Quincy man accused of hate crime slapped with civil rights injunction

By Allison Manning
The Patriot Ledger

QUINCY, MA - A Quincy man being prosecuted for a February attack on a gay man has had a civil rights preliminary injunction obtained against him by the attorney general’s office.

The injunction, obtained Wednesday by Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office under the hate crimes statute, prohibits Jeffrey O’Connor from threatening, intimidating or coercing the victim or anyone else based on their sexual orientation.

O’Connor, 24, allegedly pulled a Quincy man out of the passenger side of a car on February 28, punching and shouting antigay slurs at him. The Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office is prosecuting O’Connor for the actual physical assault.

full article

Judge raises constitutional issue in R.I. gay divorce case

The Associated Press

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A Superior Court judge has refused to hear the divorce case of a lesbian couple, but questioned whether the law that barred the women from ending their marriage unconstitutionally denied them a right enjoyed by heterosexual Rhode Islanders.

The Rhode Island Supreme Court last year ruled that the state's family court could not grant a divorce to Margaret Chambers and Cassandra Ormiston, who wed in 2004 in Massachusetts soon after same-sex marriage became legal in that state.

The justices said the state statute that created the family court recognized marriage as between only a man and a woman and the court, therefore, could not divorce a same-sex couple.

Chambers then sought a divorce in Superior Court. Judge Patricia Hurst denied the request on Wednesday, saying her court does not have jurisdiction to handle divorce.

But she also questioned the constitutionality of the statute relied on last year by the Supreme Court.

"It seems to me that this is a matter needing immediate attention and one that very plainly belongs in the hands of the legislature and the executive branch," Hurst said.

full article

Gay Pride Month celebrated by raising a rainbow flag at City Hall (on Flag Day)

The Somerville Journal
Massachusetts

Mayor Joe Curtatone announced that he will host the city’s annual ceremony to honor Gay Pride Month on Saturday, June 14, at 9 a.m. on the City Hall Concourse. The event will feature remarks by Mayor Curtatone and other community leaders and elected officials.

This is the third consecutive year that the rainbow flag has been raised at City Hall, after several years of commemorating GLBT Pride with ceremonies in Davis Square.

full article

NJ radio host calls for violence against local school superintendent

LEXINGTON, Mass. -- A local school official was the target of an attack by a New Jersey radio show host because of what is being taught to students.

The topic of teaching children about homosexuality is very controversial, and it is a debate that is happening all over the country. Recently, a radio host in New Jersey advocated the use of violence against the Lexington School Superintendent because of the curriculum in the district.

"I would laugh if some of the people involved in this issue, went over to the superintendent's house, grabbed him by the neck, and beat the (expletive) out of him," the radio host said.

Recently, two civil lawsuits have been filed against the school district because of its controversial curriculum. Elementary school students are expected to read books like King and King," which depicts a marriage ceremony for two kings.

The Superintendent says that he stands by the school curriculum, and it will continue as scheduled.

The Superintendent has had police watch over his home the past few days because of the threats.

full article

Massachusetts: Family arraigned on hate crime charges

WORCESTER— Three family members were arraigned yesterday on charges stemming from an alleged assault last summer that police are categorizing as a hate crime motivated, at least in part, by an anti-gay bias.

A lawyer for one of the suspects said, however, that the event in question was nothing more than “a dispute between a landlord and a former tenant.”

Roger P. West Sr., 67, and his daughter, 40-year-old Penny G. West, are accused of forcing their way into a man’s Institute Road apartment Aug. 30. Ms. West allegedly struck and pushed the man while using anti-gay epithets and what investigators referred to as “hate language” with the intent to intimidate because of what she perceived as his sexual orientation.

The father and daughter are also accused of punching another man in the apartment in his face and body. Mr. West’s son, Roger P. West Jr., 45, is also alleged to have assaulted and directed anti-gay epithets at the first man with the intent to intimidate, according to police accounts.

The elder Mr. West was arraigned yesterday morning in Central District Court on charges of breaking and entering with intent to commit a misdemeanor and assault and battery.

Ms. West was arraigned on charges of assault and battery, breaking and entering with intent to commit a misdemeanor, and assault and battery with intent to intimidate based on race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation or disability.

Roger P. West Jr. was arraigned on a charge of assault with intent to intimidate based on race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation or disability.

Judge Robert W. Gardner Jr. released all three on personal recognizance and continued their cases to May 7.

full article

Never in the Closet

by Albert Mohler

The pace of moral change is now accelerated to the point that it is clearly visible and undeniable.

Evidence for this is found in a recent article published in The Boston Globe Magazine. Entitled, "Easy Out," the article makes the case that today's gay teenagers in Massachusetts find leaving the "closet" very easy -- because they never thought themselves to be closeted as homosexual in the first place.

One day Peck heard several female friends giggling over an attractive older
boy, and the next thing he knew, he had joined the conversation. "The girls were
talking about how cute he was. I said something like 'Yeah, he is so cute,'"
Peck remembers. "It just kind of came out, and I was really startled by it." But
his friends were neither startled nor uncomfortable. "They didn't miss a beat,"
says Peck, now 19 and a freshman at New York University. "They totally accepted
me."

Emboldened by his friends' casual reaction, Peck, a slim young man with
curly brown hair, told his parents that he was gay. He was only 15. Their
response was equally positive and accepting. His mother, Nancy Peck, who lives
in Concord, says her only concern was making sure that Russell was "safe, happy,
and healthy." Her son shared his news with friends at Concord-Carlisle that
fall, joined Spectrum - a school-based discussion club about gay and lesbian
issues - and continued, he says, to feel "very comfortable" during his remaining
three years of high school.

full story

Massachusetts petition fraud

Provincetown: Travel Warning update

Most of us think of Provincetown and "Gay Friendly" as coupled terms (like bread and butter). Maybe that's changing?

Richard (pictured) was visiting Provincetown this last weekend.

Richard decided to buy a pizza at Spiritus on Commercial Street. He left this well-known pizza parlor around 12:30 AM and as he walked down the street, came face to face with three men, one of whom calls him "faggot." Richard, as many of us would, replied with a "smart" comeback.

Richard continued his walk and within seconds felt a blow to his head. The last thing Richard thought to himself before he blacked out was "this is it, it's over..."

About an hour later he was awaken, on the beach, by Provincetown Police (they received an anonymous call). Officer Joudrey made the police report and sent Richard (distraught and confussed) on his way. Richard drove his vehicle back to his home town of New Bedford.

Around 12 noon the next day, Richard went to St. Luke's Hospital in New Bedford. At immediate sight, the orderly puts him in a wheelchair, administers an IV, and puts on a neck collar (due to obvious head trauma). Richard was asked when this happened. He responded, "around 12 hours ago." He is told by the doctor "that is when you should have gone to the hospital, 12 hours ago."

Richard phoned the Provincetown Police and asked "what are the police going to do about this" and was allegedly told, "there is nothing we can do because you told us that you couldn't identify the three men that did this, so it is best to leave it alone."

Up until yesterday at around 2pm, the brother of the owner of Spiritus Pizza, Carl Yingling, was unaware of any incident near his establishment. So it seems that the police did not contact Spiritus or check out its webcam to see if any of this was recorded that evening.

Folks, this is a federal hate crime! Why would the police dismiss it so casually? Are the Provincetown Police lazy or bigots?

http://knowthyneighbor.blogs.com/home/2007/09/is-provincetown.html

click here to view followup article