Category: hate crimes

Christmas Book Giveaway; Verdict In Philly Gay Bashing; Coming Out as a Christian Evangelical; Homophobic Holiday Settings

Christmas Book Giveaway

My social media followers will wonder why I’m posting about this again. The reason is that the majority of my blog hits come from random google searches and not from within any book communities.

And I’m happy about that. I’m glad it happens. I’ve worked hard to separate my blogger identity from my author identity without changing my real name or identity, partly by always keeping this blog rated PG. It’s not always easy to keep that separate.

It’s interesting. Facebook gives me the least amount of hits.  Twitter is a little better. But most come from Google through people searching for LGBT information. And they always have.

So I’m re-posting the link to the Christmas book giveaway I’m doing this weekend for the people who will find out about it through a random search. And they come from all over the world.

Yesterday’s post should tell you all you need to know about the book giveaway, if you’re interested.

Verdict In Philly Gay Bashing Trial

The verdicts in the “Philly Gay Bashing” trial I’ve been following since last year are in and a lot of people are left wondering WTF happened there.

Of course the alleged gay bashing incident happened in Philadelphia, which is a very gay friendly city, but proves anything can still happen anywhere and no gay people are really safe.

After a series of contentious, “heated” deliberations, a Philadelphia jury returned a mixed verdict Friday in the assault trial of Kathryn Knott, finding the Bucks County woman guilty of simple assault and conspiracy to commit simple assault against Zachary Hesse, one of two victims beaten as they walked to get pizza in Center City on Sept. 11, 2014. 

Knott also was found guilty of reckless endangerment against both Hesse and his boyfriend, Andrew Haught, but acquitted of aggravated assault, a felony and the most serious charge against her.

You can read the rest here. I don’t want to comment on the trial at all because I do believe we have to respect the process no matter what the outcome. The deliberations are being described as “heated” and one juror said this:

Another juror, Gina Cook, described the process as “three days of fighting, vomiting and getting sick.”

Coming Out As a Christian Evangelical

A Christian researcher is claiming that it’s more difficult for an evangelical Christian to come out and admit it openly than it is for an LGBTI person.

“What I see here is that if you are a conservative Evangelical at a major law firm or at an Ivy League university, you have a much harder time coming out of the closet as a conservative Evangelical than you do coming out as a gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.

“That’s an empirical question but my experience at Princeton, and that was a decade ago, that it was much more of a contentious subject to say that you were opposed to same-sex marriage than to say that you were in favor of it.”

I actually can see his point. I would imagine it is difficult…in certain places. I just don’t think it’s more difficult. There is no place easy for a gay person to come out. I would imagine…sarcasm intended…there are still quite a few LGBTI people in university settings all over the world that still don’t feel comfortable coming out as gay. And so far I don’t think I’ve ever heard of  story where a teen got kicked out of his or her house because he or she was a Christian.

Someone should tell this guy the LGBTI community is not comprised of what he sees in the media.

You can read the rest here. 

Homophobic Holiday Settings

Comedian Sam Kalidi whom I love did another meme about what it’s like for gay people to have to suffer through the holiday season. I know it’s a serious topic and no one is laughing about it, but this is meant to be sarcasm.

We’ve asked online comedian, voice actor and chest hair model Sam Kalidi to create a comedic post each week for Queerty readers. This week he thinks about people who crawl back in the closet when visiting parents during the holidays. Sam looks forward to all your hate mail.You can find him on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and at your local glory hole.

You can check it out here.  

I think I’ve mentioned that for the first 15 years Tony and I were together we visited our families on the holidays separately because Tony’s family had no idea he was gay or that I even existed. Fifteen years. Things  are great now and I love his family like my own. But it’s never been easy for gay people when it comes to things like this, so we look for the humor in it.

 

 

Gay Pride Attack Austin; Cher Crap; Gays in Cuba and Obama

Gay Pride Attack Austin

An Army vet, Lambert Borgardt, received a 10 year probation sentence plus two hours of community service for his brutal attack on two gay men at Austin Pride in 2012. Borgardt left one of the gay men beaten to the point where he lost five teeth, and the other was left beaten to the point of a fractured nose.

According to this source, this is why the attack on the gay men took place:

The duo was waiting for their pizza at a food truck after attending gay pride festivities when Borgadt, an army veteran, reportedly thought Soret was checking him out. Borgardt became enraged and punched both men in the face. 

The rest is here. A grand jury decided not to press hate crime charges. There’s not much more to share…other than the Army vet sounds filled with remorse at this point.

Cher Crap

I’ll admit I’m not the die-hard fan of Cher that other gay men seem to be. I just don’t get it. I never did. I think she’s okay but wouldn’t stand in any long lines to see her. But I’ll keep this objective as much as I can.

Cher is hawking merchandise now on her web site, which includes all things Cher from sweatshirts to mugs. For $55 you can get an ugly holiday Cher sweatshirt…well, because it’s Cher.

Let’s face it, our lady Cher will do anything for a buck. Over the years she’s hawked perfume, Lori Davis Hair products, Aquasentials skin care products, Equal Zero-Calorie Sweetener, exercise videos and, oh yeah, movies and albums, too. Her latest business endeavor: holiday-themed merchandise, including t-shirts, sweatshirts, ornaments, and coffee mugs, all featuring the dance diva and available for sale on her website.

Check out the rest here. 

Speak for yourself. She’s not my lady 🙂 

Gays in Cuba and Obama

I normally wouldn’t mention anything about Cuba here, but this time it includes a gay angle I think is important in a general sense. Cuba doesn’t have the best record on human rights or gay rights. There are no pride events, and nothing even remotely considered an LGBT movement. Past treatment of people with HIV and AIDS is dismal at best. The question of whether or not the Obama administration is going to address the LGBT issue in it’s talks with Cuba still remains to be seen. So far, like with all other hot topic issues, the Obama administration always remains cautious.

Now that the U.S. is talking to Cuba, will the Obama Administration be willing to raise these issues as part of the conversation? The Administration had a few moment of forcefulness at the height of the Olympic Games homophobia. But when the spotlight faded, so did the rhetoric.

The U.S. and Cuba have a lot of things to discuss, and in all fairness, LGBT issues aren’t going to be at the top of the list. But the question will be, where are they on the list? Or are they on the list at all? It’s worth keeping on eye on the developing relationship to see just how much the Administration thinks our community in Cuba really matters.

You know, I don’t buy into that anymore…”In all fairness LGBT issues aren’t going to be at the top of the list.” It’s like, be good gay people, wait your turn because you’re not as important as everyone else. This is from a gay publication? It should read more like “In all REALITY LGBT issues are at the bottom of the barrel and of little concern to anyone at this point.” Because that’s really what it comes down to and I’m tired of making excuses for LGBT issues NOT being at the top of the list.

Let’s hope I’m wrong and the issue is discussed. You can read the rest here.

 
Chase of a Christmas Dream

 

 
Thank you to the readers who have left Amazon reviews so far. I hate to blast that on social media for various reasons. But I really do appreciate it!! 
 
 

Church Related Incident Considered Gay Hate Crime

Though I’ve never been very religious, I do respect the rights of those who choose to worship, absolutely and completely. Evidently not everyone else does. As you can see from the article below, a Methodist church was vandalized because it depicted silhouettes of gay couples holding hands.

CLAREMONT, Calif. — Vandalism of a church’s Nativity display that includes depictions of gay and lesbian couples was being investigated as a hate crime, police said.

The damage at Claremont United Methodist Church occurred late Saturday or Sunday morning.

Read More Here…