Tag: Gay Rights

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Check Out The FagBug!

Erin Davies said she hopes someday to meet the person who scrawled “fag” on her car three years ago, permanently altering the course of her life. “At the core, I’m hoping that will happen,” said Davies, 32, of Syracuse. “I’m not expecting it. But by keeping at this, by continuing to do what I’m doing — you know what? Anything is a possibility.” If such optimism sounds like something from a movie, perhaps Davies can be forgiven. She went and made one. Davies’ 2009 documentary, Fagbug, chronicles her reaction to the vandalism, which took place in Albany, where she was studying art. Somebody spray-painted “fag” and “u r gay” on her Volkswagen Beetle, an act that Davies — who is gay — viewed as an attempt to taunt and intimidate. Instead of scrubbing it clean, she let the paint dry and drove the country for 58 days, talking to people and filming their reactions to the car and its message. The resulting 83-minute movie has aired at 35 film festivals and appeared on about 70 college campuses and forums. It won sponsorships from Volkswagen Group of America and the Sundance Film Festival, and was dubbed “best gay car movie of the year” by Vanity Fair magazine. Its DVD release, scheduled for July 13, will be commemorated in a Syracuse public showing a few nights later.

“Once the whole idea started taking off — well, ever since, it’s been unique,” said Davies, a 1996 Westhill graduate, whose odyssey has led to a two-story, brick husk on Syracuse’s Near West Side. There, the sequel is planned. Today, when thousands gather for Syracuse’s annual CNY Pride Parade and Festival, the Fagbug will be part of the attraction. It has become a gay marketing icon for posters, stickers and toys. Davies said there is talk of a line of Volkswagens painted in rainbow stripes. But the Fagbug line also includes T-shirts that feature the original artwork donated long ago by an unknown spray-painter — the one who launched the ride.

“What motivated me was the idea that — whoever did this to my car — that I would do the complete opposite of what they wanted me to do, and feel the complete opposite of what they wanted me to feel,” Davies said. “Every single choice I’ve made since, it has been to go against what they were thinking ...

“Who knows?” she said later. “Maybe 10 years from now, the beer line is out there, the museum has succeeded, and I’d like to think that person also will have changed. Maybe our paths will cross after all.”

fagbug (the video)

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Oldest Gay Bar in the US Set To Close It's Doors

The Cedar Brook Cafe, located in Westport, Connecticut, and reputed to be the oldest gay bar in the United States, is scheduled to shut its doors later this month after 71 years. Clem Bellairs, who has owned the club for 12 years, said his reasons for closing the Cedar Brook were financial. "The landlord died, and the people who bought it doubled my rent," he said. "I can't afford it anymore." Bellairs, 57, bought the club in 1998 after going there since he was 21. "It was closing down, and they were going to turn it into a strip mall," he said. "I wanted to see it stay alive." Dan Woog, author of School's Out: The Impact of Gay and Lesbian Issues on America's Schools,  said the Cedar Brook has played an important role within the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community for many years.

"In the early days, when bars were the only place gay people could congregate, it was a refuge," he said. "In the 1970s, when gay people came out more publicly, it was the center of Fairfield County gay life. In the 1980s, when more women started going, it helped bring the gay and lesbian communities closer together. Always, it was a rite of passage for young people -- for many, their first introduction to the gay community."

But Woog said the club was important to more than just the LGBT community. "When it closes, there will be one less club in Fairfield County," he said. "So it's a loss for anyone, gay or straight, and one more indication of the dwindling night life in this area." Woog described his first experience at the Cedar Brook as "eye-opening." "For a long time, the Brook had a mystique for gay teenagers growing up in Westport," he said. "You wanted to know what it was like inside, but you didn't want anyone to know you wanted to know. I saw so many people having a great time, being themselves. I never knew there were so many gay people in Fairfield County!" Recently, the club has become a social gathering place not just for the gay community, but also for racial minorities, according to Bellairs. "Racial minorities are having a hard time being accepted, so it's a safe haven for them," said Bellairs. "It's Latin night every night." Bellairs described the atmosphere of the Cedar Brook as "comfortable." "There were never security incidents," he said. "It had a very homey atmosphere." Erik Anderson, 24, of Norwalk, said that the Cedar Brook was "not your typical gay bar." "It's got a lot of character to it; it's very unique," said Anderson, who has been to the Cedar Brook several times in the past year. "Other bars all kind of have the same feel to it, but the Cedar Brook is very distinct; I know I'm there." Anderson described its closing as "extraordinarily sad." "It's sad to see it go because it means so much to the older generation, and to the newer generation who doesn't really know it as well," he said. "I hope something new comes to the area, but you can't truly replace the Cedar Brook." Bellairs said he is going to miss everyone who used to frequent the Cedar Brook. "They weren't customers, they were friends," he said. "The people who went there were extraordinary." Woog said the Cedar Brook "represented a little bit of gay history, right here in Westport."

"I found it intriguing that for many years, it was located directly across from the State Police barracks (now Walgreens) and that it flourished in suburbia, with no adversity beyond a few homophobic remarks yelled by passing teenagers," he said. "I thought it said a lot about Westport that we had a gay bar here."

A closing party featuring local musicians will take place June 26. Admission will be free.

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College Student Wants "IM GAY" on License Plate - Should He Be Allowed? [VOTE]

Keith Kimmel "is here, queer and you all had better get used to it!" The young college student is incensed that the state tax commission in Oklahoma are denying him the right to display the phrase, "I'm Gay," on his vehicle's license plate. Kimmel is suing the commission over the denial of his request to personalize his plates with a phrase of his choosing. The young man argues that the denial is a direct violation of his first amendment rights. He also points out that the state has approved the display of plates that some folks might find a tad disturbing, such as "STR8FAN" and "STR8SXI." The Oklahoma City Community College student, who accuses the commission of double-standard practices, has also seen plates that refer to sexual toys and heterosexual acts on his local streets. The commission's defense, regarding these tags, is that they simply "slipped through." On the flip side, the commission powers-that-be state that they turned down Kimmel's plate request, because it violated an internal rule against tags that "may be offensive to the general public." Kimmel's attorney, who filed the lawsuit last week, says that the commission's verdict smacks of discrimination. In the meantime, regarding his fight to display his chosen personalized plates, the openly gay young man says that he's "in it for the long haul. If I lose, I will definitely appeal. If I get this plate, then another gay person can get it. You can call me an advocate, OK, I'll take it." [polldaddy poll=2728308]

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Malawi Man Arrested For Posting Gay Rights Posters

Malawian police have arrested a man for allegedly putting up posters supporting homosexuality, which is illegal in the southern African nation. Peter Sawali was charged this week with conduct likely to cause breach of peace, said police spokesman Davie Chingwalu. Sawali, 21, was putting up posters that read, "Gay rights are human rights," on a busy road in the city of Blantyre, the spokesman said. The man had stacks of glossy posters with the same message in his possession, according to the spokesman. An investigation is under way to seek more suspects, because Sawali said he was not acting alone. "Homosexuality is illegal in Malawi and is punishable by prison time and hard labor," Chingwalu said. "Basically, he was promoting a criminal act. This is what this is all about." If convicted, Sawali would face up to five months in prison, hard labor and a fine of about 2,000 kwacha ($14), police said. Homosexuality is a largely taboo subject in Malawi. In late December, Steven Monjeza, 26, and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 20, were arrested and charged with public indecency after they became engaged in the country. The two pleaded not guilty and were detained pending trial. They are thought to be the first openly gay couple to pursue a public marriage in Malawi, according to the spokesman. An investigation also is under way to determine whether Sawali is linked to the couple. The arrests have sparked international outcry from human rights organizations. Last month, Human Rights Watch wrote a letter to Malawi's government, accusing it of threatening citizens' fundamental rights. "Prosecuting two adults just because they affirm their love is a terrible injustice," said Dipika Nath, of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights program at the New York-based organization. The country is abiding by its constitution, the spokesman said. "All these countries want to impose their culture on us, but homosexuality is a crime, according to the penal code in Malawi," he said. Those found guilty of homosexuality in Malawi face a maximum of 14 years in jail. Report From CNN

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How Canada Tried To Purge Its Queers

Gary Kinsman and Patrizia Gentile want to launch their book The Canadian War on Queers at Ottawa’s Lord Elgin Hotel in March. It’s there, Kinsman says, that gay men began to turn the tables on RCMP surveillance officers taking photos from behind newspapers.

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Michigan Churches Stop Serving Homeless Because of Homosexuality

So much for that Biblical principle of "Blessed are the poor." For a few churches in Kalamazoo, Michigan, that passage has been rewritten to say, "Homeless people shouldn't get any food because of homosexuality." It what is becoming one of the grossest maneuvers by the religious right in this country, three churches in Kalamazoo have severed their ties with an ecumenical homeless ministry due to disagreements about homosexuality. This comes in the wake of the Archdiocese of Washington D.C.'s threat to stop serving needy families and the poor should gay marriage become legal in the District. In Michigan, the three churches at the center of this storm are Agape Christian Church, Word for Life Church of God, and Centerpoint Church. They were part of a ministry known as Martha's Table, which brought together eight different faith congregations to provide meals and worship space to the homeless. Only for these three churches, the fact that some of the other participating faith bodies take a progressive stand on homosexuality is enough to say to Kalamazoo's homeless, "We don't want you." How very Christian. Speaking to the Kalamazoo Gazette, a lay pastor from Agape Christian Church, Kim Sandelin, said that her church couldn't work together with other churches to fight homelessness because they don't want to stand next to faith traditions that look kindly on LGBT people. "An immoral lifestyle has eternal ramifications in Scripture," said Sandelin. Another pastor from Agape Church added that for their church, they couldn't tolerate working next to people of faith who violate their biblical worldview, even though the homeless ministry itself has seemingly nothing to do with the issue of gay rights. What is it with conservative churches who feel they can barter the lives of the poor in order to wage political warfare on the issue of gay rights? How do you justify that morally and spiritually? That's where the reasoned comments of another Kalamazoo pastor, who also happens to be conservative, comes into play. Rev. Ken Baker of the Third Christian Reformed Church, told the Gazette that his church would still participate in the homeless ministry, because theological viewpoints about homosexuality shouldn't be a factor when it comes to taking care of the poor and needy. "I feel very sad about the decision of three partner churches to pull out," Baker told the Gazette. "Everything about the ministry of Martha’s Table reflects the heart of Jesus, who came to preach good news to the poor. Surely, all our churches would agree that mercy and compassion were at the heart of the ministry of Jesus." In theory that last statement of Rev. Baker's should be correct. But not for the three Churches pulling out of serving the homeless. They're willing to use homeless folks as political pawns in a chess game over whether governments and churches can respect the civil rights and celebrate the inclusion of LGBT citizens or faith members. Their homophobia might run deep, but their committment to the biblical principles of mercy and compassion run pretty damn shallow. Again, how can this story also not be a reminder of the Archdiocese of Washington D.C.'s threat to bail on the poor should same-sex marriage become of the law of the District. Yesterday the Human Rights Campaign launched an action calling on the Archdiocese to keep serving needy families, the homeless, and those without health care in the District no matter what theological differences the Church may have with civil government. If you haven't signed the Human Rights Campaign's petition to D.C. Archbishop Donald Wuerl, mosey on over this way and sign up. Churches can take varying viewpoints on homosexuality -- nobody is really arguing that. But using the poor as a political weapon? That's what you call moral bankruptcy. Michael A. Jones Source Gay Rights Change.Org

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Britian Prime Minister Brown Pushes For Gay Rights In Attitude Magazine

Gordon Brown is pushing for British civil partnerships to be recognised across the EU - including Eastern Europe, he has told Attitude magazine. The prime minister said Britain was negotiating deals with France and Spain but wanted to "go further than that". He told Attitude a gay lifestyle magazine it was important to show "respect for gay people was due" in "Eastern Europe as well as Western Europe". But he predicted it would take "many years" for this to happen. Campaigners have been pushing for people who have undergone a civil partnership to be granted the same legal status and rights they enjoy in the UK in every other EU country. A lack of legal recognition can affect issues such as immigration and pension rights. Ugandan aid Mr Brown was also quizzed by Attitude about his own voting record on gay rights - he missed several votes on the issue during the first eight years of the Labour government - and what he was doing to tackle homophobic bullying in schools and the police, which campaign group Stonewall claims is on the increase. He said he had probably been busy with Treasury business when the votes were taking place but added: "I've always given my strong support." On tackling bullying, he said: "I want to do much better. In every area where you've got prejudice or you've got discrimination, you have to change the laws, but you also have to change the culture." But he refused a call to cut British aid to Uganda, where there are proposals to reintroduce the death penalty for homosexuality, saying he regularly raised the issue with the Ugandan government but "the point about aid is that it saves lives". In an interview with journalist Johann Hari in this month's edition of Attitude, Mr Brown hails civil partnerships as a key Labour achievement, which "showed our country is far more tolerant than people thought". 'Fight' He told the magazine: "I'm fighting to get all the countries in Europe to recognise civil partnerships carried out in Britain. "We want countries where that hasn't been the case - especially in Eastern Europe - to recognise them. We're negotiating agreements with France and then with Spain," said Mr Brown. "But I think we can actually go further than that. And if we could show Eastern Europe as well as Western Europe, that this respect for gay people is due, that would be really important. "Of course it will be tough, and will take many years, but that has never ever been a good reason not to fight." All three main parties at Westminster have been competing for the gay vote in recent years. Earlier this year, David Cameron won plaudits from campaigners after he apologised for Section 28 - the Conservative inspired legislation banning the "promotion" of homosexuality in schools. But the Conservative leader has also come under fire for forming alliances with allegedly homophobic Polish politicians in the European Parliament - something firmly denied by Mr Cameron but a theme returned to by Mr Brown in his Attitude interview. Gay marriage and same sex adoption are banned across most of Eastern Europe and in some countries, such as Romania, homosexuality has only been decriminalised in the past decade as a condition of joining the EU.

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United States Capital City Voted To Legalize Gay Marriage

The Associated Press is reporting that the Washington, DC City Council voted Tuesday to legalize gay marriage, giving supporters a victory after a string of recent defeats elsewhere and sending the issue to Congress, which has final say over laws in the nation's capital. Mayor Adrian Fenty has promised to sign the bill, which passed 11-2, and gay couples could begin marrying as early as March if Congress allows it to become law. Democratic congressional leaders have suggested they are reluctant to get involved, though gay marriage opponents say they will try to get it overturned either in Congress or at the polls. The bill had overwhelming support among council members and its passage was no surprise. Two members voted "I do" when their names came up, and when the vote finished a packed chamber erupted into cheers and clapping.

"Make no mistake, 2009 has been one hell of a year for marriage equality," said David Catania, who introduced the bill and is one of two openly gay council members.

The "no" votes included former mayor Marion Barry, now a council member, who voted, "I don't." If the bill becomes law, the district will join Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts and Vermont in issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. They will be able to wed in New Hampshire starting in January. Gay marriage supporters have had less success elsewhere recently. Maine voters overturned the state's same-sex marriage law last month. Earlier this month, the New York state Senate rejected a bill that would have allowed gay couples to marry. And New Jersey's legislature, which had been working on a same-sex marriage bill, postponed a recent vote when the measure appeared headed for defeat. Tuesday's vote in the district came after several months of discussion, including two marathon council hearings at which some 250 witnesses testified. Opponents included the Archdiocese of Washington, which said it might have to stop providing adoptions and other services because the law would force it to extend benefits to same-sex couples. But most who testified in this overwhelmingly Democratic city were supporters. Some, teary-eyed, asked the council to let friends, relatives or themselves marry. One man proposed to his partner during his testimony. The law will likely take effect around St. Patrick's Day in this city of 600,000, which is about 1/17th the size of Rhode Island. Congress has 30 working days to reject it, but that has happened just three times in the past 25 years. Still, opponents plan to try. Members of a group called Stand4Marriage, led by local pastor Bishop Harry Jackson, have met with members of Congress to urge them to oppose the bill. Attorney Cleta Mitchell said that after Fenty signs the bill and it goes to Congress, the group will ask a district elections board to put a referendum on the ballot asking voters to overturn it. She said in a statement before the vote that the law is a "decision for the people, not a dozen people at city hall." The group Mitchell represents made a similar request this summer, when the city passed a law recognizing gay marriages legally performed in other states. The board declined to put the issue on the ballot, saying that would violate a city human rights law. Jackson said Tuesday he believed that the group had a "airtight legal case" and that "If it gets to the vote, we win." The group also has a lawsuit pending from earlier this year, when it tried to get an initiative on the ballot asking voters to define marriage as between a man and a woman. The elections board again cited the human rights law in saying no. A hearing in that case is scheduled for January.

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Austrian parliament OKs Gay Civil Unions

Austria's parliament passed legislation Thursday allowing same-sex couples to enter into civil unions, a move hailed by proponents as a historic win for gay rights in the country. The bill, slated to become law Jan. 1, will give same-sex couples many of the rights enjoyed by their heterosexual counterparts, including access to a pension if one partner dies and alimony in the event of a split. "We are living in the 21st century and I'm very glad this step is being taken today," Justice Minister Claudia Bandion-Ortner said during parliamentary debate leading up to the vote. Christian Hoegl, co-president of the Homosexual Initiative Vienna, Austria's oldest group of gays and lesbians, agreed. "It's a relief, a big success and a reward for two decades of lobbying," Hoegl said. Earlier in the day, Hoegl and co-president Jona Solomon passed out pink rum-filled cupcakes to parliamentarians, along with a letter that urged them to vote yes. The legislation — considered a compromise between the governing coalition — did not pass unanimously. In the end, of the 174 lawmakers who cast ballots, 110 voted in favor of the bill, and 64 voted against it. The opposition right-wing Freedom Party rejected it outright, saying it goes too far. The Greens, on the other hand, argued it was too limited. Freedom Party chief Heinz-Christian Strache said the parliament's approval went against the will of most Austrians and undermined the institution of marriage. The new bill also formally bans the adoption of children or artificial insemination for same-sex couples. And, unlike straight couples, gay couples will not be able to record their unions at the civil registry office but with another authority instead. The issue led to heated debate in recent weeks, with critics saying it clearly signals that a same-sex partnership isn't given the same weight as a marriage between a man and a woman. Gabriele Heinisch-Hosek, a Social Democrat who is the country's minister for women's affairs and fought against the registration differences, described the vote as "the first step in the right direction." Story From: The Associated Press

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Charleston, S.C. Passes Pro-Gay Rights Law

The South Carolina city of Charleston became the second in the state to approve GLBT anti-discrimination protections. Columbus had approved such measures previously. Charleston both widened the scope of its existing anti-discrimination law regarding housing, and added a new ordinance to prevent discrimination in public accommodation that covered the civil rights spectrum, from age and race to gender identity and sexual orientation, reported local news station WCBD, an NBC affiliate, on Nov. 24. The news station reported that the ordinances were brought to the city’s mayor. Joseph P. Riley, last summer by a group of local GLBT equality and human rights organizations, including the South Carolina chapters of the Stonewall Democrats and the Log Cabin Republicans, the American Civil Liberties Union, and South Carolina Equality. The article noted that those organizations had also promoted similar protections in Columbus. "It’s a step forward in the right direction in making sure that we are not discriminating against anyone," said Council Member Gary White. "The passing of these ordinances is consonant with Charleston’s historic reputation as one of America’s friendliest cities and a place that is welcoming to all people," the executive director of the South Carolina office of the ACLU, said Victoria Middleton, told the media. "And they also affirm the constitutional principles shared by all Americans of non-discrimination and equality under the law." Last month, similar protections were passed in Salt Lake City, with the backing of the Mormon church, which had been a main supporter of the anti-gay California ballot initiative Proposition 8 last year. The narrowly approved Proposition 8 rescinded the existing right of gay and lesbian families to marry in that state. But Mormon officials indicated that there was no contradiction to opposing marriage equality in California and then supporting gay-inclusive anti-discrimination ordinances in Utah’s capital city. "The church supports these ordinances because they are fair and reasonable and do not do violence to the institution of marriage," said the church’s director of public affairs, Michael Otterson. But South Carolina Baptists conveyed a much different message in approving a pair of anti-gay resolutions at the Nov. 10-11 annual convention of their faith. One resolution opposed the repeal of the military’s ban on openly gay and lesbian troops; the other stated the church’s opposition to a recently adopted federal hate crimes law that covers GLBT Americans, reported Q Notes in a Nov. 13 article. The convention fell back on claims that protections for gays would impede the exercise of religious freedoms, stating that the Matthew Shepard James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Protection Act, which is the first federal law to extend protections to GLBT citizens and which President Obama signed on Oct. 28, "could effectively kill the First Amendment freedom of speech by criminalizing any verbal opposition to homosexuals and/or their lifestyle." Although religious conservatives have often made that charge, the law only pertains to criminal acts of physical violence in which victims are targeted on the basis of sexuality, among other factors such as race, religion, and disability. FBI statistics show that in 2008, anti-gay bias crimes rose by 11%--the third year in a row that anti-gay hate crimes have increased. "These numbers are unacceptable," said Joe Solmonese, president of the GLBT lobbying organization the Human Rights Campaign. "While it is so important that we have the new federal hate crimes law, it is critical to ensure that we continue working with the Department of Justice to ensure the safety of LGBT citizens. "We have to prosecute each hate crime to the fullest extent of the law, but we also need to get at the roots," added Solmonese of the rising rate of anti-gay violence. "When we don’t know each other as human beings, ignorance breeds misunderstanding, which breeds hate, which too often this year led to violence. We have to keep fighting the prejudices and stereotypes that underlie these acts." The South Carolina Baptist Convention urged members to contact government officials and seek the repeal of the Matthew Shepard James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act in order "to keep freedom of speech in our pulpits and the public square." At the same time, the convention offered reassurances that it did not actively promote anti-gay violence, exhorting people to "avoid acts of hatred and violence toward lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgendered persons and treat our fellow citizens with the kind of civility we would prefer to receive ourselves." The convention framed the issue of not subjecting gays to violent crime in religious terms that view homosexuality as a "sin," asking "all believers to love and show compassion toward lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgendered persons, sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who is able to bring true freedom from error and to set free the captives of sin." Reported By EdgeBoston