Nathan Runkle (age 24), founder of Mercy for Animals, was brutally beaten outside of a gay nightclub in Ohio on Saturday, December 27, 2008.  Nathan, best know for his work as an animal rights activist was also voted as one of VegNews Magazine’s “25 Most Fascinating Vegetarians”.

As crimes against LGBT people continue to rise year after year, we are forced to reexamine the importance of hate crimes legislation.  Regrettably, Ohio has no hate crimes protections for LGBT people nor does the U.S. Federal Government currently have mandates for hate crime reporting.  These facts, as well as the fear experienced by many LGBT people after an attack, often mean these hate crimes go unreported or under represented.

As part of the letter to Obama being circulated for the National DOMA Protest, LGBT activists and their allies are requesting the passage of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act.  Please take a moment to review information provided by Join The Impact and participate in this important movement toward equality.

For more information regarding Nathan Runkle, please see:

gayrights.change.org’s blog on the subject.

Queer Animals blog regarding the attack.

Chip Saltsman, RNC Chair Candidate, decided it would be a funny Christmas gift to his friends and associates to give them a “comedy” CD by Paul Shanklin which included a song where Paul Shanklin impersonated “Al Sharpton” and mimicked the Peter, Paul and Mary song, “Puff the Magic Dragon” changing the words to “Barack the Magic Negro.”  Magic Negro was an intended reference at the benign literary figure generally associated with postmodern folk who takes away white’s guilt.  The figure has been embodied by Sidney Poitier, Morgan Freeman and others on the big screen.  As a humorist with few limits, I’m not laughing.

Peter Yarrow, co-author of Puff the Magic Dragon, isn’t amused either.  He has responded to the parody at the Huffington Post stating:

It is almost unimaginable to me that Chip Saltzman who sent the CD, would seriously be considered for the top post of the Republican National Committee. Puff, himself, if asked, would certainly agree.

The Arizona Bar Association proposed changing the lawyers creed [pledge] to include sexual orientation and to read as follows:

I will not permit considerations of gender, race, religion, age, nationality, sexual orientation, disability, or social standing to influence my duty of care.

As if echoing the recently signed “Right of Conscious” Legislation allowing doctors to deny patients care due to moral reservations, a group of 30 lawyers from the Alliance Defense Fund (”ADF”) make claims that the proposal is “unconstitutional” and would require them to represent clients they find immoral. [On a personal note, does anyone else find it ironic that lawyers are concerned with morality?]

There are numerous potential problems with this sort of bigotry, including defendants’ rights to a speedy trial.  Assume for a moment that a person is arrested on charges (be they valid or not) and after weeks or months (or justice forbidding longer) the person is finally prepared, with their Court Appointed lawyer, to go to trial.  On a pretrial interview, the Court Appointed lawyer finds out that the defendant is a homosexual and decides he/she can no longer represent this person.  Trial is now delayed and additional time is spent in prison.  Or worse, trial resumes with a new Court Appointed lawyer who has not been able to properly prepare to represent the defendant.  Is this not also unconstitutional?

Oddly enough, the lawyers’ pledge already includes religion, which means a Christian attorney cannot deny an Atheist person proper legal representation solely based upon the religion of that person.  Would this not also be a valid, moral argument and thus unconstitutional?  Yet the ADF has taken no moral stance on this issue.

I have contacted the ADF and will be providing a follow-up report based upon their response.

Read more at 365gay.

Another [potential] oversight of lawmakers and the Bush administration occurred December 26th when Bush signed the Right of Conscience Bill (which this author is endearingly henceforth referring to as the Reich of Conscious Bill) into law.  The Bill, aimed at allowing doctors to refuse abortions due to moral issues, will also allow doctors to refuse to treat gay patients should they morally object on moral grounds.

The new regulations effectually establish the rights of doctors to refuse treatment of any sort to any one or any thing to which they morally object.  Such refusal could result in severe injury or death when patients are turned away from treatment because the doctor feels their conscious cannot allow them to treat such a patient.

Imagine this scenario, as an example.  A young woman goes to the emergency room after being raped.  The doctor, being against premarital sex due to moral issues, could, due to moral reasons, deny the woman treatment.  Although an unlikely scenario, the legislation is potentially that damning.

Legal Director of HRC, Laura Schwartz, has stated that the legislation could also give doctors the right to refuse any treatment to gay people, including treatment for the common cold.

A bill proposed by Senator Clinton would nullify this legislation if passed; however, the bill will die with the end of the congressional session.

You can read more from the Southern Voice:  Rule change could allow doctors to reject gay patients - Southern Voice Atlanta.

Another hate crime occurred against the LGBT community on Christmas Eve when Leeneshia Edwards of Memphis, TN was shot in the face, back and side.  It appears from the wounds that Leeneshia was shot at close rang while getting out of a car.  Police have not been able to interview the victim as she remains in critical condition.

The shooting occurred around 5:00 a.m. at the 3100 Block of Boxtown Road in South Memphis.  Police have no suspects.  If you have any information on this case please contact Memphis Crime Stoppers at (901) 528-CASH.

My best wishes and hopes for a speedy recovery to Leeneshia and her family.

I encourage you to visit planetransgender: Leeneshia Edwards Memphis Transgender Woman Shot in The Face for additonal information.

Felix Pearson, age 19, Kenneth Monroe, age 27, and Darriel Wilson, age 20 were murdered in their residence in New Orleans on December 18, 2008.  The initial reports indicate that the three men were gay and one possibly a transgendered person.  Although the reason for the murder is currently unknown, the investigation has not ruled out a hate crime.

Violence against LGBT people has risen dramatically since the passage of California’s Proposition 8 and Florida’s Amendment 2, largely in part to the community outrage over the civil rights violations.

Regrettably, such violence is likely to continue to increase.  With the ideology that homosexuals deserve to die and that their “blood will be on their hands [heads]“, compassion for these crimes only exists among a minority of LGBT people and their straight allies.

Although in some parts of the country, such as California, straight allies and LGBT people compromise only a slight majority, in the Southern parts of the United States the statistics are frightening.  In Texas, for example, 72% of people are against homosexual equality leaving a meager 28% who defend LGBT people from such hate and violence.

The statistic is taken from the vote to ban “gay” marriage in Texas.  Although a slight leap from violence to marriage equality, the fact remains that those that do not support full equality for all people are encouraging the negative treatment of homosexuals and, although potentially unwittingly, “condoning” poor treatment of LGBT people.

For more information on the murders of these three individuals, please see Three Black Gay Men Killed in New Orleans, Police Hunt for Suspects.

Many people in the LGBT Community have expressed their outrage over the choice of Rick Warren to give the invocation at the inauguration of President-Elect Barack Obama.  Mr. Warren, being a conservative pastor at Saddleback Church, has expressed opinions against abortion rights, same-sex marriage and stem cell research.  Because of his conservative viewpoint and exclusionary attitude toward non-heterosexuals, LGBT activists have shown deep outrage over his selection.

But the real questions shouldn’t be why Mr. Obama chose to have Mr. Warren deliver the invocation, instead we should be asking, why, in a country with separation of church and state, an invocation is being said at all to kick-start a Presidential Inauguration?  It’s simple.  In spite of the ideology of separation of church and state, the United States of America has become increasingly theocratic.  Legislation and regulations are no longer based upon what is just and right in the eyes of man, but what is just and right in the eyes of the church.

Obama has defended his selection of Mr. Warren stating that it is part of his political promise to include all Americans during his presidency; however, he has not made any statements regarding allowing religion to be part of an otherwise political ceremony.

See: Obama Defends Invocation by Conservative Pastor | 44 | washingtonpost.com.

I went through the article published by San Jose Mercury News several times hoping I fit the mold for homosexuality - could I pass the gay litmus test?  I did not want to find that I did not have any of the characteristics of “things that make you gay.”  The article stated, compared to their heterosexual counterparts, gay men are more likely:

to be left-handed…

I’m right handed in spite of an injury as a child that forced me to use my left hand for several weeks.  The injury and inevitable forced usage of my left hand, ultimately made me semi-ambidextrous.  For some things I still use my left hand, but for the most part, my right hand is the strong one and the one with which I write.  Since I’m technically not left handed, I have to admit that I fail this homosexuality test.

to have hair that whorls in a counterclockwise direction.

Mine whorls clockwise (except in the morning when it whorls wherever it wants too).  I read that one and started trying to brush my hair in a different whorl.  No matter how much I twisted it, it refused to whorl counterclockwise.  I missed that gay characteristic - and no matter how hard I’ve tried, I can’t seem to make it happen.  Thus I fail this homo-test too.

to be the younger siblings of older brothers…

Whew - I’m the youngest of two older biological brothers (both of which are generally heterosexual) - I get to be gay after all.  I pass this gay test with flying colors.  But unlike the aforementioned tests, this one doesn’t seem to have anything to do with me, individually.  The article went on to explain:

Less understood is the degree to which sexual orientation is determined by genes or environmental factors, such as hormones or immunological factors that may act on a fetus. What scientists call “the fraternal birth order effect,” the fact that each successive boy born to the same mother has a greater chance of being gay, may be due to an increasing immunological response by a mother’s body to each male fetus in her womb.

Ouch.  I don’t like to think of my life in the womb, and I certainly don’t like to think of the increased immunological response of my mother while I was in the womb.

But what is all this really about?

It is believed that, if science can confirm a “gay” gene and that “gay” is not a choice, opinions of homosexuality will change.  The homosexual will no longer be regarded as someone who made a choice to be beaten up regularly, picked on, socially ostracized and otherwise considered a second rate citizen; instead, the homosexual will be a genetic mutation - an “X-Man” (and we all know how equally they were treated).

But should it make a difference?  Whether one chooses to be “gay” or is born “gay”, the fact is they are “gay”.

In the United States, the law does not discriminate against Catholic or Protestant, Pentecostal or Baptist, etc.  (I note that the law can and often does discriminate against religions that are not “God” based such as Wicca and Druid but such is irrelevant to this posting.)

It is incontrovertible that religion is a choice.  Should we deny the rights of Americans who choose to be Baptist instead of Pentecostal or Jewish instead of Catholic?  The answer is no, just like we should not discriminate against a person for their “choice” of heterosexuality or homosexuality.

The small amount of media coverage regarding the murder of Moses “Teish” Cannon has been confusing at best and unremarkable at most.  What is known is that Teish, who self-identified as a woman, was murdered in Syracuse, New York on November 14, 2008 after being invited by a family friend to a party.  Currently, the only motive reported for the terrible crime is that she was “gay.”

This is where the news media stumbles and I stumble in an effort to provide the proper respects to Teish’s memory.  Was Teish a transgendered person who, indeed, identified the former himself as a herself, or did Teish identify as a gay man?  The answer to this question is only relevant for purposes of writing this article and adding yet another victim to the growing list of persons murdered because of their sexuality or gender identity.

I feel great sorrow for Teish’s family and friends, and I extend my most heartfelt sympathies.  The same sorrow I have felt for countless other victims of senseless crime.

Police are still investigating the murder in order to “decide” whether it is a Hate Crime.  Well, the glass slipper fits - wear it.

News coverage of Teish’s murder has been negligible; another slap in the face to a community already feeling the effects of hate after the passage of Proposition 8 in California.  The majority has taken our rights and our children and our brothers and sisters, yet we still stand strong.  We too shall overcome.

News 10 Now | 24 Hour Local News | ALL NEWS | Vigil held for possible hate crime victim.

I hope this momentum lasts in the gay community. A National Day of Protest has been planned for November 15th at 1:30 CT (check here for your here  local information).

Yours truly will be attending.  I just hope I can decide on a sign.