Coalition urges swift passage of hate crimes bill

The momentum around pro-LGBT legislation is truly staggering. The hate crimes legislation is up for debate in the House and there is a broad coalition supporting it. 365gay is reporting:

(Washington) The US House is expected to vote this week on legislation to add sexual orientation to the list of categories covered under federal hate crime law.

The bill was marked up last week by the House Judiciary Committee.

A wide coalition of national civil rights, human rights, and faith communities is calling for swift approval of the bill. Among the groups is the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.

“Violence against people because of who they are, where they worship, or the color of their skin, is the antithesis of what we stand for as a nation. Hatred that leads to violence is a matter of fundamental concern to the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and its 200-member coalition and we are unified in our support of the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act,” said Wade Henderson, president of the LCCR.

“The right to be protected and to be safe and free from physical harm or intimidation is the most fundamental of civil and human rights. We urge Congress to quickly pass the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, legislation that will enhance protections against hate crimes and give local police departments the resources they need to crack down on hate motivated violence,” said Benjamin Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP.

You find the rest of the article after the jump...

Judy Shepard Video as Congress Takes up Hate Crimes Legislation

WASHINGTON – The Human Rights Campaign – the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization – released a video today as part of the effort to pass the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (LLEHCPA) featuring Judy Shepard whose son Matthew was murdered in 1998 because he was gay.

“It’s been ten years since Judy Shepard lost her son Matthew and this video is a painful reminder that the federal government does not have the resources it needs to assist in prosecuting these horrific acts,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “Since Matthew’s murder, tens of thousands of Americans have been victims of hate violence and it’s time to give local law enforcement the tools to combat this scourge.”

Tomorrow, the House Judiciary Committee will mark up the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (LLEHCPA), also known as the Matthew Shepard Act. The bill would give the Justice Department the power to investigate and prosecute bias-motivated violence by providing the department with jurisdiction over crimes of violence where the victim is chosen because of the person's actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.

The video profiles the stories of hate crimes victims who were targeted because of who they are. They include:

· Angie Zapata who on a summer night in Greeley, Colorado, was bludgeoned to death with a fire extinguisher because she was transgender.

· Billy Ray Johnson a mentally disabled man from Texas who was taken to a party, ridiculed, knocked unconscious, and then dumped by the side of the road.

· Luis Ramirez who while walking home to his family in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, was beaten him to death by a group of young men yelling racial and ethnic epithets.

· Ryan Skipper of Eloise, Florida, who was robbed, driven to a dirt road and stabbed more than twenty times because he was gay.

· Sean Kennedy, a South Carolina man who died after he was assaulted by a man yelling anti-gay slurs. The state has no hate crime law and his attacker was sentenced to three years in prison.

South Africa: 'Corrective Rape' Spreads To 'Fix' Lesbians

The Huffington Post is featuring a story by The Guardian on the rise of sexual violence against lesbians in South Africa:

The partially clothed body of Eudy Simelane, former star of South Africa's acclaimed Banyana Banyana national female football squad, was found in a creek in a park in Kwa Thema, on the outskirts of Johannesburg. Simelane had been gang-raped and brutally beaten before being stabbed 25 times in the face, chest and legs.As well as being one of South Africa's best-known female footballers, Simelane was a voracious equality rights campaigners and one of the first women to live openly as a lesbian in Kwa Thema.

You can find the rest of the article after the jump...

2 men, teen charged in gang rape of Calif. lesbian

In this world, it's hard enough being a woman and feeling safe. The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that a woman was gang raped because she was a lesbian:

Two men and a teenager were charged Tuesday in the alleged gang rape of a lesbian in the San Francisco Bay area.

Humberto Hernandez Salvador, 31, and Josue Gonzalez, 21, were charged with kidnapping, carjacking and gang rape in the attack last month in Richmond.

Hate-crime enhancements were added to charges against Salvador, which could mean a more severe sentence if he is convicted. Authorities say the woman was taunted for being a lesbian during the 45-minute assault. Salvador was also charged with being armed with a gun.

The pair did not enter pleas when they appeared in Contra Costa County Superior Court, but they asked to be represented by court-appointed attorneys. Bail was set at $2.2 million for Salvador and $1.9 million for Gonzalez. Both were being held at the county jail.

They face a maximum sentence of life in prison if found guilty, prosecutors said.

Darrell Hodges, 16, was charged as an adult with similar offenses Monday. A 15-year-old boy whose name has not been released was also arrested last week on suspicion of participating in the attack.

You can read the rest of this story after the jump...

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...

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.

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...

"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...

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.

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.

Find more after the jump...

Bashing victim publishes photos of injuries

By ZACK ROSEN, Washington Blade

One of three men injured in an Adams Morgan anti-gay attack in July has sparked renewed media interest in the case by releasing photos of his injuries.

In the July 13 incident, three gay men were assaulted by a group of five men who used anti-gay epithets. The Blade covered the attack a week after it happened. This week, the victim released photos of himself that appeared on a blog, thenewgay.net. Since then, local radio station WAMU has covered the story.

The victim in question, who asked to be identified only by his first name Todd, said that he chose to release the graphic photos to raise awareness about homophobia and hate crimes in Washington.

Find more after the jump...

Man Charged in Murder of NYC College Student

by Kilian Melloy
EDGE Contributor


The alleged killer of a college sophomore expressed no remorse when he spoke with his father and confronted the media, multiple news sources reported.

22-year-old Jeromie Cancel was charged in connection with the Labor Day weekend slaying of Kevin Pravia, an honor student at Pace University.

Pravia was murdered in the Chelsea, NY, apartment he shared with roommate Josephine Madonna, who discovered his body when she returned from a trip out of town.

Cancel claimed responsibility for the slaying, describing to authorities how he punched Pravia in the face, then wrapping a cord around his neck and suffocating him.

Cancel had been detained by police on an unrelated matter, after Cancel's father reported that he had been robbed, reported The New York Times in a Sept. 2 story.

According to GLBT news site Towleroad, the victim was a gay man.

Police said that though Pravia had been found in his underwear, there was no indication that anything sexual had taken place.

Cancel told authorities that he had met Pravia early on the morning of Aug. 30 in Union Square Park. According to the suspect, he had gone to the park looking to buy drugs; police said there was no evidence that Pravia had supplied any drugs to Cancel.

As reported in the NY Times and The New York Post, Cancel said that he had accompanied Pravia back to the student's apartment before attacking and killing him. Then, Cancel said, he watched a movie while sitting next to Pravia's body: the 2004 horror film Saw.

Cancel then left the apartment, taking Pravia's iPod, laptop and cell phone, which he said that he subsequently sold.

Cancel was charged with first- and second-degree murder following his confession, but he exhibited no remorse. In photos published at the New York Post, Cancel looked into the camera lens with a smile.

At some point following the murder, Cancel seems to have gone to his father's apartment in Queens, Towleroad reported; Cancel's father, Jesus Soto, described his son's demeanor to the Post, saying, "He's mentally imbalanced."

Added Cancel's father, "He seemed off-balance. He didn't seem right."

In June, the media sources said, Cancel had stayed with Soto for a couple of weeks before disappearing, along with some of Soto's property, including a PlayStation.

Towleroad and the Post quoted Soto as saying that when Cancel visited him in the Queens apartment, "All the time he was gloating, like it didn't mean nothing to him."

"He was not remorseful, like he was happy with what he did."

Added Soto, "He had this big smile on him."

Police showed up at Soto's apartment to take Cancel into custody.

The Post quoted Soto as saying, "I called the cops, and when they pulled up... he just turned to the cops and told them he just killed someone."

Find article after the jump...

The Post reported that as Cancel was taken out of police headquarters, he told reporters that he had killed Pravia "because I wanted to," and then challenged, "You got a problem with that?"

Uncovered Questionnaire Shows Republican VP Nominee Palin Opposes Hate Crimes Laws

WASHINGTON – During her 2006 run for Governor, Sarah Palin filled out an Alaska Eagle Forum questionnaire that reveals even more about her stance and view on equality for LGBT equality.

One of the questions the conservative group asked her on the questionnaire was her views on expanding hate crimes laws. The question reads, “Will you support an effort to expand hate crimes laws?”

Palin answered, “No, as I believe all heinous crime is based on hate.”

Another question from the same survey asked, “Do you support the Alaska Supreme Court’s ruling that spousal benefits for state employees should be given to same-sex couples? Why or why not?”

Palin answered, “No, I believe spousal benefits are reserved for married citizens as defined in our constitution.”

And last, but not least, Palin was asked what her top three priorities, as regards to families, would be while Governor.

Palin answered, “#2 - Preserving the definition of ‘marriage’ as defined in our constitution.”

“I’d say we have a pretty definitive understanding of where Sarah Palin stands on issue of equality for our community. Sarah Palin is against recognizing our relationships, against domestic partner benefits, and against hate crimes laws. She championed that her second top priority in office would be preserving an anti-gay definition of marriage. The more we find out about her record, the more frightening her record becomes,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese.

The full questionnaire and answers can be found here...

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.

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."

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

Hate Crimes Against Gays Rise in L.A.

AP: 7/25/08

Hate crimes in Los Angeles County soared last year to their highest mark in five years even as overall crime dropped across the region, according to a report released Thursday.

The annual report by the county’s human relations commission shows 763 hate crimes were reported in 2007, a 28 percent increase from 2006.

The numbers buck last year’s overall crime trends, which saw a decrease of 6 percent in Los Angeles County and 5 percent in the city of Los Angeles, the report notes.

The most common hate crimes were those motivated by race, with 310 committed against black people and 125 against Latinos. However, crimes in which anti-immigrant slurs were used dropped slightly.

A majority of the hate crimes involved vandalism and simple assault, but aggravated assault was involved in 187 of them, a nearly 90 percent increase over the year before.

Read the full Article

Two Girls Attack a Lesbian, LGBT Rights Student Activist

AP
(Wayland, Michigan) Two female Michigan high school students who were videotaped attacking a classmate have been formally arraigned on charges of aggravated assault.
Crystal VanderLaan and Sydnee Rae Longhurst are accused of beating a Wayland Union High School classmate on June 10 as another student, who has not been charged, videotaped the attack.
The video was posted on the Internet shortly after school ended, said Wayland Police Chief Dan Miller.
The attack also was caught on tape by a security camera at the school. The victim suffered bruises, according to the police report.
VanderLaan has been expelled, her attorney said. Longhurst has moved out of the school district and could not be disciplined by the school board at its Monday meeting.
The girls face one count each of aggravated assault in Allegan County Family Court. If convicted, they face a maximum of one year in a juvenile detention facility and a $1,000 fine.
VanderLaan and Longhurst were upset over the victim's public displays of affection, according to the police report. The victim told police she believes it was because of her sexual orientation.
VanderLaan's defense attorney, James Dimitriou II, says his client is not "an anti-gay person."
Longhurst did not have an attorney on record with the court.
A pretrial hearing on the assault charges is scheduled for July 21.

Wayland fight

Keeping the Bad Guys off the Streets

In Recent News...

The two officers responsible for the severe beating of a Black, transgender woman were fired today after an internal hearing. Former officer Bridges McRae was terminated for beating and verbally assaulting Duanna Johnson while officer James Swain held her down. The entire event was caught on a surveillance camera.

Officer Swain was already on probation and was fired. Memphis Police Association President J.D. Sewell says McRae went into today’s hearing thinking that he would be keeping his job. According to Sewell, McRae says he did nothing wrong.

Duanna Johnson is planning on filing a $1.3 million lawsuit against the city of Memphis.

Racial and Homophobic Slurs Painted on Personal Property in VA

By ERIC HANSON

RICHMOND — Fort Bend County Sheriff's detectives are investigating more than a dozen incidents of theft and vandalism involving racist and obscene words spray painted on homes and vehicles.
The incidents were reported about 7:30 a.m. Sunday in the New Territory development, said sheriff's spokeswoman Terriann Carlson.
"It appears that white spray paint was used on all of the vehicles and the residences and racial and derogatory slurs such as the swastika symbol, and male body parts," Carlson said. The slurs also targeted homosexuals, she said.
The vehicles were parked in driveways as well as on the street. Several vehicles were vandalized and also burglarized.
Carlson said the preliminary investigation indicates the vehicles were left unlocked by the owners. Investigators would not say how much property was taken.
The crimes happened between 11 p.m. Saturday and 6 a.m. Sunday.
Detectives are asking anyone with information about the case to call Fort Bend County Crime Stoppers at 281- 342-8477. or the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office Detective Division at 281-341-4685.