The Christian Civic League of Maine's Mike Hein calls Pam's House Blend: "a leading source of radical homosexual propaganda, anti-Christian bigotry, and radical transgender advocacy."
He is "praying that Pam Spaulding will "turn away from her wicked and sinful promotion of homosexual behavior."
(CCLM's web site, 10/15/07)
Ex-gay "Christian" activist James Hartline on Pam:
"I have been mocked over and over again by ungodly and unprincipled anti-christian lesbians."
(from "Six Years In Sodom: From The Journal Of James Hartline," 9/4/2006, written from the "homosexual stronghold" of Hillcrest in San Diego).
"Pam is a 'twisted lesbian sister' and an 'embittered lesbian' of the 'self-imposed gutteral experiences of the gay ghetto.'" -- 9/5/2008
Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth Against Homosexuality heartily endorses the Blend, calling Pam:
A "vicious anti-Christian lesbian activist." (Concerned Women for America's radio show [9:15], 1/25/07)
"A nutty lesbian blogger." (MassResistance radio show [16:25], 2/3/07)
Pam's House Blend always seems to find these sick f*cks. The area of the country she is in? The home state of her wife? I know, they are everywhere. Pam just does such a great job of bringing them out into the light.
--Impeach Bush
who monitors yours Bevis ?? Just thought I would drop you a line,so the rest of your life is not wasted.
Hop over to Joe.My.God for coverage of a rally in College Point, Queens, NY, where 300 people marched in support of Jack Price, who was brutally beaten in the area; he suffered a broken jaw, bruised ribs, a collapsed lung and multiple other injuries. These are photos he said to spread around. Background via Edge NY's Michael K. Lavers:
Daniel Aleman, 26, and Daniel Rodriguez,Jr., 21, allegedly beat Jack Price, 49, outside an all-night deli on the corner of College Point Avenue and 18th Avenue around 3 a.m. on Oct. 9. Price's sister-in-law, Joanne Guarneri, marched arm-and-arm with City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Congressman Anthony Weiner, City Comptroller William Thompson, Jr., Queens Borough President Helen Marshall and other politicians, activists and local residents down College Point Avenue. She also spoke at a rally at a local park.
"They [Aleman and Rodriguez] nearly beat my brother-in-law to death for $10 and a pack of cigarettes," Guarneri said. "We have to stop violence in College Point. We have to take back our streets."
Amanda Guarneri echoed her mother's anger before she and other members of her family marched. They [Aleman and Rodriguez] are a disgrace," the 15-year-old told EDGE. "They should be locked up forever. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy."
What's disgusting is that supporters for Aleman and Rodriguez showed up at this rally. Given that this attack against Price is only one of a series of gay bashings that have been reported in Queens, people should remember that Blue states where laws on bias crimes may be strong doesn't mean the hate goes away. Joe:
After a 15-minute march down College Point Boulevard to the sullen or unknowing stares of locals, we were shocked to find a group of 20 or so counter-protesters, PRO gay bashers, already in a pen perilously close to the park where the rally was to take place. Leading the pro-bashers was Mr. Leviticus Tattoo Douchbag himself. He and his co-thugs wore stickers in support of the jailed cowards as they shouted "Free Daniel Rodriquez!" and "No hate crime!" Among their signs was "Daniel doesn't hate gays!" Riiiight. Fortunately, there was a huge NYPD presence on hand and the two groups were not permitted to get closer than shouting distance.
Surf over to Joe's for more, including reactions from locals.
Religious Right leaders' portrayal of the hate crimes bill as an attack on religious liberty is false; it reflects a larger political strategy to portray equality advocates as enemies of faith and freedom.
-- Right Wing Watch's report on the continual lies coming out of the mouths of bible-beaters, "Right Sounds False Alarm On Hate Crimes Legislation"
Isn't that the truth? This document over at People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch is a great primer to download and have on hand when you encounter anyone who has been fed the lies being e-blasted out there by the professional anti-gay set.
The fact is that the majority of Americans support expanding the federal hate crimes law, repealing DADT and anti-discrimination legislation, but the fundies don't have many cards left to play. So they've lately chosen to slow the pace of demonization rhetoric and focus on the phantom "religious freedom" argument (which ironically blew up in their faces recently with that hilariously mocked NOM "storm is coming" ad).
But as I said, it's really all they have left, and it isn't even true.
This is part of a larger political strategy by Religious Right leaders to advance their policy goals and mobilize supporters with alarmist claims that Christians in America are on the verge of being jailed for their religious beliefs.
As we have noted before, there's a dangerously cynical motive at the core of this strategy. It is easier to convince Americans to support discrimination - even to oppose laws designed to discourage violent hate crimes - if you have first convinced them that their gay neighbors want to shut down their church and throw their pastor in jail for reading the Bible.
Leading the way with the most laughably extremist, lying declarations of The Homosexual Agenda's war on faith has been Tony Perkins of the FRC:
When hate crimes legislation came before the House of Representatives in 2007, Religious Right leaders went ballistic. Family Research Council President Tony Perkins insisted that its only effect would be "to gag people of faith and conviction who disagree with the homosexual agenda." Perkins' ally Bishop Harry Jackson recruited other African American pastors to appear at a press conference and in a newspaper ad claiming that hate crimes legislation would "muzzle" black preachers and deny them the freedom to preach about homosexuality. Rev. Ted Pike of the National Prayer Network called a hate crimes bill "the most dangerous legislation ever to come before Congress." Not to be outdone, the Traditional Values Coalition's Andrea Lafferty said "Most Christians might as well rip the pages which condemn homosexuality right out of their Bibles because this bill will make it illegal to publicly express the dictates of their religious beliefs."
The same combination of misinformation and willful deception is being rolled out this year, led by Tony Perkins and the Family Research Council. One alert to its members on March 31 claimed that a federal hate crimes law "could lead to the criminalization of the biblical view of homosexuality in sermons and elsewhere." Said Perkins:
"A 'hate crimes' law is really a 'thought crime' law that punishes a person's beliefs - part of the Left's intolerant agenda to silence the voice of Christians and conservatives in America and eliminate moral restraint."
Perkins' messages to activists in March make it clear that the alarmist rhetoric against legislation to fight hate crimes is part of a larger political strategy to convince conservative Christians that President Obama and the Democratic Party are enemies of religion and religious freedom. One note urged activists to "Stop President Obama's Agenda to Silence Your Beliefs" and another spoke of an "Obama-Pelosi-Reid" agenda as "a blueprint of their dangerous vision of an anti-faith, anti-family vision for America."
This story is so messed up from every perspective -- Lawrence King, an innocent non-gender-conforming child killed in the classroom, the alleged assailant a clearly disturbed fellow student. Now 15-year-old murder defendant Brandon McInerney is fatherless.
William McInerney, 45, died from blunt-force head injury, said Dr. Janice Frank, the Ventura County assistant medical examiner who conducted an autopsy of the body.
Frank said a contributing cause of death was alcoholism. McInerney had a history of alcohol abuse, she said, declining to elaborate.
McInerney was found dead about 7:30 a.m. on the floor of the living room at his home in the 2500 block of Roosevelt Boulevard. He was discovered by an acquaintance planning to take him to his son's preliminary hearing this morning in Superior Court, said Craig Stevens, a Ventura County senior deputy medical examiner.
One of McInerney's sisters, Shannon Maulhardt of Camarillo, said the family knew from the beginning that the death occurred accidentally and was not a suicide.
"He would never have done that," she said. "He was devastated with what was happening to Brandon. He was going to Brandon's court hearing today."
According to his sister, the elder McInerney had been taking prescription medicine Xanax and drinking booze in the last month. Alcoholism and bad parenting has led to one tragedy after another. The attempt to lionize the senior McInerney, however, is disturbing. His attorney, Jay Leiderman in the statement:
"Bill McInerney was a dedicated family man, especially to his son, Brandon. He will be dearly missed by those who knew and loved him. I found Bill to be a very charismatic, kind-hearted and likeable man who only wanted the best for those around him. It was a privilege for me to have known him."
Obviously all was not well in that household, and there's no way to sugar coat the fact that William McInerney's own record counters the view that he was a kind-hearted man:
* In 2000 he was sentenced for domestic battery against Brandon's mother Kendra
* In 1993 he shot her in the elbow with a .45-caliber pistol.
* He threatened his sister Maura during one of his binges, saying "I'll just take you out, and I'll just take out the Oxnard Police Department with you."
Brandon faces a sentence of 51 years in the can if found guily of all charges against him.
SYRACUSE, NY - Dwight R. DeLee shot and killed Moses "Teish" Cannon with a .22-caliber rifle Friday night because he didn't like that Cannon was openly gay, Syracuse police said.
Cannon, 22, and his brother, Mark Cannon, 18, both of 404 Arthur St., were shot as they sat in a car parked in front of 411 Seymour St., where they had been invited to a party. The bullet grazed the left arm of Mark Cannon, who was in the driver's seat, and hit Moses Cannon in the chest, police said.
Police have charged DeLee, 20, of 420 Gifford St., with second-degree murder. DeLee went into the home at 411 Seymour St. to get the rifle after guests at the party started "making profane and vulgar comments in regards to the sexual preference of our two victims," police Chief Gary Miguel said.
"There was no previous argument between these individuals, there was no previous fight, there was no bad blood," Miguel said. "Our suspect took a rifle and shot and killed this person, also wounding his brother, for the sole reason he didn't care for the sexual preference of our victim. Isn't that sad? Isn't that a sad situation that that's the sole reason why?
I know some of you are scratching your heads and wondering why this is personal for me. It's personal because I'm from teh Syracuse area of Central New York and sadly, knowing the climate I grew up in, this isn't surprising. There are very few schools that participate in the "Day of Silence." There are few bars or places where gay people can go and feel comfortable.
Growing up, I was not out for the very reason above. And since growing up and moving away, I've only learned of one other person being gay and he moved to Las Vegas since being out of high school.
As the Transgender Day of Rememberance comes up soon we need to make sure to remember Teish and all others who have died at the hands of those who hate. While we lick our wounds from the elections, we need to remember our brothers and sisters who've died in this struggle for equality.
We've seen the ludicrous and unfortunately still successful "gay panic" defense used in murder cases. In Jacksonville, FL, Hector Sanchez brazenly admits that he shot and killed 24-year-old Levi Rollins because he believed that Rollins was spreading rumors that Sanchez was gay.
Detectives were called to Riverside Memorial Park on Normandy Boulevard on July 25 by employees who saw a man's body slumped over in the back seat of a car that had been parked there for two days. Homicide investigators later said Rollins was shot several times.
Sanchez told investigators that he was angry that Rollins was telling people that Sanchez was homosexual and "he decided to do something about it."
So, the perceived insult must be met with the elimination of a human being?
This is beyond bad. It's a clear case of a hate crime (or any assault for that matter) simply being ignored because the victim is gay, compounded by a system that backs up the officer and the offender.
On St. Patrick's Day 2007, he was on his first and only visit to Denver when he, his cousin and her boyfriend were walking home from dinner at a 16th Street eatery.
...Suddenly, a pedestrian passed by and yelled, "Keep that faggot away from me."
"Excuse me?" asked Daivari, who then was punched in the head by the assailant.
Daivari reacted with a few jabs of his own and held his attacker until police broke up the fight. Officer Richard Boehnlein refused Daivari's repeated demands to press charges, telling him, "No, go home."
Daivari's complaint resulted in a finding that the officer should have at least documented the case and probably arrested his attacker. Boehnlein was reprimanded merely with "a fine of one regular day off."
Now if this isn't bad enough, John Eckhardt, Denver's Assistant City Attorney, cited as an excuse for the lack of an arrest: 1) there is an exemplary LGBT sensitivity training program for officers; and 2) that it was 'not evident' to police that Mr. Daivari is a homosexual."
"Come on, I look like a raging homo," Daivari says proudly.
...U.S. District Judge Zita Weinshienk dismissed the case Thursday, holding that no rights were violated. Gay men are not a protected class under the Constitution.
Says Daivari's lawyer, Jessica West: "The city of Denver essentially claimed that gays and lesbians in Denver live without any right to police protection. I certainly hope that they are wrong."
The anti-gay forces of the professional "Christian" set have been quiet for a while, focused on celebrating the nomination of Dominionist Sarah Palin to the GOP ticket as veep. But as you know, they cannot keep away from their homocentrism for long; it's like a security blanket. Mat Staver and Liberty Counsel are back at the disinformation campaign over the federal hate crimes bill, screeching about how they will be persecuted. (WND):
A federal "hate crimes" plan to criminalize speech or thoughts critical of homosexuality - dropped from Congress' agenda earlier because of a veto threat from President Bush - may be resurrected before the election, according to an opponent of such advocacy laws.
"Here's ultimately what we expect," Mathew Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel and dean of the Liberty University School of Law, told WND today. "The hate crimes plan is to be offered as an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2009 Department of Defense reauthorization bill. That's what the word is, that it's going to be offered as an amendment."
Pro-homosexual advocates long have sought such a law but opponents fear it would be used to crack down on those who maintain a biblical perspective that condemns homosexuality as sin. Observers note that it would criminalize speech and thought, since other criminal actions already are addressed with current statutes.
...Former White House insider Chuck Colson, in his Breakpoint commentary, at one point decried what he described as a "Thought Crimes" plan. "This bill is not about hate. It's not even about crime. It's about outlawing peaceful speech - speech that asserts that homosexual behavior is morally wrong," he said.
First of all, citing Watergate criminal-turned fundie Colson is laughable if we're going to talk about morality, but whatever.
Last year the ACLU, always concerned about free speech rights, analyzed the bill and supports itbecause it protects First Amendment rights of free speech and free association.
Victims of sexual assault have had to deal with being portrayed as "asking for it," and now Lawrence King, the young teen who died at the hands of his classmate for gender non-conformity is being pilloried post-mortem by op-eds like this:
The court may never hear the facts regarding how Brandon appeared crazed by his victim, a teenager himself who was admittedly gay, who teased and taunted Brandon, which humiliated the 14-year-old in front of his fellow students. There were reports that Larry's behavior had caused problems with other boys as well.
Brandon, who had many of his own issues regarding his domestic life, never gained the skills necessary to cope with the stress of this situation. And, to exacerbate matters, it appears school officials, who were aware of the situation between the two boys, failed to move aggressively to quell the rising tensions. Instead of counseling the victim about his behavior, and Brandon, too, witnesses claim school officials appeared more intent on nurturing Larry as he explored his sexuality.
Wow. So King deserved to be murdered because poor Brandon McInerney didn't know how to cope. Adam at the PFLAG National Blog:
Larry King didn't fire the gun at his head - another student, Brandon McInerney, did. But from the language in articles and op-eds, you might be led to believe his gender non-conformity somehow brought his murder on himself. Because it's "ok" for students to act out violently against GLBT students who are different. Boys will be boys.
At least that's the tone in Larry King's local newspaper, The Ventura County Star. Michael Mehas penned an op-ed that digs up the same tired "gay panic" argument we blogged about a few weeks ago when Newsweek published an article that also question whether Larry's "behavior" - wearing makeup, high heels - encouraged violence.
If you read all of Even when the victim is a child, some cannot contain themselves in trying to paint a picture of the predatory homosexual in order to justify violent, deadly, premeditated behavior.
Darrell Lynn Madden is accused of kidnapping and brutally slaying Steven Domer, 62, and faces the death penalty if convicted of the crime. He already faces life for killing another man who may have been involved in the murder of Domer. (365gay):
Friends said that Domer sometimes picked up other men for sex. Witnesses said that Domer was seen talking to two men the night he disappeared.
Investigators then began probing whether anyone known to be gay lived in the area where Domer's body was found.
That led them to Darrell Lynn Madden, 37. Madden at the time was facing a murder charge in connection with the slaying of his friend Bradley Qualls. Qualls was murdered about 10 days after Domer disappeared.
Madden and Qualls have been described as skinhead and white supremacists.
Police say that both Madden and Qualls were involved in the Domer murder. They allege that both Madden and Qualls were connected to the United Aryan Brotherhood, a violent white supremacist group. But investigators also claim that Madden is bisexual.
In an affidavit by Madden's roommate, the murder of Domer was intended to be some kind of initiation for Qualls -- that finding a victim who "wouldn't fight back" was going to be sought out for the act.
Oklahoma doesn't have a hate crimes law that covers sexual orientation.
If you call me faggot, she/male, or transvestitute as part of verbal discourse, that's protected speech under the constitution. However, if one calls me an LGBT pejorative while violently attacking me in a jurisdiction with a hate crime statute, that would seem to me to be a prima fascia case for labeling the assault a hate crime, and it would be up to the attacker to prove that use of the LGBT pejorative wasn't meant to single out the victim because of an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity.
Apparently not in Baltimore; apparently their statute sets such a high bar for qualifying a crime as a hate crime that beating an LGBT victim who was previously unknown to the assailants -- while yelling an LGBT pejorative isn't a hate crime -- doesn't indicate a hate crime. Apparently, use of an LGBT pejorative while beating a visibly LGBT person is -- per the statements of the Baltimore City, Maryland Attorney General's office -- to be an exercise of free speech. And, apparently, for an attack to be considered a hate crime, it must be a premeditated attack.
On her way to buy some orange juice, 26-year-old Pamela Brown, who started living as a woman three years ago, said she was viciously attacked because she is transgendered.
"I saw five guys blocking the storeway. They called me a [expletive deleted] and then I was hit. Then I was attacked by two more guys from the back and my fiance ran over," she said. "I probably could have been killed if I was by myself."
Brown is now recovering while in protective police custody.
...Police commented on the attack last week.
"More than likely it will be upgraded to a hate crime, simply because of the things that were being said," said Troy Harris, Baltimore City Police spokesperson.
But now the city state's attorney's office is not pursuing hate crime charges. Why?
A spokesperson says while there was provocative language, it is free speech and there's no evidence of premeditation.
Two suspects have been arrested; however...
[WJZ-TV Video on the individual crime, and hate crimes in general]
Why does news like this cease to shock anymore? Maybe because the GOP harbors so many pious patriots that turn out to be punks, predators and pervs at every level. I guess the only surprise is that most of the behaviors they've been engaging in are no longer flying under the radar.
A Georgetown University sophomore, implicated in a gay-bashing by a fellow student, has ties to the Bush Administration, PageOneQ has learned.
19-year-old Philip Anderton Cooney, pictured here in the spring of 2005, is the son of fallen Bush aide and American Petroleum Institute oil lobbyist Phil Cooney.
Phil Cooney was appointed chief of staff with the White House Council on Environmental Quality, suffering criticism for his lack of environmental experience. After his resignation and subsequent hire to a position with ExxonMobil, it was found that Cooney had reportedly tampered with data to support the Bush line on climate change.
Philip Anderton Cooney was identified by the victim and reported to police thanks to his Facebook profile, which contained a photograph. He is being charged with simple assault, which, as a hate crime, carries a jail sentence of up to 270 days, the Washington Post reports.
The big hurdle facing hate crimes legislation in the Senate as been overcome. In a 60-39 vote to proceed to adoption, the Senate approved the Kennedy amendment which adds sexual orientation, gender identity and disability to the existing hate crimes legislation.
Among the Republicans that crossed the aisle to move the legislation forward:
John Warner Richard Lugar Susan Collins Olympia Snowe George Voinovich Arlen Specter Judd Gregg Norm Coleman Gordon Smith (co-sponsor)
Kennedy then asked for a voice vote on the amendment and that subsequently passed.
The measure is part of the defense reauthorization bill, which is slated to go up for a vote in the near future.
As you might imagine, Diaper Dave Vitter voted no, as did Toe Tapping Larry Craig.
It turns out that the murder of a local man was, indeed, a hate crime. Or the perp is covering his own sexual orientation. A hate crime is a hate crime is a hate crime.
From today's Houston Chronicle:
A Cypress man charged in the death of a Southwest Airlines flight attendant said Saturday that he was doing God's work when he went to a Montrose-area bar last month, hunting for a gay man to kill.
"I believe I'm Elijah, called by God to be a prophet," said 26-year-old Terry Mark Mangum, charged with murder June 11. " ... I believe with all my heart that I was doing the right thing."
Ah, a showdown is in the works, courtesy of Ted Kennedy... (via HRC Back Story):
Today Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) offered the Senate hate crimes bill, the Matthew Shepard Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act, as an amendment to the Department of Defense Reauthorization bill currently being debated on the Senate floor. The House of Representatives version of the bill passed with strong bipartisan support on May 3. The Senate bill, S. 1105, could be voted on as early as today. Joe Solmonese issued a statement on today's filing.
The right wing is in high gear on Capitol Hill today to fight the bill's passage and Senate leaders need to hear strong - and repeated - messages of support for the hate crimes bill from our side.
Call your senators ASAP at 202/224-3121 and urge them to vote in favor of the Matthew Shepard Act, S. 1105.
I'm sure the wingnut evangelicals are about to put the windup key in Harry Jackson's back to send him out to talk about imprisoning pastors for quoting Leviticus.
This murder is exactly what people opposed to hate crime laws want to continue happening without interruption or adulteration.
They don't want murders like these to be examined. They want more of them.
I hope this story attains the coverage it deserves as Congress considers the illogical arguments about hate crimes limiting free speech as is promoted by religious fanatics in the country.
(from the Sacramento Bee 7/4/07): He (Sherrifs spokesman Sgt. Tim Curran) confirmed, however, that state parks investigators reported to sheriff's officials that racial and homophobic slurs had been used against Singh and his friends.
Singh had been with six people -- all of Indian or Fijian descent -- at the picnic area near Lake Natoma on Sunday afternoon when trouble began brewing with another group partying nearby, said two friends who were there that day.
The Bee is not identifying the friends because they fear retribution.
The two friends said the other group -- identified by the witnesses and sheriff's officials as being of Russian descent -- called Singh and his friends racial and homophobic names.
Friends said Singh is not gay, but they believe he was singled out because he did not have a date that afternoon. (end of quote)
(From 7/7 at kcbs.com): Family and friends gathered today to say goodbye to a 26-year-old Sacramento man who succumbed to injuries he sustained during an alleged triple hate crime attack at Lake Natoma State Park last weekend.
Satendar Singh, 26, died Thursday, after his family agreed to take him off life support at Mercy San Juan Medical Center. (end of quote)
Another layer of the horror of this story can be found in the comments posted on the story in the SacBee. Sing is an immigrant and so are his supposed killers. To the pinheads commenting this is an example of the immigration debate in the country. Nothing is said about sexual prejudice or religious bigotry.
More of Singhs' story -
(from the SacBee story): At age 19, he won a coveted spot in a visa lottery, enabling him to leave his native Fiji for the United States. He built a life for himself in Sacramento, living with his aunt and uncle and later his grandmother, and touched the lives of those around him.
With his parents thousands of miles away -- in Fiji with no passports and no visas -- the heartbreaking decision to end Singh's life support fell upon his aunt and uncle.(end quote)
Bishop Harry Jackson is at it again at Town Hall. The homobigoted head of the High Impact Leadership Coalition is fretting about the power of the Homosexual Agenda and pending hate crimes legislation in his column "Why Do Gays Hate Religious Freedom?"
[G]ay activists around the country are getting nervous that they are about to experience an embarrassing political setback. Instead of amending the hate crimes legislation that protects churches in a substantive way, they are simply crying out in a louder, more threatening manner. Gay advocates are not looking for fairness; they are looking for an upper hand. [We're really doing well at getting that upper hand, with all those state amendments in place, huh?]
...Both gays and blacks should get justice in America, but we cannot allow either group to receive special privileges at the expense of another group of Americans. If the loopholes in this legislation are not closed, Christians and Bible-teaching churches could become victims of a strange brand of reverse discrimination. These actions are tantamount to the gay community saying, "Freedom for me, but bondage for you." This attitude is just not consistent with America's ideals. [BZZZT. The current hate crimes law -- which covers religion and race, for example -- hasn't placed a bullseye on constitutionally protected speech or worship.]
Despite the fact that legal experts like the Alliance Defense Fund and the Becket Fund for Religious Liberties confirm the legal legitimacy of my concerns, gay activists quoted in the US Today article called my concerns "completely bogus." Their hope is to paint all outspoken leaders of faith as narrow minded Neanderthals and bigots who are out of touch with the will of the nation. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Major Christian ministries around the nation have begun to lift their voices to join in a chorus of concern about the potential muzzling of our pulpits. Radio and television ministries are trumpeting warnings to the faithful. Many have produced special programs to inform the average Christian citizen about the impending dangers to their freedoms. As a result, there is a ground swell of popular opposition to the Senate's proposed Hate Crimes Bill emerging from grass roots America.
And look at this ridiculous ad from Jackson and his homobigot friends in the pulpit:
Jim Burroway at Box Turtle Bulletin tears this BS campaign to shreds and offers a challenge:
Focus on the Family, Exodus, Family Research Council, Traditional Values Coalition, Mission America -- all of them have repeated some serious outright lies about what the proposed legislation would do. And several individuals associated with these organizations have done the same.
And so here's a challenge. I have posted the actual proposed legislation in full on my web site. You will find the text after the jump below. I dare them to do the same. And I challenge them to point to any part of the bill which would usurp the First Amendment.
Why's this significant? In light of the latest act of homophobic violence in Jamaica, it's very significant, and Madison Square Garden management needs to know about it. But first, a little history.
Beaten, strangled, stabbed, mutilated, and partially decapitated -- it was a horrifying end to the life of 18-year-old Scotty Joe Weaver, a gay man whose body was dumped in the woods and set on fire in Pine Grove, Alabama.
Nichole Kelsay, 21, and Robert Holly Lofton Porter, 21, were charged with the capital murder of Weaver; Christopher Gaines, 22, the third person facing the charge, has entered a guilty plea. (365gay):
All three defendants opted for separate trials. Neither the prosecution nor the defense attorneys would speculate on Monday if Gaines will testify at the trials of the other two.
Assistant Baldwin County District Attorney Jim Vollmer had said that had wanted to try Gaines first.
...Two of the accused, Gaines and Kelsay were Weaver's roommates. Porter is described as a friend of the pair who spent a considerable amount of time at Weaver's home. Police said all three suspects were out of work, and Weaver was paying the bills at their home.
Gaines and Kelsay apparently had a romantic relationship with each other, investigators said, adding that it appeared the trio plotted Weaver's death several days before the killing.
Justice in NYC. Four young men who shouted homophobic names at gay entertainer Kevin Aviance, then beat him until they battered his body and broke his jaw, pleaded guilty and will serve time, with the ringleader sentenced to 15 years in prison for first degree assault as a hate crime. (365gay):
Aviance was attacked as he left the Phoenix bar last June. The four beat him unmercifully, breaking his jaw, doing serious damage to one leg and leaving him with cuts and bruises over most of his body.
As they attacked him the four young men yelled homophobic slurs.
Days later, with his jaw still wired shut and his leg in a brace, Aviance made a surprise appearance at a rally against homophobic violence.
"You can't keep a good queen down," Aviance told the crowd. But he warned against meeting violence with violence. "We can't fight any of these people with arms and bullets and drama. We have to fight all these people with love, every single day," he said.
George and Sears will receive eight years plus five years of parole supervision for first degree gang assault; Archie pleaded guilty to second-degree assault as a hate crime and will go to the clink for six years.
This is why hate crimes legislation must pass.
HRC President Joe Solmonese on the news of the assailants pleading guilty:
"Kevin's attack in Manhattan last June was a sad and telling reminder that members of our community remain vulnerable to senseless acts of violence just because of who they are. His story proves that even those who live in our nation's most urban and progressive areas are not immune to being targeted for hateful, anti-gay violence.
"We applaud the state of New York for having hate crimes laws in place to help prevent and combat these acts of terror. Kevin's courage and strength in the face of his attack only motivates us to increase our urgency in passing enhanced national hate crimes legislation this year."
Alert to conservative friends of Ann Coulter -- another hate crime with the "Faggot" bomb involved...
Back in January, I blogged about the attack on members of Yale's popular chorus, The Baker's Dozen in San Francisco. They left a party, and were taunted with screams of "faggot" and "homo" by two partygoers, before they jumped by a group of goons that were called in to beat them up. (KGO-TV/ABC7)
Witnesses say 19-year-old Richard Aicardi was the most aggressive.
Sharyar Aziz: "'You're not welcome here,' he called a few members of the group, whether it was fag or homo, very, I would say, juvenile taunting."
Aicardi took out his cell phone and called in reinforcements.
Reno Rapagnani [the attorney who hosted the party]: "He said, 'I'm 20 deep, my boys are coming.'"
Richard Aicardi and Brian Dwyer were charged with assaulting two members of the Baker's Dozen outside a party held in honor of the 16 student singers. Witnesses at the time said the trouble started after the vocalists, wearing sports jackets and ties, sang "The Star Spangled Banner."
Evan Gogel, one of the two most seriously injured chorus members, suffered a concussion when Aicardi, Dwyer and others repeatedly kicked him while he was on the ground, police said. Aicardi also was charged with punching Baker's Dozen member William Bailey as he tried to get away.
"This was a cowardly attack on defenseless victims," District Attorney Kamala Harris said in a statement. "We are going to hold accountable those who have been identified as responsible."
Aicardi was charged with two counts of felony assault by means of force and one count of battery, charges that carry a maximum penalty of eight years in prison. Dwyer, who was charged with one count of assault and one count of battery, faces a maximum prison sentence of seven years, if convicted, according to Harris.
Hop over to 
What's disgusting is that supporters for Aleman and Rodriguez showed up at this rally. Given that this attack against Price is only one of a series of gay bashings that have been reported in Queens, people should remember that Blue states where laws on bias crimes may be strong doesn't mean the hate goes away. Joe:
19-year-old Philip Anderton Cooney, pictured here in the spring of 2005, is the son of fallen Bush aide and American Petroleum Institute oil lobbyist Phil Cooney. 
[G]ay activists around the country are getting nervous that they are about to experience an embarrassing political setback. Instead of amending the hate crimes legislation that protects churches in a substantive way, they are simply crying out in a louder, more threatening manner. Gay advocates are not looking for fairness; they are looking for an upper hand. [We're really doing well at getting that upper hand, with all those state amendments in place, huh?]
Aviance was attacked as he left the Phoenix bar last June. The four beat him unmercifully, breaking his jaw, doing serious damage to one leg and leaving him with cuts and bruises over most of his body.
