Tag: anti-gay

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American Kennel Club CEO urges moving 2016 World Dog Show out of Russia

“On behalf of the American Kennel Club, our member clubs, and the American purebred dog fancy, we urge you to move the 2016 World Dog Show from Russia to a nation that respects and upholds human rights for all its citizens. The international dog community deserves to enjoy the World Dog Show in a place that stands for freedom and equal rights for all. AKC cannot and will not support participation in the 2016 World Dog Show if it is held in Russia.

“As exhibitors, breeders, handlers and trainers, we teach our dogs many things. But there is no denying, they teach us too. Our bond with dogs is not defined by the type of person who holds the leash. We cannot support competition in an environment where tolerance does not exist.” – From the chairman and the CEO of the American Kennel Club.

(h/t JMG)

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NYC: Vicious Bronx gay bashing gets 7 year sentence

Bronx gang member Nelson Falu, 20, was yesterday sentenced to seven years in prison for his role in a 2010 gay bashing and torture incident that horrified New York City.

From the NY Daily News:

Falu was among eight members of the “Latin King Goonies” who tortured and beat two teenage boys and a 30-year-old man over the course of several hours in a Bronx home, while using anti-gay slurs. Prosecutors say the gang members sodomized two of the men with a plunger, chained one to a chair, and used a cigarette lighter to inflict burns.

Falu, 20, and two other participants, took guilty pleas in June. The cases against the other gang members are still pending.

(via JMG)

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National Organization for Marriage under investigation AGAIN for campaign contributions

The ironically named National Organization for Marriage (which actually campaigns against marriage rights for gays and lesbians) will be investigated for trying to hide the names of its donors during the successful campaign to unseat three Iowa state Supreme Court justices who backed same-sex marriage. Basically, a revenge campaign.

The Iowa Ethics & Campaign Disclosure Board voted unanimously to investigate the National Organization for Marriage, saying that if the allegations against it are proven true, the marriage group’s actions would violate state law.

The decision to investigate is a triumph for Republican former presidential candidate Fred Karger, who filed the complaint against the National Organization for Marriage on June 13. Karger said the D.C.-based group spent $635,000 in 2010 and about $100,000 in 2012 to try to oust four of the justices who were part of a unanimous 2009 decision that allowed same-sex marriage in Iowa.

“We caught them,” Karger told reporters after today’s meeting. “I’m so grateful to the ethics commission.”

The Des Moines Register notes that NOM looks to be “a player in Iowa again,” with an eye on removing Iowa Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal from office, a champion of same-sex marriage rights, and the other three justices who authored the marriage ruling four years ago.

(via JMG)

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Two year old accosted at Walmart, called “fa**ot” for wearing headband

This is a pretty terrible story.  Imagine someone touching your 2 year old son like this in a store.

Dexter is a 2-year-old boy who happens to love pink. His mother, Katie Vyktoriah, a stay-at-home mom and blogger, posted a horrific tale over the weekend of the experience she had when she took Dexter to Walmart.

Read the entire story at Huffington Post.

The post has gone viral to the point that her site crashed due to the high level of traffic.

The story is reposted at the HuffPost, and the unfortunate encounter her son had with an ignoramus began after two girls giggled at her son in his pink headband.

She writes:

Out of nowhere a big booming voice rang out. “THAT’S a BOY?!” The man was overly large with a bushy beard and a camouflage shirt with the arms cut off. He had tattered shorts and lace-up work boots with no laces. I could smell the fug of cigarette smoke surrounding him, and there was a definite pong of beer on him.

“Yes,” I said simply, still smiling.

With no notice, the man stepped forward, grabbed the headband off of Dexter’s head and threw it to the bottom of our shopping cart. He then cuffed Dexter around the side of his head (not hard, but that is not the point) and said with a big laugh, “You’ll thank me later, little man!”

At the same time as I stepped forward, Dexter grabbed his head where the man had smacked him and threw his other hand forward, stomping his foot and shouting, “NO!” I got between my son and this man and said very firmly, “If you touch my son again, I will cut your damn hands off.”

The guy snarled at me, looked at Dexter with disgust and said, “Your son is a f*cking fa***t.” He then started sauntering out, but not before he threw over his shoulder, “He’ll get shot for it one day.”

I stood there, shaking, fists clenched, waiting for the man to disappear out the door, and then I fell apart. I was shaking so hard, holding back tears and comforting Dexter.

Not a single person said or did anything. There were several people who had witnessed the encounter, but not one of them came over to offer support or console me or my son.

Let me repeat to you: Dexter is 2 YEARS OLD.

Watch Katie discuss the incident on HuffPost Live:

(via Towleroad)

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More bars and restaurants joining #DumpRussianVodka campaign

A 200-member coalition of NYC restaurant and nightclubs has joined the boycott of Russian vodka.

Here’s more on their protest in Manhattan.

Holding up a bottle of the popular Russian brand Stolichnaya, the United Restaurant and Tavern Owners Association President Paul Hurley shook his head and called for a city-wide boycott of Russian spirits and liquor. “All these vodkas here, we’re going to throw them out,” Hurley said. “We feel enough is enough.”

Hurley, who urged people to drink American-made alcohol instead, said the boycott was the first step toward pressuring Russia to change its policies toward gay people.

Paddy MacCarty, who owns a Manhattan bar called Nevada Smiths, said he’s planning to toss out every bottle of Russian vodka behind the bar.

At least 200 New York bars and restaurants are participating in the boycott, which has spread to many gay bars across North America in the wake of a newly passed Russian law that bans the so-called “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations.”

(via JMG)

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Eighty-three members of Congress ask Sec. of State Kerry for protections for LGBT Olympic athletes

A letter penned by Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and co-signed by 83 members of the US House has been sent to Secretary of State John Kerry demanding protections for LGBT athletes at the Sochi Olympics. From the letter:

We applaud the State Department’s commitment to ensuring that U.S. diplomacy and foreign assistance promote and protect the human rights of LGBT persons abroad, and the actions your agency has already taken to communicate concerns about the overall direction on LGBT rights in Russia directly to the Russian government.

In light of the importance of U.S. leadership on LGBT issues, and the quickly-approaching Sochi Games, we urge the State Department to determine the appropriate course of action to assure the safety and well being of LGBT and LGBT— supporting individuals involved in or attending the 2014 Sochi Olympics and Paralympics.

We look forward to hearing from you regarding what efforts have been undertaken, especially efforts undertaken in coordination with other foreign governments, and are committed to working together with you on this issue.

Buzzfeed has the full list of signees.

Contradicting statements have been made on the issue of Russia’s anti-gay laws and the upcoming Sochi Olympics. Despite claims to the contrary by the IOC, last week Russian officials said that both athletes and attendees of the Sochi Olympics will indeed to be subject to arrest under Russia’s “homosexual propaganda” ban.

(via Huffington Post)

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New Mexico: Gay couple forced to back of a bus for holding hands

The Advocate reports that Ron McCoy and his partner Chris Bowers flew into Albuquerque International Sunport on June 28. They were planning to attend Albuquerque’s Pride festival that weekend, then kick off a road trip of the Southwest, according to Albuquerque’s KQRE.

But when the couple boarded an airport shuttle to pick up their rental car, they say they sat down toward the front of the bus and took one another’s hand.

“I saw him look at us, look down at his hands, and he looked so angry,” McCoy told KQRE. “He just blurted out at me, he goes, OK, if you’re going to do that, you’re going to the back of the bus.”

Flabergasted by the driver’s tone, the couple complied and moved to the back of the bus. But when the shuttle stop, the couple approached the driver to inquire about why he demanded they move.

McCoy told KQRE he said to the bus driver, “I think it was because you didn’t like the fact that I was holding my partner’s hand.” Then McCoy says the driver responded by saying “‘See, now you’re telling on yourself.’ My partner responds, ‘Well, that’s discrimination,’ and the driver responds, ‘You’re telling on yourself again.'”

KQRE spoke with a woman who witnessed the exchange, and said she was appalled by the driver’s behavior.

A spokesman for the airport confirmed that the driver had acted inappropriately, and called the driver’s behavior “absolutely unacceptable.”

A manager for the company that runs the shuttles, Standard Parking, told KQRE the driver “was inappropriate and got carried away,” but that he did not consider the incident discrimination. The manager told KQRE the driver in question was still working for the company.

UPDATE: The shuttle service company has apologized for the actions of its driver.

Standard Parking Inc. has stated that it has a zero tolerance policy toward discrimination and suspended the employee after learning of the June incident, reports the Associated Press. It also stressed its commitment to its customers’ equal rights.

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Olympic gold medalist Matthew Mitcham calls Russian anti-gay laws “horrific”

Matthew Mitcham accepting his Olympic Gold medal

Olympian Matthew Mitcham says new Russian laws, which would see athletes at next year’s Sochi Winter Olympics jailed if they are involved in any type of gay pride activities, are “horrific”.

The Russian government has warned those who wear a rainbow pin or T-shirt or wave the gay pride flag face jail terms under laws signed off by President Vladimir Putin in June. Even gay couples holding hands is illegal.

The gold medal-winning diver from the 2008 Beijing Games said the laws were in violation of basic human rights.

“It’s really sad,” Mitcham said. “The way they are persecuting people in Russia is quite horrific.” Mitcham said Russia’s stance would hinder performances and take away the joy of the Games experience. “The Olympics is the best experience you will ever have as an athlete,” he said. “Their whole memory and experience is going to be marred by this stuff. They are going to be made to feel unacceptable, inappropriate, and it is a really awful, awful feeling.

“The Olympics are supposed to be somewhere where they can go to be relieved of that feeling.

“A place where you can compete and feel that gender and sexuality is not an issue.”

The International Olympic Committee said it had “received assurances from the highest level of government in Russia that the legislation will not affect those attending or taking part in the Games”.

However, Russia’s Sports Minister Vitaly L. Mutko said Olympic athletes travelling to Russia would be expected to obey the new law.

Conflicting statements don’t make anyone feel secure.

(source)

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Travel icon Arthur Frommer warns of danger for LGBT travelers in Russia

Travel guide guru Arthur Frommer has penned a lengthy warning of Russia’s anti-gay laws, telling his readers of the oppressive laws harming LGBT folks there, and advising travelers and the tourism industry to take “appropriate action:”

Writes Frommer in a blog post:

Several gay authors of Frommer travel guides have already informed me that they will no longer risk travel to Russia as long as the “pro-gay propaganda” statute is in effect. Some among them are calling for a broader boycott of all travel to Russia by all Americans, gay or not, as a protest against this denial of human rights. They refer not only to the new legislation, but to several recent incidents of physical assaults by prejudiced young Russians against gay persons, none of which seemed to interest Russian police. And of course, officials and athletes preparing to participate in the winter Olympics are seriously concerned.

In the words of another Frommer author: “The new Russian law is extremely dangerous, borne of dark nationalism, and through its virulent ignorance, the stage is set for a witch hunt. History has shown only too clearly what can happen when a government provides for the systematic silencing and disenfranchisement of an unpopular minority”.

(h/t Towleroad)