South Florida Homes Tagged with Anti-Gay Slurs

It's happening everywhere!

Three homes in Wilton Manors, adjacent to Fort Lauderdale, were tagged by vandals early this morning, the Miami Herald reports:

"Someone wrote the slurs on three adjacent homes in the 2800 block of Northeast Seventh Avenue, an area with a large gay population. Five cars were also defaced with black spray paint. However, Wilton Manors police investigator David C. Jones believes that it was a random attack, as a straight couple live in one of the homes hit. That came as little consolation to Aaron Challancin, who awoke Friday morning to cops knocking on his door. When he walked outside, he saw the slurs. 'There's no reason for this to happen,'' Challancin said. ``We didn't do anything to anyone. We're normal people trying to live normal lives.'"

Anti-gay slurs sprayed on three homes [miami herald]

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Gay Tulsa Couple Targeted by Hate Vandals

A gay couple in Tulsa, Oklahoma have been targeted by vandals twice in the last week who slashed tires, set a truck on fire, and tagged their property:

"About seven days ago, the message "Gays Must Go" was spray-painted on their garage door, and a symbol resembling a swastika, which is used by some white supremacist groups, was spray-painted on the side of their home. Holes were punched in a friend's pickup's tires and the truck was set on fire while parked in Stotler's driveway. The message 'I'll be back' was spray-painted on both sides of the vehicle. And back the person came. A few days later, holes were punched in the front door of their home in the 11800 block of East 25th Street, and the message 'Gay Go Away' was painted on it."

Because Oklahoma's hate crime laws do not cover sexual orientation, the incidents have been labeled by police as "acts of vandalism or malicious mischief." Anyone looking at the photos can see the threats involved.

Said Freddy Owens, executive director of Oklahomans for Equality, which condemned the attacks: "Oklahomans for Equality deplores the vandalism directed at Robert Stotler, an openly gay resident of east Tulsa. Such intimidation highlights the urgent need for federal and state hate crimes legislation protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Without such legislation, attacks on Robert and other LGBT people will continue to be classified as mere vandalism and will not be prosecuted properly."

The owners of the home have not spent a night recently in their home for fear of their lives but say they are not planning on moving.

Recent Oklahoma news...
OK County Commissioner Brent Rinehart's Homophobic Comic Book [tr]
Oklahoma Politico Preparing Anti-Gay Comic Book for Voters [tr]
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Anti-Gay Attacks on Rural Tennessee Man Continue

You may remember the threats against McMinnville, Tennessee resident Neal Anthony I posted about beginning in April of 2007. At that time, Anthony's property had been the target of a paintball attack committed by three teens who said they did it because Anthony is gay. The paintball incident preceded by days an incident in which graffiti that said "all gays go to hell" and "fags deserve to die" was tagged on the sides of buildings on the property. Then, a month later, another graffiti incident.

In June, the graffiti tagging continued, this time with death threats against Anthony.

So Anthony bought $10,000 of surveillance equipment and spent $80,000 fixing up the home, he says. But the attacks continue:

"Vandals sprayed and splattered hate-filled words on his property Friday morning. Anthony said it's because of his sexuality. 'I'm not out there in my yard running naked, or being with my partner doing all these sex acts or anything like that,' said Anthony. Virtually every square foot of the property is within camera range, but this spray paint assault went undetected. The vandals cut the lines to Anthony's cameras, security lights, landscape lights and even severed power to the main house and his phone line. Anthony said this is the ninth assault on his property and he fears the attack might escalate from personal possessions to people. The suspected vandals also spray painted 'Dorothy's in Hell' referring to Neal's mother, who passed away in December."

The Tennessee Equality Project has stepped in to assist. It was reported that they had also stepped in to help over the last incident, along with the ACLU. It's unclear what transpired at that point, but hopefully they can do some good this time.

The sheriff's office meanwhile, doesn't appear to have an interest in Anthony's problems. Meanwhile, Anthony pleads: “People need to know what’s going on up here in Warren County. I need help. I need for this to stop. . .I’m living in fear of my life.”

Repeat Hate Crime Victim Seeks Relief [newschannel 5] (VIDEO)
GAY HATE [out and about]

Previously
Threats Against Rural Gay Tennessee Man Continue [tr]
Anti-gay Threats Against Rural Tennessee Man Continue [tr]
Tennessee Teens Charged with Hate Crime for Vandalism [tr]

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New York high court refuses to strike down state's recognition of out-of-state same-sex marriage: "The Court of Appeals declined yesterday to review the mid-level appellate court's decision to recognize the couple's Canadian marriage, the first such ruling by an appellate court in New York State. For now, that lower court decision remains binding across the state."

Thomas Roberts talks to The Advocate about the news industry's glass ceiling for gays: "It’s funny that people think I got fired from CNN. I left CNN on my accord: I resigned from my contract because of personal reasons. I never dealt with anything but respect and kindness. There’s a great misconception. I’ve worked my ass off, I’ve been fortunate, and luck doesn’t hurt either. If people don’t like that I’m gay or that I talk about being gay, I’m sorry. Because that’s not my problem."

American Idol's resident stoner Jason Castro has his own hot doll, complete with dreads, and it can be yours.

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Filipino Archbishop defends right of gays to participate in Santacruzans: "If they are devotees, they are religious and they look decent, I believe they have the right to join in. I think it would be better for us to see gays who act formally and decently in the Santacruzan rather than young and beautiful women who are not clean and [are] immoral."

Gay penguin book And Tango Makes Three is "most objected to" library book in America for second year straight: "Other books on the ALA's top 10 list include Maya Angelou's memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, in which the author writes of being raped as a young girl; Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, long attacked for alleged racism; and Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass, an anti-religious work in which a former nun says: 'The Christian religion is a very powerful and convincing mistake.'"

Three teenage girls admit to tagging school and vehicles with racial, vulgar and homophobic messages in Wisconsin.

Moldova hopes to hold its first Gay Pride ever: "Organisers of the Gay Pride in Moldova – 'Rainbow over the Dniester' – are hopeful of being able to stage a parade this year in the country’s capital, Chisinau. The Pride is the seventh to be organised, but in previous years the parade has been banned by the authorities. 'During three previous consecutive years, public authorities have banned the public manifestations on various pretexts,' said a spokesperson for GenderDoc-M, the Pride organisers. 'This year after we applied to the City Hall to inform the authorities about planned public manifestation within the Pride, we got the information, which gave us hope.'"

Kylie Minogue show hot out of the gates in Paris.

One benefit to having a fat ass.

Rhode Island lawmakers to debate bills that would allow same-sex couples married elsewhere to divorce in that state: "Lawmakers filed the divorce bill after Rhode Island's Supreme Court ruled in December that a lesbian couple married in Massachusetts cannot divorce in Rhode Island, where they live. Massachusetts is the only state to legalize gay marriage."

Looks like Dick Cheney's gone hunting again.

John Travolta is a subway terrorist.

White House admits it is missing email backups from start of Iraq war: "The White House acknowledged in a court filing last night that it no longer has backup tapes of email from between March 1 and May 22, 2003, a period that includes the beginning of the Iraq war. Yesterday's filing is the latest development in the ongoing White House emails lawsuit, in which two non-profits, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and the National Security Archive (NSA), are suing to force the administration to recover any missing emails and institute a more effective email archiving system."

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Cyberbully drives 16-year-old Brit to suicide by posing as an online boyfriend: "The 17-year-old posted a fake profile on the social networking site Bebo, then told friends and teachers intimate details of their online conversations. The 16-year-old victim, from Brighton, East Sussex, swallowed 60 painkillers."

Hard Drive: Porn star Ryan Idol (Marc Anthony Donais, pictured here at an event for The Ritz) named in Birmingham Mayor Larry Landford's computer charity scandal: "Katopodis testified in his deposition that Donais, the adult-film actor, was paid to help the Council of Cooperating Governments and the Computer Help for Kids programs, both of which were handling money and expenses for Langford's computer initiative. Donais, a former Playgirl Magazine centerfold, has starred in seven gay adult films. Katopodis pointed out in his testimony that Donais also has appeared in plays in New York City. 'He's a businessman and had been working as, had done several off-Broadway productions and had been writing a play,' Katopodis testified. 'I don't know what else he was doing, you know.' Donais received $5,000 from the computer charity and $25,000 from the council, according to court filings. 'He's very good at working on computers,' Katopodis testified. 'He's very adept at computers. But at the time he was working at the Council, he didn't work on computers.'"

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China draws up plan to combat HIV/AIDS in its gay population: " The policy will incorporate detailed HIV/AIDS prevention measures for MSM (men who have sex with men) including extending the use of condoms, according to the ministry's work plan for disease prevention and control in 2008. China has decided to intensify its AIDS intervention campaign on MSM by carrying out AIDS prevention training among the gay population nationwide as well as conducting consultation, HIV/AIDS tests, venereal disease treatment in some areas, the ministry said."

Gay man stabbed to death at public men's room in Britain: "Appealing for witnesses, a spokeswoman for Surrey Police said the victim, who was gay, was stabbed in toilets at Walton Bridge, an area known as a popular meeting place for men. She said: 'Early indications lead police to believe that he might have known his attacker though we don't know in what context or for how long.''" UPDATE Man arrested.

Paris Hilton promotes her new film by posing with the only audience that actually went to see it.

UK vandals attack "Some People are Gay, Get Over It" billboard: "Sadly, the vandalism of a small number of the new Stonewall billboards is a reminder that homophobia still exists in our society and highlights the need to address the issue in schools and in our communities."

David Beckham gets lei'd, scratches, and squirts in Hawaii.

Targets of homophobic UK arsonist discuss attacks: "Nicholas Hughes, 42, and his partner of 16 years Peter Cameron, 59, suffered years of "horrendous" verbal homophobic abuse from Sonny Lockwood and members of his gang before he set their house in North Downs Crescent, New Addington, on fire."

William F. Buckley: "Mr. McCain is a bit of a girlie-man when it comes to waterboarding high-value detainees; but that’s a tricky one, even for macho, red-meat conservative chest-thumpers. You get a pass on that one if you’ve spent five-and-a-half years being bastinadoed by North Vietnamese."

Jason West, the former Mayor of New Paltz, NY, is now a house painter in Manhattan: "Mr. West, 30, first drew attention in 2003, when at 26 he became the first member of the Green Party to be elected mayor in New York State. But it was the next year when he created a furor for performing same-sex marriages that were later declared illegal — which may have led to his current occupation and his summer stint bartending at a Dutchess County watering hole called Darby O’Gills. Mr. West was defeated in a re-election bid in May 2007."

Gay history of Cambridge University to be revealed: "Evidence for the University's gay past can be found from as early as 1619, in a memorial in Gonville & Caius Chapel. It was commissioned by the college's master Dr John Gostlin in memory of himself and his friend Dr Thomas Legge, sometime Vice-Chancellor of the University. A flaming heart held aloft by two hands bears the inscription'Love joined them living. So may the earth join them in their burial. Oh Legge, Gostlin's heart you still have with you'. A similar monument can be found in Christ's College Chapel, where John Finch and Thomas Baines, who met as students at the College in the 1640s, are buried in the same tomb and commemorated with an elaborate carving of a marriage knot."

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Asian woman becomes Australia's first gay cabinet minister: "South Australia Senator Penny Wong Ying Yen has been appointed minister for water and climate change by new Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. The 39-year-old lawyer is the first Asian-born person to become a Cabinet minister as well as the first gay person of either sex."

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Gay marriage bill to be reintroduced in Australian Capital Territory.

Homophobic vandals cause distress at Bard College at Simon's Rock : "Anyone wishing to see the poster and what was written on it can do so, said [residence director] Darcangelo, who keeps it in her office. 'Fags suck (cock)' was written on the poster in black pen, while 'homosexuals? Don't they belong in hell (being facetious)' was written in a nearby spot. Rich Vaden, a senior and president of QueerSA, learned the news from Graves' email. 'My head almost exploded,' he said."

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Bill Clinton lashes out at press coverage of Hillary: "Sixty-seven percent of the coverage is pure politics. That stuff has a half-life of about 15 seconds. It won't matter tomorrow. It is very vulnerable to being slanted and rude. And it won't affect your life...I would pick her and be here if we weren't married. One percent of the press coverage was devoted to their record in public life. No wonder people think experience is irrelevant."

The Blonde Map of Europe. Do you really think they have more fun in central Scandinavia?

Kylie Minogue in look-alike strip club scandal.

Soulforce and COLAGE (Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere) plan to target megachurches next year from Mother's Day in May until Father's Day in June: "Through our visibility we hope to peacefully challenge the false stereotypes about LGBT people and same-gender families, and educate the public through authentic and personal conversations - real parents sharing their stories and describing the hurtful effects of prejudice and religious condemnation."

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Former employee of Goodyear wins $4.4 million in sexual orientation harassment lawsuit: "According to the suit, Sheffield neither hid nor flaunted her sexual orientation until her former manager encouraged her to bring her partner to an annual company dinner, where she received an 'adverse reaction' from another store manager, In 2003, her former boss was replaced by a new district manager, defendant Randy Reich, and a new service manager, David Johnson, was assigned to the store, the suit claims. Johnson 'immediately let it be known ... that he knew Sheffield was gay and did not like gays,' the suit claims. When Sheffield learned that Johnson carried a gun to work she confronted him about it and he confirmed it and threatened to pull it out and to urinate on her, she claimed in the suit."

Iggy, the dog Ellen DeGeneres cast off to much publicity, is about to bark off in a new PSA to bring awareness to the importance of pet adoption.

Yale University Dramatic Association targeted by homophobic graffiti: "At approximately 1:30 a.m. last Wednesday morning, a group of undergraduates involved in the Yale Dramatic Association found the words “drama fags” on the wall, located near the York Street side of the theater. 'It’s unacceptable,' Drama School Dean James Bundy said. 'It is deeply disturbing. I hope we find out who did it and I hope we can do everything in our power to make sure it never happens again.' Bundy said he was unaware of the incident before he was informed by the News on Sunday. Although most of the spray paint has been removed from the building, traces of the words are still visible five days later."

Next time you decide to broil that crustacean alive, you might want to think about whether or not you're causing it pain. The debate continues...

Australian gay activist dumped from Labor Party after physically intimidating the wife of the Environment Minister: "Mr Burns later described Mrs Turnbull in an email to Mr Turnbull as a 'fag hag impersonator of a wife' and condemning the minister as 'a weak and pathetic excuse for a human being'. The tirade came as the battle for the gay vote heats up in Mr Turnbull's Sydney seat of Wentworth, where Labor's candidate George Newhouse is polling strongly."

North Carolina Baptists set to expel church that welcomes gay people: "If all goes as expected, the 4,000-plus attendees at the Baptist State Convention will vote Tuesday morning to cast out Myers Park Baptist -- but only after short speeches from two of the church's leaders. One -- Nancy Walker, secretary to the church's board of deacons -- is a lesbian."

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New evidence surfaces suggesting "gay, wildly eccentric" King Ludwig II of Bavaria was murdered: "The real cause of King Ludwig's death has been a mystery ever since his body, together with that of his psychiatrist, was dragged from Lake Starnberg on 13 June, 1886. But the official version, which holds that he committed suicide by drowning, has never been completely refuted. Now, 111 years after the king's death, new evidence has surfaced which suggests that the builder of Neuschwanstein castle and many other bizarrely romantic architectural follies was murdered. The details are convincing enough to increase calls for the House of Wittelsbach, King Ludwig's family, to allow his body to be exhumed from its tomb in St Michael's Church in Munich to enable a new and conclusive post-mortem examination to be conducted."

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POETRY: Is Pakistan's educational curriculum the target of a plant by the Bush administration? "In December 2005, a Pakistani youth discovered that the first letter of each line of a poem in his English primer spelled out the name of "P-R-E-S-I-D-E-N-T G-E-O-R-G-E B-U-S-H." The anonymous poem -- called "The Leader" -- listed the qualities of a great statesman in a series of painfully stiff rhyming couplets."

AfterElton takes a critical listen of a new musical offering from openly gay actor John Barrowman: "...most fans of the openly gay Torchwood and Doctor Who actor are likely to be aware that he has a background in musical theater, having appeared in shows from Anything Goes to Sunset Boulevard in London’s West End. The new album, a set of covers which put an easy-listening spin on classic pop, soft rock, and yes, musical theater numbers might therefore seem to be displaying a fairly recognizable side of Barrowman, as opposed to, say, an album full of heavy-metal music.

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Vandals Document Destruction of Andres Serrano Exhibit

On Friday, four "Social Nationalists" in Sweden took it upon themselves to destroy works by Afro-Cuban artist Andres Serrano, the artist known for his controversial 1989 work "Piss Christ", because they deemed it degenerate. The works destroyed were part of an exhibition in Lund, Sweden, called "The History of Sex".

The vandalism was documented by the attackers and posted on the internet (above).

The NYT reports: "No guards were on duty in the gallery, said Viveca Ohlsson, the show’s curator, although security videos captured much of the incident. 'There was one woman who works at the gallery who tried to stop them until she saw the axes and crowbars,' Ms. Ohlsson said. 'These men are dangerous.' By the time the masked men had finished, half the show — seven 50-by-60-inch photographs, worth some $200,000 over all — had been destroyed. The men left behind leaflets reading, 'Against decadence and for a healthier culture.' The fliers listed no name or organization."

The vandals have not yet been apprehended. Police say they are likely neo-Nazis.

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Monet Damaged by Intruders at Orsay Museum in Paris

A group of drunk people somehow got into the Musee d'Orsay in Paris and punched a hole through Monet's "Le Pont d'Argenteuil" over the weekend.

The AP reports: "No arrests were immediately made and there were no signs the group was armed, Albanel told reporters at a news conference. The intruders 'tried to force other doors' before succeeding at a back door, 'even though it had big bolts,' she said, wondering aloud if the bolts might have been faulty. The painting hung on the ground floor with other Impressionist masterpieces. Albanel said the painting could be restored, but she deplored the damage."

I'm not a huge Monet fan either, but this seems a bit extreme.

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Vermont Hate Crime Sisters Targeted Two Cars in Anti-Gay Attack

The teen sisters who committed the hate crime in St. Albans, Vermont "have a record of juvenile behavior issues" according to the Associated Press.

Meghan and Melissa Gaboury, 18 and 16, respectively, have been charged with a hate crime against a pair of distant relatives, Robert Driver and Dalton Flint, who are joined in a civil union. The Gaboury sisters allegedly spray-painted anti-gay epithets on the couple's car and slashed its tires.

Apparently two cars were targeted in the crime.

According to the AP, "On Sunday night, one of the men said he had spotted one of the sisters in a vehicle outside the house and said a short time later that he believed Melissa Gaboury had called his grandmother's number three times, according to a police affidavit. On Monday morning, the two men awoke to find their tires slashed and their cars spray-painted with antigay slogans. 'The girls have used these terms against us for the past few months,' one of the men told police. 'They use them to specifically demean us.'"

Said Vermont State Police Trooper Jay Riggen: "They were from Burlington. They moved up here to take care of their grandmother who's in her 80s now. It's one of those things where they're here trying to do a good thing for a relation. To be targeted specifically like this, they just want to leave the area. The word they used was they really felt like they had a crushed spirit."

Said Driver: "It was degrading, humiliating, and an invalidation of who we are as a couple and our lives."

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Straight VT Woman, Hit by Anti-gay Hate Crime, Turns Activist

Alexis Smith found her car spray-painted with homophobic slurs in a Montpelier, Vermont Park-n-Ride lot upon returning from a three-day weekend in Maine, the Times Argus reports:

"Smith, 41, said she isn't gay and is unsure why her vehicle was targeted. She said she worries the epithets, painted in large, yellow letters on the hood, driver-side windows and rear of her 1986 Corolla, were intended for someone else."

There is concern in the community because less than three weeks ago the home of a Jewish family in the area was burglarized and swastikas were left spray-painted on the walls.

Smith told the paper: "I feel like because of what else has gone on, this is a really big issue in Montpelier. This is not OK. There's somebody driving a white Toyota Corolla right now who could potentially be in danger. I'm not gay. I'm not a gay activist. But I am now. I'm going out to the flag store right now and putting a big rainbow flag on here."

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Threats Against Rural Gay Tennessee Man Continue

This time it's a death threat. The ACLU and the Hate Crimes Task Force with the Tennessee Equality project have stepped in to help investigate the continued anti-gay harassment of Neal Anthony.

Anthony, who lives in McMinnville, was targeted in April by vandals who sprayed anti-gay messages on the side of his home and peppered it with paintballs, breaking windows.

"Fags deserve to die" and "all gays go to hell" were two of the messages written on the sides of his home, an historic residence built by his great-grandfather who was a county judge.

A group of teens were later charged in the paintball vandalism but the harassment has continued. In late May, Anthony's windows were broken by rocks and threatening messages were sprayed on the inside of his barn.

In this latest attack, vandals sprayed the words "Die Neal" on the outside of his house. They were discovered by his partner Mike, according to Tennessee paper Out & About, who published the above image.

Out & About is the paper recently targeted by Kroger Grocery stores and removed from store shelves.

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Tennessee Teens Charged with Hate Crime for Vandalism

Authorities in McMinnville, Tennessee, a rural town approximately halfway between Nashville and Chattanooga, have charged three teens with a hate crime after they apparently confessed to spraying a gay man's house with paintballs. They said they targeted Neal Anthony because he is gay.

Anthony, whom I posted about the other day, found his home covered in anti-gay graffiti that said "all gays go to hell" and "fags deserve to die" just days after the paintball incident, in which he said his home was peppered with more than 80 paintball rounds.

Police aren't releasing the names of those charged, as they are juveniles (two are 15, one is 16), and it's unclear whether they are connected to the anti-gay writings discovered on the side of Anthony's historic 1851 home.

Anthony has asked that they clean up the damage.

Teens charged with hate crime over damage to gay man's house [ap via tennesseean]

For more on this story...
Vandals Target Tennessee Man in Anti-Gay Hate Crime [tr]

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28 Cars Vandalized Outside Houston Gay Bar

Tires were slashed and windshields shattered on over two dozen vehicles parked in a lot used by patrons of EJ's Bar in Houston. The vandalism happened early Tuesday morning between the hours of 2 and 3 am.

One victim, Ronnie Siebert, told Houston's KPRC News, "I really honestly do think this was a hate crime and that people are tired of the gays parking on their lot. It's really sad what has happened here tonight."

The parking lot is not equipped with surveillance equipment and police are asking for anyone with information to come forward and contact Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.

Gay Bar Patrons Find Vehicles Vandalized [click 2 houston]

Recently
A Mother's Fears as Gay-Bashing Killers Prepare for Parole [tr]

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