Friday, March 18, 2011

VIOLENCE AGAINST GAYS, Part Three



TEEN BEATEN TO DEATH IN QUEENS HATE CRIME

An 18-year-old BOY died at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center Monday after four Queens teenagers allegedly screaming anti-gay slurs and wielding a chrome bat and a cane beat him on a sidewalk in Woodhaven, according to the NYPD and other officials. Police said they are treating the death of Anthony Collao, 18, as a hate crime after he was allegedly chased down by four teens after leaving a birthday party on 90th Street in Woodhaven early Saturday morning.

The four teens, two from Flushing and two from Woodhaven, reportedly screamed anti-gay slurs at the party, which they crashed, according to a statement from Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan) and a report from the Daily News. “Get the f--- out of the front, this is my hood,” one of the teens yelled at the party, according to the criminal complaint.

Published reports stated Collao was not gay but that the hosts of the party were.

Quinn, Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park) and a host of other community activists denounced the attack. “My council colleagues and I are saddened and disturbed by this outrageous attack,” Quinn said in a prepared statement. “We celebrate diversity in New York. We do not tolerate bias attacks in any neighborhood in Queens or anywhere else in our great city.”

Collao died after being taken off life support at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, according to the NYPD.

Flushing residents Nolis Ogando, 17, and Christopher Lozada, 17, and Woodhaven residents Luis Tabales, 15, and Alex Velez, 16, were charged with manslaughter, gang assault and criminal possession of a weapon, according to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown. The four were arraigned in Queens Monday night. Tabales was held on $200,000 bail, Lozada on $150,000 bail, and Velez and Ogando were each held on $100,000 bail, according to the DA.

Fresh Meadows attorney David Bart, who represented Velez and Lozada for the arraignment but is now only representing Velez, said his client plans to enter a not guilty plea. “Obviously I’m always willing to negotiate with the district attorney,” Bart said. Attorneys for the other defendants did not respond to phone calls for comment.

The DA noted a fifth individual was involved in the killing, and police said they are looking for him.

“I was truly saddened to hear about the fatal attack in my district over the weekend,” Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park) said in a statement. “My prayers go out to the young victim’s family and friends. Our streets will not be safe until the individuals who are responsible for this heinous crime are brought to justice. Senseless acts of violence such as this will simply not be tolerated.”

Police did not elaborate on the gang charge but neighbors living near the site of the alleged attack said they heard it was part of an initiation rite for a gang from Flushing.

The killing has elicited strong responses from not only elected officials but community activists as well. Individuals at the Jackson Heights-based Queens Pride House, the borough’s only lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community center, called for strong action in response to the alleged crime. “We at Queens Pride House are saddened by the tragic loss of life and sickened by the hate motivating this murder,” said interim Executive Director Peter Pavic.
Pauline Park, president of the board of directors, too expressed her concern. “In the last few years, there have been a number of hate crimes against LGBT people, including transgendered women of color,” Park said.

The four teenagers charged with the killing are due back in court on April 6.

UPDATE: A fifth suspect was arrested Tuesday night in the deadly beating of a Long Island teen in Woodhaven, police said.

Calvin Peitri, 17, of 91-10 77th St. in Woodhaven, was charged with manslaughter and gang assault as a hate crime stemming from an incident that occurred outside of a Woodhaven party, police said. However, they would not confirm a report that Peitri was found and arrested after he bragged about the beating on his Facebook page.

VIOLENCE AGAINST GAYS, Part Two



BROOKLYN MAN SEVERELY BEATEN BY SIX TEEN THUGS

An openly gay Brooklyn man required ten hours of surgery and three metal plates in his face after a February 22nd anti-gay attack by a group of six teenagers. Via yesterday's Brooklyn Paper:

Barie Shortell, 29, was on N. Fourth Street on Feb. 22 at around 10:10 pm when he brushed past six teenagers wearing hooded sweatshirts. “Oh s–t, is that a guy or a girl?” one of the teens yelled. Shortell thought to himself that the slur was “juvenile,” but he crossed to Wythe Avenue just to be safe. But the group followed and shoved Shortell against a wall, fracturing his jaw, nose and eye sockets. He has no recollection of the attack.

“I feel pretty confident they perceived me as a gay man and attacked me, but I can’t understand why they did what they did,” said Shortell. “I looked horrible. Blood was everywhere.”

At the insistence of the NYC Anti-Violence Project, the police have classified the attack as a hate crime, although no suspects have been apprehended. Today the AVP issued a press release denouncing the recent spate of hate crimes in NYC, which have taken lives in Staten Island and Queens this month.

The AVP points out a coming fundraiser for the above victim, who has no medical insurance. "The Barie Response is organizing a benefit for Barie to assist him in paying his medical bills. The benefit will be at on Wednesday March 23, from 7PM to 10PM at Blackout Bar, 916 Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. While AVP is not sponsoring the benefit, we will be present to provide safety and outreach information." You can donate directly via the above link.

VIOLENCE AGAINST GAYS, Part One



KILLER STONES 70-YEAR OLD GAY MAN TO DEATH "JUST LIKE THE BIBLE SAYS."

KILLER CONFESSES: I Stoned That Homo To Death Just Like The Bible Says I Should

A Pennsylvania man is under arrest after confessing to beating an elderly man to death with a stone, just like the Bible instructs should be done with homosexuals.
A 28-year-old Upper Darby man has been charged with murder after telling police that he stoned a 70-year-old man to death when the man made homosexual advances toward him, authorities say.

John Joe Thomas, 28, of Sunshine Road in Upper Darby, spent almost every day with 70-year-old Murray Seidman at Seidman’s Lansdowne home, police say. Days before Seidman’s body was found on Jan. 12, Thomas allegedly beat Seidman to death with a sock full of rocks. Thomas told authorities that he read in the Old Testament that homosexuals should be stoned to death. When Seidman allegedly made homosexual advances toward him over a period of time, Thomas said he received a message in his prayers that he must end Seidman’s life, according to court documents.

Police say that Thomas struck Seidman in the head about 10 times with the sock of rocks. Thomas left Seidman dead in his apartment, and then threw his bloody clothing and the bloody sock in a dumpster, according to authorities.

The killer was the sole executor of the victim's will and returned to to the scene of the murder several days later claiming to have discovered the body.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

EQUALITY KANSAS CALLS FOR PROTEST



EQUALITY KANSAS HAS ISSUED A FORMAL STATE AND CALL FOR PROTEST in response to actions taken in the Kansas State Legislature to re-criminalize homosexuality in that state. The organization is calling for a protest march on Thursday, March 17.


[ Posted Tuesday Mar 8 2011, 9:19 am by Thomas Witt ]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Jon Powell, Chapter Chair
Kansas Equality Coalition, Hutchinson Area Chapter
916-761-8984
Powell462@gmail.com

Thomas Witt, State Chair
Kansas Equality Coalition
316-683-1706
chair@kansasequalitycoalition.org

STATE REPRESENTATIVES CALL FOR CONTINUED CRIMINALIZATION OF GAY AND LESBIAN KANSANS

Topeka, Kans, March 8, 2011 -

State Representatives Jan Pauls (D, Hutchinson), and Lance Kinzer (R, Olathe) said yesterday that being gay or lesbian should remain a crime in Kansas. Pauls made, with Kinzer’s support, the successful motion in the Kansas Legislature’s Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee to keep the criminalization of gay and lesbian relationships on the books. Their action removed key language from HB2321, proposed by the Kansas Judicial Council, which would have resolved inconsistencies in Kansas criminal code, as well as remove unconstitutional laws.

“Jan Pauls was trusted to be a judge before becoming a state representative, and should know better than to support unconstitutional laws, breaking her oath to defend the Constitution,” said Jon Powell, Chair of the Hutchinson Area chapter of the Kansas Equality Coalition. “We are fed up with her obvious support of harassment of gays and lesbians. We will not be bullied.”

Although one remains on Kansas’ books, all state laws criminalizing gay and lesbian relationships were struck down by the United States Supreme Court in 2003. Writing for the majority in the case of Lawrence v. Texas, Justice Anthony Kennedy said “if protected conduct is made criminal and the law which does so remains unexamined for its substantive validity, its stigma might remain even if it were not enforceable as drawn for equal protection reasons. When homosexual conduct is made criminal by the law of the State, that declaration in and of itself is an invitation to subject homosexual persons to discrimination both in the public and in the private spheres.”

Disregarding the US Supreme Court, the President of the Kansas County and District Attorneys Association, John Wheeler, said in 2008 that “even to this day, homosexuality is a crime in Kansas." His warning, made to a group of adult college students and caught on video, raised questions about the ability of gay and lesbian Kansans to live free from arrest, and to receive fair trials in our courts.

“Representatives Pauls’ endorsement of an unconstitutional statute that’s used to threaten and discriminate against law-abiding Kansas citizens is an outrage,” said Thomas Witt, state Chairman for the Kansas Equality Coalition. “She took an oath as both judge and state representative to uphold the Constitution. We insist that Representative Kinzer and she be immediately removed as Chair and Ranking Minority from the House Judiciary Committee. Legislators who willfully ignore the Constitution should never be in positions of leadership and responsibility.”

The Hutchinson Chapter of the Kansas Equality Coalition is organizing a peaceful demonstration to raise awareness of Representative Pauls’ actions, to take place Thursday, March 17, in downtown Hutchinson. The demonstration will begin at 6pm, and will take place at the intersections of Main and Avenues A and B.

WRITE A NOTE TO JAN PAULS




Here's an email address for Kansas State Representative Jan Pauls, who successfully sponsored an effort to keep unconstitutional laws criminalizing gay sex on the Kansas books.

Write her a note at

janpauls@ sbcglobal.net

or

janice.pauls@house.ks.gov

Let her know how you feel about her bigotry. If you live in Kansas, challenge her to arrest you.

I'll post a personal email address for Lance Kinzer as soon as I can get it, but I suspect that his office address will be

lance.kinzer@house.ks.gov

KANSAS LAWMAKERS - CRIMINALIZE HOMOS!



KANSAS: Lawmakers Call For Continued Criminalization Of LGBT Residents

How long are we going to put up with this shit? Fred Phelps is enough embarrassment for Kansas. Now we have Jan Pauls and Lance Kinzer making fools of the state.

Even though in 2003 the U.S. Supreme Court struck down all anti-sodomy laws in its landmark Lawrence vs. Texas ruling, two state legislators in Kansas are fighting to keep their now unconstitutional laws on the books. The Kansas Equality Coalition reports.

State Representatives Jan Pauls (D, Hutchinson), and Lance Kinzer (R, Olathe) said yesterday that being gay or lesbian should remain a crime in Kansas. Pauls made, with Kinzer’s support, the successful motion in the Kansas Legislature’s Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee to keep the criminalization of gay and lesbian relationships on the books. Their action removed key language from HB2321, proposed by the Kansas Judicial Council, which would have resolved inconsistencies in Kansas criminal code, as well as remove unconstitutional laws.

“Jan Pauls was trusted to be a judge before becoming a state representative, and should know better than to support unconstitutional laws, breaking her oath to defend the Constitution,” said Jon Powell, Chair of the Hutchinson Area chapter of the Kansas Equality Coalition. “We are fed up with her obvious support of harassment of gays and lesbians. We will not be bullied.”

Equality-minded Kansans are encourage to join a March 17th demonstration calling for Rep. Paul's removal as chairwoman of the Kansas House Judiciary Committee. Well and good. Paul and Kinzer, as well as the rest of the complicit committee members who supported them, deserve to be protested. But come on, Equality Kansas! On St. Patrick's Day? Even if anyone shows up for your march, what kind of media attention do you think you'll get? Think. And reschedule. It's called "strategy."