20-year-old Brandon White, victim of a brutal anti-gay attack, bravely comes forward and speaks out against hate violence. Metro Weekly reports. As Keith Boykin notes in the video below, this makes a fine contrast with Roland Martin's homophobic Super Bowl tweet joking about violence.
The National Black Justice Coalition writes about the recent spate of attacks here.
Speaker Boehner for once has a good reason to cry. Get better quick, Gabby.
Mara Keisling of the National Center for Transgender Equality comments, "Wow. The Obama Administration speaking up for us again."
Forces beyond LL's comprehension have conspired to make today prostitution Tuesday in D.C. politics.First off, Ward 7 council candidate Kevin B. Chavous has cut a deal with prosecutors on the charge that he allegedly tried to pay an undercover cop $20 for a blow job a few weeks ago, court records show.
The solicitation charge will go away after four months if Chavous performs 32 hours of community service, doesn't break any District laws, and stays away from the block on K Street NE where his alleged encounter occurred. The Post reports that Chavous' attorney said prosecutors approached Chavous with the deferred prosecution deal.
The deal comes after a very tight-lipped Team Chavous indicated they would fight the charge. "I am innocent of the charges against me and look forward to clearing my name!" Chavous tweeted after his arrest, in what LL is pretty sure has been his only comment about the whole affair.
Meanwhile, at the hearing, Ms. Alexander took great offense at the suggestion that any sex workers live in her ward. Only respectable people live in Ward 7, she declared indignantly. Yvette's grandstanding was equalled only by her obtuseness. Witness after witness did our best to reach halfway — expressing sympathy for her constituents' frustration with the effects the street-based sex trade is having on their neighborhoods, and suggesting that we all get together to craft solutions that actually work without violating the Constitution — but she just stood her irrational ground, not even making coherent (as distinct from merely disagreeable) arguments.
Update: WAMU reports on Tuesday's PFZ hearing. I am quoted in the story.
Sign our petition against PFZs here.
As you may know, the D.C. Council's Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing tomorrow (Tuesday, Jan. 24) on Yvette Alexander's Bill 19-567 to allow the police chief to make so-called Prostitution Free Zones permanent. As I will testify on behalf of GLAA, those zones violate the U.S. Constitution and in any case do not solve problems associated with street prostitution, because such police tactics merely chase the activity to other streetcorners. And giving criminal records to people who are engaged in commercial sex in order to survive only makes it harder for them to escape the streets.
Our discussion of this issue in GLAA's "Agenda: 2012" is here. We will post our testimony for the Jan. 24 hearing on GLAA's website on that morning.
Our friends Darby Hickey and Sonya Mendoza have placed a petition on change.org and tumblr.com about PFZs. Please use one of these links to add your voice to ours.
Thanks,
Rick Rosendall
Vice President for Political Affairs
Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance
Agence France-Presse reports:
British author Salman Rushdie on Sunday accused Indian police of making up an underworld plot to assassinate him that forced him to pull out of a literary festival this weekend.Rushdie withdrew from the event in Jaipur, the state capital of Rajasthan, after being warned by Indian officials that paid gunmen were heading to the city to kill him for his writing that is alleged to insult Muslims.
But Rushdie said that he now believed the supposed plot — apparently undertaken by Mumbai criminal gangs — had been invented to keep him away from the festival and to avoid controversy.
“I’ve investigated, & believe that I was indeed lied to. I am outraged and very angry,” Rushdie said on Twitter after newspaper reports that Rajasthan police had concocted the death threat.
Rushdie’s 1988 novel “The Satanic Verses”, which remains banned in India, is seen by many Muslims worldwide as a blasphemous work that insults their religion....
Writers Hari Kunzru and Amitava Kumar read out passages of “The Satanic Verses” from the stage in protest on Friday, angering some local Muslim groups who had welcomed Rushdie’s withdrawal from the programme.
The festival in Jaipur is a high-profile event, with the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Richard Dawkins in attendance. Bravo to those who protested the threats against Rushdie, and to the authors who read from his work there.
As disturbing as those who respond to disagreeable literature by threatening to kill the author are those who sympathize with them or say things like, "You don't have the right to offend other people's religion." Yes we damn well do. And I am not just talking about the United States, whose First Amendment protects freedom of speech and of the press in addition to the free exercise of religion. One of Europe's most renowned writers is Günter Grass, whose most famous novel, The Tin Drum has some astonishing blasphemous passages (which I, who was raised a Catholic, loved). In that case, the blasphemy related to Christianity. In 1989, during the furor over The Satanic Verses (which I have read and enjoyed, btw), I heard Islamic scholars insist that the West would never tolerate anti-Christian blasphemy. That claim was demonstrably, laughably false. Grass, incidentally, was one of the authors who guaranteed publication of the German translation of Rushdie's book.
As it happens, Rushdie is one of my favorite authors. I have had countless hours of enjoyment reading his imaginative, perceptive, vivid and witty work. My favorites among his books include The Moor's Last Sigh, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, Shalimar the Clown, and The Enchantress of Florence — all of which, incidentally, were written after Ayatollah Khoumeini issued the fatwa against him. Possibly his greatest work is Midnight's Children, which won Britain's Booker Prize and the Booker of Bookers. I do think that having read his work makes me more qualified to speak about it than people who condemn him without having bothered to read him. But those who oppose him, whether they are informed or not, are free to avoid reading him. They are also free to write books or articles or blogs criticizing him. They are not free, or should not be free, to suppress his work or to call for his death.
Incidentally, while it is not pertinent to the issue of defending his freedom as an author, Mr. Rushdie is a longtime pro-gay liberal. Besides the Ayatollah, one of the other real-life characters whom he lampooned in The Satanic Verses was Margaret Thatcher, whom he dubbed Maggie Torture. In contrast to the Ayatollah's reaction to the book, Mrs. Thatcher's government placed Rushdie, a British subject, under her government's protection. That nicely illustrates the difference between a free country and a theocracy.
Bravo to these American servicemembers deployed in Bagram, Afghanistan for making this video. They are: SSGT Steven Procter, SSGT Shelise Harmon, AT2 Erin Jones, SPC James Velazquez, SPC Curtis Robinson.
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords release this video today. Here's a transcript:
Arizona is my home, always will be. A lot has happened over the past year. We cannot change that. But I know on the issues we fought for we can change things for the better. Jobs, border security, veterans. We can do so much more by working together. I don't remember much from that horrible day, but I will never forget the trust you placed in me to be your voice. Thank you for your prayers and for giving me time to recover. I have more work to do on my recovery so to do what is best for Arizona I will step down this week. I'm getting better. Every day, my spirit is high. I will return and we will work together for Arizona and this great country. Thank you very much.
Gabby's courage and determination in the year since the assassination attempt have been an inspiration to the nation. Alas, the pace of recovery from a brain injury, even in the best of circumstances, does not conform to a biennial election schedule. Today's announcement was one that we knew would likely come but nonetheless dreaded to hear. This is not the way elections are supposed to be decided. I am sure countless others are sharing my emotion right now. Here's wishing Gabby and her family all the best. But this is a sad day for America.
Key Findings on Gender Non-Conforming Students
- Nearly 1 in 10 of elementary students in 3rd to 6th grade (8%) indicate that they do not always conform to traditional gender norms/roles - either they are boys who others sometimes think, act or look like a girl, or they are girls who others sometimes think, act or look like a boy.
- Gender nonconforming students are less likely than other students to feel very safe at school (42% vs 61%), and are more likely than others to indicate they sometimes do not want to go to school because they feel unsafe or afraid there (35% vs 15%). Gender nonconforming students are also more likely than others to be called names, made fun of or bullied at least sometimes at school (56% vs 33%).
- Less than half of teachers believe that a gender nonconforming student would feel comfortable at their school (male student who acts or looks traditionally feminine: 44%, female student who acts or looks traditionally masculine: 49%)
- Only a third (34%) of teachers report having personally engaged in efforts to create a safe and supportive classroom environment for gender nonconforming students.
Just before midnight, three people in their late teens or early twenties load a Honda minivan with supplies. This might sound like the beginning of a zany road trip, but it's not. The minivan belongs to a group called HIPS, which stands for Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive. One of the supplies they're loading is a giant box of condoms.HIPS's mission is to make the lives of D.C.'s prostitutes safer and easier. Three nights a week, the group's staffers and volunteers drive the van to places where sex workers work, often in some of the most dangerous parts of town....
There's a reason why sex workers have been feeling more police pressure, says Cyndee Clay, executive director of HIPS. Five years ago, the D.C. Council passed a law allowing the police to designate certain streets or neighborhoods "prostitution-free zones." In these zones, officers can make arrests with a lower burden of proof. So far, most of the prostitution-free zones have been downtown, and Clay says that's had some surprising effects....
Clay says the prostitution-free zone law didn't get rid of prostitution in the District. The law simply moved it from downtown to the outskirts of the city. The Metropolitan Police Department refused to grant an interview for this story, but an analysis of the District's crime data shows that Clay is right....
"It's bad public health, it's bad social policy," says Clay. "It's not even effective judicial policy because we're not giving people the tools that they need to change their life or to make a change. We're just re-incarcerating the same people over and over again for the same thing." ...
HIPS keeps track of every sex worker it encounters, and the group is seeing roughly the same number of sex workers on the streets now as there was a decade ago. The difference is now they're more likely to get a criminal record and more likely to be working in a violent area. The sex workers are more isolated and more at risk. But they're less visible.
I will be testifying at a D.C. Council hearing on the Prostitution Free Zones on January 24. Getting our city's officials to see how counterproductive the PFZs are is going to be difficult. I am sure that GLAA's position on them is unpopular even in segments of the gay community. But no one said activism was easy. A constitutionally questionable policy that only chases sex workers into more distant and unsafe neighborhoods is no solution; and giving them criminal records only makes it harder for them to get better jobs. Thanks to WAMU for shining a light on this.
WaPo reports:
The masked fashion models marched onto the stage with fists pumping and feet stomping in unison, music blaring, before all 15 crouched in silence. One by one, to the sounds of explosions, they leaped up to share their experiences with rough city life as gang members.One started stealing cars when she was 13, then lived on the streets and sold drugs before getting locked up for armed robbery at 17. Another had been sexually abused and raped. One was neglected by parents who were addicted to crack cocaine....
The young men and women are members of Check It, a gay crew that started in the Trinidad neighborhood in Northeast, and its sister gang, Unexpected....
But on Saturday night, Check It and Unexpected members tried to show a different side to their personalities by hosting “Fashion Transformation,” a fashion show at the D.C police department’s Boys and Girls Club on Shepherd Street NW, where they unveiled their own T-shirt designs and showed off their modeling talents and dance moves.
Good for them, and good luck to them. We wrote about them here.
As reporter Riley notes, this positive view contrasts with the Mayor's low rating in public opinion polls. Indeed, someone posted the comment "Corrupt Scum bag" below the article under the pseudonym "Guest." It should be kept in mind that our mayoral elections occur every four years; if Gray hasn't improved his numbers two years from now, he'll be in trouble. But we're only one year in, and many of us who have worked with him are looking beyond the distractions and seeing good efforts.
Reading the article, I recognize that it sounds awfully arrogant for me to say I am better informed than people who are reacting to negative headlines. The reporter asked me how I could explain the contrast between the positive things that I and other activists were saying about the Mayor, on one hand, and the more negative view of the wider community as reflected in the polls. My point was simply that those of us who have worked with Vince Gray know about the good work that he and his administration have been doing with LGBT activists.
Those of us who are trying to change things for the better don't have the luxury of hurling dismissive insults. We are meeting with city officials to advance the interests of our community, and we are having a much better experience than we had with Adrian Fenty. BTW, I am talking about dedicated community activists, not a bunch of hacks lining their pockets. I am aware that a lot of gay people voted for Fenty; but can we please look at the full record here, and not just the scandals? The issues LGBT activists are working on include job training and placement for transgender people; impoverishment protections for same-sex couples who are excluded from federal Medicaid protections by DOMA; confronting discrimination by police; and strengthening the city's response to bullying of our youth.
I am not saying that all we should have is cheerleading, or that there are not other legitimate perspectives and concerns. But then let's air them with specificity and a constructive attitude. It won't kill us to give credit where due. If all you're willing to do is hurl anonymous insults, you're a jerk. Personally, I would like to abolish anonymous comments on web pages. I believe most people would think twice about their nastiness if they had to put their name to it.
From our friends at the International Federation of Black Prides, Inc. (IFBP):
As a reminder, please sign up at http://bit.ly/s97drw to vote daily for the International Federation of Black Prides, Inc. (IFBP) and four other progressive groups. Yesterday, the IFBP was in 2nd place; however, today we've slipped to 10th place, dangerously close to receiving no funding at all for our project. Please continue to vote daily (even on the weekends!). If you have not signed up to vote, please do so, by all means. This is an easy way to support the IFBP!!! Keep in mind, I'm not asking you to donate money in this appeal -- just to vote daily, so the IFBP wins $50,000 from Pepsi to educate LGBT college students how to fight homophobia on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) campuses and in their communities. Once you're signed up to receive the Progressive Slate emails, voting takes literally one minute a day. Again, here's the link: http://bit.ly/s97drw. Thank you.Since the initial sign-up process can be a little confusing, I've included the step-by-step procedure below:4. You will receive an email from the Pepsi Refresh Project, asking you to confirm your account. Once you have done that, wait for the Progressive Slate email, which will come fromPepsi@progressiveleaders.org -- please do not vote prior to receiving that email.
1. Go to the following link: http://bit.ly/s97drw, which will take you to the Progressive Slate's page.
2. Sign up and create a profile - you have do this in order to receive daily reminders and to vote easily for the IFBP and the other four organizations.
3. Then, you will be directed to the Pepsi Refresh Everything page, where you will create a profile as well.
5. When you receive the Progressive Slate email from Pepsi@progressiveleaders.org directing you to vote for the five best idea listed to be funded, you should click on the first idea.
6. You will then be asked to sign on to the Pepsi Refresh Everything page and vote.
7. Come back to the Pepsi@progressiveleaders.org email and click on the remaining ideas one at a time to vote (Ours says, "Teaching LGBT college students how to fight homophobia on their campus and beyond").
8. Remember to come back to the email each time and vote for all five ideas, as the five groups are supporting each other.
9. Every day this month, you will receive an email from the Progressive Slate, prompting you to vote for these five ideas.
10. Remember, you can vote for the five ideas once a day starting today using your email address, Facebook account, and texting.
11. Please feel free to send this info to your friends and classmates via email, Facebook, Twitter and your websites.
Our friend (and GLAA Distinguished Service Award Honoree) David Mariner includes the following note with this slide-show retrospective on the DC Center's busy year in 2011:
Dear Friend of the DC Center,On behalf of everyone at the DC Center I would like to wish you happy holidays. This has been an exciting year at the DC Center, and a year of many firsts:
The first year of free Second-Saturday HIV Testing for the HIV Working Group
The first year of the Friendly Visitor Program for SAGE Metro DC
The first Annual LGBT Book Festival for OutWrite
Our first Foster Parent Information night for Center Families
The first National Great American Smokeout event for the Tobacco Working Group
The establishment of our first ever arts-advisory committee for Center Arts
Programs and services like GLOV, Center Women and Center Careers continued to do great work this year, and we added new programs such as the Youth Working Group. We also established stronger online presence for the local Bisexual Community and Transgender Community.
As we look to the future, there is of course, some uncertainty. We expect that we will need to relocate to a new physical space before the end of 2012.
I can't tell you where or when we will move in 2012, but what I do know for sure is that with your continued support the DC Center will continue to grow and thrive. Your support makes this work possible.
During this holiday season, I hope you will consider financially supporting the DC Center:
Sincerely,
David Mariner
Executive Director
The DC Center
Sean Strub made this disturbing film about the destructive consequences of criminalizing HIV. Thanks to him and to those who cooperated with him in making it.
Nigeria's Senate 28 November passed an 'anti gay marriage' bill adding further penalties and extending its scope.The Senate added to provisions targeting those living together (and those who don't report them) with new clauses making it illegal to register gay clubs or organizations, as well as criminalizing the “public show of same-sex amorous relationships directly or indirectly” with 10 years imprisonment....
The bill now goes to the House of Representatives, then for signature by the President, Goodluck Jonathan.
I don’t know your name, but I know your face. I don’t know your journey, but I know where you are. I am your brother!I must tell you, what you have done is so courageous. The strength that it must have taken for your 11-year-old voice to speak out about such a horrible act is something that I didn’t have the strength or courage to do at that age.
I was a very poor young black boy in New Orleans, just a face without a name, swimming in a sea of poverty trying to survive. Forget about living, I was just trying to exist. I was enduring a lot of the same things that you’ve come forward and said happened to you, and it was awful. I felt so powerless. I knew what was happening to me, but unlike you, I couldn’t speak about it because no one saw me. I was invisible and my voice was inaudible.
So to think that you, when you were only 11 years old, spoke up—you are my hero! I’m so proud of you. You have nothing to be ashamed of. I want you to know you didn’t do anything wrong. It’s not your fault. Please know that you were chosen by a monster. You didn’t choose him. You didn’t ask for it and, most of all, you didn’t deserve it....
Do you know that at the young age of 11 you had more courage than all the adults who let you down? All of the ones who didn’t go to the proper authorities, all of the ones who were worried about their careers, reputations, or livelihoods. All of the ones who didn’t want to get involved. Or even the ones who tried to convince your mother not to fight. You are stronger than them all!
Good for Tyler Perry.
(Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)
President Obama and his daughters Sasha and Malia visited Kramerbooks at Dupont Circle yesterday in support of Small Business Saturday, about nine blocks from the White House. I was lunching by the Hudson at the time, so I missed the presidential security bubble passing through the neighborhood. Actually, I wish the security would rub off a bit more; a friend reported a couple of break-ins a few blocks north on Swann Street.
Want to know more about the doings with GLOV?
Come by Duplex Diner after work to socialize, relax, spread holiday cheer, and benefit a good cause! Tuesday December 6th from 6:30 pm untill 8:30 pm. Duplex Diner is located at 2004 18th Street NW.
Join Gays and Lesbians Opposing Violence (GLOV), DC's LGBT Anti-Violence Task Force, as we celebrate the end of the year. Casually meet officers and affiliates of the Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit (GLLU) of the Metropolitan Police Department, the U.S. Attorney's Office, and community activists, all fighting to make our city safe.
Recipients of the 2011 Guardian Awards will be recognized. Proceeds from drink sales will benefit GLOV.
Right Wing Watch reports:
In discussing the murder of openly gay student Lawrence King, Bryan Fischer says the solution is to "curb public expressions of homosexual behavior."
This Thanksgiving I am thankful to RWW for keeping an eye on hateful nutjobs like Fischer.
Is that too much to ask for? Last week the DC TLGB Police Watch issued a list of demands concerning the Metropolitan Police Department. By coincidence there was a conviction for an attack on a trangender woman the next day which The Washngton Post noted. One of the comments on this story has drawn some attention in the LGBT community. THSMITH3 is identified in the comment as a member of the homicide division and has the following to say:
Excuse me, but where exactly do you get your statistics? And in your "analysis" of the statistics, do you account for the FACT that a disproportionate amount of the crimes committed against TG (Male to Female) are committed against TG males engaged in the illegal activity of PROSTITUTION. AND, that these criminal PROSTITUTES are less likely to know their attacker (leading to lower closure and prosecution rates) AND the TG males are LESS LIKELY to cooperate in the investigation because they DISLIKE the police (BECAUSE WE ARREST THEM FOR PROSTITUTION) And their cases are less likely to be prosecuted when an arrest is made because they have CREDIBILITY PROBLEMS (Due to their CRIMINAL HISTORIES). Don't make these STATISTICS YOU CITE about POLICE BIAS. I'm sure if you analyze crime statistics about crimes against FEMALE PROSTITUTES you would find a similar trend of LOWER "JUSTICE" OUTCOMES. And by the way, I left the USAO front doors during the "PROTEST" an saw some signs that asked for and "END TO THE PROSTITUTION FREE ZONES" Does this mean that the Protesters want the right for TG males to commit acts of prostitution in the alleys behind people's homes and drop used (possibly infected) condoms where children walk to school. PLEASE KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT BEFORE YOU MAKE BIASED COMMENTS AGAINST POLICE OFFICERS. (And yes I am a 13 year member of DC's Finest and currently assigned as a HOMICIDE DETECTIVE)
Wow. Before discussing this let me take a brief aside.
Continue reading "Basic respect and human dignity from MPD" »
The Transgender Day of Remembrance will be commemorated this Sunday, Nov. 20. I am proud to stand and be counted as an ally to the transgender community and to every person and family impacted by anti-transgender violence.What began as an online project in 1999 to memorialize the murder of a transgender person will this year include hundreds of vigils and events throughout the country and around the world. I hope that this year’s commemoration will serve as an opportunity to shine a brighter light on both progress made and the challenges ahead.
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Center for Transgender Equality recently joined me at the U.S. Department of Labor to present a comprehensive study on the experiences of transgender people in America. More than 90 percent of transgender people experience harassment and mistreatment in the workplace, with nearly half being fired or denied a promotion. This is unacceptable.
And while my department focuses on the nation’s workforce, I am equally troubled by the experiences of transgender people in their homes and in our schools and hospitals that promise to shelter, educate and heal.
This administration has taken specific steps to protect our transgender citizens. In 2009, the president signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, expanding the 1969 United States federal hate crimes law to include crimes motivated by a victim’s gender identity. The following year, our federal government updated its nondiscrimination policy on USA Jobs to explicitly include protection on the basis of gender identity.
This weekend, while listening to an NPR story about police using tear gas and rubber bullets to break up a demonstration, I was actually surprised when it turned out the newscaster was talking about Tahrir Square -- I had assumed it was about another brutal response to a peaceful protest here at home.All across the country -- most recently on the campus of UC Davis -- a war is being waged. This isn't a battle over parks and tents and sleeping bags. Though many of our leaders don't seem to realize it, this is a battle about their credibility -- even their legitimacy -- about how they represent us, about whom their real allegiance is to. Their misguided response to the Occupy protests has actually proved the point of the protesters more than any sign or chant could....
Each week brings an image more iconic than the last. There was the NYPD officer calmly walking up to several women who were penned, pepper-spraying them in the face and then slinking off. There was the 84-year-old woman pepper-sprayed in Seattle, along with a pregnant 19-year-old and a priest. There was Iraq War veteran Scott Olsen splayed on the ground with a serious head injury after being assaulted by police in Oakland. There was the picture of Elizabeth Nichols being pepper-sprayed directly in the face at close range by police in Portland.
And there were the indelible images from the surprise 1 a.m. raid on Occupy Wall Street's Zuccotti Park encampment by the NYPD -- which, Mayor Bloomberg claimed, was because it had become "a health and fire safety hazard." Really? Does the city traditionally take care of "health and fire safety hazards" under cover of darkness? ...
City officials usually like to publicize their efforts fighting "health and fire safety hazards" for their citizens. But not this time. Not only were the media not allowed to report on the raid on Zuccotti, many reporters were barricaded, blocked, manhandled and even arrested. "The first thing the police did was clear out the journalists so that they could not see what was going on," writes Eric Alterman, "just as they routinely do in totalitarian nations."
I think the actions Bloomberg authorized against reporters, and his lying about it, make him unfit for office. He has flagrantly violated two First Amendment clauses: freedom of the press and the right of the people peaceably to assemble. He has to go, every bit as much as the chancellor at UC Davis.
BTW, when I saw the images of tear gas etc. from Tahrir Square, I had the same initial reaction as Arianna, thinking they were images of another police assault against Occupy protesters. This should embarrass every American. I can only hope that a tragedy similar to that at Kent State four decades ago does not have to happen before these abuses stop. Such police abuses are in effect destroying America in order to save it. No. It is not acceptable.
The outrage against the casual and sadistic police use of pepper spray against nonviolent protesters at UC Davis will be useful if it is channeled into political organizing.
(Hat tip: Joe Jervis)
Tasneem Raja at Mother Jones writes:
Here's a powerful look back at Occupy Oakland's general strike (feels like forever ago, doesn't it?) by spoken-word artist Drew Dellinger and filmmaker Velcrow Ripper. And if you want to relive that intensely crazy night, here's our liveblog from November 2nd.
This is a lovely video. Share it widely. Incidentally, I need to come up with a nom de guerre as cool as Velcrow Ripper.
(Hat tip: Walter Dellinger)
Lt. John Pike casually uses pepper spray against a line of nonviolent protesters at UC Davis. Joan Walsh writes at Salon:
What the UC Davis protesters did Friday was non-violent. What the cops did in response was brutality. The video is very hard to watch. But if you watch the whole thing, you’ll see the remaining students begin to chant “Shame on you!” and slowly move toward the police. And you’ll see the cops begin to retreat, maybe because their work is done, but maybe because they’re feeling the moral and political power of that non-violent crowd. Some of the cops really do look ashamed, including Pike himself (in my opinion; you might see it differently.)
There has been too much of this casual police brutality in response to OWS. That the offending officers are unlikely to be punished for it makes it no less criminal. This is not what we are paying for with our public safety dollars.
About three dozen LGBT activists held protests Thursday afternoon outside police headquarters and the U.S. Attorney's Office as part of Trans Awareness Week. Metro Weekly reports:
Event organizers also issued a list of demands and goals, which they submitted to the offices of MPD Chief Cathy Lanier, U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., Ronald Machen, and the 13 members of the City Council.The list includes requiring LGBT sensitivity training for all MPD officers; closing what activists call a disparity gap between the clearance, or closure, rate of crimes against the transgender community and crimes overall; harsher disciplinary standards for officers failing to uphold the D.C. Human Rights Law; and better tracking and reporting procedures of cases involving transgender people, including referring to them by their preferred name and presenting gender.
The activists also called for the elimination of ''prostitution free zones,'' which they believe to be unconstitutional and say encourages police to engage in discriminatory profiling. A recently introduced City Council bill, submitted by Councilmember Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7), would make such zones permanent.
In response, Police Chief Cathy Lanier reverted to blaming the customer, complaining that no LGBT community members showed up at a GLLU open house she held on Wednesday night. Charles Butler of GetEqual tartly replied, "We had 30 people show up at our event. You had none. Next time, if you contact us, we'll help you with your P.R."
Thanks to Democratic state Sen. Gretchen Whitmer and a shitload of bad national publicity, the religious exemption has been stripped from the anti-bullying bill working its way through the Michigan legislature. But gay groups are still unsatisfied, as the edited version of the bill does not specifically outlaw bullying based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
If you can't or won't specify the most prevalent targets of bullying, but instead hide behind generic language, the end result will be little more than a feel-good gesture. You can't fight bias-related crime with a bill whose very language represents a capitulation to bias.
GLAA, along with several other local LGBT organizations and concerned residents, recently mobilized to shine a brighter spotlight on a matter that is uniquely devastating to the District’s transgender community: anti-transgender hatred or prejudice at the hands of law enforcement.
The coalition, called TLGB Police Watch (TLGB), was formed to support the current efforts of our leaders and allies, who – though working to bring about necessary change – have witnessed one of the most violent periods for the trans community in the District’s history. We acknowledge steps recently taken by our city officials to address these problems, and pledge continued efforts to advance our individual legislative and policy reform goals. As TLGB, we protest because there are urgent (life or death) matters that call for urgent action. At the Day of Action, TLGB shall deliver to DC officials its list of urgent demands. The trans community can't afford to wait.
Transgender Day of Action
WHEN: Thursday, November 17, 2011, 1 PM
WHERE: Metropolitan Police Department Headquarters, (300 Indiana Avenue, NW), to the US Attorney’s Office (555 4th Street NW) and the John A. Wilson building (1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW).
[1PM MEET at the corner of 4th and Indiana, 1 block south of Judiciary Square Metro.]
WHAT: To promote the “fair and impartial administration of justice,” please join our march from MPD HQ, to the US Attorney’s office, ending at the John A. Wilson Building, home of the city government. Bring protest signs. Wear comfy shoes and warm clothes.
Transgender Day of Remembrance
WHEN: Sunday, November 20, 2011, 5 PM
WHERE: Metropolitan Community Church of Washington, DC, 474 Ridge Street, NW
MORE INFO: Here.
Volunteer to participate at http://TLGBpolicewatch.tumblr.com.
TLGB POLICE WATCH COALITION
GetEQUAL DC
DC Trans Coalition (DCTC)
Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive (HIPS)
Transgender Health Empowerment
Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance (GLAA)
International Socialist Organization (ISO)
Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance
Cedar Lane UU Church LGBT Task Force
Rainbow Response
Gender Rights Maryland
VenusPlusX
illustration: Tyler Grigsby
The trustees were also right to dismiss University President Graham B. Spanier for his own appalling response to the indictment of former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky on charges of raping multiple underprivileged boys he was supposed to be helping. Here's what the Philadelphia Inquirer reported on Monday:
On Sunday morning, Spanier in a statement announced his unconditional support of Senior Vice President Gary Schultz and Athletic Director Tim Curley, who have both been charged lying to a grand jury in the case."I have complete confidence in how they handled the allegations about a former university employee," Spanier said. Late that night, however, following a private meeting of the trustees, both men stepped down.
That howlingly inappropriate circle-the-wagons instinct has now rightfully cost Spanier his job. Meanwhile, WaPo's Dave Sheinin reports that "Paterno also took the extraordinary step of acknowledging his regret for not doing more to stop the abuse." Excuse me, but how is that extraordinary? If any of the guys who knew about the incident in 2002 — including the former graduate assistant, Mike McQueary, now the school's wide receivers coach, who witnessed the rape — had reported it to authorities at the time, the later rapes of other boys could have been prevented.
As Maureen Dowd wrote on Tuesday in NYT:
Like the Roman Catholic Church, Penn State is an arrogant institution hiding behind its mystique. And sports, as my former fellow sports columnist at The Washington Star, David Israel, says, is “an insular world that protects its own, and operates outside of societal norms as long as victories and cash continue to flow bountifully.” Penn State rakes in $70 million a year from its football program.
Some Penn State fans were reportedly pulling down lamp posts last night in the State College village of Happy Valley — not to express their outrage at university officials having spent years facilitating child rape by looking the other way, but to express their outrage that coach Paterno wasn't even being allowed to finish out his 46th season. That illustrates the distorted perspective that helped the crimes to continue for so long. It wasn't just a handful of athletic officials, but the community they served, whose priorities were skewed. Thank goodness Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly did her job.
Sandusky set up a charity to help underprivileged youth, and then used it as a stable for sex with them. The sooner the denizens of Happy Valley confront the depravity of such behavior and the unacceptable failure by Penn State personnel to stop it and report it to authorities, the sooner they can begin to repair the damage this disturbing case has done to their school. At least some in that community last night had the presence of mind to urge their friends and neighbors not to riot. Hey, you have to start somewhere.
Lest you think this grim story contrasts with a more uplifting western tradition of valuing and protecting children, I point you to the late John Boswell's book, The Kindness of Strangers: The Abandonment of Children in Western Europe from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance.
These guys need to go. Helping vulnerable youth is not the same as helping yourself to vulnerable youth. The victims in this case were as young as 10. Wanted at Penn State: responsible adults.
Harvey in 2010 endorsed Uganda’s “Kill the Gays” bill, and said this:
The fact they are re-criminalizing homosexuality is (a) their business, (b) it is patronizing for white Westerners to be telling these folks — they are seeing George Soros funded gay groups going into Uganda. They are all through the schools, lots of promotion to kids. Poor kids, poor kids are being offered money and favors and gifts to have sex. That’s exploitation. That’s sex trafficking. And it’s being done mostly homosexually. By Western homosexuals coming in and trying to get involved in Uganda.
Besen responds:
It is absolutely abominable and shameless that Harvey peddled such unsubstantiated propaganda about LGBT westerners coming to Uganda to exploit children. In reality, the Westerners who are actually going to this nation are fundamentalist Christians who are exporting homophobia in an effort to take over Uganda though business contracts and the funneling of US taxpayer money into this repressive, rogue state.More disturbing, it seems that Harvey thinks it’s okay to terrorize, imprison, and even murder LGBT people in any country that would allow it. One wonders if she would deem it a local matter if the legislation in Uganda were called the “Kill the Christians Bill.” And one also questions if her support for such brutal punishment would apply to American states had they the ability to pass such punitive anti-gay laws.
Harvey, in turn, has threatened a lawsuit.
I am inclined to think that Harvey unwittingly helps our cause by demonstrating the fanaticism and viciousness that we are fighting against. But I could do without this particular brand of help. In the meantime, Wayne could use your support. Follow the link to the Truth Wins Out website near the top of this entry and click on the "donate" button.
Update: Wayne replies to Harvey: "Bring it on!"
Oakland police use flash grenades, tear gas and rubber bullets against Wall Street protesters. I'm all for criticizing police excesses, including their thinly-veiled excuses for rioting against citizens and getting the citizens to pay them for it. But let's step back and look at the bigger picture here: this is turning into a story about police brutality, not Wall Street abuses. How does this help the cause of reform? As the editors of TNR write:
One of the core differences between liberals and radicals is that liberals are capitalists. They believe in a capitalism that is democratically regulated—that seeks to level an unfair economic playing field so that all citizens have the freedom to make what they want of their lives. But these are not the principles we are hearing from the protesters. Instead, we are hearing calls for the upending of capitalism entirely. American capitalism may be flawed, but it is not, as Slavoj Zizek implied in a speech to the protesters, the equivalent of Chinese suppression.
The more this starts to resemble Chicago 1968 (that is, for the youngsters out there, the scene outside the Democratic National Convention in which Mayor Richard Daley's police brutalized protesters), the more it will distract people from Wall Street abuses and help the Republicans who want to repeal banking regulations, not strengthen them. And the trouble is, it's not clear that many of the Occupiers care. We need to connect the protests to the political process. In that regard, we need to ask the protesters: do they want to help with the long and difficult work needed to change things, or do they just want to vent?
B19-17, "Human Rights for Ex-Offenders Amendment Act of 2011" October 24th 11:00 am
To prohibit employment, housing, and educational discrimination based upon arrest record, or conviction record, with certain exceptions based on the relationship of the arrest or conviction to the position sought, lack of knowledge of the conviction, reliance upon an authorized certification, a record of violent crimes, or positions specifically exempt.
The video can be slow to start. This link might work better.
While openly gay people face greater job discrimination, it is the transgender community that faces even greater threat of arrest.Countdown with Keith Olbermann reports:
Naomi Wolf, political activist and author of “Give Me Liberty,” calls attention to the enormous power that the federal government can wield to prevent constitutionally guaranteed rights. “History shows they start with the Other and it gets closer and closer and closer and someday they come for you.”
If Republicans succeed in portraying peaceful protesters as threats to the public safety, get ready for a giant step backward in American civil liberties. Exercise your civil rights before they disappear.
Update: If you see a message that the video is unavailable, please note that I got the embed code from the Current website, not a third party.
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Sgt. Shemar Thomas shames NYPD officers for brutalizing unarmed Occupy Wall Street protesters. Thank goodness for him, for nonviolent protest, and for television cameras. Incidentally, cell phone cameras are great if they're all that's available, but their grainy and jumpy images are no match for professional videography.
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