abortions, was shot and killed this morning at his church while he was serving as usher. Tiller is no newbie to violence against abortion providers, having survived another shooting in 1993 and a bombing of his clinic in 1985. You know, it's funny because I don't think we've heard about this kind of out-and-out violence for a long time ... and it's also funny because I distinctly remember that Kansas was the closest place you could go for a late-term abortion when I worked at Planned Parenthood. Strange and disturbing.
Apparently, it is time to protest.
Warren County Sheriff's deputies are investigating a disturbing attack that left a young man bloodied, his nose shattered. Investigators want to know if it is a hate crime. The victim is gay.Whoa dude. There's a lot of these popping up these days, seriously. Between the UC crime, the guy that was beaten outside of BronZ, and another one that happened on Ludlow... very disturbing. Be careful.
The assault happened at a Maineville Bar. Local 12 reporter Shawn Ley shows us why this investigation is far from over.
Ronnie Robertson's nose is broken, he has deep cuts and scratches around his eyes and cheeks. The 31 year old Mainville man is openly gay, his friends saying he's regretting not going to a gay bar Tuesday night.
Victim's friend: "The guy that was assaulted had said, that's the reason they made gay bars because it's a safer place, a safer environment to hang out."
The Warren County Sheriff's Office says Robertson received these injuries at Tabby's American Bar and Grill on Montgomery Road in Mainville, and a criminal investigation is underway, looking for everyone involved in the attack. Two women were arrested on the spot: Sarah Goldsberry, and Tammy Lingle. They are charged with felony assault, and disrupting police business.
Robertson's sister says there was no bar fight. She says her brother was attacked because of his sexual orientation.
Kelly Coffey/Victim's Sister: "I believe it was a hate crime, completely. because that's the only thing targeted that night, when someone stepped up and said, yes, I'm gay ... all night it was provoked, all night it was asked and I believe that's what it was."
Kelly Coffey says her friends, a mix of gay and straight people chose Tabby's to play sand volleyball - but were harassed by a man who continued to ask who in the group was gay and who wasn't & her brother finally answered. "When he admitted that he was, they lost it, went crazy and started attacking my brother and pushing him out of the bar."
So what does Tabby's owner have to say? We stopped in and was told no manager was there. We called 5 times Thursday night and still couldn't reach the owner. We do know the sheriff's office is going over the security camera tape to look at what happened and for the two other men involved.
Ohio's hate crime laws do *not* include gays and lesbians as a protected class. The Warren County Sheriff's Office says the gay bashing element of the case is "in play." Other cases in Ohio have fit the statute for charges of "ethnic intimidation."
And no one is surprised.
From a "Two young men were killed Thursday. They were sexual deviants. Their tribes killed them to restore their family honor."Oh. That's reasonable. This comes after a Shiite group issued a call to kill homosexuals. See, even right wing Islamic folk use gay people as a scapegoat for their own problems.
National HIV Testing Day is coming up next month (June 27), so I'll reserve a full column on HIV testing for that day.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no."Does that mean 2009 is not the year of the Bible?" asked Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who is Jewish. Referring to the Islamic holy book, he added, "What is 2012 the year of, the Quran?"
Pride month is almost upon us, with over 100 different cities holding Pride celebrations this year!
...is a queen.Kinda makes me wish I'd thought of this.
You are reading that right, kids.Obviously your player will be straight but your boss is gay.I mean, that's not exactly the point of the movement, but, ok... I'm struck between a desire to be insulted by those statements and amused -- after all, they're things I think I would say. It's a strange but nice way to see progress, though, and I think it will, perhaps unexpectedly, alter a few minds for the gamers of the world.
Quite how this will effect game play is not certain. It is unlikely that you will have to crash into a crack den and redecorate it with furniture from IKEA. It does mean that people with shaved heads will be a bit more kinder and the phrase "Take out Scarface" will probably mean going to a nice wine bar somewhere.
In some ways it is telling the world that people who come out of the closet can be mindless violent psychopaths like the rest of us.
When I look back on those crazy days in November when this blog (and its writers) joined forces with the people that would become IMPACT CINCINNATI, all I can remember were the approximate one hour a day of sleep I was getting and the constant state of panic we existed in... and I wonder: jesus, do we have to do this again? :-)I know there are rumblings about Cincinnati getting involved... but I'll keep you up to date as decisions are made.
Equality Ohio has put a lot of great alerts out these last few days covering what's been going in the state, and I thought I might go ahead and steal some of the news to keep everyone informed.The Declaration of Independence declared before the world that in this country, ”all Men arecreated equal.‘ In the nearly two hundred and twenty-three years since that document was authored, we as a nation have worked to ensure that all People are treated equally in the eyesof the law. It has not always been an easy task, and often, it has taken government action tohelp to move that process along. The law protects citizens, regardless of race, color, religion,gender, national origin, age, ancestry, or disability from being discriminated again inemployment and housing rights. And, yet, in Ohio, people can lose their jobs or be denied housing, solely because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.Holla!!!!
There is no more controversial issue being debated in this nation today that that of the issue ofequal rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals. However in my view, the debate surrounding this legislation is not an issue of morality. Representative Stewart and I arenot asking you to vote in support of a lifestyle that you may or may not agree with. We standbefore you today to vote in support of fairness and equality. We stand before you today to vote against discrimination.
Some will argue that this legislation is not necessary because homosexuality is a choice, alifestyle that an individual chooses to subscribe to. While opinions and scientific research varyon whether or not homosexuality is a choice that is not what this debate is about. House Bill 176‘s sole intention is to protect basic constitutional rights when it comes to housing,employment and public accommodation, just as we already prevent discrimination of individuals based on religious affiliation.
Pres. Obama has tapped Second Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to replace outgoing Justice Souter on the Supreme Court."All of the legal defense funds out there, they are looking for people with court of appeals experience because the court of appeals is where policy is made," she said, laughing a bit through the next part: "And I know this is on tape and I should never say that because we don't make law. I know. Okay, I know. I'm not promoting it. I'm not advocating it. I know."That particular quote keeps popping up over and over again, but the incarnation I chose to use is from a Huffington Post article entitled Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court Nominee: All You Need to Know. Though it's been fun to wade through article after article on Sotomayor trying to glean good information, that particular one sums it up very nicely:
Here is what it tells you: Gay marriage is a foregone conclusion. It's a done deal. It's just a matter of time. For the next generation in particular, equal rights for gays is not even a question or a serious issue, much less a sinful hysterical conundrum that can only be answered by terrified Mormons and confused old people and inane referendums funded by same. It's just obvious, inevitable, a given.It's a good article, worth a read.
Let us hereby be reminded, before sadness and frustration overwhelm once more: Proposition 8 and its ilk are merely the last, fitful gasps of a long-dying ideology, markers of a certain kind of sad, conservative desperation. They are the final clawings and scrapings of a reactionary worldview that attempts to outlaw and punish all it cannot, will not understand. Same as it ever was, really.
Reactions to the first Friday events have been mixed but very positive from both the straight and gay communities. Bar owners welcome the addition of 150-200 thirsty patrons they normally would not have through their doors and many straight patrons are even unaware that anything is different. More than an "invasion," the events more than anything else become a "blending" of both straight and gay.Also, QueerCincinnati.com's first weekly TEN ON TUESDAY had a great response today, appearing twice on this blog -- once from me and once from Cody -- and on three other blogs as well! Thanks to the following blogs for their participation and some amazing responses:
[CGQB Organizer, Ethan] Philbrick recalls a particularly valuable discussion on queer identity in the ladies’ room of the Lodge. According to Philbrick, by the end of the conversation the women he was speaking to him felt comfortable enough to ask a few questions proving that exposure to different ideas and people can breed understanding. This accomplished all while wearing a sequined cocktail dress, no less...
Movements such as the Guerilla Queer Bar help to bring the idea of "other" into the familiar. This exposure to the outside world - straight, gay and everything in between—provides the tools needed to erase the stigmas and bigotry that holds progress back.
1. Girlfriends - Shocking, I know. But I really do find happiness in the female friendships that bless my life. They make life more memorable and fun. And girlfriends make us healthier, less stressed, live longer, feel more beautiful and … drum roll please … HAPPIER. Thanks to all the great women who have inspired, encouraged and supported me in my dream of making the world a better place one friendship at a time.Stuff Queer People Need to Know:
4.) Vegetable skewers straight off the grillBig Lug Land:
7) Getting flirted with. It's immensely validating as I still carry around all the insecurities that were cemented into place over 20 years ago. Being found cute or charming goes right to my head like bubbles in champagne. What others take in stride can have me feeling like the most valued man on earth. That keeps my heart open and, much as it hurts, I'm not sure I'd ever want to change it.Great posts everyone -- thanks so much! I loved reading over your responses; I couldn't help but smile for each and every one!!! Watch for next week's TEN ON TUESDAY!
1) Discovering your coffee card is full and you can get a free coffee at work -- especially when you're short on cash and need a pack of cigarettes!
2) Cool mornings after the rain when nothing is soaked but there's a hint of more to come. Humidity's low, no bugs are out, and the sun is hidden behind the clouds and turning the morning a deep weblink blue.
3) The anticipation before something great.
4) Feeling accomplished after two days of regret and wishing you had done more -- getting shit done.
5) Randomly chancing upon new music you forgot you had downloaded onto your iPod while shuffling through -- and remembering how much you love it!
6) Seeing a janitor at the hospital dance to music on his mp3 player in a hallway he believed was empty, and then him not feeling embarassed or stopping when you walk by.
7) The comfort, and the drama, of good friends, especially when you hatch fancy conspiracies.
8) Having a crush, even if it's completely superficial and you know it'll be gone in a week.
9) Standing alone on the glass walkways at UC's Medical School Building at 3am and belting out showtunes... and feeling infinite.
10) Learning and growing... and knowing that I still have the capacity to do both, after all that has happened. (This is kind of a private shout out -- I know you know who you are!)
Tomorrow (or today) we will discover, as Les Mis would say, what our god in Heaven has in store.
It must suck to be queer in the Middle East. From an ABC News story about a young gay man living in Saudi Arabia:I'm a Muslim. I know it's forbidden, but I can't help it... I pray to God to help me be straight, just to avoid hell. But I know that I'm gay and I'm living as one, so I can't see a clear vision for the future... You can't let a word slip that makes you seem gay-friendly or gay. Before you make a move you have to think.All this in a country where the police have arrested men for being gay based on his choice of jeans and tight-fitting shirt... which, btw, is enough in my world to think of any man as gay, making me wonder whether or not there may be a mo on the police force there.
Hearings on the Equal Housing and Employment Act in the Ohio House will begin on Wednesday, May 27. Representatives Stewart and McGregor will be the only people testifying on this day. Proponent testimony will begin on Wednesday, June 3 and will likely last for two weeks. As of now there are 40 secured yes votes and 22 possible yes votes, but the bill needs 50 to pass.As of yet, the information is not confirmed on the website of the bill, and I have not received an email with this information (so I can't confirm it). I'm putting an email into Equality Ohio for the 411. For more information on the current members of the State Government Committee, click here.
And another Cincinnati area queer blogger makes his appearance on the scene -- see, I told you we are a large and growing crowd!Let Perez call her [Carrie Prejean] a bitch. Like it or not, Perez is a spokesperson for the LGBT community, and all who visit his blog know he says this out of anger and frustration with a society and government that treats LGBT as second-class citizens or worse. Straight people who check in with Perez now are learning to understand that anger and frustration.Jason and Out With It Already have now been added to the QueerOhio blogroll to your left; welcome to the scene, baby doll!!!!
Think of it this way. I remember being a kid and having friends whose parents told them “no” to everything all the time. After a while, I thought my friends’ parents were bitches, too!
Maybe it’s better that Miss California said “no.” You can only hold down a group for so long before people come around to seeing that suffering and say, “It’s time to tell those bitches to take a hike!”
In a double-whammy (well, sort of), two bills advanced to the Governor of Nevada -- one vetoed and one passed. Wanna bet which one is which?"Like all families, our foreign service families come in different configurations; all are part of the common fabric of our post communities abroad," Clinton said in the memorandum, a copy of which was provided to The Times by a member of the gay and lesbian association.I wonder who gets the credit for this one -- is it an Obama win or is it a Clinton win? Or, more importantly, is it a win for the couples?
"At bottom," the paper quotes Clinton as saying, "the department will provide these benefits for both opposite-sex and same-sex partners because it is the right thing to do."
A senior State Department official confirmed the new policy, but did not say when it would take effect, the paper said.
Among the benefits are diplomatic passports, use of medical facilities at overseas posts, medical and other emergency evacuation, transportation between posts, and training in security and languages, according to the report.
What a weekend, but we'll go over that later!What makes a faggot a faggot? My friend is a girl but looks like a boy. I’m a boy who looks like a girl. If faggot is intended to mean homosexual, if only I could tell shouters just how accurate they are. I’m a guy who looks like girl who looks like a guy, who was born a girl, who fucks girls and boys and boys who were girls, and girls who were boys, and people who were never one or the other or anything at all… Is it hypocritical of me to argue or get upset? In my own, closed circles I call myself a fag, a tranniboy, and queer - all controversial words considered to be hate speech. Is our pain caused by the words or the malicious intention. Which is the one we need to remove? Does language have the power, or do we?Secondly, we have Ryan M., blogging over at Slouching Towards Manhattan. He's a native Cincinnatian who lives in New York but writes about CinNKY and the issues involved with being queer in the Midwest. He is also the author of the Soapbox Media article -- Queen City: musings on gay cincinnati -- a few months ago discussing where we are headed as a gay community. Good guy, identifies as an independent journalist. He posted a great bit entitled "21 Ways the Midwest and Manhattan Differ," and this is my favorite one:
17: New Yorkers largely consider Midwesterners to be paunchy, hunch-backed , snaggle-toothed yokels with little education, culture and upbringing. The Midwest largely considers New Yorkers to be a phalanx of debauched, gaunt and unreasonably confident gaggle of Midwestern transplants that use the the status of living on or near Manhattan to justify their existence. Both parties are half right.:-) Now, go, read, enjoy! Comment away}!
How does Ryan Seacrest get to interview people on Larry King Live? Anyways, this is my only post on this year's American Idol.Seacrest: Let me ask you this: The speculation about your sexuality, do you think that had anything to do with coming in second place?I love how Adam Lambert is still not saying that he's gay or not. I mean, whatever. I kinda think Kris Allen is hot. But isn't "Kris" the female spelling of the name?
Lambert: No, I think if anything, I think it -- I think my lifestyle is just I'm different. I'm a little bit -- I'm not your typical guy next door. The guy next door versus the guyliner. Sexuality aside, I think it more had to do with maybe my appearance and what songs I gravitated toward and my performance style. I think that had more to do with it.
Seacrest: Kris, when I asked the question, you were nodding your head, why?
Allen: Because I agree with him. It's not about who he is or who I am. It's about -- what we want, we want it to be about the music, you know?
It's official. The California Supreme Court will rule all on the legality of Proposition 8 on Tuesday, May 26th at 10am. The question at hand:The court issued an order to show cause in Strauss, Tyler, and City and County of San Francisco directing the parties to brief and argue the following issues: (1) Is Proposition 8 invalid because it constitutes a revision of, rather than an amendment to, the California Constitution? (See Cal. Const., art. XVIII, §§ 1–4.) (2) Does Proposition 8 violate the separation of powers doctrine under the California Constitution? (3) If Proposition 8 is not unconstitutional, what is its effect, if any, on the marriages of same-sex couples performed before the adoption of Proposition 8?I've said it before: I don't think it's going to work, but it will nice to get it out of the way and be done with it. Then we can start planning for the future and how to repeal Prop8 in 2010, or 2012, or whenever. But, if we win, then marriage is back in California. Either way, it's time the decision came down. There will also be nationwide protests held on Tuesday, go to the Day of Decision wiki site for the one closest to you (no Cincinnati one... yet?).
You read that right, my darlings.
Today would be Harvey Milk Day in California -- the anniversary of the politician's birthday, and just days after the anniversary of the White Night Riots -- however, Gov. Schwarzenegger did not sign the bill this year. The Senate, again, has passed a bill designating May 22 as a day of "special significance" for Milk, and it is currently in the Assembly.Regardless, Happy Harvey Milk Day!
Dear President Smitherman:Discuss amongst yourselves.
Recently, you asked Councilmember Jeff Berding to repudiate alleged racist language from Westwood Concern.
Admittedly, though, Westwood Concern might periodically engage a position or an issue with which Councilmember Berding agrees—even if he does not, for example, support everything said by someone like Melva Gweyn.
Nevertheless, it appears right (and your intent) for Jeff Berding to repudiate such inappropriate behavior or words—even if, on other issues, he finds reason to agree with Westwood Concern.
After all, forming alliances with people, even if there are differences, can prove fruitful—as the local NAACP has experienced under your presidency. At the same time, leaders must make clear they can draw a line when it comes to inappropriate behavior, speech, and so forth.
Therefore, we would like to call on you today to make some clear and public repudiations.
As you may know, Christopher Finney, your organization’s Chair of Legal Redress, has appeared in media with statements that many consider anti-gay bigotry. He has said, for example, that restaurants should be able to refuse service to gay patrons—a heterosexist position.
Similarly, Charlie Winburn, a Republican who has been quite visible in his support of every NAACP issue, was a member of the staff of CCV as recently as last Spring. As you know, CCV is an extreme right-winged organization that supported the implementation of Article XII.
It would only be appropriate, then, for you to meet your own standard, repudiating the anti-gay statements and affiliations of Christopher Finney, Charlie Winburn, and the CCV. We, the undersigned, hereby call on you to do exactly that—showing you can meet the same standard you expect of others.
Respectfully,
Justin P. Jeffre and [The Dean of Cincinnati]
BearsLeft.com is doing a whole series on Christopher Redferm, the Ohio Democratic Party Chairman. In the midst of the bout, an interesting story arose out of Cleveland.At a committee hearing, Coats cited biblical passages that he said denounce homosexuality. "Many of you may disagree," he said.
Seriously, aren't we going to have some positive gay male role model enter politics?
Saw it on Facebook this morning, though I couldn't post it until now.
Thanks to Juliet for posting today -- I, unfortunately, slept through my usual blogging time, and thanks to Wolfie at Back2Stonewall.com for the heads up on this one!
