Rights groups mum on beating

By Wendi C. Thomas
Memphis Commercial Appeal

When the videotape of a since-fired Memphis police officer beating a black transgender woman surfaced earlier this month, the outcry from the GLBT community (that's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender, for the unfamiliar) was swift and loud.

But from the folks who rally the troops when police brutality rears its head, especially when the officers are white and the victim is black (as was the case in the Feb. 12 incident), well, the silence was deafening.

The videotape shows officer James McSwain, also since fired, holding Johnson back as McRae punches Johnson in the face, repeatedly.

For Johnson, neither Rev. Jesse Jackson nor Rev. Al Sharpton have brought the national spotlight to town, and I think I know why.

Those who can be counted on to look out for the civil rights of black people are highly unreliable if that black person is gay, lesbian, bisexual and/or transgender.

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Update: Second Memphis police officer fired for beating transgender

BACKSTORY

from Out & About Newspaper

A second Memphis police officer has been fired as a result of a February attack on a transgender woman in the Shelby County Criminal Justice Center.

Bridges McRae, 28, was fired immediately after an administrative hearing held June 25 for his involvement in the beating of Duanna Johnson, 42. McRae had been on non-enforcement status since the attack.

Memphis Police officer fired for abuse of transexual

Click here for UPDATE

Associated Press

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - A Memphis police officer has been fired for punching a suspect who was being booked.

James Swain, 25, who had been serving a probationary period as a new officer, has been fired, police spokeswoman Monique Martin said Wednesday.

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Video: Memphis Police officer beats transexual in booking station

from LiveLeak

click here for UPDATE

MEMPHIS, TN.Memphis police officer beating a suspect at 201 Poplar in an apparent case of police brutality.

The video, recorded February 12th, shows Duanna Johnson in the booking area at the Shelby County Criminal Justice Center after an arrest for prostitution.The tape clearly shows a Memphis police officer walk over to Johnson - a transsexual - and hit her in the face several times."

Actually he was trying to get me to come over to where he was, and I responded by telling him that wasn't my name - that my mother didn't name me a 'faggot' or a 'he-she,' so he got upset and approached me. And that's when it started," Johnson said.

"We wanted some acknowledgement - my client did - so she would know that the Memphis Police Department didn't condone this," said Murray Wells, Johnson's attorney. "We were optimistic that they would be as outraged about this as we are, and we haven't gotten any indication that they're interested in it at all.

A copy of the tape was reviewed by both the FBI and the District Attorney's office, the latter of which dropped all charges against Johnson. An FBI investigation into possible civil rights violations is still underway.

Meanwhile, the Memphis Police Department confirmed that the officer holding Johnson was on probation, and has been fired. The officer who threw the punches is currently on non-enforcement status pending an administrative hearing.

Dining Out for Life raises $75000 for Nashville CARES

by Jerry Jones, Publisher
Out & About Newspaper

A record $75,000 was raised during the sixth annual Dining Out for Life benefit for Nashville CARES, with some 60 restaurants donating at least 30 percent of food sales on April 29. Last year’s event raised $70,000.

Red Restaurant, which gave 100 percent of food sales from two days (a Sunday brunch and a Tuesday night buffet), raised $7,500, making it the top restaurant contributor.

David Taylor, co-owner of Red Restaurant, said hundreds of diners made the donation possible, and that the two days were two of the busiest days the restaurant had experienced.

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Tennessee anti-gay hate crimes at ‘alarming’ level

by Jerry Jones
Publisher
Out & About

A total of 56 anti-gay hate crimes were reported to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) in 2007, with one of those occurring on the campus of Vanderbilt University. The number is down slightly from 2006, which had 60 reported offenses. In 2005 the number of reported cases was 21.

“That’s a really high level,” said Christopher Sanders, president of the Tennessee Equality Project when asked to review the report by Out & About Newspaper. “The numbers are alarming.”

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Principal outs gay kids, ACLU steps in

by Nick Langewis
PageOneQ

Daphne Beasley, principal of Hollis F. Price Middle College in Memphis, Tennessee, is under fire for outing at least one gay couple in her student body, according to the ACLU-backed couple and their parents.

"This is a public high school that runs on taxpayer dollars," said attorney Bruce Kramer. "As such, it is part of the government and must obey the Constitution in dealing with the students entrusted to its care each day."

"The principal's outing of these two students to their families, classmates, and teachers is unacceptable," said Hedy Weinberg, ACLU of Tennessee's Executive Director. "Its only purpose was to intimidate not only these students but all gay students at Hollis Price.

"Educators," Weinberg continued, "should be focused on educating their students and not on harassing them because of their sexual orientation or the people with whom they associate."

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Verdict in Steven Scarborough case: Guilty of voluntary manslaughter of Victor Manious

GRAND RAPIDS -- A Tennessee native was found guilty today of voluntary manslaughter in the slaying of Victor Manious, a Gaines Township man whose body was found in the trunk of his own vehicle, parked on a downtown street.

Steven Scarborough, 22, was accused of luring 62-year-old Victor Manious to a friend's apartment to rob him. The prosecution said he then struck Manious in the head with a blunt force object before dragging him down stairs to Manious' car, stuffing the victim in the trunk.

Scarborough had been charged with felony murder and faced mandatory life in prison without parole. Manslaughter carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.

Grand Rapids Police Detective Kristen Rogers, who interviewed Scarborough once he was apprehended, put her head in her hands.

Kent County Assistant Prosecutor Helen Brinkman said she would tell the Manious family she did her best.

"I just wish the jury would have known about his previous record and that he came to Michigan to flee the conviction," she said.

Denenfeld said the jury was aware of his previous record and obviously believed that he was a victim of an assault.

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Tennessee: No parents is better then gay parents

(Nashville, Tennessee) Tennessee lawmakers returned to the legislature Tuesday with Republicans threatening to take up a bill that would bar gays and lesbians from adopting or serving a foster parents.

An attempt to pass legislation banning gays from adopting failed in 2005.

Supporters of the measure said the children would be better off remaining in orphanages than being with a gay parent.

The bill was later amended to say only that married couples should be given priority in adoptions. It died in committee.

There are an estimated nine-thousand children in state custody. In 2006 slightly over one-thousand children in state custody were adopted. Figures for 2007 have not been released.

Socially conservative groups that won a state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage say that if the legislature does not pass an adoption bill they will begin collecting signatures for a constitutional amendment barring gays from adopting in the Tennessee.