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July 15, 2011
GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 3
newsbriefs
Six police officers fired in Atlanta Eagle bar raid
Atlanta-Six police officers were fired on July 8 for lying about the events during a 2009 raid on the Atlanta Eagle, a gay bar. The September 10 raid brought allegations that the police officers involved used' anti-gay slurs and were unnecessarily violent. Vice officers and members of an antigang unit, which has since been disbanded, participated in the raid, allegedly spurred by reports of public sex.
However, once there, they saw no sexual activity. Patrons were forced to lie on the floor as officers yelled anti-gay slurs. Eight people were arrested, although charges against all of them were dropped or dismissed.
A report released a week before the firings found that the officers "knowingly violated the constitutional rights of those at the bar, destroyed evidence, and tried to cover up what they had done," according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
"Any time an officer's credibility is at issue...that can be raised" in any court case they might testify in, Christine Koehler, a former president of the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, told the newspaper. This means they can no longer work as police officers.
Nine other officers were disciplined, and three more are still facing hearings.
Two of the fired officers were accused of lying in an unrelated 2009 drug case, and the Atlanta police department was told by federal prosecutors that the officers would never be used again in a federal case. Another was already on suspension for driving under the influence of alcohol and marijuana.
Embassy hosts Pakistan's first Pride
Islamabad, Pakistan-The Muslim nation's capital had its first LGBT Pride celebration on June 26, hosted by Ambassador Richard E. Hoagland and members of Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies.
The event was attended by over 75 people, including embassy staff, military representatives, diplomats from foreign countries and Pakistani LGBT leaders.
"I want to be clear: The U.S. Embassy is here to support you and stand by your side every step of the way," Hoagland told attendees.
When asked about the event at a July 7 State Department briefing, a spokesman said that there has been no "official complaint from the Pakistani government over the event."
Toddler shot because he might be gay
Durham, N.C.-A religious leader who may be involved with the Black Hebrew movement shot a four-year old to death because he thought he was gay.
After killing young Jadon Higganbothan, his stepson, Peter Lucas Moses repeatedly beat and strangled one of the women living
with him before killing her with the same gun used on Jadon.
The murders came to police attention in February. Moses lived with four women and nine children in a small house; the women and children referred to Moses as "Lord."
Jadon's father had left his mother, and that is why Moses thought the child would be gay. He told her to get rid of the boy, and after the boy hit another child on the bottom in October, Moses took him into the garage and shot him.
After killing Antoinetta Yvonne McKoy in late December because she tried to escape after discovering she could not bear children, the group in the house held a party where Moses showed off McKoy's body.
According to the Associated Press, “Investigators think some of those involved in the deaths were members of a religious sect known as the Black Hebrews, which believes it descends directly from the ancient tribes of Israel."
Phelps clan was part of FBI training
Washington, D.C.-The Federal Bureau of Investigation invited members of Fred Phelps' anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church to speak at training sessions, but the church will not be invited back.
The trainings were in how officers should treat people with whose beliefs they disagree. The FBI, however, underestimated how the Kansas group's involvement would be seen.
Westboro church members are mostly the extended Phelps family. They are infamous for picketing funerals with signs like "God hates fags" and "Thank God for 9/11." The church members were not paid to attend the trainings.
Several officers who attended the trainings called FBI leaders to question the inclusion of Westboro's members, which did not include founder Fred Phelps.
Soldiers beaten in possible hate crime
Fort Carson, Colo.-Two soldiers were beaten in a possible hate crime, but withheld details from base medical personnel for fear of being discharged under "don't ask, don't tell."
The July 2 attack happened as the two soldiers were at a fast food restaurant near a gay bar they had attended. They were there with one of the dancers from the bar when a group of men started taunting them.
One was kicked in the head and ribs until his eye swelled shut; the other had to have his jaw wired shut.
There is no word on whether the soldiers were more forthcoming with details following the July 7 federal appellate court order barring the Pentagon from enforcing DADT.
A pro-marriage ballot initiative
Augusta, Maine-Same-sex marriage advocates have begun a campaign to pass full marriage by voter initiative, the first time in the nation that this has been at-
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Equality Maine and Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders submitted an application on June 30 to put this question on the November 2012 ballot:
"Do you favor a law allowing marriage licenses for same-sex couples that protects religious freedom by ensuring no religion or clergy be required to perform such a marriage in violation of their religious beliefs?"
Supporters need to gather 57,277 signatures to put the issue on the ballot.
Maine lawmakers passed a marriage law in 2009, but opponents forced a referendum on the measure.
The 2009 "people's veto" saw 53 percent of votes cast to strike the law. Now, however, 53 percent of Maine respondents favor samesex marriage, and after Rhode Island's passage of civil unions, the state is now the only one in New England without full recognition of same-sex couples.
"We've been having conversations with Mainers for the last year and a half," Equality Maine leader Betsy Smith told the Associated Press, "and what we know is that Mainers are changing their minds on this issue. We began working for marriage equality in 2009. We want to finish that job."
Petitions have to be submitted in January, and then face validation before the issue can go on the ballot for the general election in 2012.
Studies must include LGBT people
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Sacramento-The California Assembly passed a bill on July 5 adding historical information on LGBT Americans to textbooks in the state.
One Republican crossed party lines to vote for the bill, which adds LGBT and disabled people to existing laws naming groups that must be included in social studies education. Already on the list are African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans and some other minority groups.
Supporters of the legislation believe that it will make classrooms safer for LGBT students, who are at high risk of being bullied.
"The assembly has taken an unprecedented step to reduce bullying, increase safety for all students and teach students to respect each other's difference," GayStraight Alliance Network executive director Carolyn Laub told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Suit says civil union doesn't work
Trenton, N.J.-Days after its most closely associated neighboring state passed full same-sex marriage, a lawsuit was filed alleging that New Jersey's civil unions are far from equal to marriage, giving same-sex couples second-class status.
Gov. Chris Christie has vowed a veto of any same-sex marriage legislation sent to his desk, but the courts in the state have already ruled in favor of equality.
Let
However, the New Jersey Supreme Court said that any suit challenging the equality of civil unions must make its way through the court hierarchy.
A commission created to examine civil unions in the state found that they were not equal to marriage.
"Even senators who were not supporters of marriage equality acknowledged that civil unions were falling down on the job," Lambda Legal's Hayley Gorenberg told the Newark Star-Ledger.
Anti-gay crime remains stable
New York City-While violent crime decreased nationally by 11 percent from 2008 to 2009, anti-gay violent hate crime stayed relatively stable, dropping one year then rising the next, according to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs' annual hate crime report, released July 12.
Anti-gay murders were at their secondhighest figure in the report's history, at 27 in 2010. The only higher total was 29 in 2008, and it dropped to 22 in 2009.
Once again, transgender people and people of color were disproportionately the targets of violent crime, and people of color found police more reluctant to count crimes against them as bias-motivated.
In Ohio, Columbus saw a startling rise in hate crime, jumping from 185 incidents reported in 2009 to 340 incidents in 2010. However, the report notes that the main contributor to the increase in reports is an expanded capacity in the Buckeye Region Anti-Violence Organization and its partnership with the city Human Relations Commission, which began in 2010. ✓
Compiled by Brian DeWitt, Anthony Glassman and Patti Harris.
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