Tag: LGBTQ violence

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News Round-Up: July 31, 2019

(image via Instagram)

Some news items you might have missed:

• InstaHunks: So, I went to take a selfie after working out at the gym today (cause I hear that’s what you’re supposed to do), but I somehow ended up with a snap of woofy Jeff Ferreira (above). And everyone is all the better for it…

• Journal-Constitution: Police have arrested Shaleeya Moore and Joshua Ellis in connection with the shooting death of Ronald “Trey” Peters, a 28-year-old gay social worker in Decatur, Georgia.  A third suspect is still being sought.

• CNN: After the Federal Reserve cut interest rates a quarter point, the Dow dropped 450 points following comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell who said not to expect any further rate cuts.

• Kenneth-in-the-212: It’s Hump Day! And that means it’s ‘Wrestle Wednesday’ over at Kenneth’s blog! Yay!

• New York Times: Students who said they were discriminated against because of their sexual orientation or gender identity were significantly less likely to get any relief from the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights under the Trump administration than they were under the Obama administration

• IMF: There are more $100 bills in circulation than $1 bills. And most are held abroad.

• Twitter: When the wave pool operator gets drunk and moves the setting to “Tsunami.” According to reports, 44 people were injured in Yanbian, Manchuria (Eastern China) when the malfunction occurred.

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Homophobic Swordsman Arrested After Nearly Severing Man’s Hand In Attack

San Francisco police have arrested a man accused of slashing and nearly severing the hand of a gay man at a roller rink on March 29.
Leor Bergland arrested for attempted murder with a sword (mugshot via SF Police)

San Francisco police have arrested a man accused of slashing and nearly severing the hand of a gay man at a roller rink on March 29.

The alleged attack happened about 9:50pm outside the Church of 8 Wheels roller rink.

The accused, 30-year-old Leor Bergland, was reportedly hanging around the roller rink with a sword tucked in the back of his pants and wearing a red flannel shirt and red MAGA hat, the preferred head gear of Donald Trump supporters.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports the victim, 27-year-old Gabriel Gaucin, passed Bergland on the street and swatted the MAGA hat off his head.

Prosecutors wrote in court papers that Bergland “suddenly reached back, as if to punch the victim, but instead quickly brought his hand down, hold what the victim thought was an umbrella or nightstick.”

Instead, it was a sword which partially severed Gaucin’s hand. The victim was treated at San Francisco General Hospital where he had to undergo emergency hand surgery.

The owner of the roller rink, David Miles Jr., told NBC News that Bergland was “mostly yelling anti-gay rhetoric.”

Police tracked Bergland down after matching fingerprints on a beer bottle and the MAGA hat left at the crime scene with a sword found by a security guard two days later. The weapon, wrapped in a red flannel shirt, had a matching fingerprint on it.

MAGA hat left behind by Bergland (image via 

The MAGA hat is notable in reporting the story because hate crimes have surged since Donald Trump took office. The FBI has reported that hate crimes had their biggest increase since 9/11 in 2017.

And, as Miles reported, Bergland used anti-gay slurs during the attack.

Bergland told the arresting officers he was home at the time of the assault and challenged them saying, “What do you have on me? Nothing, cause I didn’t do it.”

He was charged with attempted murder, mayhem, and assault with a deadly weapon.

The Chronicle reports Bergland was “defiant” during his first appearance in court.

He didn’t enter a plea, but argued with Deputy Public Defender Eric Quandt, saying, “Why are you telling me to be quiet? You just basically implied that I did it.”

Judge Donna Little set his bail at $250,000.

A spokesman for the district attorney’s office told the Chronicle, “No one has a right to strike someone with a sword because their hat was knocked off their head.”

But Quandt pointed out in court that Bergland didn’t instigate the incident.

“What the reports seem to suggest is that this defendant reacted to being either attacked, or a hat thrown off his head, or something along those lines,” said Quandt.

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Ellen Page On Trump/Pence Attacks On LGBTQs: “This Has To F**king Stop”

Out actress Ellen Page calls out Trump/Pence administration for attacks on LGBTQ people

During an interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last night, out actress Ellen Page became  emotional as she spoke about the damage Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have inflicted on the LGBTQ community.

The appearance began on an upbeat note as Colbert congratulated Page on her one year anniversary of marrying her wife.

Colbert asked how she sees the current environment in Hollywood for LGBTQ people since she publicly came out five years ago.

“I mean, look, there’s clear evidence that it has changed, that there’s some progress; that there’s some more representation,” said the former Oscar nominee. “But honestly, I think we really need to hurry up.”

After talking on environmental issues and the disproportionate way climate change affects marginalized people) Page segued into a passionate takedown of Donald Trump and Mike Pence, connecting their hateful, incessant attacks on LGBTQ people to the violent hate crime on Empire actor Jussie Smollett earlier this week.

“Sorry, I’m like really fired up tonight. But it feels impossible to not feel this way right now, with the president and the vice president, Mike Pence, who, like, wishes I couldn’t be married.

“Let’s just be clear: The vice president of America wishes I didn’t have the love with my wife. He wanted to ban that in Indiana, he believes in ‘conversion therapy,’ he has hurt LGBTQ people so badly as the [governor] of Indiana.

“Connect the dots. This is what happens. If you are in a position of power and you hate people, and you want to cause suffering to them, you go through the trouble, you spend your career trying to cause suffering, what do you think is going to happen? Kids are going to be abused and they’re gonna kill themselves, and people are going to be beaten on the street.

“I have traveled the world and I have met the most marginalized people you can meet. I am lucky to have this time and the privilege to say this.

“This needs to f**king stop.”

The silence between Page’s thoughts is raw and palpable. Kudos to Colbert for not jumping in and allowing the moment to breathe.

And as she ended her impassioned plea, the audience erupted in a roar of approval.

Watch below.

LGBTQ advocacy groups cheered:

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Philadelphia Gay Man Attacked By Homophobic Mob Outside Popular Gay Bar

Josh Schonewolf (screen capture via 6ABC)

The Philadelphia LGBTQ community is shook after another violent attack took place on Sunday night outside a popular gay bar.

The victim, a 50-year-old patron of The Toasted Walnut, was standing right outside the bar around 11PM on Sunday night when the assault took place.

According to police reports, four men and a woman took part in the assault.

Josh Schonewolf, the bartender who was working that night, saw the attack as it happened.

“All of a sudden a car full of guys decided to jump out and attack one of the patrons here right in front,” said Schonewolf.

Schonewolf tells local news station 6ABC that the attackers “were definitely calling him some gay slurs as they were beating him up.”

Some witnesses attempted to stop the assault, but were attacked as well.

“The general manager happened to be outside, and he was also punched in the face,” said Schonewolf.

The mob of attackers jumped back in their car and fled the scene before police arrived.

The victim was treated at the hospital for a head injury.

Police tell 6ABC that hate crime charges may be added once they have finished their investigation. The final determination will be made by the district attorney’s office.

In the meantime, LGBTQ folks in Philly are rattled by the attack in their own gayborhood.

Said Schonewolf, “Some people refer to this part of town as Midtown Village but to me – I’m from Philly – it is always going to be the Gayborhood.”

“And if this is happening at 13th and Walnut, I don’t know where we’re supposed to feel safe,” he added.

The LGBTQ community has seen similar attacks not only in Philadelphia, but in Chicago where openly gay Empire star Jussie Smollett was brutally assaulted with bleach and a noose, as well as Austin, Texas, where two gay men were beaten for holding hands as they were leaving a gay bar.

In all of those assaults, the victims report their attackers using homophobic slurs.

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New Wave Of Detainment & Torture For LGBTs In Chechnya

A year and a half after over 100 gay men were detained and tortured, some killed, by a secret police force in Chechnya, a new wave of detainments has occurred reports the Russian LGBT Network.

A year and a half after over 100 gay men were detained and tortured, some killed, by a secret police force in Chechnya, a new wave of detainments has occurred reports the Russian LGBT Network.

Igor Kochetkov, program director for Russian LGBT Network, said in a statement “that it is impossible to name the precise number of victims.”

“However, we know that around 40 people were detained, both men and women,” said Kochetkov. “At least two people died as a result of tortures. We also know that the detentions are conducted by the law enforcement officers, and the victims are detained in Argun.”

“Persecution of men and women suspected of being gay never stopped,” added the LGBT activist. “It’s only that its scale has been changing.”

According to a social media post on January 10th, activists are urging LGBTQ Chechens to flee immediately. “We ask anyone still free to take this message seriously and leave the republic as soon as is possible,” the statement read.

Since 2017 Russian LGBT Network has helped to evacuate approximately 150 gay men out of Chechnya.

Reports of the anti-LGBTQ crackdown in Chechnya first came in December 2016.

Chechen authorities, most of whom are former military members who serve as Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov’s secret police force, reportedly detain suspected gay men under the pretense of drug charges.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov

Once detained, police search the men’s phones contacts for other suspects, using torture to get as much info as possible.

In the past, Kadyrov has vowed to kill all gay men.

Russian LGBT Network has reported that the torturers use “electrocution, beatings, starvation, dehydration, isolation, forced nudity, homophobic insults and misgendering” to punish detainees, confiscating their personal belongings and only allowing them to sleep three hours a day on cold concrete floors. The men are not allowed to bathe or use toilets and they receive no medical care.

The victims have no where to turn as filing a complaint could make them a target for future harassment and violence.

Women have been caught in the crackdown too, though they’re often left to their families be abused, imprisoned or killed.

The Russia LGBT Network has helped approximately 119 gay and bi men escape the purge and flee to Moscow, Canada Lithuania, France and Germany.

Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta reports least 27 people are believed to have died in the crackdown.

And as with the first reports of the gay purge, Chechen officials deny any and all allegations.

Ty Cobb, director of Human Rights Campaign Global, released the following statement regarding the resurgence in detainments:

“Nearly two years after reports first surfaced of anti-LGBTQ violence and killings in Chechnya, we are once again hearing disturbing accounts of state-sanctioned detentions and abuse.

“We have repeatedly called on the Trump-Pence White House to speak out and help bring an end to this persecution, but instead the White House has largely ignored the actions of the Russian-backed regime in Chechnya.

“Human rights violators in Chechnya must be held accountable and be brought to justice. Lives are hanging in the balance.”

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These Rainbow Pride Flags Can Stop A Bullet

In a new video from Fondation Émergence, a gun is fired at 193 rainbow Pride flags – one for every country in the world.

Together, the flags can stop a bullet – just as when citizens of the world stand together we can stop LGBTQ violence and discrimination through the power of our togetherness.

From the video:

LGBT people around the world are still the targets of prejudice and violence.

What if we all took a stand against it?

We created this flag to show the world that together we can stop violence.

It’s made out of 193 Pride flags – one for every country in the world.

The video was created in observance of this year’s International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia.

The Pride Shield exhibit will be available to different cities in the hopes of sparking a conversation about LGBTQ violence and discrimination around the world.

Get involved at PrideShield.com.