Texas Police Raid Gay Bar On Stonewall Anniversary

July 2nd, 2009

Hint: It's the difference with the big red circle around it

Police in Fort Worth, Texas have violently raided a newly-opened gay bar on the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, arresting seven people for “public intoxication” (inside a bar?) and sending one to intensive care with brain injuries.

Contrary to eyewitness accounts—which describes terrified bar patrons trying to stay out of the officers’ way—a police press release claimed that extra force was required after several patrons made physical sexual advances on the officers.

You know, because, apparently, when multiple angry policemen barge into your local bar and start arresting people, us gays just can’t resist groping them.

Or, as the bar owner put it:

The groping of the police officer—really? We’re gay, but we’re not dumb!

(Thanks, Bruce, for the story!)

Happy Canada Day!

July 1st, 2009

I’m taking the holiday off, kids. If you’re Canadian, enjoy the celebrations and have a great day! If not, just celebrate extra hard for me when it’s your country’s turn. Cheers!

Forty Years Since Stonewall

June 29th, 2009

Not an Inn per se, but their continental breakfast is phenominal

Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the famous Stonewall riots, the movement widely recognised as sparking the worldwide gay rights movement.

Forty years ago, it seemed far fetched that gay people could live openly without fear of being arrested; now, as more and more people are less afraid to live their lives freely, worldwide attitudes and long-held misconceptions have changed.

Here in Canada, gay people are almost treated completely equally under the law, and other countries are moving in the same direction. Right now, India is reviewing laws that criminalize homosexuality. Ireland is considering adding equal partnership rights in the form of civil union. Gay rights marches are happening all over the world everywhere from Jerusalem, Israel to Ljubljana, Slovenia to Istanbul, Turkey to Sofia, Bulgaria.

There’s still work to do both at home and abroad, but as gay people become more and more visible, people challange their own prejudices. What a great time to be part of it!

Refugee Appeal Bill Mysteriously Dumped

June 26th, 2009

If you think Mr. Villainfurnace is bad, try Count Horrorcastle Von Evilterror A bill that would have set up an appeal process for refugees who think they have been unfairly rejected has been quietly abandoned. Bill C-291, which passed second reading this spring, has since been parked without additional debate after being forwarded to a Citizenship and Immigration committee. Now that summer is here, the bill has been effectively killed, left languishing on the table. Bill C-291  is of particular importance to gay refugees, as Canada has a terrible record of handling gay claimants. Those seeking to gain refuge from countries where homosexuality is illegal are often asked for exhaustive evidence of their gayness despite a pressing need to have hid all such evidence for their own safety. It’s not all bad, though; as consolation, rejected claimants are given a complimentary copy of Joseph Heller’s Catch 22.

Edmonton’s First Tory Pride Participant Mocks Event

June 24th, 2009

Actual photos from the parade

When Edmonton’s Pride Parade organisers invited Conservative MLA Doug Elniski to join in the festivities last week and be among the first-ever Tory participants, they probably hadn’t guessed he’d be Twittering and posting to his conservative blog at the same time. While waving to the crowd alongside three of his colleagues, Elniski proceeded to mock the event and its participants in real-time on his public Twitter account. Class act, that Doug!

While the controversial tweets have since been scrubbed clean and his entire blog has been deleted altogether (it hasn’t escaped Google’s cached copy, mind you), here are just a few of his observations:

i am surrounded by bumping and grinding lesbians waiit 20 then send help

i am certian that one is real those however i doubt

Darkest humor was either “Dyke’s on Bikes” or “Queers for Beers” the latter was a particular irony as most of the people in the beer garden were drinking pink coolers

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOO glad it did not rain, had it rained there would have been so much mascara, glitter and cake makeup on the roads we’d have needed one of those sweepers that follow the horses in the Capital Ex parade.

It was ‘just’ a parade, relax

It’s kind of a nice gesture simply joining the parade in the first place, but it’s disappointing for an invited participant to not acknowledge the meaning behind Pride parades. Contrary to what Doug wrote, it’s not “just a parade,” but also a celebration and protest in commemoration of a minority’s struggle. While I can’t blame Doug for revelling in the spectacle of some of the more flashy groups, I don’t think he cares much for the underlying purpose. An even more recent blog post of his directed toward young women has gotten some bad press, and reveals that he’s, sadly, pretty much just a creep:

Men are attracted to smiles, so smile and don’t give me that “treated equal” stuff, if you want equal it comes in little packages at Starbucks.

Yeah, who needs equality when we’ve got aspartame?

(Thanks to Tamara for sending this story along!)

U.S. Anti-Gay Killings Highest In Nine Years

June 22nd, 2009

I've got nothing witty to say about this.

The number of bias-motivated, anti-gay murders in the United States rose 28% last year, reaching its highest level since 1999 according to a report released by a national advocacy coalition. The research, which was coordinated by a group called the New York City Anti-Violence Project, also found a general trend of increasingly severe violence toward GLBT people.

Sharon Stapel, a spokesperson for the project, suggested that the disturbing increase is partially due to an increase in rhetoric, as gay issues took a more prominent role in the presidential campaign.

I’m inclined to agree.

This sad trend is an emphatic validation of why hate crimes legislation is so important. The correlation between anti-gay rhetoric and violence shows that these attacks aren’t just coincidentally committed against gay individuals, but are intended to terrorize the entire gay community. The faster this shameful statistic can be reduced to zero, the better.

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