Category: News

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Gay Couple Attacked For Holding Hands At Food Truck

Four men in Washington state have been arrested for allegedly harassing and physically attacking a gay couple for holding hands at a food truck. Pedro Mata Contreras, 36, Oscar Emestor Mata, 38, Ulises Missael Reyes-Mata, 24, and Jose Torres, 37, were charged with Felony Malicious Harassment. All four maintain their innocence. Local CBS News affiliate KEPR reports eight witnesses told police the group of four men verbally harassed the gay couple early Sunday morning at a food truck in Pasco, using the word “fag.” The incident escalated as the men reportedly punched one of the victims in the face. As he fell to the ground, the other men began to kick him repeatedly. The victim, left bleeding on the ground as the men ran away, suffered bone fractures in his face and a concussion. Witnesses were able to identify the four accused attackers. The four men are scheduled to be arraigned on December 31.

(mugshots via Franklin County)
(lead image via Depositphotos)

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Evangelist Gets Over 1,000 Years In Prison For Child Sex Abuse Charges

Paul Acton Bowen (mugshot)
Yet another religious hypocrite has been found to be a sexual predator. Alabama evangelist Paul Acton Bowen has been sentenced to 1,008 years in prison after pleading guilty to 28 counts of sexual abuse involving six male victims whose ages range from 13 to 16. Bowen was originally arrested in April 2018 and charged with second-degree sodomy, enticing a child to enter a vehicle or house for immoral purposes, and second-degree sex abuse of a male minor under the age of 16. Further investigation led authorities to the additional victims. The sentence is the maximum allowed on all counts and is ordered to run consecutively, not concurrently. Bowen was also ordered to pay $840,000 in fines for all counts, also the maximum. Standing in shackles, Bowen addressed the Etowah County court before being sentenced apologizing to his victims and his own family. “The shame and guilt I feel is overwhelming and has been for a long time,” he said. “My heart was never wanting to hurt anybody but my mind was not well.” AL.com reports the 39-year-old “served for 12 years in a local church, led a citywide student Bible study in Gadsden and was also the host of xlroads TV, a worldwide broadcast viewed weekly by millions of teens and adults in every city in America and more than 170 countries around the world.” The victims told investigators they met Bowen through his ministry, and the abuse lasted months, sometimes years. District Attorney Jody Willoughby read the impact letter of one of the victims who wrote he initially saw Bowen as a “cool guy” who gave him money and took him on trips. But the teen developed a drinking problem that led to blackouts as he tried to cope with the shame of abuse and now sees himself now as “damaged goods.” A second victim wrote that Bowen “did his best to ruin the lives of other young men.” A third victim intended to testify in court, but became so overwhelmed with emotion he changed his mind. Bowen’s attorney John Floyd told the court that his client acted out after being sexually molested himself as a boy. In addition to his time in prison, Bowen faces another trial in Jefferson County on three felony charges of traveling to meet a child for sex, enticing a child for a sexual act and sodomy. That trial is set for April 20, 2020. The local NBC News affiliate WVTM reported on Bowen’s arrest back in 2018.

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News Round-Up: December 23, 2019

Alex Abramov (image via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Alex Abramov (above) offers this quickie #instagay take on getting ready for the holidays: remove shirt, add Russian fur hat and lights, shoot. • OUT: The mother of a child who committed suicide due to excessive bullying has sued the school on the basis of neglect and creating a hostile environment for LGBTQ students. • Instinct: The streaming giant teased its upcoming true crime documentary based on the real-life story of bisexual pro football player turned murderer, Aaron Hernandez.

• Christianity Today: The president of the evangelical magazine supported his editor in chief’s recent op-ed calling for the removal of Donald Trump. “The global Body of Christ — and the community of evangelicals — is vastly larger than our domestic political squabbles. But partly on behalf of that global body, we can no longer stay silent. We write for a readership of One. God is our Tower. Let the whirlwind come.” • The Verge: Theaters are receiving a new version of Cats with “some improved visual effects,” just days after it premiered to dismal reviews. Last-minute tweaks apparently left room for mistakes like Judy Dench’s human hand slipping through unnoticed.

• AP News: After Sen. Elizabeth Warren accused Mayor Pete Buttigieg of holding fundraising events in “wine caves” serving $900 bottles of wine, the owners of the venue that hosted the event pushed back. They say wine caves are common at wineries in Napa Valley because they’re good for storing wine at cool temperatures.; no $900 bottle of wine were served; and no one attended thinking they would become besties with Mayor Pete. • Advocate: Schitt’s Creek creator and star Dan Levy called out UK television channel 4Music for editing out same-sex moments from the series. • Will & Grace: Sean Hayes tweets a photo of the fab four taking a final bow as the last episode of Will & Grace was shot, and the unexpected revival of the hit sitcom comes to a close.

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Trump: Windmills Are Spewing Tremendous Fumes Into The Atmosphere

Donald Trump served up this rambling, nonsensical word salad during his speech at Turning Point USA. #sundowning

“I never understood wind. I know windmills very much, I have studied it better than anybody. I know it is very expensive. They are made in China and Germany mostly, very few made here, almost none, but they are manufactured, tremendous — if you are into this — tremendous fumes and gases are spewing into the atmosphere. You know we have a world, right?”

“So the world is tiny compared to the universe. So tremendous, tremendous amount of fumes and everything. You talk about the carbon footprint, fumes are spewing into the air, right spewing, whether it is China or Germany, is going into the air.”

“A windmill will kill many bald eagles. After a certain number, they make you turn the windmill off, that is true. By the way, they make you turn it off. And yet, if you killed one, they put you in jail. That is OK. But why is it OK for windmills to destroy the bird population?”

You really have to watch it to understand how truly odd the remarks were:

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U.S. Ambassador To Zambia Recalled Over LGBTQ Rights

(image via Pexels)
The United States has recalled its ambassador to Zambia in the aftermath of comments he made about the jailing of a gay couple in the southern African nation. The two men – Steven Samba and Japhet Chataba – were arrested for having consensual relations in a private hotel room. They were found guilty of “crimes against the order of nature” and sentenced to 15 years in prison last month. Across much of Africa, homosexuality is considered taboo and having same-sex relations is illegal. The punishment for such crimes can range from imprisonment to the death penalty.
(image via Google Maps)
Ambassador Daniel Foote criticized the ruling by the country’s high court saying, “I was personally horrified to read about the sentencing of two men, who had a consensual relationship, which hurt absolutely no one.” Foote’s official statement also made mention of the $500 million in annual assistance Zambia receives from the United States saying, “In these countries where we contribute resources, this includes partnering in areas of mutual interest, and holding the recipient government accountable for its responsibilities under this partnership.” In an interview with Sky News, President Edgar Lungu defended his country’s homophobic laws saying, “Even animals don’t do it, so why should we be forced to do it?…because we want to be smart, civilized and advanced and so on.” “If there are such countries which will allow bestiality, let them do it but not here,” he added.

Foote’s comments chafed Zambian leaders and led to threats of violence against the ambassador causing him to cancel appearances at World AIDS Day events. Reuters reports that President Lungu wrote of his displeasure to the Trump administration which ultimately led to Foote being recalled. An embassy source told Reuters, “Since Lungu says he does not want to work with Foote, there was no point of him remaining. Also, don’t forget that there are security issues.” “The U.S. cannot be paying a salary to someone who cannot work because the hosts don’t want him,” added a second source. Bloomberg News adds that the U.S. currently has no plans to send a replacement for Foote any time soon. It’s worth noting that Zambia is the beneficiary of nearly $500 million each year in financial aid from the United States.

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Nancy Pelosi Claps Back At Trump’s “Phony Complaints”

L-R Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Donald Trump
Donald Trump took to Twitter this morning to rant and whine about Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and “the most unfair trial in the history of the U.S. Congress.” p.s. The House didn’t conduct a trial, but whatevs… Trump wrote, “Pelosi gives us the most unfair trial in the history of the U.S. Congress, and now she is crying for fairness in the Senate, and breaking all rules while doing so. She lost Congress once, she will do it again!” But Pelosi, who hasn’t held a vote on impeachment managers yet in the House (which would then send the articles of impeachment to the Senate), clapped back: “The House cannot choose our impeachment managers until we know what sort of trial the Senate will conduct. President Trump blocked his own witnesses and documents from the House, and from the American people, on phony complaints about the House process. What is his excuse now?”

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Tampa Man Threatened To ‘Wipe Out Whole Gay Community’

Ralph Perkins (mugshot via Tampa Police)
A 50-year-old Florida man has been arrested after threatening to commit a mass shooting against the LGBTQ community in Tampa, Florida. From The Gaily Grind:

Ralph Perkins was arrested Wednesday on a charge of making a written threat to conduct a mass shooting and is currently being held without bail in the Hillsborough County jail.

According to the arrest report, Perkins made the threats Monday after his offer for an unidentified person to move in with him was rejected.

“I like to take a gun I like to wipe the whole gay community out in Tampa and then kill myself,” Perkins wrote via a grammatically incorrect text message on his phone. “That’s going to be my ultimate present to Tampa Florida is the annihilator the gay community before I kill myself.”

Officers confirmed that Perkins sent the threats from his phone and took him into custody just after midnight Wednesday.

Perkins’s angry comment was apparently spurred by being rejected by another man on Grindr. No weapons were found during Perkins’ arrest, but a spokesperson for Tampa Police told the Tampa Bay Times, “We cannot predict what he would have done had he not been arrested.” The Times also notes that Perkins is a registered sex offender

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White House Froze Ukraine Aid Just Hours After Trump/Zelensky Call

Donald Trump
Thanks to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by the Center for Public Integrity, a federal judge ordered the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Pentagon to release documents related to the White House freezing military aid to Ukraine. From The Hill:

According to the documents, shortly after President Trump’s now-infamous July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, White House aides were tasked with halting the $391 million of military aid.

Trump’s phone call with Zelensky, and the withholding of aid, is at the center of the impeachment proceedings that began in the House and will now move to the Senate in the new year.

The obtained documents contain emails sent by senior White House official Michael Duffey. Duffey, a Trump appointee, works through the OMB and is responsible for overseeing national security money.

“Based on guidance I have received and in light of the Administration’s plan to review assistance to Ukraine, including the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, please hold off on any additional DoD obligations of these funds, pending direction from that process,” Duffey wrote to OMB and Pentagon officials on July 25.

“Given the sensitive nature of the request, I appreciate your keeping that information closely held to those who need to know to execute direction,” Duffey added.

The freeze of the aid apparently raised eyebrows at the OMB and other government agencies, with many worried that the delay of aid would make it hard for the assistance to go through before Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year.

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D.C. Taqueria Hosts Drag Brunch, Receives Dozens Of Violent Threats

An LGBTQ-friendly taco shop in D.C., Taqueria Del Barrio, is under police protection after receiving dozens of homophobic calls a day threatening to burn the restaurant down and kill staffers because the venue hosts a drag brunch. “Check out the Loyal White Knights or punch in KKK into your search engine for the Klan’s fight for white supremacy,” a male voice said in one recorded call obtained by Washington City Paper. The voice goes on to provide dial-in information for some sort of conference call on Monday. Then the caller signs off with, “If you’re white and proud, join the crowd for white power.” The Loyal White Knights is one of the largest and most active Klan groups in the U.S. They’re known for participating in rallies and distributing racist, anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, homophobic, and Islamophobic propaganda. Owner Anna Bran Leis says she has been pleased with their response, especially from MPD’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Liaison Unit. “To have something like this happen, it’s like someone kicked me in the stomach,” Bran Leis told WCP. “It didn’t happen to other business owners on the block.”

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News Round-Up: December 20, 2019

Jim Newman (via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Woofy Jim Newman’s words of wisdom for the holidays – “Don’t blend in.” Follow the hunky singer on Instagram here. • Metro: A teenager who attacked a lesbian couple on a night bus because they refused to kiss was sentenced to an eight-month youth referral order (parole), 12 hours’ reparation and ordered to pay £220 in fines and prosecution costs. • NBC News: A Texas grand jury on Friday indicted a former Fort Worth police officer for murder after fatally shooting a young woman who had been babysitting her nephew at home. According to police and body camera footage, the officer didn’t identify himself before shooting and killing the victim through a window. • KIT212: Kenneth rounds up the what’s what in gay publications across the country. • FiveThirtyEight: The four candidates leading the polls nationally and in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina — former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg — have qualified for the seventh Democratic debate in January, as well as Sen. Amy Klobuchar who has hit at least 5 percent in just enough polls and her campaign says she has the donors. • Instinct: A woofy bear in the front row of last night’s Democratic debate stole the show for many Twitter gays. • Washington Post: After meeting privately in July 2017 with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin at the G20 summit, Trump grew more insistent that Ukraine worked to defeat him, according to multiple former officials familiar with his assertions. The president’s intense resistance to the assessment of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia systematically interfered in the 2016 campaign led many of his advisers to think that Putin himself helped spur the idea of Ukraine’s culpability. • The Gaily Grind: A 14-year-old girl is in the hospital after an Iowa woman struck her with her SUV in a hit-and-run incident resulting in attempted murder charges after the woman behind the wheel said she did it because the teenager is “a Mexican.” • Lip-Sync This: Billy Porter has had quite the year after slaying on the red carpets throughout the awards season, picking up an Emmy, and now snagging a 2nd Golden Globe nomination for his work on the ground-breaking FX series, POSE. But he ain’t done yet! Check out this celebrity lip-sync of his #1 Billboard Dance Club hit, “Love Yourself.” The celebrity lip-sync features Porter’s POSE co-stars MJ Rodriguez, Ryan Jamal Swain, Dyllon Burnside, Jeremy McClain, and Jason A. Rodriguez; Kinky Boots cast and creatives Cyndi Lauper, Jerry Mitchell, Stark Sands, Annaleigh Ashford, Lena Hall, and the Ogunquit Playhouse cast of the smash hit musical; the Broadway cast of Ain’t Too Proud; along with Kelly Ripa, Debra Messing, Lin Manuel Miranda, Patina Miller, Nathan Lee Graham, Miss J, Peppermint, and designer Christian Siriano.