Hateful Group Asks Parents To Keep Kids Home on Harvey Milk Day

This Wednesday is Harvey Milk Day in California; a day which is intended to celebrate this important gay rights activist. One conservative anti-gay organization, SaveCalifornia.com, is using radio ads airing in Sacramento and Los Angeles to urge parents to keep their kids home from school that day. Randy Thomasson, the president of the group explains his reasoning behind the illogical boycott:

According to the Sacramento Bee, the group's president, Randy Thomasson, says: "This is harmful to children...This is not academic, it's brainwashing." Thomasson also explained his feelings on the holiday to CBS13: “Children belong to the parents, not to the state, and to force a sexual agenda and a political agenda upon children, that’s highly inappropriate.”

What is highly inappropriate is the all of the information as well as a video posted on on the group's website which is full of hateful lies and anti-gay propaganda. The alarmist image above is from the group's website.

Watch a CBS13 news segment about the anti-gay campaign, AFTER THE JUMP.

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Gay Man Killed In Greenwich Village Hate Crime

Tragic murder committed in the early hours of the day.

New York's CBS 2 reports:

A gunman used anti-gay slurs before he shot and killed a man in fashionable Greenwich Village early Saturday, police Commissioner Ray Kelly said.

Police were dispatched to the corner of 8th Street and Sixth Avenue just after midnight Saturday. They found the victim, an unidentified 32-year-old man, on the ground with a gunshot wound to the head, police said.

Kelly said the gunman...first urinated on the street outside a bar, then walked into the bar, according to an Associated Press report. The man proceeded to make anti-gay remarks to the bartender and show that he had a silver pistol in his holster, the wire service reported.

Kelly then said the gunman came up to the victim and his companion outside, asked if they were “gay wrestlers,” and shot the victim in the face, the wire service reported.

According to the NY Post, a suspect was apprehended shortly after the shooting: "The gunman ran five blocks before cops collared him at West Third Street and MacDougal Street."

NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn released a statement condemming the attack:

"I am horrified to learn that last night, a gay man was murdered in my district after being chased out of a Greenwich Village restaurant and assailed by homophobic slurs....There was a time in New York City when two people of the same gender could not walk the street arm-in-arm without fear of violence and harassment. We refuse to go back to that time.”

Also speaking out this morning is State Senator Brad Hoylman:

"I am outraged by the recent wave of anti-LGBT violence in our city and it is shocking and extremely distressing that a man was shot to death just this morning apparently because he was gay. Nobody anywhere should have to live with fear of harm because of his or her sexual orientation.... I applaud the NYPD for making a swift arrest in this case and call on all New Yorkers to unite against hate and gun violence."

Neither the victim or the suspect have been identified. Updates as they come in.

Update: Victim has been ID'd as Marc Carson, according to a NYT police source. Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly: “This clearly looks to be a hate crime.”

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Daniel Radcliffe On His Gay Love Scene

Daniel Radcliffe portrays Allen Ginsburg in the upcoming gay-themed film Kill Your Darlings. Last night, the actor appeared on The Graham Norton Show and talked about the on set direction he received from director John Krokida while shooting a gay love scene.

"And the favorite note I have ever had was when we were kissing and the director shouted, ‘No, not like that. Crazy sex f***ing kissing!'"

Sounds we should expect quite the passionate scene in the movie. Watch the interview, AFTER THE JUMP. The bit about Kill Your Darlings comes in during the first minute or so of the clip.

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Increase In Violence and Discrimination By Police In Mexico City

The LA Times tells the story of Jonathan Zamora, a 31-year old man from Mexico City, who was detained and beaten by police in that city simply for being gay. While Mexico City is seemingly gay-friendly (same-sex marriage is legal as are adoptions by gay couples), LGBT people have recently reported more and more discrimination from police.

The abuse Zamora experienced by the authorities:

He claimed four officers entered his cell and proceeded to punch and kick him. Zamora said he was then taken to a hospital, examined, returned to a police station and let go, ending an ordeal that lasted about eight hours.

"In my case, it wasn't just about a lack of training, it was a lack of everything," he said. "How can you hire people who are aggressive, violent, who don't behave like community?"

This week has seen the introduction of new regulations distributed to Mexico City police officers:

New police protocols published Thursday instruct officers to treat lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people “with respect for human rights” and to respect their “gender identity.” They also prohibit the use of insulting language or degrading comments.

"First, the police have to recognize that we're people," said Jaime Lopez Vela, a longtime gay rights activist who helped draft the new rules. "We've been talking about this for years. It's been on the agenda, and sadly, it's been expedited by the recent aggressions."

Meanwhile the police officers who violently beat Zamora have yet to face any disciplinary action.

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Actors, Live Audience Scatter as Man Fires Gun at Cannes: VIDEO

Crowds at a live TV taping featuring actor Christopher Waltz scattered after a man fired a handgun, the Guardian reports:

"The bodyguards jumped over the barriers into the crowd and pulled him [the suspect] to the ground. The police arrived and told everyone to run because there was a grenade in his hand," one eyewitness told Reuters.

French authorities, who arrested the man at the scene, confirmed he was carrying a dummy grenade and a knife. A police source said: "It really appears to be a crazy guy."

Live footage showed actors and film crew scrambling from the seaside stage. The programme was taken off air temporarily, but continued minutes later after the programme's producer said: "The show must go on."

Watch the video, AFTER THE JUMP...

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The Best Song About the Periodic Table of Elements You'll Ever Hear: VIDEO

Think of this as ASAP Science's version of 'Schoolhouse Rock'.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

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