Category — Battleground

This is disgusting.  Gay teenagers were targeted, shot and killed at a teen gay club on Saturday night in Tel Aviv.

Israeli police say a gunman entered a youth club for gay teens in central Tel Aviv on Saturday night and sprayed the interior with automatic rifle fire, killing three people and injuring 11.Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said it was “most likely a criminal attack and not a terror attack.” Tel Aviv has been a target for Palestinian militants in the past.

He said the gunman burst into the basement of the Tel Aviv Gay and Lesbian Association and opened fire on a support group for gay teenagers.

Police are searching the area for the gunman, who fled the scene, he said. Roadblocks were set up.

Rescue services said six of the wounded were badly hurt.

“This was a hate crime, a premeditated attack,” witness Yaniv Weisman told Channel 10 TV. He said Cafe Noir, the basement club, was popular with youth.

“Those hurt were very young,” he said.

        

What the fuck?  For real?  And America can’t even have a federal civil union?  Oookay.  From the BBC:

Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha has announced his party will propose a law legalising same-sex marriage.

It is an unexpected move in a country that is still one of the most conservative in Europe and where homosexuality was illegal until 1995.

Mr Berisha acknowledged the proposed law might provoke debate but maintained that discrimination in modern Albania had to end.

Well this is good news.   Many people feel this is a way for Albania to be accepted into the European Union.   If it is, so what?   Futher, Albania is one of two European countries that is predominantly Muslim.  That could add some additional friction when gays start tongue twistin’ at the courthouse to display their love.

Some groups in Albania are already flipping their wigs:

The reaction by Islamic and Catholic leaders has been vehement.

Under the isolationist rule of Enver Hoxha, Albania was officially an atheist state.

But since the fall of Communism almost two decades ago, religion has once again grown and its leaders’ voices are influential.

This should be an interesting story.   All these religious people always flipping their wigs!!  From Alabama to Albania.  BULLSHIT!

Anyways, interesting flag.  Looks like it should be in the dungeon of a group of rabid fisting nationalist nazis.

        

Openly hiv+  and gay New York senator Tom Duane delivered this speech last night to the New York Assembly.   It is REALLY intense, and he is angry.  It seems to be received very well as he gets a standing ovation.  Remember when Howard Dean did a mini rant?

        

At private Xavier High School in New South Wales, a former student called for gays to be eliminated from the world, and the high school fucking printed it:

A NSW Catholic private school has come under attack for publishing an “anti-gay letter” in its newsletter which activists say calls for the murders of homosexuals.

Xavier High School in Albury printed the letter, written by former student Matt Price, in the latest edition of its alumni newsletter Xavier.

Mr Price said he was “trying to make the world free of homosexuals”, who live lives devoted to “sex and drugs”.

“The gay side of life, all it’s ever been is going out and doing that sort of stuff … the world just really doesn’t need that,” he said.

Mr Price said he was a “cured” homosexual and now lived in Noosa working as a registered nurse.

Anti-discrimination campaigner Garry Burns blasted Xavier High’s decision to publish the letter, saying he understood Mr Price’s letter to mean that gays and lesbians should be killed.

“It says he wants the removal of homosexuals from the face of the earth and there’s only one way to interpret that,” Burns told ninemsn.

“There are people out there who will express that endorsement through bashings, murder and all sorts of things … they’ll go out and say the Catholic Church is right: ‘let’s get a poof and kill him’.”

The 52-year-old, who last year sued 2UE presenter John Laws after he called gay men “pillow-biters” on-air, said Xavier High officials “ran away and hid like Burmese kittens” after he asked them to apologise and make a $5000 donation to gay and lesbian support group Twenty10.

What the fuck is this shit?  I am surprised this happened in Oz, it seems more suited to Alabama.  Imagine if you were gay and 14, figuring yourself out and your high school published this letter?  Whoever did should be ashamed.

I would love to hear from anyone who knows Matt Price.

        

And good.  Don’t pay those bastards while we the people lose.  Their fragile egos are causing a legislative headlock which keeps their pride somehow intact while totally fucking us. On Wednesday, State Controller Thomas DiNapoli came through with his promise to withhold NY Senate pay if they couldn’t get their shit together:

Thirty-one days into their stalemate, do-nothing warring state senators are having their salaries withheld Wednesday – for the first time since the infamous June 8 Republican-led coup.

State Controller Thomas DiNapoli last week ordered the biweekly paychecks of all 62 senators held until the Senate wraps up its fight.

Wednesday is the first payday since the order. Payroll for 62 senators amounts to some $190,000 – or $3,049 per senator, every two weeks.

“The controller didn’t want to interject his office in what’s an internal dispute, but he just felt he couldn’t continue to process payroll as if everything was normal,” DiNapoli spokesman Dennis Tompkins said.

DiNapoli is moving ahead even though a court has yet to rule on his question about whether he has the authority.

The controller’s office also continues to withhold payments for expense vouchers submitted by the Senate. A spokesman said 557 vouchers have been withheld, totaling $1.5 million

Good.  How can their pay be justified if they can’t even willingly sit through a session?

        

As of today, out of district gay marriages are recognized in Washington DC, my homecity.  So, you can’t get married in DC, but if it’s legal and you do it elsewhere, DC got yo’ back.  Here’s a Q&A to help you dissect through the situation:

Can I now get married in the District?

No. Issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples remains illegal. But the D.C. Council is expected to take up a legalization bill in the fall.

If my spouse and I were legally married in another jurisdiction and now live in Maryland or Virginia, can we move to the District and be recognized?

Yes. The District will recognize couples legally married outside the city.

Where can my partner and I get legally married?

Same-sex couples can get married in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Iowa. Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont will follow in the next several months. [Read more →]

        

The title says it all.  Unlike somewhat nearby India, who just a few days ago decriminalized same sex booty calls, Singapore will not be falling suit:

Singapore will keep its ban on gay sex, declining to follow the lead of an Indian court that threw out a similar British colonial-era law last week, a newspaper reported Monday.

The state-owned New Paper quoted Law Minister K. Shanmugam as saying the law will remain because most Singaporeans don’t accept homosexuality.

However, Shanmugam pledged the government would not enforce the law.

“We sometimes in these things have to accept a bit of messiness,” Shanmugam told a neighbourhood residents’ meeting, according to   the paper. “The way the society is going, we don’t think it’s fair for us to prosecute people who say that they are homosexual.”

The Delhi High Court ruled last week that treating consensual gay sex between adults as a crime is a violation of fundamental rights protected by India’s constitution. The ruling, the first of its kind in India, is not binding outside New Delhi.

Under Singapore law, sex between homosexuals is punishable by two years in jail.  Singapore legalized oral and anal sex between heterosexual couples in 2007

Well Shanmugam is right, we will have to accept a bit of “messiness” regarding this situation, huh?  Pun intended.  Who gives a shit what people do in their own rooms?  Further, how do you get out safe sex education to a group that is quite high risk when you state their very existence by nature is somehow illegal?   Thank god I don’t live there or I would be a very ILLEGAL man.

        

Extreme homophobe Oklahoma Rep. Sally Kern has led what she calls a “morality rally” in Oklahoma last week.  She wants the USA to once again rise up to righteousness.  BULLSHIT:

OKLAHOMA CITY — A state lawmaker who made national headlines by claiming homosexuality is a greater threat to the United States than terrorism was heckled by protesters Thursday as she launched a campaign for a morality proclamation that opponents said promotes an atmosphere of hate.

Rep. Sally Kern said the U.S. is drifting from traditional Christian values as she sought signatures for her petition at a state Capitol rally attended by about 250 people including ministers and their followers, four other state lawmakers, and protesters who shouted “shame on you” and “hypocrite.”

“You are seeing a wonderful demonstration of intolerance,” the conservative Republican from Oklahoma City said of the hecklers.

Among other things, the proclamation says “this nation has become a world leader in promoting abortion, pornography, same-sex marriage, sex trafficking, divorce, illegitimate births, child abuse and many other forms of debauchery.”

The proclamation declares the federal government “is forsaking the rich Christian heritage upon which this nation was built.”

Kern’s supporters attempted to drown out the protesters by singing “God Bless America” and “The Star Spangled Banner.” The protesters responded with “We Shall Overcome.”

Last year, gay and lesbian groups demanded Kern apologize after she told a political group that “the homosexual agenda is just destroying this nation” and poses a bigger threat to the United States than terrorism.

We are a bigger threat than terrorism?  Is that so, Sally?   You do realize my gaydar goes into overdrive when she speaks.   Check out the rally below:

        

A third gay bashing has occurred on the upper east side of Manhattan in less than one week, and the assaults appear to be related.  A total of six attacks by the same group of young, white men have occurred on the UES in the last month.  The NYC Anti-Violence Project has issued this alert:

Community Alert: Recent anti‐LGBT attacks on the Upper East Side; AVP urges community to stay alert

and safe

This morning, the New York City Anti‐Violence Project learned of six violent attacks on the Upper East

Side that have occurred in the span of just over a month.  Most of the attacks occurred between June

26th and June 28th.  A disturbing commonality in at least two of the incidents has been the use of anti‐

gay epithets during the attacks, regardless of the self‐identity of the victims. Three of the incidents are

being investigated as hate crimes by the NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force.  The Anti‐Violence Project is

urging the NYPD to investigate all six as possible hate crimes.  All of the attacks occurred in the early

morning hours.

The news comes just after the release of the 2008 Hate Violence against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and

Transgender People in the United States Report, which includes the New York City Anti‐Violence

Project’s data on anti‐LGBT hate violence in New York City.  The report documents that in NYC there was

a 12% decrease in reports of incidents, but an increase in the severity of the attacks. The recent reports

from the Upper East Side have made clear that the trend in severity appears to be continuing.

The Anti‐Violence Project is in constant communication with the 19th precinct, the Hate Crimes Task

Force, the NYPD’s LGBT Liaison, NY State Assembly Member Micah Kellner and NY City Council Member

Jessica Lappin to address the needs of the residents of the Upper East Side and the City as a whole.  The

Anti‐Violence Project urges people to stay alert and, when out late at night, to try to walk in pairs.

Anyone who has experienced an attack or has information about the cases mentioned above is being

asked to contact Crime Stoppers (by calling 1‐800‐577‐TIPS, by texting TIP577 to CRIMES, or by going to

NYPDCrimeStoppers.com) or to call the New York City Anti‐Violence Project’s 24‐hour hotline at 212‐

714‐1141.  All calls are confidential.

For additional safety tips, please visit our website: www.avp.org/victiminfo.htm.  Please forward this e‐

mail to your friends and urge them to stay safe.

Be careful.  Sounds like a group of stupid teenagers to me, however, an assault is an assault.  Here is a sketch of the man created from the victims by the NYPD.  Keep your eyes open:

        

Wow.  This is pretty cool.  From the New York Times:

NEW DELHI —In a landmark ruling Thursday that could usher in an era of greater freedom for gays and lesbians in India, New Delhi’s highest court decriminalized homosexuality.

“Discrimination is antithesis of equality,” Delhi High Court judges wrote in a 105-page decision that is the first in India to directly guarantee rights for gays and lesbians. “It is the recognition of equality which will foster dignity of every individual,” the decision said.

Homosexuality has been illegal in India since 1861, when British rulers codified a law prohibiting “carnal intercourse against the order of nature.”

The law, known as Section 377, has long been viewed as an archaic holdover from colonialism by its detractors. Gay men and women have rarely been prosecuted in modern times, but it has been used to harass, blackmail and jail marchers and participants in gatherings.

The ruling applies only to India’s capital city but it will force the national government to either appeal the decision to the Supreme Court or repeal the law nationwide, lawyers said.

In their decision, Chief Justice A. .P Shah and Justice S. Muralidhar declared Section 377, as it pertains to consensual sex among people above the age of 18, in violation of key parts of India’s Constitution.

Okay.  Well I guess you can legally get some booty with your takeout in Mumbai now.  Good for fucking India man.  That country is number one on my destination map.