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.

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."

"My Immortal" - Evanescence

A LITTLE RESPECT - New Erasure Remix

A new remix of Erasure's classic "A Little Respect," featuring the youth chorus of the Hetrick-Martin Institute. It's terrifice!