Tag: anti-gay

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Thousands hold hands across bridge to protest LGBT violence

On Sunday night, more than 4,000 people showed up to a Facebook-organized demonstration against last week’s anti-gay hate crime in Portland, Oregon and held hands across the Hawthorne bridge where the attack occurred.

JustOut blog reports that, “demonstrators packed into the space beneath the west side of the bridge at about 7:30 p.m., spilling over onto the ramp and stairs to hear from the attack’s survivors, Brad Forkner and Christopher Rosevear. Afterward, the crowd filed down both sides of the bridge with hands held. Despite being tightly packed together, some attendees could not fit on the bridge.

Before the crowd moved to the bridge, Forkner talked about the attack, explaining that the violence he experienced is part of a larger culture of discrimination and fear:

“This is not the first time I have feared for my safety or my life and, sadly, I don’t expect it to be the last,” Forkner said. “What I want to talk about is a much larger cultural issue we have with making different people feel like they’re worth less than normal people, as if there is such a thing as “normal.” In this instance, it was because we are gay.”

After Forkner’s speech, Basic Rights Oregon Executive Director Jeana Frazzini thanked Forkner and Rosevear for their courage and invited the crowd to take part in a display of love and affection:

“Holding hands is an act of love. It’s an expression of affection and it’s a symbol of faith in another human being. And tonight in this crowd we’re surrounding Brad and Christopher — and everyone who’s been the victims of violence and oppression and hateful words because of who they love or who they are — with the love that is Portland, with love that is Oregon and with the love that we can spread across this city, this state, this nation and the world.”

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IL Catholic Charities end all adoption services to avoid allowing gays to adopt

From ThinkProgress: Following up on their threat, Catholic Charities of Rockford, IL, have voluntarily ended all their adoption and foster care services rather than comply with the civil unions law that will take effect next week.

In doing so, the organization terminated $7.5 million in state contracts, fired 58 workers, and likely displaced 350 foster children. Diocese spokeswoman Penny Wiegert attempted to blame the government for not protecting charities’ ability to discriminate against same-sex couples:

The law of our land has always guaranteed its people freedom of religion. Denying this exemption to faith-based agencies leads one to believe that our lawmakers prefer laws that guarantee freedom from religion.

But the decision had nothing to do with the children (who will do just fine with same-sex families) and nothing to do with religious liberty. It was a blatant choice to prefer discrimination and stigmatization of gays and lesbians over the ability to do important, charitable work.

This is only the latest example of how out of touch Church leaders are with its members. A March poll from the Public Religion Research Institute demonstrated that Catholics overwhelmingly support marriage or civil unions for same-sex couples (74 percent), but that number has been consistently over 60 percent since at least 2008. In Rhode Island, 63 percent of Catholics support full marriage equality, but Church leaders have been instrumental in holding back the progress of legislation there.

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Defense Bill Passes in House With Antigay Amendments

The House of Representatives on Thursday approved its version of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act with three controversial, antigay amendments, one of which is aimed at delaying repeal implementation of “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

The amendments, all opposed by the Obama administration, would require the four service branch chiefs to sign off on DADT repeal, affirm that the Defense of Marriage Act applies to Defense Department policies, and prohibit weddings for same-sex couples at military facilities — as well as bar military chaplains from performing such weddings in their official capacity. The House version of the defense authorization bill was approved by a 322 to 96 vote.

In a Tuesday statement of policy, the White House objected to any legislative attempt to delay repeal of DADT, which would “create uncertainty for service members and their families,” according to the statement.
(via The Advocate)

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Tennessee Gov. overturns non-discrimination ordinance

Gov. Bill Haslam signed a bill Monday that overturns Metro’s nondiscrimination ordinance.

It took months of debate before Nashville passed the measure prohibiting companies that work with the city from discriminating against gays and lesbians.

The Human Rights Campaign responds: “Discrimination should have no place in the Volunteer State and the Chamber’s opposition to this law sent a strong signal that corporations are on the leading edge of positive change,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “In contrast Governor Haslam has put discrimination ahead of the state’s values and even business interests by signing this horrible legislation.”

Major corporations spoke out against the bill and in favor of workplaces that respect and welcome all individuals. Since the bill passed late last week, Aloca, FedEx, AT&T, KPMG, UnitedHealth Group, Whirlpool, Comcast and other companies publicly disavowed the bill.

To think that Nashville wanted to add “sexual orientation” to their non-discrimination statute and the state legislature literally is saying “no, it’s ok to discriminate against gays and lesbians.”

Sad, kids. Very, very sad.

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Joakim Noah of Chicago Bulls braces for punishment after anti-gay slur

Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah apologized again Monday for directing an anti-gay slur at a fan during Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals, and was fined $50K by the NBA.

Noah and NBA officials met Monday morning. The league had no immediate comment, but Noah said he emerged from that talk prepared to “pay the price” for what happened when he returned to the bench with two fouls midway through the first quarter of Sunday night’s game against the Miami Heat.

“The fan said something that was disrespectful towards me,” Noah said. “And I went back at him. Got it on camera. I don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings. Anybody who knows me knows that I’m not like that. I’m an open-minded guy. I said the wrong thing and I’m going to pay the consequences — deal with the consequences — like a man. I don’t want to be a distraction to the team right now.”

Television cameras captured Noah saying an expletive, followed by the slur. Noah said he did not realize the gravity of the situation until he was questioned by reporters after the game Sunday, adding that he meant “no disrespect” to anyone.

Last month, Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers was fined $100,000 for directing the same slur toward a referee.

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, or GLAAD, said it reached out to the NBA and the Bulls on Monday “to discuss next steps,” and called upon the league to reiterate to its players that anti-gay words should not be tolerated in the game.

“Last month the NBA sent an important message about how such slurs fuel a climate of intolerance and are unacceptable,” GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios said in a statement. “These anti-gay remarks, coming so soon after, demonstrate how much needs to be done.”

Also Monday, the Human Rights Campaign called Noah’s use of the slur “just plain unacceptable.”

“At a time when the NBA and a growing number of pro-athletes are publicly standing up for equality, it’s too bad Mr. Noah worked against their efforts last night,” HRC President Joe Solmonese said. “That said, we’re pleased he quickly realized the error of his ways and apologized.”

Noah repeated often Monday that he was apologetic for the incident. He said he would “learn from my mistakes,” and acknowledged that being frustrated over picking up his second foul did not excuse his words.

I appreciate that he apologized.  And I understand there’s a lot of testosterone in the game.  BUT if these guys make huge amounts of money based on skills and discipline that got them to where they are – then surely they can exercise enough “discipline” to not fall in the easy trap of using anti-gay slurs.  I believe a message does need to be sent – especially so soon after Kobe Bryant was caught doing the same thing.  Kids look up to these athletes and when they see this behavior slide, they think it’s ok to do it too.

Read more here.

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State Capital Police try to intimidate peaceful LGBTQ protestors at anti-LGBTQ rally

At the large anti-gay rally in Raleigh, NC yesterday, the capital police attempted to intimidate peaceful protestors who held a simple sign saying “Equal Rites for All.”

They eventually backed off when a local news reporter and camera crew made the scene.

At the end of the video you get an earful of some of the misstatements made at the rally – namely that “all forms of marriage in Scandinavia” have “disappeared” because of gays.

Welcome to hate, kids.

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Hate rally in the Bronx over marriage equality

With Governor Andrew Cuomo pushing to legalize same-sex marriage, dueling rallies both for and against the proposed legislation were held Sunday.

A rally against the measure was held in the Bronx along the Grand Concourse. Organized by the National Organization for Marriage, participants say the demonstration was held to call for the preservation of traditional marriage, or the union of one man and one woman.

State Senator Ruben Diaz Senior, a vocal opponent of gay marriage, was among those who addressed the crowd. NOM president Brian Brown told the crowd to believe that there is no actual separation of church and state.

In Manhattan, supporters of gay marriage gathered to call for equal rights. “The Bronx has the highest rate of HIV in all of the boroughs in Manhattan and also was the location of the biggest gay bashing a few months ago and so Ruben Diaz is deciding to hold a hate rally in the Bronx instead of rallying for his own constituents,” said one same-sex marriage supporter.

Diaz’s lesbian granddaughter is among those showing her support for same-sex marriage.

The video of the hate rally is a bit tough to watch as those speaking are practically frothing at the mouth in chiding gays and lesbians for wanting equal civil rights.

The sad thing is, this bigotry is being done in the name of the word of God. But what does the word of God say about collecting a dead spouse’s social security? What does the word of God say about spousal privilege in legal cases? What does the word of God say about the tax code for married couples? CIVIL marriage has nothing to do with some people’s particular interpretation of what they think is the word of God. CIVIL marriage isn’t religious marriage.

Just remember, God don’t like ugly.

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NY Daily News Poll on marriage equality

Archibishop Timothy Dolan on his blog wrote that “history, natural law, the Bible…the religions of the world, human experience, and just plain gumption tells us” marriage is between a man and a woman. The definition of marriage is hardwired into our human reason.”

“To tamper with that definition, or to engage in some Orwellian social engineering about the nature and purpose of marriage, is perilous to all of us.”

Orwellian social engineering???

Seriously. What scare tactics.

Or we could just say “liberty and justice for all.”

They have a poll posted asking if Dolan is right or if his opinion is “hateful.”

Wanna vote? You know what to do. Click here.

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Minnesota Senate approves gay marriage ban referendum

Just sad news from Minnesota.

The Minnesota Senate voted on Wednesday to put a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in the state to a voter referendum in 2012.

Minnesota already has a law banning gay marriage, but sponsors argued that the proposed amendment would take the definition out of the hands of a small group of legislators and even smaller group of judges.

After hours of debate, the Senate voted 38 to 27 in favor of advancing the proposal, with the vote largely along party lines in the Republican majority body.

Republican lawmakers introduced the proposed amendment in late April and it next needs approval in the Republican majority state House.

“I believe it is the people who should determine the meaning and structure of our policies through the process of political debate, a statewide community conversation and ultimately democratic voting,” said state Senator Warren Limmer, a Maple Grove Republican and sponsor of the proposal.

Democratic Governor Mark Dayton, who strongly opposes any constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, also would be bypassed by putting the question directly to voters.

“We are not going to have a conversation, we are going to have an ugly, angry, divisive campaign,” Senator Scott Dibble, a Minneapolis Democrat, said during the debate.

Dibble, who is gay and showed a picture of his partner in the debate, said Minnesota would be “profoundly changed through this 18-month experience that we are about to embark on.”

Senate Democrats also questioned the drive to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot less than two weeks before the end of the legislative session with the state’s $5.1 billion budget gap still unresolved.

“It sends a pretty clear message to me that Republicans in this body care more about passing their divisive social agenda than putting Minnesotans back to work or balancing the state’s budget,” Senate Minority Leader Thomas Bakk said.
(from Reuters)

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Texas College Republican resigns after use of anti-gay slur

A Southern Methodist University student, Charlie McCaslin, has resigned his post with the Texas College Republicans after a video was posted of him describing getting “hammered,” “hooking up” with a young woman and referring to political opponents using a gay slur.

The video was taken last weekend at an afterparty at the Texas College Republicans Convention in Austin. Following an endorsement for Alex Schriver, the National College Republicans vice chairman who is vying for the top spot, McCaslin described a drunken sexual escapade at a party he and Schriver attended, then referred to supporters of Schriver’s rival, Jonathon Snyder, as “nerds” and “fags.” Schriver himself is heard reacting favorably to the speech by cheering “To Charlie!”

According to the site The Other McCain, “Schriver called McCaslin’s comments ‘inappropriate and highly offensive,’ and warned that ‘it is possible that some could incorrectly interpret my actions to be supportive” of McCaslin’s remarks. ‘I regret putting myself in that situation,’ Schriver said in the statement. ‘I hope that any who were offended will accept my sincere apology.’”

McCaslin was elected as state CR chair only last month and Schriver is currently vice-chairman of the national organization.

The president of the College Republicans at Southern Methodist University, where McCaslin is a junior, also addressed the scandal: “Neither myself nor SMU College Republicans agree with or support Charlie’s comments about women and members of the gay community, and we condemn those statements as offensive and wrong,” the campus newspaper quoted Chad Cohen as saying. “He was speaking for himself as an individual, and for no one else.”

The Texas College Republicans have also disavowed McCaslin’s remarks.

Schriver’s opponent, Jonathon Snyder, wants to also see him gone: “Having a Chairman who is willing to accept and then toast degrading remarks about women, homophobic slurs and juvenile behavior against anyone is unacceptable. For the sake of the CRNC, our candidates, and party I am calling on Alex Schriver to resign his post with the CRNC and end his campaign to become the next national chairman effective immediately.”

McCaslin, who seems inebriated in the video, ironically makes a point of mentioning that “character counts.” Indeed.

In my opinion, it’s the moments like this – when people feel safe to be themselves – that are the most telling about a person’s character. I think Mr. McCaslin revealed something true about himself here, not realizing this could come back to bite him in the butt. Life lesson.

(via Towleroad)