LGBTQ news and entertainment
According to reports, the D.C. office of the Human Rights Campaign and the office for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force were evacuated after police passed along credible bomb threats.
Staff have since returned to the HRC office following the “all clear” from D.C. police, but the story concerning the NGLTF is still developing.
(source)
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When listening to Mitt Romney “apologize” about his high school bullying reported by the Washington Post yesterday, my first question was “why is he laughing about something he SAYS he doesn’t remember?”
Just seemed kind of strange from a behavioral stand point. Rachel Maddow tackles that question on her show.
There are folks on the anti-gay conservative side touting “61 percent of North Carolinians” voted for Amendment One.
But that’s an inaccurate statement. Check this out:
Voter turnout was only 34% of registered voters (6,296,759 total voters participated). Sixty-six percent of registered voters did not participate.
The number of “yes” votes for the amendment only comes to 20.7% of all registered voters. This did account for 61% of those voting, but not 61% of all North Carolinians.
Repeat – only 20% of all registered voters in North Carolina were able to act as a “majority” yesterday in North Carolina.
The next time you think about voting, consider that fact.
North Carolina has voted to constitutionally prohibit any domestic union other than a marriage between a man and a woman, the AP reports.
In doing so, voters have also banned civil unions and stripped same-sex couples of domestic partnership benefits. Voters have eliminated health care, prescription drug coverage and other benefits for public employees and children receiving benefits through domestic partnerships.
North Carolina is now the 30th state with a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
In a press conference held in Greensboro, North Carolina, clergy from around the state gathered together to pray for the wisdom of it’s citizens regarding the May 8th vote on Amendment One.
In that conference, Rev. Dr. William J. Barber took the time to rebuke the media for asking the wrong questions regarding the amendment.
Voting happens today in North Carolina. Polls show the anti-gay Amendment One passing. But polls also show that when the law is explained to people they oppose it.
If you live in North Carolina or know folks there, please vote AGAINST Amendment One or tell people you know there to make sure they know exactly what the law will do.
Thank you Dr. Barber for your words and clarity here.
Thank you Dr. Barber for being the kind of leader this country needs.
Two Kentucky teenagers entered guilty pleas in the nation’s first-ever federal anti-gay hate crime case:
Alexis Leeann Jenkins and Mable Ashley Jenkins, who goes by Ashley, pleaded guilty to one charge of kidnapping and one charge of aiding others in causing bodily injury to Kevin Pennington of Letcher County because he is gay. The convictions are the first in the nation under provisions of the federal law covering crimes of violence motivated by a person’s actual or perceived sexual orientation, according to U.S. Attorney Kerry B. Harvey. The two face possible life sentences. The circumstances of their pleas, however, could indicate they plan to cooperate with prosecutors in hopes of getting lesser sentences.
The two agreed to be charged by way of a document called an information — as opposed to an indictment, which would require a grand jury to approve the charges — and pleaded guilty the same day the charges were filed. Their attorneys, Robert Michael Murphy of Lexington and James Hibbard of London, declined comment on whether the women, both 19, will cooperate in prosecuting two others charged in the case. Both women are to be sentenced in August.
The two women, who now face life sentences, were accused of luring a gay man to a planned violent beating by their two male accomplices.
The others charged in the attack are cousins David Jason Jenkins, 37, of Cumberland, who goes by Jason, and Anthony Ray Jenkins, 20, of Partridge.
Alexis Jenkins is Anthony Jenkins’ wife, and Ashley Jenkins is his sister.
The victim escaped into the woods during the attack and survived. The two men have pleaded not guilty and face life in prison.
Lawrence O’Donnell addresses the scandal and the “apology” of Pastor Sean Harris.
The pastor also called in to the Michelangelo Signorile show yesterday to explain his sermon and apology. That didn’t go so well either.
At this point the pastor should probably stop talking and start thinking about his next sermon…
Jeremy Hooper at Good as You has posted some extremely disturbing audio identified as Sean Harris, the Senior Pastor of Berean Baptist Church in Fayetteville, NC, giving his congregation a “special dispensation” to beat their children if they think they might be falling outside of gender norms.
Harris also urged his congregation to vote for North Carolina’s Amendment One in an hourlong sermon posted on Sunday.
Says Harris at the beginning of his horrifying rant:
He adds:
Harris has advice for parents who think their daughters might be acting too butch:
Adds Harris: “Can I take charge like that as a parent? Yeah, you can. You are authorized. I just gave you a special dispensation this morning to do that.”
(source)
Please notice how many of these “man on the street” interviews uses the exact same phrases and terminology.
Think they were handed talking points…?