Pawling Supervisor Beth Coursen accused of making homophobic slur

By Michael Woyton

The Poughkeepsie Journal

PAWLING - A homophobic slur allegedly directed at the town GOP chairman by the Republican supervisor has brought out cries of politics and intimidation.

Supervisor Beth Coursen denied making the remark to Glenn Carey, town Republican chairman.

During a break in proceedings during the July 2 Town Board meeting, Carey spoke with Coursen to follow up on an exchange they had earlier in the meeting.

Carey said he had offered help posting comprehensive plan committee meeting minutes on the town Web site, something Coursen publicly was amenable to.

He said he approached Coursen to ask if the following day would be good for him to help.

According to Carey, Coursen said he could come in and apply for a part-time position, and he asked if her public comments were made only to appease him. Coursen is a former aide to former state Assemblyman Willis Stephens.

Carey said, "She took a step forward and said, 'I'm not giving you access to the town Web site, and you're a [expletive] and everybody knows it.'"

While the meeting was still in open session, Carey told the public and the board what Coursen allegedly said to him.

Coursen said the accusation was "categorically false."

full article

Update: New York Rite Aid signs act of vandalism

BACKSTORY

An email was sent to Rite Aid and received the following response:

Let me assure you that were taking this matter very seriously. These signs absolutely do not represent the view of Rite Aid nor the associate identified. One of our core values is to be a place where all customers and associates are treated with respect and dignity, where they feel appreciated and welcome.

We are conducting an investigation regarding this matter as our findings show that these signs were not posted by any current Rite Aid associates asindicated. As soon as the signs were noticed, they were immediately removed. We've notified the local authorities on this act of vandalism and are offering our full support and cooperation so that the individuals responsible for this act of intolerance can be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Corey
Customer Support

Thank you Robbie, for providing this information.

New York City Rite Aide accused of homophobia in very gay neighborhood

ARTICLE UPDATE

by Charles Winters
Gay Socialites

Some gay bloggers in New York are all riled up over this sign that allegedly appeared in a Rite Aid drug store in the heart of the West Village.

The sign which, reads:

"This store does not believe in Gay and Lesbian marriages. Any same sex activity which includes kissing, hugging, touching or anything that would make our customers feel comfortable is prohibited in the store [sic.]" - Tom Marquez, Rite Aide Management.

These words evidently appeared on four or five signs hung on entrances and through out the New York City Rite Aide store.

full article and photo

EDITORIAL - Homophobic silliness and a failure of leadership

Jamaica Gleaner News

Leadership often demands of the person who assumes that role a willingness to adopt what initially may be unpopular positions and, the ability to persuade and cajole those whom they lead to the embrace of new ideas.

Then Mr Golding was asked about past remarks that no homosexual could be a member of his Cabinet. Here, there was a bit of a waffling inconsistency: while he broadly viewed people on the basis of their abilities, he was under no compulsion to consider gays, in exercising his choice in forming a Cabinet.

When he was pressed on the issue, Mr Golding resorted to the tactics of the cornered - neither he nor Jamaica would be dictated to. And, on whether gays can ever sit in a Jamaican Cabinet: "Sure ... but not in mine."

Jamaica and Mr Golding can expect further pressure from the international community, which is the lesser of the outcomes from the PM's performance. His greater failure is that of leadership.

A potentially unintended consequence of Mr Golding's trenchant statement is that people interpret it as vindication of homophobic and anti-gay violence and for the liberation of the voyeurs.

full article

Come Out, Come Out, Where Ever You Are

By Christian Taylor
Inside Out Australia

Nathan Burke, former St Kilda skipper and now club director, has spoken out about homophobia in the AFL (Australian Football League). He wants the league to discipline and penalise players who engage in homophobic behaviour.

“The rules should be along the same lines as its successful racial vilification policy,” Burke told the Herald Sun.

full article

Gay support groups challenge homophobia at May 15 event

from The Burlington Post

It was 17 years ago, on May 17, that the World Health Organization (WHO) removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders.

On Thursday, May 15, the International Day Against Homophobia and the International Day of the Family are being celebrated together by the Halton Organization for Pride and Education (HOPE) and the Halton Chapter of Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians & Gays (PFLAG).

The two local groups are celebrating both days as a means to "combat" discrimination of sexual orientation and gender identities for lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transsexual and queer (LGBTQ) members of the Halton community.

full article

London: Rail company apologises for homophobic incident

The Customer Service Director of rail operator First Capital Connect has said she was "both appalled and embarrassed" by an incident at London St Pancras station when a gay couple were told to stop being affectionate.

The incident occurred at around 6:30am on Sunday, March 30th.

A public announcement was made by a First Capital Connect staff member, directed at the gay couple, requesting "passengers please keep their hands to themselves and refrain from kissing."

A heterosexual passenger, Jean Lechmand, was so shocked at what he had heard that he complained to the train operating company.

"The behaviour of the gay couple was not lewd or lascivious," he told PinkNews.co.uk.

"In fact they were doing no more than any regular heterosexual couple does on a regular basis at train stations, on buses, in the streets and anywhere else loving couples happen to pass through.

"The announcement was not only out of line but hurtful and hateful. "

It was blatant discrimination against members of the public based on sexual orientation.

"Furthermore, it has the potential to cause a great deal of personal anguish."Mr Lechmand, who did not know the couple, later reported the incident.

He pointed out that the centrepiece of the £800m refurbishment of St Pancras station, which is now the terminus for Eurostar trains, is a 9m high sculpture of a couple kissing - a straight couple.

full article

Gay Holocaust; memorials, documentaries and the pink triangle

If tolerance for difference is one of the lessons humanity is supposed to have learned from the Nazi era, the contemporary treatment of homosexuals around the world demonstrates that the lesson has not yet been learned.

87 countries currently maintain laws that prohibit or regulate sexual activity between consenting adults of the same sex. These laws are extremely broad in their scope and lend themselves to ideological interpretations which often serve as a pretext for the persecution of homosexuals.

Clearly, in different places throughout our contemporary world, much of the same discrimination and even some of the same crimes that occurred under the Nazi regime are currently being perpetrated against homosexual people.

The past is not past. History is repeating itself virtually every day. This is because the lessons of the Nazi persecution of homosexuals have not yet been taught or learned. We believe that one of the best ways to commemorate and historically legitimize those who were murdered by the Nazis is to prevent such atrocities from occurring again throughout the world.

The pink triangle was pinned on us by the Nazi's. Matt and Andrej ask that we not forget the reason we still wear the pink triangle. In memory of our brothers, murdered by the Nazi's while wearing a pink triangle.

I want to thank Matt and Andrej where I obtained much of this.

I loved their page titled: 8 Memorials to the Gay Holocaust

Other resources:

The book: The Pink Swastika

The documentary: Paragraph 175

It speaks with the 6 remaining gay holocaust survivors.

That wasn't a typo, 6 remaining gay holocaust survivors in the world!

Sally Kern disowned gay son

OKLAHOMA: Sally Kern's (the Oklahoma lawmaker) homophobic remarks have been the talk of the town recently, especially her assertion that gay folk are infiltrating schools to indoctrinate children.

But it turns out there is more to the story, she has a gay son that her and her husband have disowned!

Consider comment seventeen on this Tulsa World article: “How come no-one asks this “supposed” christian woman..about her own GAY son? The one she basically has dis-owned…ahh so christian.”

A little more digital detective work dug up numerous postings naming Jesse as the outcast offspring. One even recalls Jesse’s time at Oklahoma Baptist University, where he was apparently “the biggest queen on campus”:

I find it hilarious that Salacious Sally is such a bigot. Her son Jesse was the biggest queen on the campus of OBU in the mid-90’s. Twice he almost was expelled for making inappropriate advances in the library toilets. When he wasn’t cruising the toilets he was in the glee club and a piano major…there’s your sign.

Another comment, punches holes through Kern’s religious extremism and suggests Jesse’s homosexuality pushed Sally Kern over the edge:

Jesse Kern, Sally’s son, was raised in a strict Baptist environment. If your claims are true then you must blame her and her husband for his turning out that way. Most gays aren’t out there breaking the law and engaging in public sex acts and solicitation. Jesse chose criminal behavior to act out on his desires.
…
I see in this foolish woman much anger and resentment. Her beliefs are challenged within herself, because if she stands by them then she must accept her part in her son being a homosexual. She isn’t strong enough to do that. Instead, she has created a paranoid delusion that there is some vast conspiracy of gays infiltrating schools and governments to turn others gay and force their lifestyles on everyone. Her subconscious has created this great gay evil so she doesn’t have to blame herself and she says her son as a victim.
Had the gays infiltrated Jesse’s school and indoctrinated him then? Funny, how he attended Baptist schools. His attendence [sic] at Oklahoma Baptist University was marred by his repeated censure for cruising the school’s toilets.

Had he been able to live his life openly he would not have had to engage in such actions.

Woof. Those are some allegations! And potentially disastrous for “family friendly” Kern. It also makes you wonder how Kern and her ilk sleep at night - and whether they understand the concept of “hell”.

Sign petition against Sally Kern

full article

BROWARD COUNTY; FT. LAUDERDALE; HOMOPHOBIA

Is there something in the water of Broward County, Florida?


We know Fort Lauderdale is in Broward County.


We also know Mayor Naugle, of Fort Lauderdale, for his high level of homophobia.

We also know 17-year-old Simmie Williams Jr. who was shot to death in Broward County for being gay. Just miles away and within 24 hours Melbourne Brunner was beaten outside The Floridian 24-hour diner by a man who shouted anti-gay slurs at him and his partner. 5 years prior to that 22 year old Timothy Broadus was shot to death just blocks from where Simmie was shot.

W O R D S H U R T S T O P T H E H U R T

County Commissioner John Rodstrom now comes into the light.

First was Rodstrom’s 1995 vote in which he was the only commissioner who voted against an ordinance banning discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.


Second, the 1999 vote in which Rodstrom was the only commissioner who opposed a domestic partnership initiative requiring the county to offer health benefits to the unmarried partners of county employees, giving bidding advantages to private companies that offer the same benefits and allowing unmarried couples to register their relationships.


Third, Caletka said Rodstrom wasn't present when the County Commission voted last month to add protections for transgender residents to the human rights ordinance.

Rodstrom said he wasn't there, but arranged to call in while absent to record his vote, which made the commission decision a unanimous 9-0.

Michael Albetta of Fort Lauderdale, president of the state GLBT Democratic Caucus, also criticized Rodstrom.

When the addition of transgender protection to the human rights ordinance was pending, Albetta said he asked Rodstrom to publicly apologize for his vote against the original ordinance. "He said 'done.'"

But, Albetta said, it never happened. "I don't like being fooled with. Lies and false pretenses," he said. "I am sick and tired of people taking us for granted and promising us things and not delivering them."

He said he was withdrawing his personal endorsement of Rodstrom.


full story

Death by Homophobia

Janet Jackson, Portia di Rossi, TR Knight, Ashanti, Calpernia Addams and others speak out against hate and in honor of Lawrence King, the 15-year-old openly gay Oxnard student, shot to death by a classmate.

Click here for video.

VIDEO: Test shows link to homophobia in closet cases

Tough straight guys who are homophobes

Since childhood I remember most people stereotype gays. To them, gays are "sissy like", can't fight and only think about sex.

This always amused me since I was a jock in high school, not "sissy like" and can deffinately defend myself. I'll never forget the time I got into a fight. After winning the fight I reminded the straight to be sure and tell his friends he got his ass kicked by a faggot! I doubt he ever mentioned it.

So I guess these "men" need at least two, usually three or more, "men" to subdue one gay man. Afterall, they wouldn't want to admit they got their ass kicked by a faggot. If these "men" are so tough why do they need baseball bats and multiple people to subdue one gay man?

The few times I've heard about one atttacker is when the attacker was armed with a weapon (usually a gun) and the victim wasn't!

I've always said the most violent of these hate crimes are committed by closet cases. A recent posting would seem to agree.

Contrary to popular belief, these people are not afraid of homosexuals. They are afraid of homosexuality, because they have experienced such feelings themselves. They are very angry that other people can accept such feelings and they can't!

For whatever reason (usually religious based) they can not accept their inner feelings. They must go through life pretending to be someone they are not! For them, no one should be able to accept such feelings. If it's wrong for them it's wrong for everyone! If they are not allowed to accept their same sex feelings then no one else should be allowed. "It's not fair".

So instead of dealing with their own inner turmoil, they strike out at others. Afterall, an "out of sight out of mind" mentality will allow them to live in their dream world.

These people are actually spineless excuses for a human. Their selfishness is the issue. If they were more loving and giving (aren't most religious people supposed to be that way?) they wouldn't be so self centered.

Erase the hate

I am the boy who never finished high school, because I got called a fag everyday.

I am the girl kicked out of her home because I confided in my mother that I am a lesbian.

I am the prostitute working the streets because nobody will hire a transsexual woman.

I am the sister who holds her gay brother tight through the painful, tear-filled nights.

We are the parents who buried our daughter long before her time.

I am the man who died alone in the hospital because they would not let my partner of twenty-seven years into the room.

I am the foster child who wakes up with nightmares of being taken away from the two fathers who are the only loving family I have ever had. I wish they could adopt me.

I am not one of the lucky ones. I killed myself just weeks before graduating high school. It was simply too much to bear.

I am the (wo)man who fears that I will never be able to be myself, to be free of this secret because I won’t risk losing my family and friends.

We are the couple who had the realtor hang up on us when she found out we wanted to rent a one-bedroom for two men.

I am the person who never knows which bathroom I should use if I want to avoid getting the management called on me.

I am the mother who is not allowed to even visit the children I bore, nursed, and raised. The court says I am an unfit mother because I now live with another woman.

I am the domestic-violence survivor who found the support system grow suddenly cold and distant when they found out my abusive partner is also a woman.

I am the domestic-violence survivor who has no support system to turn to because I am male.

I am the father who has never hugged his son because I grew up afraid to show affection to other men.

I am the home-economics teacher who always wanted to teach gym until someone told me that only lesbians do that.

I am the woman who died when the EMTs stopped treating me as soon as they realized I was transsexual.

I am the person who feels guilty because I think I could be a much better person if I didnt have to always deal with society hating me.

I am the man who stopped attending church, not because I don’t believe, but because they closed their doors to my kind.

I am the person who has to hide what this world needs most, love.

I am the person ashamed to tell my own friends I'm a lesbian, because they constantly make fun of them.

I am the boy tied to a fence, beaten to a bloody pulp and left to die because two straight men wanted to “teach me a lesson”

IF YOU BELIEVE THAT HOMOPHOBIA IS WRONG … REPOST THIS.

VIDEO: Silence=Death .. Get angry, hate crime rampant

CAMBRIDGE, MA: Pedestrian struck by homophobic driver

A 41-year-old Cambridge man was walking with his boyfriend in a crosswalk at Granite and Pearl streets March 1 at 11:59 a.m. when a man driving a black Audi stopped at a stop sign and then allegedly rammed the victim in his right leg with the car. The victim reported he struck the hood of the car with his hand, and the driver called him an expletive and a homophobic slur before driving away. The victim told police he believed the driver ran into him because of his sexual orientation.

This was in the "police brief" section.

Hate groups abound

About 15.6 percent of hate crime offenses in the United States targeted homosexuals, according to the FBI's 2006 Hate Crime Statistics.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, there are currently 844 active hate groups in the United States.

In Louisiana, there are 24 hate groups, including the Black Separatists, Ku Klux Klan, White Nationalists and Neo-Nazis.

California, where Lawrence King was murdered, has 63 active hate groups - more than any state in the country.

I'm still waiting to hear more about Lawrence Kings' murderer. Anyone want to bet his family is strongly grounded in religious right beliefs?

We've heard nothing about the parents. The parents should be going to jail also!

If the kid took their car and killed someone the parents would be held responsible.

But Brandon McInerney uses a gun (where did that gun come from?) to kill Lawrence King (a gay 14 year old who recently had asked the murderer to be his valentine) and the parents aren't even mentioned!

That's VERY VERY WRONG!

VIDEO: Homophobia

Sydney authorities form crime partnership

Sydney's Lord Mayor Clover Moore says she hopes the new initiative will stop homophobic violence in Oxford Street.

Assistant Commissioner Catherine Burn says officers from the City Central, Kings Cross and Surry Hills local area commands will form a partnership with government agencies to plan strategies to prevent trouble associated with drunken behaviour.

Police Minister David Campbell says recent problems with violence around licensed venues in the city has prompted the changes.

"There is new legislation, both in the liquor laws and policing laws, that will assist police having those who drink alcohol take responsibility for their own actions," he said.

full article

The Butcher's Bill for February

Those of you who have seen the movie And the Band Played On will recognize the term in the title of this article. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term:

In the war against Napoleon, when Admiral Nelson wanted to know how many people were dead, he'd yell to his orderly, "What's the butcher's bill for today?"

I'm going to start posting a monthly Butcher's Bill. Showing the previous months violence against gays (please let me know if I miss any - I'm sure I'll miss many this first time around).

February Butcher's Bill:

Feb 9th - New York
Sanesha Stewart stabbed to death, in her home by Steve McMillian who had been seeing her

Feb 12th - California
15-year-old Lawrence King was shot in the head by another student

Feb 21st - Mexico
48-year-old Alejandro Fuentes Mejia was reportedly tortured, beaten with rocks, and suffocated

Note: I've had a couple of lovers die due to HIV/AIDS related causes. So I'll be the first to say knowingly infecting others is murder! But that doesn't mean it's okay to murder the murderer. I just don't understand how it makes us better when we lower ourselves to the same level as the offender.

Feb 22nd - Florida
17-year-old Simmie Williams was transgendered and was known in the area by the first name of "Chris" or "Beyonce." Williams was wearing a dress and was shot about 12:45 a.m.

Feb 23rd - Florida
Less then 24 hours after Simmie Williams was shot to death, Melbourne Brunner was beaten outside The Floridian 24-hour diner by a man who shouted anti-gay slurs at him and his partner.