News: Turkey, Robert Pattinson, Mexico City, Hanky Code, The Family

For the ultimate Susan Boyle fan.

The Hanky Code: There's an ass app for that. (site nsfw)

A heartwarming tale of a mother's love.

Sign a Thanksgiving card to a pro-equality Democrat.

Mexico City lawmaker proposes same-sex marriage law: "Mexico's Roman Catholic Church opposes the proposal. The church defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, as does current law. Lawmaker David Razu says the changes he is proposing would give same-sex couples the same rights heterosexual couples have regarding social security and other benefits. The local legislature sent the measure to committees for consideration Tuesday. No date was set for a vote."

Obama pardons his first turkey.

UK college welcomes Islamist preacher who endorses killing of gays. "In 2007, the Channel 4 programme, Undercover Mosque, recorded Mr Usamah saying: 'Do you practise homosexuality with men? Take that homosexual man and throw him off the mountain.'"

Pager intercepts from 9/11 published: "From 3AM on Wednesday November 25, 2009, until 3AM the following day (US east coast time), WikiLeaks is releasing over half a million US national text pager intercepts. The intercepts cover a 24 hour period surrounding the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington."

Matt Rettenmund at Boy Culture reviews A Single Man.

Porno Pete LaBarbera files first FCC complaint against Adam Lambert.

$50 million verdict returned against NYC gay sex club owner...

Robert Pattinson uses his man scent to ward off the paparazzi. "He's smart, because if he doesn't change his clothes and the paparazzi get pictures of him in the same outfit all the time, then they can't sell the pictures."

Rolling Stone prods Taylor Lautner about gay rumors: "In a bold move, the mag also raised another question with the young actor – asking if Taylor was still figuring out his sexuality. 'Another possibility is that maybe you’re just sort of discovering yourself,' Rolling Stone asked. 'OK,' Taylor said.' …As a young person trying to figure out his sexual identity in the world,' the mag continued. 'OK. I see where you’re going,' he said during the interview. 'Interesting choice.' 'It is a possibility,' the mag said. 'There’s a lot of rumors out there,' Taylor said."

John Mayer covers Details.

UK police officers disciplined for homophobic emails to officers in the force choir: "They were just nasty attacks. They sent messages to staff in the Gay Police Association, slagging them off, and the police choir, basically implying they were gay because of that. This was homophobic abuse."

Ensign, Stupak, and Pitts: Investigative journalist Jeff Sharlet talks to NPR about "The Family".

Howard K. Stern settles lawsuit with Rita Cosby: "Stern was seeking big bucks for several blockbuster allegations in Cosby's Blonde Ambition: The Untold Story Behind Anna Nicole Smith's Death that he insisted were outright lies. Cosby falsely claimed Stern engaged in sexual romps with Smith's baby daddy Larry Birkhead and also suggested the former paternity foes hatched a secret deal in which Stern agreed to support Birkhead's eventually successful bid to gain custody over Dannielynn in exchange for the celebrity photographer backing Stern to remain as executor of the late Playmate's estate."

News: David Huebner, Hadron Collider, Adam Lambert, Uganda

ABC cancels Adam Lambert Good Morning America concert following complaints.

Snapped up by CBS Early Show...

Taylor Lautner wets T-shirt for Rolling Stone.

David Huebner confirmed as Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa.

Foundation gives $12,000 matching grant to help revive former Southern Voice: "The Lloyd E. Russell Foundation will give $12,000 in matching funds to the new news outlet, according to a note posted on www.savesovo.com Gay activist and businessman Lloyd Russell was active in Atlanta politics as a Libertarian candidate in the 1990s. His nonprofit was started to support the gay community in Atlanta and in the Southeast."

Joe Lieberman: Bitter, party of one.

Signorile: Max Blumenthal on Palin's ties to homophobes and white supremacists.

Ugandan president: European gays are "recruiting" in Africa. “We used to have very few homosexuals traditionally. They were not persecuted but were not encouraged either because it was clear that is not how God arranged things to be.”

David Geffen to attend Obama state dinner?

Ryan Phillippe takes a shirtless hike in L.A.'s Runyon Canyon.

Straight couple's UK civil partnership bid rejected.

Lesbian U.S. war resister seeking asylum in Canada speaks: "My mom misses me and she wants me to come back home. Sometimes she cries when I talk with her, wishing she could see me. It's hard. (My family) is hoping the best for me."

Do we now know what happened to Demi Moore's hip?

University of North Texas students vote down the right of same-sex couples' eligibility for homecoming king and queen titles: "A total of 4,895 students voted, or 13.5 percent of the student body. "No" votes were 2,836, or 58 percent of the ballots, while 2,059 students, or 42 percent, voted yes. Student leaders say turnout was high."

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders may testify in Prop 8 case.

VIDEO: Paula Deen hit by a ham.

Bang: Hadron Collider produces first collisions.

Vermont judge awards full custody of 7-year-old girl to non-biological lesbian parent: "Jenkins' ex-partner - Lisa Miller - denied visitation rights, and the judge in the case got angry. Miller refused to let Jenkins even visit Isabella — who was conceived while the pair were together — while the custody proceedings continued for months. And that was enough for Judge William Cohen, who called the battle 'a first-of-its kind parent custody change,' to eliminate any chance of Miller to have custody of her biological daughter."

P. Diddy to sell his scent on HSN?

Westboro Baptist Church targets pop-punk band All Time Low: "How do you know how far gone a society is? You look at their social icons. When you look at these gender-confused, haphazard freakazoids then you can plainly see that america is DOOMED, for real! This is the final generation, and a little concussion is the least of their worries."

D.C. police chief Cathy Lanier blasted for failing to take adequate steps to protect gays, lesbians, and transgender people from hate crimes: "Kris Baumann, chair of the Fraternal Order of Police, and officials with five local LGBT organizations said Lanier has turned down their repeated request to assign more officers to the department’s highly acclaimed Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit, whose ranks have been reduced from seven to two members since Lanier became chief in 2007."

City of Atlanta, Police Chief, and 48 Officers Sued for Gay Bar Raid

On behalf of 19 individuals forcibly searched and detained by Atlanta police on September 10 at the Atlanta Eagle gay bar, Lambda Legal is suing the City, the Chief of Police, and 48 officers, the group said in a press release:

"Dan Grossman, co–counsel in the case, has been working with victims of the raid since that night. "I’ve listened to dozens of stories from patrons who were mistreated by police at the Atlanta Eagle that night," said Grossman. 'The Atlanta Police Department is not above the law. They do not get to search and detain people who are not suspected of any crime.' On September 10, the Atlanta Police Department dispatched about twenty to thirty officers to the Atlanta Eagle, including its 'Red Dog Unit' dressed in SWAT team gear, but inside the bar the APD found no public sex, no drugs, or illegal weapons. During the raid, patrons of the bar were forced to lie facedown on the floor while background checks were run on everyone. Eagle bar patrons heard antigay slurs; were forced to lay in spilled beer and broken glass; and one was forced to lie on the floor even though he had injured his back in the Iraq War. Not a single patron was charged with any crime."

Said Supervising Senior Staff Attorney Greg Nevins: "The illegal activity going on in the Atlanta Eagle that night was committed by the APD. If it is APD procedure for elderly men and wounded veterans to be thrown to the floor and harassed simply for being in a bar having a drink after work, then the APD should change its procedures."

Gay Activist Discusses Detention, Abuse by Police in Cameroon

Earlier this week I posted a link to a story about a gay activist in Cameroon who was turned in to police by a taxi driver last week after discussing homosexuality in a cab. Sebastien Mandeng, the activist and Deputy President of the Association pour la Defense de le Homosexualite (ADEFHO), wrote a blog post in which he discussed the detention:

When returning from a trip with some friends, we hired a taxi, and during the ride we spoke about subjects relating to LGBTI rights and the need for decriminalization.  From time to time the taxi-driver intervened in our conversation, and I asked for his opinions on the subject.

It was precisely at this moment that the situation took a turn for the worse.

He began driving much faster, shouting that instead of taking me to the final destination I had requested, he would take me to the nearest police station.  When we arrived there, I paid the fare, and he became hysterical, crying out that he works hard with his hands and cannot tolerate homosexual practices.
When I arrived at the police station, it was four o’clock in the morning and the police locked me, barefoot, in a cell with no electricity, and insisted that the locked cell would provide protection. Throughout the hours I remained in custody I was subjected to insults, mocking and sarcasm from the policemen, who demanded to know why I don’t like women, why I prefer men, and “unnatural relations.”

Article 347 of the Cameroun penal code (ordinance n°72/16 of September 28, 1972) punishes by imprisonment from 6 months to 5 years and a fine of 20,000 to 200,000 FCFA any person who has sexual relations with someone of the same sex.

At one point the police threatened to insert their fingers into my anus in order to verify whether I am often sodomized, in order to charge me with homosexual activity later.  I forcibly resisted, insisting that anyone who touched me would have to do so over my dead body.

Mandeng spent the night in the cell and was released after requesting legal representation.

My Illegal Detainment for “Promoting Homosexuality” Sheds Light on the Urgent Need for Protection of Sexual Rights in Cameroun [akimbo]

Gay Chelsea Storefront Featuring 'Live Massage' Shut Down by NYPD

(image kenneth in the 212)

Last Friday night, a live erotic massage window display at the Blue Store on Eighth Avenue in Chelsea was shut down by the NYPD:

"According to Daniel Lee, director of manworks.com, the massages, which took place in the window of the Blue Store, on Eighth Avenue between 20th and 21st streets, did not involve nudity or lewd acts. 'It think it was prejudice,' Lee said yesterday. 'It was perfectly legal massage, what was happening in the window.'"

The live event was promotion for a website, AMNY reports:

"About an hour after the massages began at 6 p.m., Lee said cops showed up and told him to shut it down. He complied, though he was issued no summons and the officer would not tell him what laws were broken, he said. The cop said onlookers - who numbered about 15 - were blocking the sidewalk, according to Lee. Police said  cops responded to the scene after a man who had been walking with his son saw the display and  called the local precinct to complain. Cops confirmed no summons was issued. 'It seems there was some kind of moral objection to what we were doing,' Lee said."

Now the owner of the store is upset because, he says, the police will be watching him now.

Related...
NYC Activists and Leaders Protest False Arrests of Gay Men by NYPD [tr]

Fort Worth Officers Receive Inadequate Suspensions for Gay Bar Raid

 

At a press conference yesterday, Fort Worth police chief Jeff Halstead announced that a chapter was being closed in discussing investigations related to the June raid on the Rainbow Lounge:

"Speaking at a news conference across from the bar, chief Jeffrey Halstead acknowledged officers were overaggressive, creating an atmosphere of 'fear and confusion' in the bar. But he said none crossed the line in how they handled people or went into the bar because of its clientele. 'It was very clear from this inquiry that there was no malice or ill will on the part of any officers who entered the Rainbow Lounge,' he said."

In August, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission fired three agents for their participation in the raid. Halstead's discipline to the Fort Worth force can only be described as insulting to those targeted in the raid:

The Dallas Morning News:

Suspended for a variety of policy violations were Fort Worth police Sgt. R.M. Morris, and Officers K.Q. Gober and J.M. Back.

• Morris, who joined the force in 1995, received a one-day suspension for "poor judgment" in the way he conducted the bar check on the Rainbow Lounge. "The decision to utilize a total of nine law enforcement officers to check a newly established club was excessive," his suspension letter states. The investigation also found that he failed to follow procedures, such as checking liquor licenses or other permits.

• Gober, a nearly three-year veteran, received a one-day suspension after he arrested two bar patrons for public intoxication but failed to complete his police reports by the end of his shift. "This negative media attention could have been averted had Officer Gober completed the required offense report," his suspension letter states.

• Back, a nine-year veteran, received a three-day suspension after he arrested a bar patron for having a "drunk look," which does not meet requirements for a public intoxication arrest. Back released the patron to a friend after learning the friend was Fort Worth police employee. Back violated department policy by not issuing a citation to the patron before releasing him. "Officer Back’s conduct in releasing the patron gave the appearance of favoritism and that he did not have sufficient cause to arrest the person," his suspension letter states.

Watch Halstead's press conference, AFTER THE JUMP...