LGBTQ news and entertainment
Two tourists from Germany were arrested in Miami Beach on Monday after defacing a rainbow Pride bench writing “Adolf was here” and adding a swastika. Continue reading “German Tourists Charged With Defacing Miami Beach Pride Bench – ‘Adolf Was Here’”
Robert Bowers (mug shot)
Some news stories you might have missed: • AP News: Aimenn Penny, 20, admitted to investigators he tried to burn down the Community Church of Chesterland on March 25 in an attempt to stop a scheduled charity drag event. He also said he regretted his arson attempt didn’t work. Continue reading “News: Suspect Admits Arson Attempt To Stop Drag Show + More”
Taylor Swift and Laith Ashley in ‘Lavender Haze” (screen cap)
Mark David Latunski (mugshot)
A stranger burst into a rabbi’s home in New York state and stabbed five people as they were celebrating Hanukkah. From the New York Times:
An intruder with a large knife burst into the home of a Hasidic rabbi in a New York suburb on Saturday night, stabbing and wounding five people just as they were gathering to light candles for Hanukkah, officials and a witness said.
It was a terrifying scene, the officials and witness reported, saying that the violence occurred at about 10 p.m. as numerous people were celebrating Hanukkah at the home of the rabbi, Chaim Rottenberg, in Monsey, which is in an area with a large population of ultra-Orthodox Jews.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, visiting the rabbi’s home on Sunday morning, called the attack an “act of domestic terrorism.”
The New York Police Department said a suspect had been arrested in Harlem and was turned over to the authorities in Rockland County, which is northwest of New York City and where the attack took place.
The horrifying rise of antisemitism is tearing apart the fabric of our communities and the soul of this nation. We've got to stand together as a country and fight these flames of hatred.
My deepest sympathies are with the victims, their families, and the Jewish community. https://t.co/fcUUwN8rE6
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) December 29, 2019
I’m sending my prayers to the families and the community affected by last night’s horrific attack on a rabbi’s home in Monsey.
We must all stand shoulder to shoulder to fight anti-Semitism and demand that our elected leaders do the same.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) December 29, 2019
My prayers are with the victims of these horrific acts of anti-Semitism and hate. This cannot be tolerated.
On the morning of the last night of Hanukkah, let us all rededicate ourselves to ensuring that light beats back darkness. Never again. https://t.co/AscnNJbjOx
— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) December 29, 2019
I'm heartsick for the victims of this horrific attack. This is unfortunately just the latest of a series of anti-Semitic attacks in New York and New Jersey. We must fight anti-Semitism and make clear that hateful bigotry has no place in our society. https://t.co/MjlL1gkovV
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) December 29, 2019
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| High school senior Jordan Blue |
Yesterday, I reported on the prom photo that went viral from Baraboo school district in Wisconsin.
The photo showed about 30 male members of the Baraboo High School Class of 2019 giving the Nazi salute before their junior prom last spring.
As I noted yesterday, one student was not having the moment.
Today, CBS This Morning spoke with the student, Jordan Blue.
Blue tells CBS News the photographer came up with the idea of telling the boys to “wave goodbye to their parents,” but didn’t specifically tell the boys to “raise your hand in a Nazi symbol way.”
But it’s telling that ‘raise you hand’ to these young men meant doing so in Nazi fashion.
Blue added that he felt his classmates did understand what the symbol represented, and that the moment was “scary” and “uncomfortable.”
Photographer Peter Gust has issued a statement which reads, “I didn’t tell them to salute anything… it was waving goodbye to their parents, having a good time.”
“There was nothing that diminished the quality of anyone’s life,” said Gust in defense of the photo. “There was nothing that diminished anyone’s stature in society, there was nothing that was intended to point a finger at anyone in their class who may have some kind of difference. There was none of that.”
When asked why he didn’t participate, Blue tells CBS This Morning, “It did not represent my morals and I could not do something that I didn’t believe in.”
Blue admits making the gesture makes no sense to him, saying, “Some of these people have bright futures ahead of them, so why’d they do it?”
Speaking to CNN, Blue says if he’d known the direction the photo opp would go, he wouldn’t have taken part in the pics at all.
He also says that while the community is a ‘phenomenal’ place to live, people are “hurt and very distraught” over the scandal. And he makes a point to say the photo doesn’t represent Baraboo as a whole.
Blue, who came out as gay earlier this year on social media, shared with Vice reporter Jules Suzdaltsev yesterday that he’s been the target of bullying by these boys since middle school.
Suzdaltsev later tweeted that, after receiving more than 100 messages from students and parents from Baraboo High School, “nearly all of the stories echo the same basic theme: the community as a whole has a lot of casual & jokey racism, homophobia, and transphobia that is accepted as a part of life.”
“The school (and other schools in the area) do little to nothing to address these issues,” he added.
The American Defamation League reports the number of anti-semitic incidents in the U.S. rose 57% in 2017. That’s the largest single year increase on record.
I spoke with the only student who is visibly not comfortable with the “salute”, he provided this statement. pic.twitter.com/HbNBc8xLOK— Jules Suzdaltsev (@jules_su) November 12, 2018
after watching @lovesimonmovie i think my mom has a better understanding of who i am ❤️— jordan blue (@jtbluee) March 27, 2018
it’s okay to be different ❤️— jordan blue (@jtbluee) March 11, 2018