Tuesday, October 31, 2017
US Senate Votes Unanimously To Condemn Treatment Of Gay Men In Chechnya
This means the entire US Congress has now unanimously spoke out against the atrocities.
The Senate last night (30 October) adopted a resolution condemning what is happening to LGBT people in Chechnya.
The US House of Representatives passed a similar bipartisan resolution in June.
Neither President Trump or US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson have publicly spoken out against the situation.
It is reported Tillerson had written a letter to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. However the letter has not been released publicly.
GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis called on President Trump to ‘speak out in support of human rights and against the anti-LGBTQ violence in Chechnya’ in April.
The Director of HRC Global, Ty Cobb, said: ‘With unanimous passage of this resolution, the U.S. Senate just sent a powerful message.
‘Despite the deafening silence from the White House, the people of the United States strongly condemn these anti-LGBTQ attacks in Chechnya,
‘Members of both parties in both chambers have now condemned the anti-LGBTQ Chechen violence and persecution. It’s far past time that President Trump and Secretary Tillerson also publicly do so.
‘Given the growing violence and arrests of LGBTQ people around the world, the United States must not back away from leading on LGBTQ human rights.’
Senators Pat Toomey and Ed Markey introducing the bipartisan Senate Resolution (S. Res.) 211.
The resolution ‘calls on Chechen officials to immediately cease the abduction, detention, and torture of individuals on the basis of their actual or suspected sexual orientation. And hold accountable all those involved in perpetrating such abuses.’
It also calls on the US government to ‘continue to condemn the violence and persecution in Chechnya.’
Chechen authorities began rounding up and detaining more than 100 men in secrets prisons earlier this year, under suspicion that they are gay or bisexual.
Stories have also begun to emerge of lesbian women experiencing abuse and threats.
Trans Chechens have fled the country.
Monday, October 30, 2017
What A Fucking Asshole
Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey has
come out gay amid allegations he made sexual advances toward Star
Trek: Discovery actor Anthony Rapp when he was 14.
Rapp, now 46, made the allegations in
an interview with BuzzFeed
News.
“Rapp is publicly alleging for the
first time that in 1986, Spacey befriended Rapp while they both
performed on Broadway shows, invited Rapp over to his apartment for a
party, and, at the end of the night, picked Rapp up, placed him on
his bed and climbed on top of him, making a sexual advance,”
BuzzFeed reported.
Spacey was 26, while Rapp was 14 at the
time of the encounter.
Seeing Spacey today, Rapp said, makes
his stomach “churn.”
“I still to this day can't wrap my
head around so many aspects of it. It's just deeply confusing to
me,” he said.
Spacey, 58, responded to the
allegations in a tweet, saying that he does not remember the
encounter.
“I have a lot of respect and
admiration for Anthony Rapp as an actor,” Spacey wrote. “I'm
beyond horrified to hear his story. I honestly do not remember the
encounter, it would have been over 30 years ago. But if I did behave
then as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would
have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior, and I am sorry for
the feelings he describes having carried with him all these years.”
Spacey went on to address rumors about
his sexuality.
“As those closest to me know, in my
life I have had relationships with both men and women. I have loved
and had romantic encounters with men throughout my life, and I choose
now to live as a gay man,” Spacey said.
Lowly piece of human filth, attempts to assault a boy of 14, 30 some years later, not only tries to blame it on alcohol but conflates it to his now coming out being gay and in the same breath say's he chose to be gay.
Thanx Kevin, for trying to drag the entire gay community down with you and further firing up the Trump worshiping evangelicals... this is going to start a witch hunt that's going to take the LGBT community years to recover from.
Sunday, October 29, 2017
Stupid Judge Quits Job Because He's A Bigot
Judge Mitchell Nance, who presides over family court in Kentucky’s 43rd Judicial District, caused a storm earlier this year after he banned cases involving gay families from his courtroom.
Judge Nance’s order registered an “conscientious objection to the concept of adoption of a child by a practicing homosexual”, seeking to recuse himself from such cases on the grounds of “matters of conscience”.
The judge claimed he cannot hear the cases because he believes there is no circumstance in which “the best interest of the child would be promoted by the adoption by a practicing homosexual”.
But after a probe was launched into his decision, this week the judge opted to resign from the bench entirely.
The state judicial commission had filed ethics charges against Nance, accusing him of violating the judicial code of conduct.
This bars judges from overtly “showing bias or prejudice based on race, sex, religion, national origin, disability, age, sexual orientation or socioeconomic status”.
He was also accused of failing to act in a way that “promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary”.
Responding to the charges this week, Nance’s lawyers confirmed that he would be resigning rather than face punishment.
His resignation will be effective December 16, according to the Lexington Herald Leader.
The complaint against the judge was pursued by the Fairness Campaign, a Kentucky LGBT group. It was joined by Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Kentucky and University of Louisville Law Professor Sam Marcosson.
Speaking to the Herald Leader, Chris Hartman of the Fairness Campaign said: “I think that we’ve got justice here
“Judge Nance has proven he cannot be entrusted with decisions that affect his diverse constituency and their families.
“I hope it sends a message that fairness and justice must be applied equally, and that judges whose conscience conflicts with their duties must resign the bench if they cannot deliver that basic fairness and justice.”
The judge had insisted previously that he had not discriminated against gay couples because the order was “preemptive”.
The judge explained he wanted to make clear in advance that he would not take such cases, adding: “It’s preemptive in nature… I wanted to preempt there from being any uncertainty if the situation arose.”
Judge Nance was backed by anti-LGBT groups.
The anti-LGBT Family Foundation of Kentucky said: “If we are going to let liberal judges write their personal biases and prejudices into law, as we have done on issues of marriage and sexuality, then, in the interest of fairness, we are going to have to allow judges with different views to at least recuse themselves from such cases.
“When adoption agencies abandon the idea that it is in the best interest of a child to grow up with both a mother and a father, people can’t expect judges who do believe that to be forced to bow the knee.”
The group insisted the judge was correct to “recuse himself if he believes his views might bias a cas.
It added: “We can’t imagine how the groups now trying to unseat him claim to be in favor of tolerance and diversity while at the same time trying to hound from office public officials who don’t agree with their politically correct ideology.”
“If the Judicial Ethics Commission rules against Nance, it will be the second time in recent months which it has ruled against a judge for doing what the law requires judges to do.”
I have to wonder if the Family Foundation of Kentucky would feel the same if the judge had a conscientious objection in placing a child with an evangelical Christian parent because of the potential psychological damage they could do to a child if that child turned out to be gay.?
Seriously doubt it.
BTW, show of hands those who read this blog, that consider themselves to just be practicing being gay?
As for me, I'm a fucking expert!
Religion Of Peace...For Whom Exactly?
Police in Egypt are using gay app Grindr to lure gay and bisexual men to hotel rooms to arrest them.
Dalia Abdel-Hameed, a gender rights researcher with the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights unearthed dozens of police reports.
In the reports, a “cultivation” technique is set out which sees targets seduced using Grindr.
They are lured to hotel rooms and arrested by authorities.
She described a “mania” around penetration.
“It’s related to the fact that men are using apps more than women and an obsession of who is being penetrated.
“There is this penetration mania in Egypt due to religious reasons, mostly.”
Earlier this month, four people were imprisoned for homosexuality in Egypt.
The Haram Misdemeanor Court sentenced the defendants to three years in prison on Saturday, for acts which were “inconsistent with public morality and homosexuality”.
The illegal actions were committed in a residential apartment in Hadayeq al-Ahram, Giza, near the country’s famous pyramids, according to the Egyptian Independent.
The convicted people, whose genders and names have not yet been reported, were arrested as part of the ongoing crackdown on the LGBT community in Egypt.
Police said they received an arrest warrant from the public prosecution before making the arrests, and that aphrodisiacs and sex toys were confiscated from the scene.
The crackdown began last month, after at least one rainbow flag was waved at a concert by the Lebanese band Mashrou Leila, whose lead singer is openly gay.
Egypt’s conservative, pro-government media stoked anti-LGBT sentiment after the concert, with prime-time TV host Ahmed Moussa telling his audience: “Homosexuality is a crime that’s as terrible as terrorism.”
Egyptian authorities responded with a ‘purge’ targeted at the country’s gay community, raiding homes and arresting more than 60 people to date, according to sources.
10 of those arrested immediately after the concert have already been sentenced to six years in prison each, for “debauchery”.
The Forensic Medical Authority has also carried out anal examinations on at least five of those arrested.
It is de facto illegal to be gay in Egypt, under public morality and order laws. Those convicted of homosexuality can be sentenced to as much as 17 years in prison.
Last week, authorities banned the media from reporting on the issue – while imposing a Russia-style ban on LGBT people being mentioned on TV and film, as well as radio, online or print media.
Egypt’s Supreme Council for Media Regulation issued the statement, which “prohibits the appearance of homosexuals or their slogans in the media”, branding homosexuality a “sickness”.
The order forbids any appearance of gay people “in any media outlet whether written, audio, or visual, except when they acknowledge the fact that their conduct is inappropriate and repent for it”.
Though the crackdown has largely targeted gay men, one woman was detained by authorities on suspicion of “promoting sexual deviancy” and “habitual debauchery” for waving the rainbow flag.
It is believed to be the first such incident involving a woman in several years.
Egyptian-born gay activist Omar Sharif Jr., the grandson of Egyptian actor Omar Sharif, spoke to PinkNews about the purge earlier this month.
He said: “I am angry and disheartened by the arrests of fellow Egyptians over the past few days.
“The action of authorities are an affront to basic human rights and dignity. No one should be arrested for proudly expressing their authentic selves; they should be celebrated.
“Forcing people to undergo invasive medical examinations is tantamount to torture.
“Let’s be clear, Egyptian authorities are not protecting morality; they are spitting in the face of it.”
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