hopes the resolution will both encourage the state to pass hate crimes legislation as well as bring about a change in Terre Haute.

“The impact that I’m hoping for is that Terre Haute will see fewer incidences like some of the recent swastika graffiti, nooses left lying about, crosses burned into lawns, those kinds of actions,” Nation said. “This is just one small awareness-raising action – what I really hope will happen is that it will be addressed at the state level and that it will put some consequences in place for people who engage in this activity.”

Nation added that all nine city councilmen are co-sponsors of the resolution.

“That’s an unusual situation,” Nation said, “and an illustration of the level of support for this kind of legislation.

“I expect it to pass unanimously,” he said.

Bynum said, “It’s exciting that Terre Haute is taking a lead in this … People need to speak up and let folks know this is not going to be tolerated in this community.

“This is the kind of thing, when people are silent, it gives the message that this is OK.”

For more information about the City Council resolution, hate crimes legislation in Indiana, or the peace rally on Thursday, contact the NAACP at (812) 235-8555.

Jamaican lesbian, facing homophobia, will not be deported

By 365gay Newscenter Staff
08.08.2008 3:00pm EDT

(Miami, Fla.) In what is regarded as a landmark ruling, an immigration judge has stayed a deportation order that would have sent a lesbian back to Jamaica because of homophobic violence in the Caribbean country.

”The general atmosphere in Jamaica is a feeling of no tolerance towards homosexuals in general, and as such. . . the respondent’s life is definitely at risk,” Immigration Judge Irma Lopez-Defillo said, according to court documents obtained by the Miami Herald.

The 29-year old, identified by the paper only as “Nicole,” originally had been ordered deported by Lopez-Defillo, but stayed the order based on the climate toward gays in Jamaica.

She was ordered to check in regularly with immigration officials in Miami. The woman is staying with family in South Florida.

Although a number of people facing deportation have claimed they would be subjected to homophobic abuse if returned to their homelands, the argument is seldom accepted. In several cases, immigration judges have ruled the person could avoid trouble in their countries if they remained closeted.

Even though though “Nicole” has avoided deportation for now, she could still be removed from the country by the Department of Homeland Security, leaving her status in the U.S. in limbo.

Sodomy is illegal in Jamaica, with a sentence of 10-years in prison on conviction.

The country has been described by human rights groups as having the worst record of any country in the New World in its treatment of gays and lesbians.

Homophobic attacks are seldom pursued by police and even when charges are laid there are few convictions.

One of the most recent attacks occurred on January 29, when a group of men approached a house where four males lived in the central Jamaican town of Mandeville. They demanded that the residents leave the community because they were gay, according to Jamaican human rights activists who spoke with the victims.

Later that evening, a mob returned and surrounded the house. The four men inside called the police when they saw the crowd gathering. The mob started to attack the house, shouting and throwing bottles.

Those in the house called police again and were told that the police were on the way. Approximately half an hour later, 15 to 20 men broke down the door and began beating and slashing the inhabitants.

Human Rights Watch, quoting local activists, said that police did not arrive until a half hour after the mob had broken into the house – 90 minutes after the men first called for help.

One of the victims managed to flee with the mob pursuing. A Jamaican newspaper reported that blood was found at the mouth of a nearby pit, suggesting he had fallen inside or may have been killed nearby.

The police escorted the three other victims away from the scene; two of them were taken to the hospital. One of the men had his left ear severed, his arm broken in two places, and his spine reportedly damaged.

There have been no arrests.

The attack echoes another incident in the same town on Easter Sunday, April 8, 2007, when approximately 100 men gathered outside a church where 150 people were attending the funeral of a gay man.

According to mourners, the crowd broke the windows with bottles and shouted, “We want no battyman [gay] funeral here. Leave or else we’re going to kill you. We don’t want no battyman buried here in Mandeville.”

Several mourners inside the church called the police to request protection. After half an hour, three police officers arrived.

Human Rights Watch said that instead of protecting the mourners, police socialized with the mob, laughing along at the situation.

A highway patrol car subsequently arrived, and one of the highway patrol officers reportedly told the churchgoers, “It’s full time this needs to happen. Enough of you guys.”

The highway patrol officers then drove off. The remaining officers at the scene refused to intervene when the mob threatened the mourners with sticks, stones, and batons as they tried to leave the service. Only when several gay men among the mourners took knives from their cars for self-defense did police reportedly take action by firing their guns into the air. Officers stopped gay men from leaving and searched their vehicles, but did not restrain or detain members of the mob, Human Rights Watch said.

More than 30 gay men are believed to have been murdered since 1997 J-FLAG says. In most of the cases the killers have never been brought to trial.

Arrests, however, have been made in several cases which received international attention.

In 2004, Brian Williamson, Jamaica’s leading LGBT civil rights advocate, was brutally murdered. He had been stabbed at least 70 times in the neck. A 25-year-old man is currently serving a life sentence for the murder.

In December 2005, Lenford “Steve” Harvey, who ran Jamaica AIDS Support for Life, was killed.

Harvey was shot to death on the eve of World AIDS Day. His organization provided support to gay men and sex workers. Four men were arrested almost a year later.

In 2006, the bodies of two women believed to have been in a lesbian relationship were found dumped in a septic pit behind a home they shared. The killers of Candice Williams and Phoebe Myrie have not been caught.

Students at University of the West Indies in Kingston rioted last year as police attempted to protect a gay student and escort him from the campus. The incident began when the student was chased across the campus by another student who claimed the gay man had attempted to proposition him in a washroom.

The same year, a young man plunged to his death off a pier in Kingston after reportedly being chased through the streets by a mob yelling homophobic epithets.

In February 2007, three men in “tight jeans” and wearing what some witnesses described as makeup were cornered by a mob of 2000 in a drugstore. There were yells of “kill them” along with gay slurs and demands the three be sent out “to face justice.” Police had to fire tear gas into the crowd to rescue the three.

Reggae, or Jamaican dancehall music, is blamed for fueling homophobia in that country. Reggae star BujuBanton’s hit song Boom Boom Bye Bye which threatens gay men with a “gunshot in ah head.”

Jared Polis wins primary, will likely become nation’s next openly gay member of Congress

Posted on August 12th, 2008 by admin of Gaypolitics.com

After winning his Democratic primary, Jared Polis is likely to become the first-ever openly gay man elected to the U.S. Congress as a non-incumbent, the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund announced.

Polis now advances to a general election to represent Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. As the Democratic nominee in an overwhelmingly Democratic district, Polis is nearly certain to win the seat in November. He would join Reps. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Barney Frank (D-Mass.) as the only openly gay or lesbian members of Congress.

“Jared’s election is a victory for democracy. Gay Americans are woefully underrepresented in our government,” said Chuck Wolfe, president and CEO of the Victory Fund, which endorsed Polis. “Jared’s victory brings us one step closer to fulfilling America’s promise of a truly representative government.”

Polis, who was previously elected statewide to the Colorado State Board of Education, would fill the seat of Rep. Mark Udall, who is running to represent Colorado in the U.S. Senate. The Gay & Lesbian Leadership Institute, the Victory Fund’s affiliated organization, supported Polis when he came out publicly while serving on the Board of Education. Polis is also a graduate of GLLI’s Advanced Candidate and Campaign Training.

Polis would become the sixth openly gay person to serve in the House of Representatives. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat elected from Wisconsin in 1998, was the first openly gay person to be elected to the U.S. House as a non-incumbent. Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, also a Democrat, announced he was gay in 1987 after having served several terms in the House. Frank is now the powerful chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. The late Gerry Studds, a Democrat of Massachusetts, came out publicly while serving in the House, as did former Congressman Steve Gunderson, a Republican from Wisconsin, and former Congressman Jim Kolbe, a Republican from Arizona. No openly gay or lesbian person has yet been elected to the U.S. Senate.

Kanye West Challenges Fans to End Homophobia

Rapper Kanye West urged his fans to be more open minded and sensitive about cultural differences and diversity in society as he claims confrontational bigotry is nothing more than "disrespectful".
The hip-hop wonder made the comments during a concert at New York's Madison Square Garden on Tuesday August 5th. He called on his fans to follow his example and be more accepting and considerate of people regardless of their differences - attempting to end homophobia in hip-hop culture.

He preached:

"Open y'all's f**kin' minds. Be accepting of different people. Let people be who they are ... You know how many people came at me, calling me 'gay' cause I wear my jeans the fresh way? Or 'cause I said, 'Hey, dude, how y'all gonna say f*g right in front of a gay dude's face and act like that's OK?' That s**t is disrespectful ... It took me time to break out of the mental prisons I was in. The stereotypes of the fear of the backlash that I would get for believing in what I believe in, for accepting people for who they are."

After airing his opinions, he thanked the patient crowd and signed off by saying, "Thank y'all for listening to me. I had a few things to get off my chest. I want y'all to handle the rest. New York City, good night."

Student finds courage in her art

BY CHRISTY DUAN • FREE PRESS SPECIAL WRITER • August 12, 2008

For Naomi Zaslow, Orthodox Judaism gave her a clear path in life. She'd go to Jewish school and Jewish summer camp. After high school, she'd get married, or maybe go to a Jewish college in New York and then get married.
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But since her birth on the Sabbath, a holy day of rest, Zaslow has proven restless.

She followed a different path, graduating from the University of Michigan School of Art and Design. That path also has led her to accept her sexual orientation.

Although the Miami native usually is hidden behind a camera, Zaslow's photographs show that she has nothing to hide.

Through "unOrthodox," her senior thesis, Zaslow deconstructs her identity with eight photographs accompanied by audio of her creative nonfiction writing.

"It's like the idea of intersectionality," said Zaslow, 22, of Ann Arbor. "Which is more important: being queer, a woman or Jewish? None can be. There are so many facets of identity that come into play. It's a sum of all those parts."

Facing the decision of a religious or gay community, Zaslow chose a third option. She chose to become Post Denominational. She's involved within the Orthodox Jewish community but adopts aspects relevant to her life.

"When I make art, I want people to feel when they look at it. It's not a matter of 'Is this a pretty picture or not?' " Zaslow said. "People felt something. People started to cry."

But before she accepted her own identity, she was struggling to find her place in the community.

"All the other girls were fawning over young men in their pubescent glory. I wasn't attracted to them. They had acne. They were my friends," she recalled of her 12-year-old self.

"I tried to foster that 'I'm straight, I'm straight, I'm straight.' I thought of all the guys in class. I would think, 'Well, he's good at math and he likes "Star Wars," so it's not a total lie if I said I like him.' "

In an attempt to closet herself, Zaslow covered the walls of her room with posters of boys.

When she read a Newsweek article about Matthew Shepard, a gay student from the University of Wisconsin who was robbed, tortured and left to die, Zaslow was distraught. She sat on her flowered bedspread and wept as posters of Seth Green, Blink-182 and the Beastie Boys surrounded her.

Even though she convinced herself that she was straight, Zaslow would secretly retrieve a gay life column from the garbage after her father edited the paper.

Locking herself in the bathroom, she would spread the forbidden pages on the linoleum floor and read.

Before she knew it, she had spent three years poring over the column.

Amid lectures reproaching so-called deviant behavior and a classmate's denial of the existence of gay Jews, Zaslow created an art portfolio centered on a fictional girl about to die.

"I never expressed to my friends or art teacher that the reason why this girl felt she could never go to heaven was because she was gay. But when people saw it, they understood that I was depressed," Zaslow said. "One night, I realized that if I didn't tell someone, it would be very hard for me to keep surviving."

Although no one in the class earned higher than a two -- or a D in a college-level art course -- the experience made Zaslow realize that she needed to come out.

Since then, she has come out to her friends, brother and mother, but not her father.

"My mom wasn't surprised. My father probably already knows it, but you just don't see what you don't want to see. Self-editing is a huge problem, but between our parents and us, things are so different," Zaslow said.

For those facing similar challenges, Zaslow urges caution -- and hope.

"It feels trite, but you're not alone. Because people do feel alone. It's scary. If you reach out, bad things can happen, do happen," Zaslow said. "But sometimes you do need to take the risk. There are places where you can find support. Things do get better.

"I figured it out in my own way -- through art."

Human Rights Campaign to Host Salt Lake City “Camp Equality,” Train Activists for Election 2008

WASHINGTON – The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, will hold a campaign training in Salt Lake City, Utah as part of a national program to help elect fair-minded candidates and defeat discriminatory ballot measures. The program – called Camp Equality – will train nearly 1,500 people in 13 cities to work on political campaigns. The Camp Equality training will take place in Salt Lake City on August 16. Those interested in participating in Camp Equality are encouraged to apply online: www.hrc.org/campequality



“We are searching for talented and committed supporters of equality who are engaged in the political process and eager to build the skills necessary to win,” said National Field Director Marty Rouse. “By maintaining a visible presence on campaigns, we’re ensuring that the fight for equality remains a priority in this election cycle and beyond.”



Camp Equality builds on the Human Rights Campaign’s successful Campaign College, which brings 40 college students to Washington, D.C. every summer for intensive campaign training. Camp Equality takes that model out to the country, training individuals in their own communities and providing them with information about opportunities to engage in competitive political campaigns. By recruiting and training supporters of equality, HRC is bringing more people into the political process, training them to help fair-minded candidates achieve victory, and building support for equality across the country.



From mobilizing the GLBT community, recruiting and training a cadre of grassroots political advocates to staff and assist political campaigns on the ground, and strategically targeting “high-impact” races, the Human Rights Campaign is gearing up to make sure that issues of equality for the GLBT community are discussed in ’08 on our terms – not used as a divisive wedge by anti-gay forces on the right.



In 2006, the Human Rights Campaign flexed its political muscle in unprecedented and strategic ways that helped alter the political dynamic in key races across the country. HRC’s influence was felt in key victories for strong pro-equality candidates like Florida’s Ron Klein, Arizona’s Gabrielle Giffords and Pennsylvania’s Bob Casey.



Through an expanded field team and an unprecedented focus on state-level activity, the Human Rights Campaign helped ensure victory for 211 endorsed candidates, offering up a stinging defeat for some of the most anti-gay politicians in the country, including Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa. Because of these efforts, HRC was ranked the second most successful political organization in the country by National Journal (“Reversal of Fortune”, National Journal, 11/11/06).



WHAT: Camp Equality Training by Human Rights Campaign



WHO: Human Rights Campaign, Equality Utah, Utah Stonewall Democrats, the Utah Aids Foundation, and the Utah Pride Center



WHEN: Saturday, August 16 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Time is for media purposes only)



WHERE: Salt Lake County Government Center. 2001 South State St., Salt Lake City, UT 84190 (Location is for media purposes only)

House Formally Apologizes For Slavery and Jim Crow

Jim Abrams.7/29/08.AP

WASHINGTON — The House on Tuesday issued an unprecedented apology to black Americans for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow segregation laws.
"Today represents a milestone in our nation's efforts to remedy the ills of our past," said Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich., chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus.

The resolution, passed by voice vote, was the work of Tennessee Democrat Steve Cohen, the only white lawmaker to represent a majority black district. Cohen faces a formidable black challenger in a primary face-off next week.

Congress has issued apologies before _ to Japanese-Americans for their internment during World War II and to native Hawaiians for the overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom in 1893. In 2005, the Senate apologized for failing to pass anti-lynching laws.

Five states have issued apologies for slavery, but past proposals in Congress have stalled, partly over concerns that an apology would lead to demands for reparations _ payment for damages.

The Cohen resolution does not mention reparations. It does commit the House to rectifying "the lingering consequences of the misdeeds committed against African-Americans under slavery and Jim Crow."

It says that Africans forced into slavery "were brutalized, humiliated, dehumanized and subjected to the indignity of being stripped of their names and heritage" and that black Americans today continue to suffer from the consequences of slavery and Jim Crow laws that fostered discrimination and segregation.

The House "apologizes to African-Americans on behalf of the people of the United States, for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow."

"Slavery and Jim Crow are stains upon what is the greatest nation on the face of the earth," Cohen said. Part of forming a more perfect union, he said, "is such a resolution as we have before us today where we face up to our mistakes and apologize as anyone should apologize for things that were done in the past that were wrong."

Cohen became the first white to represent the 60 percent black district in Memphis in more than three decades when he captured a 2006 primary where a dozen black candidates split the vote. He has sought to reach out to his black constituents, and early in his term showed interest in joining the Congressional Black Caucus until learning that was against caucus rules.

Another of his first acts as a freshman congressman in early 2007 was to introduce the slavery apology resolution. His office said that the House resolution was brought to the floor only after learning that the Senate would be unable to join in a joint resolution.

More than a dozen of the 42 Congressional Black Caucus members in the House were original co-sponsors of the measure. The caucus has not endorsed either Cohen or his chief rival, attorney Nikki Tinker, in the Memphis primary, although Cohen is backed by several senior members, including Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y. Tinker is the former campaign manager of Harold Ford, Jr., who held Cohen's seat until he stepped down in an unsuccessful run for the Senate in 2006.