Tag: anti-gay violence

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Jussie Smollett Speaks Out At First Public Appearance: “I Fought The F*ck Back”

Almost a week after Empire star Jussie Smollett was assaulted in Chicago by two men who used homophobic, racist slurs during the attack, the actor & singer showed up for his already scheduled concert at The Troubadour in Los Angeles last night.
Jussie Smollett (image via screen capture)

Almost a week after Empire star Jussie Smollett was assaulted in Chicago by two men who used homophobic, racist slurs during the attack, the actor & singer showed up for his already scheduled concert at The Troubadour in Los Angeles last night.

As he took to the stage, his first public appearance since the attack, he told the crowd, “I had to be here tonight, y’all. I can’t let the motherf—ers win,” according to Variety.

“I have so many words on my heart,” Smollett told the sold-out crowd. “The most important thing I have to say is thank you so much and that I’m okay. I’m not fully healed yet, but I’m going to. And I’m gonna stand strong with y’all… l will always stand for love. I will never stand for anything other than that. Regardless of what anyone else says, I will only stand for love. And I hope that you all will stand with me. So now… let’s do it.”

Variety notes that the concert was sold-out before the attack in Chicago.

With a setlist that included songs like, “Freedom,” Conqueror,” and “Hurt People,” Smollett reportedly fought back tears as the evening took on a message of defiance and strength.

Near the end of the concert, the singer called out to two artists in attendance – out actor Wilson Cruz (Star Trek: Discovery) and Empire creator Lee Daniels: “I promised myself I was not gonna cry tonight. Someone in the crowd that I want to recognize: Wilson Cruz is someone I identified with growing up. I stand on the backs of so many people — of the Lee Daniels and the Wilson Cruz’s — and I pray to God I make you all proud.”

Before his final encore, he said there were a few points of fact that he wanted to clear up regarding reports of the attack.

“I was bruised but my ribs were not cracked; they were not broken,” he began. “I went to the doctor immediately – I was not hospitalized. Both my doctors in L.A. and Chicago cleared me to perform, but said to take care, obviously. And above all: I fought the f— back.”

And the crowd goes wild!

After the roar subsided, he finished the moment by joking, “I’m the gay Tupac! So now, we can do our encore.”

As he exited the stage, Smollett announced, “We are proud. We are gay.”

Wilson Cruz acknowledged Smollett on his Instagram.

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HBO’s Vice News Goes Inside Chechen Prison Where Gay Men Were Tortured & Killed

HBO’s Vice News goes inside the prison in Chechnya where gay men were allegedly held, tortured and killed as part of the country’s “anti-gay purge.”

VICE News obtained exclusive access to the now-abandoned buildings where the local prison warden and his officers reportedly beat and tortured men they suspected of being gay. Human Rights Watch has confirmed that this site is at the center of their investigation into homophobic abuse in Chechnya.

Ayub Kataev, prison warden and head of the ministry of internal affairs, initially stuck to the official Chechen response: absolute denial, not only about abuse but even the existence of gay people. “We don’t think these people exist among us,” he told VICE News, accusing those who reported the story of seeking to destabilize Chechnya.

“My officers would not even want to touch such people, if they exist, let alone beating or torturing them.” Kataev continued, accusing both the victims and Human Rights Watch of lying. Kataev suggested that the men making claims of torture were doing so in order “to get asylum, to leave the country and obtain free foreign citizenship.”

At one point, Kataev lines up his officers and asks them, for the cameras, “Was there a single case when I told you to arrest some kind of gays? Have you even heard about them?”

It will not surprise you to learn they all obediently answer, “No.”

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Key West: No Jail Time For “You’re In Trump Country” Gay-Basher

Brandon Ray Davis

There will be no jail time for a North Carolina man who admitted to chasing and assaulting two gay men during a late night February incident in Key West, Florida.

Unbelievable. And people wonder why LGBTs protest.

From the Miami Herald:

Brandon Ray Davis, 30, admitted calling Kevin Paul Taylor and Kevin Seymour “faggots,” and yelling, “You’re in Trump country now!” on Feb. 23 on Duval Street in Key West and smashing his scooter into Seymour’s back bike tire.

“I landed on my feet, that was the luck of it,” Seymour said Wednesday, after the hearing in which Davis received four years probation, 75 hours of community service and was banned from tasting alcohol for two years.

Judge Wayne Miller said the injuries suffered — a flattened bicycle tire and a chain knocked off — weren’t enough to warrant a day in jail after Assistant State Attorney Colleen Dunne asked for 60 days behind bars.

Originally arrested for felony aggravated battery, Davis was allowed to plead guilty to a lesser charge Wednesday at the Monroe County Courthouse in Key West.

Taylor and Seymour watched Wednesday as Davis called his fiancée and two family friends to the front of the court to testify that whatever he did at about 1 a.m. Feb. 23 in Key West was completely out of character. Davis also has an openly gay friend, a professional his attorney noted, who wrote one of 30 letters of support.

Then Davis turned toward the two men he threatened in a drunken stupor four months ago, walked toward them from the court’s center and offered to embrace them.

“My heart goes out to you guys, every bit of it,” Davis said to Taylor and Seymour, who were seated in the front row behind the prosecutor’s table. “I’m asking you to come put your arms around me, take my hand.”

The two men were silent.

Davis followed the men for five blocks, taunting them and at one point promising, “If you call the cops I will cut that faggot body up,” and claiming he was a correctional officer.

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News Round-Up: June 13, 2017

Ramin Karimloo

Some news items you may have missed:

• One item I forgot in my Tony Awards recap – I truly missed not seeing Ramin Karimloo and the cast of Broadway’s Anastasia perform. For the fans, don’t miss Ramin at BB Kings in NYC July 23 & 24.

• Four law firms turned down the opportunity to represent Donald Trump because he has a history of not listening to people he hires, and not paying his bill.

• A Malaysian teenager was savagely beaten and left brain-dead for being “effeminate.”

• The president’s job approval drops to 36% leaving him 23 points under water.

• House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi believes President Donald Trump will “self-impeach.”

• If you held a Pride Parade at my house…

A post shared by George Takei (@georgehtakei) on Jun 13, 2017 at 9:56am PDT

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French President Macron To Putin: We Need “Complete Truth” Regarding Torture Of Gay Men In Chechnya

President Putin of Russia (L), President Macron of France (R)

While President Trump has yet to address the horrific torture of gay men in Chechnya, newly-elected French President Macron brought up the subject immédiatement in his first face to face meeting with Russian President Putin.

From the New York Times:

On human rights, Mr. Macron said he had raised the troubles facing gay and transgender people in Chechnya as well as those of nongovernmental organizations.

Mr. Macron said that he had discussed the reports of collective punishment of gay men in Chechnya with Mr. Putin and that they had agreed on a “very regular monitoring” of the situation.

Mr. Macron said Mr. Putin had told him he had taken measures to “establish the complete truth on the activities of local authorities” in Chechnya, but he did not specify what those measures were. Chechnya is under the control of a pro-Kremlin leader, Ramzan A. Kadyrov.

“As for me, I will be constantly vigilant on these issues, which are in keeping with our values,” Mr. Macron said.

Although he did not dispute Mr. Macron’s characterization, Mr. Putin did not mention gay people during the news conference.

In related news, Joël Deumier, president of French LGBT rights organization SOS Homophobie, told FranceInfo that France has started taking in gay refugees from Chechnya.

Earlier this month, Buzzfeed reported that the U.S. State Department has denied visas to gay Chechens fleeing persecution.

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Human Rights Watch Reports On Beatings & Electrocution Of Gay Men In Chechnya

President Ramzan Kadyrov of Chechen Republic

Human Rights Watch has published a report detailing the horrific treatment and torture of gay men in Chechnya.

According to the report, the speaker of Chechnya’s parliament, Magomed Daudov, was involved in authorizing the violence.

Radio Free Europe details the torture ranging from beatings to electrocution devices.

“All of the victims suffered repeated beatings,” the report said. “Security officials kicked them with booted feet, beat them with polypropylene pipes and sticks, and made other inmates beat them” — mostly on the men’s buttocks and legs.

“They put you face down on the floor and beat you with pipes,” one victim told Human Rights Watch. “Then they force other prisoners [held for allegedly supporting insurgents or for alleged drug offenses] to carry on with the beating. Each man gets some 70 to 80 blows. And so it goes…. And you literally turn black and blue from waist to toes.”

The rights group says local Chechen authorities also used electrocution devices to torture the victims.

Former detainees described those devices as machines with a knob on one side and wires sticking out of it with metal clips at the ends — clips which were attached to the victims’ fingers, toes, and earlobes.

“They turn the knob, electric current hits you, and you start shaking,” a former detainee told Human Rights Watch. “And they keep turning the hellish machine, and the pain is just insane. You scream and scream and you no longer know who you are.”

“Finally, you faint,” the former detainee continued. “It all goes dark. But when you come to your senses, they start all over again. And once they’re done with you and you get your bearings, you hear other inmates screaming. The sounds of torture are just there all day, and at some point you start losing your mind.”

Many of the victims were returned to their families where authorities suggested the relatives perform “honor killings”

Human Rights Watch urges the European Union and the United States to intervene and offer sanctuary to the victims.

Former Vice President Joe Biden has called on President Trump to address the human rights violations. Trump has not spoken publicly to date about the ongoing atrocities.

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Short Film: “Unchechen”

Writer and director Stephen M. Hornby has created the short film Unchechen, based on actual quotes from accounts of the current torture and genocide of gay men in Chechnya.

The short film, created by digitalSTAGE and Inkbrew Productions, began life as a stage play commissioned by theatre collective Take Back, performed in Manchester earlier this month.

Hornby issued this statement with the short film:

“The State organised extermination of gay men in Chechnya is a horrific ghost from World War Two. But it’s real. The men fleeing from it are too terrified to go on camera, and so I wanted to try to fill the silence with something that attempts to make this crisis real and human. This is an emotional story to connect people to what’s happening and hopefully stimulate a response.”

The filmmakers encourage people to donate to Rainbow Railroad to help more gay men escape these horrific conditions.

(tipped by TRR reader Larry)

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Russian Foreign Official Dodges Questions On Chechen Torture/Killing Of Gays

My first response when I saw this exchange between Katie Couric and Maria Zakharova, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, was a chilling shiver up my spine.

Zakharova stopped by Yahoo News to talk with Couric about President Trump, U.S. airstrikes in Syria, and fake news.

BUT – Couric turned to the horrific reports of gay men being detained and tortured in Chechnya, and things went south very quickly.

Zakharova was not of a mind to discuss and shut Couric down, explaining there was an “investigation.”

Dodge, dodge, dodge…

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NY Times Op-Ed: “Time Is Not On The Side Of Gay People” Living In Chechnya

Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov

In an op-ed this morning, the New York Times challenges the Trump administration to provide stronger international leadership regarding the rounding up, torturing and killing of gays in Chechnya.

The crimes in Chechnya have presented the Trump administration with its first major test on this issue on the international stage. Last Monday, Nikki Haley, the American ambassador to the United Nations, issued a strong statement calling for a prompt investigation and accountability for the culprits.

“We are against all forms of discrimination, including against people based on sexual orientation,” Ms. Haley said. “When left unchecked, discrimination and human rights abuses can lead to destabilization and conflict.”

It would be encouraging to see Ms. Haley take on this cause with as much passion and perseverance as her predecessor, Samantha Power. Without American leadership, forging a global consensus that gay rights are human rights will take longer. Time is not on the side of gay people living in terror in places like Chechnya.

Even as reporting shows the situation growing more dire by the day, Chechen and Russian officials continue to deny the horrific events.

Over the weekend it was reported that Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov has hopes to eradicate all gays in his country before Ramadan on May 26.

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LGBT Activists Request Canadian Authorities Issue Emergency Visas For Gays In Chechnya

Canadian human rights organization, Rainbow Railroad, has announced plans to assist LGBTs in Chechnya who are in danger of detention and torture for being gay.

Via press release:

With recent reports of abductions, detentions, enforced disappearances, torture and deaths targeting gay and bisexual men in Chechnya, a Canadian non-profit human rights organization announced today an emergency response plan to assist those in danger. Founded in 2006, Rainbow Railroad actively assists LGBTQ people escape danger through its global network of safe routes.

“Since we first received initial reports of gay concentration camps being established in Chechnya, Rainbow Railroad immediately re-classified Eastern Europe as a priority region,” explains Executive Director, Kimahli Powell. “This means we’re expanding our on-the-ground contacts as well as increasing our capacity to identify and assess new or alternative safe routes out of Chechnya.”

To assist in this effort, Rainbow Railroad is working closely with the Russian LGBT Network, a non-governmental organization currently leading the campaign to rescue those facing danger in Chechnya. The two organizations will work together to identify individuals who need to be evacuated – with Rainbow Railroad providing direct travel assistance.

“An important part of our emergency response plan is to support the Russian LGBT Network in their rescue campaign,” says Powell. “This includes fundraising to support the organization while allocating resources to increase the number of people we can support in the region.. In addition, we are formally requesting the Canadian government provide direct assistance to those in need by way of emergency visas.”

Donations can be made on the Rainbow Railroad’s official website here.

More about Rainbow Railroad via the official website:

Rainbow Railroad receives hundreds of requests for help every year from countries where LGBT individuals are open targets of violence.

Because the volume of requests is so high, we focus our efforts on assisting LGBT people who have faced physical violence or face an imminent threat of violence, imprisonment, or death.

At any given time, Rainbow Railroad is working on 30-50 open cases, confirming their details, putting them in touch with local resources and helping them identify safe routes for escape. As the situation worsens in many parts of the world, these numbers continue to grow.

(h/t JoeMyGod)