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H/T to Renegade Evolution
And all the lawyer got was a six-month suspension. We’d like to see him disbarred.
Disgusting details at the link.
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What do you call someone who swears he voted against Proposition 8, yet is doing his darnedest to kill the proposed Equal Benefits Ordinance in his own city of Long Beach, California?
If he’s telling the truth, “Janus” comes to mind; if he’s not, then “liar” comes to mind:
Read more »»»
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Would you G-men and -women kindly do something about Dan Holman before we have another catastrophe in this country?
At least put him under 24/7 surveillance — goodness knows Holman is a helluva bigger threat to domestic security than the targets of any of the wild goose chases your bosses sent you on during the Bush years.
By the way, do your bosses know what a dog whistle is?
Here’s the money quote:
Dan Holman [”Missionaries for the Preborn Iowa”]: I believe that all abortionists are deserving of death, and they are not the only ones. There are politicians and judges and others who support this murder that are also deserving of death.Drew Griffin: Would you care to name names, Dan?
Dan Holman: George Bush, Barack Obama. Any politician that gives our tax money to Planned Parenthood and organizations that kill babies are participating in the killing of innocent children deserve the same penalty.
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Expressions in Words, on the Jamaica Boycott:
Jamaica has long been known as a homophobic society - though granted we don’t have a poster at our international airports! More publicly, it is reflected in the music. Comparable to the spate of ‘daggering’ songs, local dancehall kings and queens vie for who can best describe with what should be done to homosexuals, often times in the most graphic of ways.
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Today’s story guaranteed to leave you fuming: Texas rape victims are being billed — and dunned — for the cost of their own rape kits.
What, did Sarah Palin take over Texas?
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See also:
Yes On Prop 8 Thugs Try to Blackmail Campbell City Councilmember Evan Low With Recall Threat
November 1, 2008
Sunday 11/09 DeFrank Center Prop 8 Meeting De-Briefing
November 9, 2008
Nice Bunch at MormonApologetics, What With the Not-So-Veiled Death Threats and All
November 13, 2008
Yeah, We Catch Your “Drift” — It’s Pretty Hard to Mistake a Death Threat for Anything Else
November 16, 2008
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“Last Sunday (November 2) Drew Stoeckel went to Cornerstone Church, a large conservative congregation that helped organize a Yes on 8 rally in Fresno, to see what they would talk about. Jim Franklin, the pastor at Cornerstone said that he and mayor Alan Autry had received death threats because they support proposition 8. Both were speakers at the Yes on 8 rally held at Fresno City Hall on Sunday, October 26. There were rumors that Pastor Franklin was going to encourage his congregation to disrupt the No on 8 rally at Fresno City Hall, planned for later in the day. Drew became the object of unwanted attention by Cornerstone security and the Fresno Police Department, apparently because he had a No on 8 button on his shirt.”
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In short, hate crimes in the U.S. in 2007 decreased about 1% from 2006 — but hate crimes targeting gay and lesbian Americans soared some 6%.
Below is the press release issued today by the FBI; you can read the agency’s full report at http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/hc2007/index.html.
FBI Releases 2007 Hate Crime Statistics Today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation released statistics which indicated that 7,624 criminal incidents involving 9,006 offenses were reported in 2007 as a result of bias toward a particular race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity/national origin, or physical or mental disability. Hate Crime Statistics, 2007, published by the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program, includes data from hate crime reports submitted by law enforcement agencies throughout the nation.
Hate Crime Statistics, 2007, includes the following information:
• Of the 7,621 single-bias incidents, 50.8 percent were motivated by a racial bias, 18.4 percent were motivated by a religious bias, 16.6 percent were motivated by a sexual orientation bias, and 13.2 percent were motivated by an ethnicity/national origin bias. One percent involved a bias against a disability.
• There were 5,408 hate crime offenses classified as crimes against persons in 2007. Intimidation accounted for 47.4 percent of crimes against persons, simple assaults for 31.1 percent, and aggravated assaults for 20.6 percent. Nine murders were reported as hate crimes.
• There were 3,579 hate crime offenses classified as crimes against property; most of these (81.4 percent) were acts of destruction/damage/vandalism. The remaining 18.6 percent of crimes against property consisted of robbery, burglary, larceny theft, motor vehicle theft, arson, and other offenses.
• Of the 6,965 known offenders, 62.9 percent were white and 20.8 percent were black. The race was unknown for 9.8 percent, and other races accounted for the remaining known offenders.
• The largest percentage (30.5 percent) of hate crime incidents occurred in or near homes. Also, 18.9 percent took place on highways, roads, alleys, or streets; 11.3 percent happened at schools or colleges; 6.0 percent in parking lots or garages; and 4.1 percent in churches, synagogues, or temples. The remaining 29.3 percent of hate crime incidents took place at other specified locations, multiple locations, or other/unknown locations.
Guess we get the award for being The Most Hated Minority in America.
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LOS ANGELES — October 24 — Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, one of the state’s leading law enforcement officers, today announced his opposition to Proposition 8.
A forty-three year veteran of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Sheriff Baca has long been dedicated to the principle of equality for all Californians. “The gay men and lesbian women of the law enforcement community are some of the most responsible and virtuous people I know. To deny them their ability to further responsible lives outside of the job is inconsistent with the core values of public service,” said Baca.
Baca was elected Los Angeles County’s 30th Sheriff in 1998. He began his career with the department in 1965 and served in positions of increasing responsibility until his election as Sheriff.
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Read this and get back to me:
Wasilla Police Billed Sexual Assault Victims
for Their Own Rape KitsOf all of the things I’ve learned about Sarah Palin in the last week and a half, this has got to be the most disturbing. While Sarah Palin was serving as the Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, the city charged victims of sexual assault between $300 and $1200 for their own rape kits. A rape kit is a sexual assault forensic evidence kit, used to collect DNA that can be used in criminal proceedings to assist in the conviction of those who commit sex crimes. The kit is performed as soon as possible after a sexual assault or attack has been committed. It is usually humiliating and uncomfortable for the victim–imagine enduring that and then paying $1200 just so that the criminal who assaulted you might be caught.
Taken from the Frontiersman… Please note that the Governor who signed the new law preventing sexual assault victims from paying for their own rape kits was a Democrat, Tony Knowles. And please share with any woman you know who might be voting for John McCain and Sarah Palin. …
More at the link, including a burgeoning discussion. One excellent comment:
Palin is a conservative ‘feminist’ who divorces the female body from social interaction. Conservative ‘feminists’ can have jobs, even women with 5 children can have jobs (as long as they pay for someone else to look after the kids, unlike those welfare queens who expect taxpayers to foot the bill). But Conservative Feminists want nothing to do with their bodies - choice, contraception, rape are all issues that should be of interest to all women/feminists, but not to Repug women/’feminists’. a Repug ‘feminist’ is one who enters the marketplace, and makes money. i.e. ‘feminism’ means the ability to make money, and to hell with any concern for women who aren’t focused on making money, or who dares to mention that their reproductive capabilities pose a problem, either by contraception or abortion. Lesbian/gay issues are of course not even on the agenda, except to foment about gay ‘marriage’ - so far we’ve not heard too much from Palin about gay marriage, but that’s cause she’s ‘praying to save the gays’.
Another reader quotes part of Palin’s speech at the Master’s Commission in Wasilla on June 8, 2008 (full transcript at Irregular Times):
“…this is what I want to pray over you guys too: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give to you a spirit wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, and that spirit of revelation also including a spirit of prophecy, that God’s going to tell you what is going on and what is going to go on, and you guys are going to have that within you, and it’s just going to bubble up and bubble over and, and it’s going to pour out over the state of Alaska.”
So, while we don’t know yet if Sarah Palin has been rolling around on the church floor speaking in tongues, we do know she thinks she’s the recipient of at least one of the “gifts of the Spirit”:
She thinks she’s a prophet who can predict the future.
But we’ll talk about Pentacostalism another day (it’s even crazier than you think) — it’s really the story about the rape kits I wanted everyone to see.
Honestly, though, I’m not sure which is worse: A self-proclaimed “feminist” whose every move demonstrates a deep loathing for every woman except herself, or a religious zealot so extreme, there’s good reason to question her mental stability.
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The City of Memphis and Police Director Larry Godwin have finally realized that their attempt to unmask an anonymous blogger was not only misguided, it was unconstitutional. By withdrawing their subpoena to America Online demanding the identification of the blogger behind MPD Enforcer 2.0, Godwin and the city have effectively conceded that the First Amendment protects the right of anonymous speech.
The city had originally filed a secret petition for leave to take discovery in the Chancery Court for Shelby County, Tennessee, deliberately not giving any notice to the anonymous blogger in order to ensure that no contrary arguments would be presented. However, because AOL is located in Virginia, the plaintiffs had to obtain a Virginia court subpoena and AOL, following Virginia law, provided notice to the blogger who promptly opposed the subpoena. The contents of the secret petition were revealed when Memphis reporters discovered that plaintiffs had neglected to file their request for the Virginia subpoena under seal.
Courts across the country have held that plaintiffs cannot identify their Internet critics simply by issuing subpoenas — they have to show that their suit has merit. The plaintiffs here, confronted with this rule, recognized that they could not show any right to sue the blogger for publishing photographs of the police chief and of a former undercover police officer, as well as of parodies of the department’s “Blue Crush” slogan. The city’s acknowledgment that it could not enforce its subpoena represents a victory both for the right of anonymous speech and for good sense.
Read the city’s notice, which does not provide any explanation for the withdrawal.
Paul Alan Levy is the Public Citizen attorney who represents the anonymous blogger. Memphis co-counsel for the blogger are Lucian T. Pera and Brian S. Faughnan of Adams and Reese LLP.
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Amnesty International is concerned by allegations of excessive use of force and mass arrests by police at demonstrations in St. Paul, Minnesota during the Republican National Convention (RNC) from September 1-4, 2008. The human rights organization is calling on the city and county authorities to ensure that all allegations of ill-treatment and other abuses are impartially investigated, with a review of police tactics and weapons in the policing of demonstrations.
The organization’s concerns arise from media reports, video and photographic images which appear to show police officers deploying unnecessary and disproportionate use of non-lethal weapons on non-violent protesters marching through the streets or congregating outside the arena where the Convention was being held.
Police are reported to have fired rubber bullets and used batons, pepper spray, tear gas canisters and concussion grenades on peaceful demonstrators and journalists. Amnesty International has also received unconfirmed reports that some of those arrested during the demonstrations may have been ill-treated while held at Ramsey county jail.
Amnesty International is also concerned at reports that several journalists who were covering the RNC were arbitrarily arrested while filming and reporting on the demonstrations. They include host of independent news program Democracy Now!, Amy Goodman, and two of the program’s producers, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar, who were both allegedly subjected to violence during their arrest. A photographer for the Associated Press (AP) and other journalists were also arrested while covering the demonstrations.
Kouddous described his arrest to media, “…two or three police officers tackled me. They threw me violently against a wall. Then they threw me to the ground. I was kicked in the chest several times. A police officer ground his knee into my back…I was also, the entire time, telling them, ‘I’m media. I’m press….,’ but…that didn’t seem to matter at all.”
Amnesty International urges that an inquiry be carried out promptly, that its findings and recommendations be made public in a timely manner. If the force used is found to have been excessive and to have contravened the principles of necessity and proportionality, then those involved should be disciplined, measures put in place and training given to ensure future policing operations conform to international standards.
Amnesty International recognizes the challenges involved in policing large scale demonstrations and that some protesters may have been involved in acts of violence or obstruction. However, some of the police actions appear to have breached United Nations (U.N.) standards on the use of force by law enforcement officials. These stipulate, among other things, that force should be used only as a last resort, in proportion to the threat posed, and should be designed to minimize damage or injury. Some of the treatment also appears to have contravened U.S. laws and guidelines on the use of force. The U.N. standards also stress that everyone is allowed to participate in lawful and peaceful assemblies, in accordance with the principles embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
For more information, please contact the AIUSA media office at 202-544-0200 x302 or visit our website at www.amnestyusa.org.
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PHOENIX — August 7 — The American Civil Liberties Union filed a motion yesterday to hold Maricopa County Sheriff Joseph Arpaio in contempt for disobeying a court order that would allow women prisoners in Maricopa County to obtain timely, safe, and legal abortions. In addition, today’s motion asks the court to provide additional safeguards for women prisoners seeking abortion care.
“Arizona courts have clearly ruled that prison officials cannot stand in the way of the medical needs of women prisoners,” said Brigitte Amiri, a staff attorney for the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project. “It’s regrettable that we need to take extra steps to ensure that Sheriff Arpaio follows the law.”
At issue in the original case was an unwritten Maricopa County Jail policy prohibiting jail officials from transporting a prisoner to obtain an abortion unless she first got a court order. In August 2005, the Superior Court of Arizona, Maricopa County, struck down the unwritten policy, holding that it violated women’s reproductive rights and served “no legitimate penological purpose.” The Arizona Court of Appeals upheld that decision; both the Arizona and the United States Supreme Court refused to hear the case.
In May of 2008, prison officials defied the courts by continuing to enforce the unwritten policy when a woman prisoner, “Mary Roe,” requested transportation for an abortion. When Roe’s lawyer spoke with Sheriff Arpaio’s Deputy Chief, John McIntyre, who had been involved in the original case and knew the court’s decision, he failed to tell her that inmates must be transported for abortion care without a court order. It took the ACLU’s intervention to ensure that prison officials followed the law; still, their initial non-compliance delayed Roe’s abortion by four weeks.
“The courts have already confirmed our position that Arizona prison officials cannot ignore the medical needs of prisoners simply because they do not agree with the decision to end a pregnancy,” said Alessandra Soler Meetze, Executive Director of the ACLU of Arizona. “Now, given the disregard of the court ruling by Sheriff Arpaio and his staff, it appears that we need to spell out the law more clearly to protect future women detainees.”
The motion asks the court to require the jail to post signs in both English and Spanish informing prisoners of their right to be transported. In addition, all employees would be required to sign a statement acknowledging that they have been informed of the law.
Today’s case is Doe v. Arpaio, CV2004-009286. Lawyers on the case include Amiri and Talcott Camp with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, and Dan Pochoda of the ACLU of Arizona.
To read the ACLU’s motion, visit: www.aclu.org/reproductiverights/…
Further reading:
Ill-treatment of inmates in Maricopa County jails, Arizona
In June 1997 an Amnesty International delegation visited Maricopa County, Arizona, to collect information on the treatment of inmates in the local jails and the conditions under which they are kept. The visit followed concern about allegations of ill-treatment of prisoners and the death of inmate Scott Norberg in Madison Street Jail on 1 June 1996, after he was placed in a restraint chair.
Amnesty International
Iceland 5, Arpaio 0
Iceland’s supreme court has upheld the decision of a lower-court judge who had refused to extradite Connie and Donald Hanes to Maricopa County because of conditions in Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s jails.
Tony Ortega, Phoenix New Times, October 23, 1997
Sheriff runs female chain gang
“I got meal costs down to 40 cents a day per inmate. It costs $1.15 a day to feed the department’s dogs. Now, I’m cutting prisoners’ calories from 3,000 to 2,500 a day,” the sheriff said during a recent tour of his tent city.
Reuters, October 29, 2003
Dog Day Afternoon
Sheriff Joe’s goons launched an assault to make a misdemeanor arrest. The Raid left a burned house, a terrified neighborhood and a dead dog
John Dougherty, Phoenix New Times, August 5, 2004
Jailhouse Webcams: Courts aren’t seeing their way clear
A federal appellate court, in the case of Demery v. Arpaio, has ruled that the use of Webcams in prisons violates the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution by constituting improper punishment of pre-trial detainees. As such, the particular county sheriff in the case, and presumably sheriffs in other counties, no longer can invite the entire world into their facilities via Webcams to view activities and circumstances of pre-trial detainees.
Eric J. Sinrod, USA Today, September 1, 2004
‘It was a hotbed of violence’
British stockbroker Shaun Attwood spent two years in the Maricopa County Jail system for money laundering and drugs offences. Here, he shares his experiences of human rights abuses in the US prison system run by the notorious Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Guardian Weekly, August 1, 2007
Breathtaking Abuse of the Constitution
Joe Arpaio, Andy Thomas and Dennis Wilenchik hit New Times with grand jury subpoenas
Michael Lacey, Jim Larkin, Phoenix New Times, October 18, 2007
Jury awards $9M in jail death
Carol Agster had little to say Friday after walking out of a federal courthouse in downtown Phoenix. The 72-year-old Scottsdale woman let the $9 million verdict she had just won against Maricopa County, the sheriff ’s office and Correctional Health Services do the talking.
Gary Grado, East Valley Tribune, March 25, 2006
Local attorney speaking out against Sheriff Arpaio
Attorney Michael Manning represents several families who claim their loved ones died in MCSO custody, and he blames the guards. In an article posted online and given to 12 News, Manning also accuses the Sheriff’s office of destroying evidence. He also said the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors ignored repeated warnings from consultants that said the jails were inhumane and unsafe.
Melissa Gonzalo, 12 News, April 14, 2008
New Times owners sue Sheriff Joe Arpaio, County Attorney Andy Thomas and lawyer Dennis Wilenchik
When New Times’ “fair criticism” became too much … Arpaio, Thomas and Wilenchik “flexed their politicial muscle in the form of a conspiracy. They abused their governmental authority by attacking the press, punishing free speech, demeaning the role and function of an impartial prosecutor and an independent judiciary, perverting the grand jury process, and serving notice to citizens who read news on-line that neither their identities nor their reading habits are safe from the reach of vindictive government officials and their confederates.”
Paul Rubin, Phoenix New Times, April 28, 2008
Sheriff Joe wants to read Phil Gordon’s e-mail
Sarah Fenske, Phoenix New Times, May 15, 2008
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(If Phill Kline’s name sounds familiar, you might remember that he defended Kansas’ horrid “Romeo and Juliet” [or, rather, “Romeo and Romeo”] law that levied harsher penalties for statutory rape involving homosexual activity than for the same crime involving heterosexual activity, in Limon v. Kansas.)
The Kansas City Star reports the good news:
Kansas politician who crusaded against abortion loses big For the second time in two years, voters in Kansas have handed a stinging defeat to Phill Kline, an anti-abortion crusader who made his reputation by attempting to prosecute the state’s abortion providers, first as state attorney general, and then, after he lost re-election to that post, as a district attorney in suburban Kansas City.
With all of the vote counted, Steve Howe trounced Kline by a margin of 60 percent to 40 percent…
Further reading:
A Kansan With Conviction
Attorney General Sees Abortion Records Fight as Matter of Principle
Peter Slevin, Washington Post, March 20, 2005
Trial Opens in Challenge to Law Over Teenage Sex
Jodi Rudoren, New York Times, January 31, 2006
Smells Like Teen Snogging
Kansas’ wacky attorney general smells sex everywhere
Dahlia Lithwick, Slate, February 2, 2006
Kansas Attorney General writes orders for a reelection campaign operation “in each church”
Memo shows Republican Phill Kline’s detailed plan for a church-based political machine
JewsOnFirst.org, September 17, 2006
KCTV5 News Investigates Phill Kline
KCTV, 2007
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I haven’t finished the first part of project mentioned here, but it’s getting there. In the meantime, while I continue to dig into the ugly depths of the anti-gay movement, here’s a quick rundown of what’s happening in our world:
Freaks on the Family Grand Poobah James Dobson is flip-flopping — again — on whether or not he’s going to vote for John McCain… because, of course, in Dobson’s diseased mind, Barack Obama is a baby killer.
Speaking of The Presumptuous Nominee, Queerty notes that Florida’s gay Democrats are disappointed with the Obama campaign, and quotes a report from Florida Capital News: “The leader of the Florida Democratic Party’s gay caucus, declaring that ‘I’m sick and tired of getting table scraps,’ complained Saturday that Sen. Barack Obama offended a large and faithful voting bloc by not sending his wife or another top campaign surrogate to the group’s annual meeting.”
Now, before anybody resorts to the tired old argument that ignoring gay groups is consistent with Obama’s refusal to pander to any single “interest,” we say: If Saint Barry can find the time to pander to hard-right Christian fundies — like he’ll be doing (again, and this time along with John McCain) at Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church — then he can at least send his compulsive gum-flapper of a wife to talk to the Florida Democratic Party’s gay caucus. This isn’t like ignoring local gay press; this is an official caucus of the Democratic Party.
(You do still belong to the Democratic Party, don’t you, Barry? It’s so hard to tell these days. Or maybe the confusion stems from the fact that the Democratic Party — which now resembles the anti-gay right wing — belongs to you.
Speaking of McLame (and we were), hear tell Americans are tired of the blogosphere. This, from the guy who just last week admitted he’s “an [Internet] illiterate who has to rely on his wife for any assistance he can get,” and is only now “learning to get online.”
Back in the reality-based world, we’re happy to hear that activists in San Diego aren’t taking Doug Manchester’s campaign of anti-equality lying down — especially in one of Manchester’s beds. (Backstory here and here.) Just before San Diego Pride Saturday, between 150 and 200 people rallied in protest outside the Manchester Grand Hyatt (and were countered by about 75 bigots).
It’s probably true, as noted by the LAT’s Jessica Garrison, that last year’s sudden epiphany of bad-guy-turned-good-guy Mayor Jerry Sanders had something to do with mobilizing the anti-gay brigades. But then, it galvanized the good-guy Christians, too, into coming out against mindless bigotry. So there.
As for the San Diego pridefest itself, while Wendy Fry was bemoaning the fact that straight men just can’t wear boas and sequins the way gay men can, the “internationally renown anti-Scientology activism group Anonymous” was marching in its own contingent in the parade. If I were Anonymous, I’d remain anonymous, too. Those zany Xenuists scare the bejeebers out of my quivering little body thetans.
Further afield, Buffy’s got an update on the “South Carolina is So Gay” dust-up: South Carolina Will be So Gay–Whether They Like It Or Not.
Tourism experts are “puzzled” since five grand is such a measly price to pay “for such a lucrative niche market.” We’re not puzzled at all; hysterical homophobia always trumps common sense. Look at Jamaica, where they’d rather murder us than prop up their own barely-on-life-support economy with our Big Gay Dollars. We say: Screw ‘em — both Jamaica and the Jamaica of the United States, South Carolina. Let them eat dirt.
(Backstory: Amro Worldwide and Out Now Have an Advertising Lesson for Heinz: So Gay? So What. and You Can Cross South Carolina Off Your Vacation Destinations — They Don’t Want Us Nasty Homos (Or Our Money) There)
Also, my dear Gaytheist shines the light on yet another example of masking bigotry behind “deeply held religious beliefs,” in the case of a gay-hatin’ British cop: What’s the Matter With the UK Lately?
(Speaking of dumb cops, one of the San Diego Harbor Police shot to death a go-go boy who fell off a pride-cruise boat, and got physical with his rescuers. I don’t care what the guy did — when you’ve got one suspect surrounded by a bunch of armed police officers, there can’t be any excuse for failing to subdue him without killing him.)
Elsewhere on the international front: We’re glad that Iris Robinson, wife of Northern Ireland’s First Minister, and Ignorant, Sour-Lemon-Faced, Mad Old Cow whose sunken, empty eyes are only accentuated by a criminal sense of makeup application (see the picture at the link), lives half a world away from us, so we don’t have to listen to her vile nonsense about how much worse homosexuality is than child sexual abuse.
And here are the rest of the headlines that caught my eye today — I’ll leave you to them while I get back to the dirty work of digging into the incestuous circle of money and hate behind the Proposition 8 campaign:
Young, Gay and Murdered
Kids are coming out younger, but are schools ready to handle the complex issues of identity and sexuality? For Larry King, the question had tragic implications.
Man flees Turkey after “honour killing” of his gay activist boyfriend
Catholics for Choice take on the Catholic League
Eric Waugh: Pope boxes clever in Anglican’s gay-row
Online Adoption Agency Denies Service to Gays
75% of Americans want to allow gays in the military
Gay-only retirement village to be built for £12.7 million in Australia
Showtime orders new series with gay content
Bachelorette Party Planning Tips for Summer
Trends for 2008 Include ‘Green Girl’ and Same-Sex Marriage Pre-Wedding Parties
Must-read of the day:
Gay marriage to be legal in America within 200 years
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Memphis, Tennessee, February 12, 2008: Transgender woman Duanna Johnson is arrested on a prostitution charge. While she is in custody, Officer Bridges McRae, 28, speaks to her; when she doesn’t respond as he wants her to, McRae wraps a pair of handcuffs around his fist and starts beating Johnson about the head. A second officer, James Swain, 25, grabs Johnson’s shoulders and holds her while McRae continues the beating.
Then McRae maces Johnson. Then he handcuffs her and leaves her lying on the floor. Then a nurse shows up and tends to McRae for a scratch, ignoring Johnson:
There’s a follow-up video from WMC-TV, which first reported the story, in which we learn that Swain — the one who held Johnson down — was fired in April, and McRae — the one who beat her — was given a desk job.
Ironically, it was a complaint by McRae that brought this brutal assault to the attention of the Memphis Police Department’s Internal Affairs — against the detective in the booking area, for not helping McRae “during the incident” (i.e., while he was beating Johnson!).
The case has been turned over to the the FBI (presumably because of the potential violation of Johnson’s civil rights).
Johnson intends to sue.
What do we say? We have great respect for law enforcement officers who take “To protect and to serve” to heart. We do not call cops “pigs.” But in this case, we’ll make an exception.
As I commented on the YouTube video above: “What horrid stains [Swain and McRae] are upon police officers everywhere — and what disgusting excuses for human beings. And may that nurse never sleep soundly again.”
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The arrest of three sexual rights activists during a peaceful demonstration to raise awareness about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues shows the Ugandan government’s determination to enforce silence around sexuality and HIV/AIDS, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to Minister of Justice and Attorney General Edward Kiddu Makubuya.
Although the activists were released on June 6, Human Rights Watch urged the government to drop all charges against the three and to stop future arrests and prosecution of activists working on issues of sexual orientation and gender identity.
On June 3, 2008, police in Kampala detained Onziema Patience, Valentine Kalende, and Usaam Mukwaaya while demonstrating during the HIV/AIDS Implementers Meeting — a conference aimed at sharing lessons learned and best practices for HIV/AIDS programs. The three activists were protesting remarks made the day before by the chair of the Uganda AIDS Commission, Kihumuro Apuuli. He had declared that “gays are one of the drivers of HIV in Uganda,” and that the government could not afford direct prevention and care.
“Silence around HIV/AIDS kills,” said Juliana Cano Nieto, researcher of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch. “LGBT people do not ‘drive’ HIV in Uganda, but they have driven many community-based responses. They deserve recognition and inclusion, not repression and jail.”
The three activists face charges of “criminal trespass” under article 302 of the Uganda Criminal Code. Even though cosponsors of the Implementers Meeting later provided the activists with appropriate accreditation, the police detained one of the activists for over four hours and charged him with “forgery of documents.” All three face a court hearing on June 20, 2008.
Human Rights Watch has repeatedly drawn Ugandan authorities’ attention to patterns of abuse based on sexual orientation and gender identity. On August 22, 2007, Human Rights Watch wrote to president Museveni concerning threatening statements made by government officials against LGBT people in Uganda. In an October 11, 2007, letter, Human Rights Watch expressed alarm over authorities’ call to tighten enforcement of the country’s draconian sodomy law, which punishes homosexual conduct with up to life imprisonment.
”When police silence voices defending public health, the only winner is the virus,” said Cano Nieto. “Uganda’s once-praised HIV prevention efforts are giving way to prejudice and fear.”
Uganda Targets Queers for Attack
September 13, 2007
Another Ugandan Sees Through Nation’s Anti-Gay Propaganda
September 22, 2007
To paraphrase Francis Maude, it’s like vowing to fight rain.
Buturo vows to fight homosexuality, October 9, 2007
U.S. Accused of Funding Ugandan Homophobes
October 11, 2007
Uganda Wants to Send Gays to Island, So “They Die Out There”
October 17, 2007
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Fred Phelps and his hateful, attention-seeking clan are learning that despite their legal wrangling, there are some predicaments they just can’t get out of.
A federal judge in Maryland on Thursday ordered liens on the Westboro Baptist Church building and the Phelps-Chartered Law office.
If the case presided over by U.S. District Court Judge Richard D. Bennett is upheld by an appeals court, the church, at 3701 S.W. 12th, and the office building, at 1414 S.W. Topeka Blvd., could be obtained by the court and sold, with the proceeds being applied toward $5 million in damages Bennett imposed on church members for picketing a military funeral.
…..
The $5 million penalty is the result of a lawsuit filed against three of the church’s principals by Albert Snyder, the father of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder, whose funeral was picketed by church members.
The senior Snyder contended the picketing caused emotional distress and invasion of privacy.
…..
One of Snyder’s attorneys, Sean Summers, of York, Pa., said Thursday that based on financial information supplied during a hearing on the case, paying the $5 million penalty likely would force the church and the three named officials of the church to file for bankruptcy.
However, he said, even bankruptcy wouldn’t let them out from under the $2.1 million punitive damages part of the judge’s order. They would still be obligated for that amount under federal bankruptcy rules.
The Phelps family might go bankrupt because of their hateful, abominable behavior? Awwwww.
In addition, the judge on Thursday required Shirley Phelps-Roper to post a $125,000 bond and Rebekah Phelps-Davis to post a $100,000 bond by May 5 or he will rescind a stay ordered by the court to prevent confiscation of their property.
But Phelps-Roper, an attorney, called that meaningless. She said the only property she and Phelps-Davis own are their homes and courts are forbidden from confiscating a person’s home.
“I have nothing at risk,” she said.
In February, Bennett ordered Phelps-Roper, Phelps-Davis and their father, Pastor Fred W. Phelps Sr., to provide detailed financial information about their interests.
The records showed the church property to be worth $442,800 and the law office building to be worth $233,000. Summers said the lien could be placed on the law office building because it is owned by Phelps Sr.
“He (the judge) looked at my tax returns and saw that we give money to the church, and he didn’t like that,” Phelps-Roper said.
The Judge didn’t like that you give money to the church, which is owned by your family and comprised mostly of family members, as a means of essentially legally hiding your money away–tax free? I wonder why. 
I suppose now the Phelps clan will have another reason to blame gays. Thanks to us, they’ll claim, they may very well be bankrupt and may have to discontinue their holy crusade–if only for a while. I don’t expect they’ll consider the possibility that their own behavior had anything to do with it. People like them seem incapable of such insight.
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Per the Miami Herald:
The incident occurred Sunday morning outside The Floridian at 1410 E. Las Olas Blvd.The couple and a friend sat down to breakfast about 3 a.m. at an outdoor table. They ordered sandwiches, tea and juices.
A man got out of his pickup truck, walked by them and promptly began yelling slurs at the trio — Melbourne Brunner, his partner Mitchell Mart and a friend visiting from out of town.
“He was yelling, ‘Faggot, were you looking at me, if you were, I’m going to come back there and break your neck. That’s what I do to faggots’ and then he twisted his hands together,” Mart recalled. …
“Police are treating the incident as a battery and looking into the possibility that it may have been a hate crime”?!
Just how many times does the perp have to use the word “faggot” in the same breath as a direct threat before it’s officially a hate crime?
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Gays to set up security patrol to curb attacks
Frustrated by a lack of official action on homophobic violence, the gay and lesbian community will organise its own security patrols at popular events and party venues.
The GenQ Street Angels want volunteers with policing, military, security or medical experience to join. …
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From silive.com:
A gay police officer has filed a discrimination suit against the city and the New York Police Department, saying he was threatened with violence, called vulgar names and treated unfairly by supervisors because of his sexuality.
. . .
[Michael Harrington, 30], of Brooklyn, said in the suit that within months he overheard an officer in the men’s room referring to him as a “faggot.” Harrington spoke to the officer who said he would hurt Harrington if he confronted the officer again.
Court papers say Harrington also repeatedly sought a transfer from the 75th Precinct but his written applications “kept getting lost.” He was told that after he finally transferred out of the 75th Precinct, that someone posted obscene drawings of him in a sex act…
More at the link.
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Chicago cop accused of anti-gay fracas
Three women claimed Thursday in a federal lawsuit that an off-duty Chicago police officer roughed them up and called them names because of their sexual orientation after this year’s gay pride parade. …
According to the lawsuit, a vehicle driven by Fuery came upon a car moving at 30 mph on Interstate 55 after the June 24 parade. Fuery beeped her horn, and Szura responded by slamming on his brakes, speeding up and switching lanes, making it impossible for Fuery to pass, the lawsuit said.
Fuery was forced to the shoulder, where Szura screamed words such as “dyke” and spit at her, according to the lawsuit. The women claim he stuck a gun in Fuery’s abdomen, “causing her to fear for her life.”
When Sciortino tried to step in, Szura shoved her, and she fell, the lawsuit said. When Tomaskovic drove up in another car and tried to help, Szura placed her in a chokehold …
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The Edge reports:
A gay Idaho man has said he will sue the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office if his complaints of anti-gay harassment continue not to be addressed.
Chukk Nielson said that he, his partner, and their son don’t feel safe. Ever since moving into their home in the town of Ammon two years ago, they’ve been targeted with vandalism and other forms of harassment, according to a news report posted online today by KIDK, an area station.
Said Neilson, “We got egged, a deer [head] put into our mailbox, spray painted with words ‘fag,’ ‘queer,’ [and] toilet papered with human feces wrapped in it, thrown up against our house.”
. . .
According to Neilson, he’s had police at his home a dozen times to investigate various incidents over the last two years. Neilson also said he and his family had made three calls just this past weekend. …
. . .
But the authorities have also failed to keep track of the cases.
Said Neilson, “They did take pictures every time, but [the photos] never got filed, [they] don’t have the case number [for the various reports], don’t know where the file went.” …
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 What would Bob think? |
The Toronto Star reports:
Toronto police will monitor this Friday’s concert by Jamaican dancehall artist O’Neil Bryan, also known as Elephant Man, after receiving complaints that the performer incites anti-gay violence through his music. …
Despite protests by the Toronto-based Canadian Caribbean Human Rights Group, immigration officials have issued visas to both Bryan and Collins. The latter was banned from the United Kingdom in 2004. Bryan arrived in Canada last week and has performed in Winnipeg and Victoria, where local police closely monitored the concerts. …
The Toronto booking agent says he can’t do anything now because of contractual agreements, but says: “I am a million per cent against lyrics that promote hatred against gays and lesbians, women, religions and races … Had I been aware of the nature of the lyrics, I wouldn’t have allowed the booking.”
That’s why it’s important to keep hammering at the issue. A lot of people who can do something are just not aware.
See also:
Dr Evil or plain hate?
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