A Greek court Tuesday ruled that a gay rights group can use the word lesbian in its name, stating that the people from the island of Lesbos do not have sole claim to the word, Reuters reported.
A group from the Aegean island filed a lawsuit in June against the Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece, claiming its name was an affront to the residents of Lesbos, who refer to themselves as Lesbians. A Greek court ruled against the islanders.
That’s a relief. Because you know if the court had ruled the other way, somebody would be going to court to “take back” “gay,” “queer,” and anything else they could come up with, and we’d be busted back down to “Urnings,” or some such.
I’ve never spent much time in or near family court. Even when Parker’s adoption was finalized, D.C. family court was having an “adoption day,” where almost nothing was on the docket but adoption finalizations. Our attorney told us that the judges really loved “adoption day, ” because it was such a welcome change from what they saw on a daily basis. But that day, we were so happy that we didn’t give much thought to what the family court judges see all day. After all, we hadn’t seen it.
But yesterday was different. We were among four families finalizing adoptions yesterday, but it wasn’t adoption day, so much as “adoption hour.” And we were in among the other families, who are in and out of family court for reasons a lot less joyful than our reason for being there. We sat beside some of those families, talked with them, saw the judge, finalized Dylan’s adoption, and went home.
As you’re reading this, I’m either on my way to, in, or on my way back from New Jersey. There reason for the trip is incredibly happy one. Today is the day we’re finalizing Dylan’s adoption. Last week we got a letter from the adoption agency’s lawyer, confirming the court date. Wanting to make sure that Seven months after we first got word that he’d been born — and after his birthmother chose us to be his adoptive parents — and set out to lay eyes on the newest addition to our family, the judge will declare that Dylan is finally a member of our family; and that we legally and officially what we’ve known we were since day one: a family.
In recent weeks, Mr. McCain has left many Republicans unsettled about his ideological bearings by toggling between reliably conservative issues like support for gun owners’ rights and an emphasis on centrist messages like his willingness to tackle global warming and provide a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.
Those tensions were apparent in the interview as well, as Mr. McCain offered a variety of answers — sometimes nuanced in their phrasing, sometimes not — about his views on social issues.
Mr. McCain, who with his wife, Cindy, has an adopted daughter, said flatly that he opposed allowing gay couples to adopt. “I think that we’ve proven that both parents are important in the success of a family so, no, I don’t believe in gay adoption,” he said.
Frankly, I don’t need John McCain to “believe” in my family. But his statement is an opportunity to talk about something I’ve been thinking about for a while.
An Italian court has ordered the government to pay 100,000 euros ($157,700) to a man who had to retake his driving test because he was gay
Danilo Giuffrida, now 26, told doctors he was homosexual during a medical examination for military service.
The information was passed to the defence and transport ministries.
Mr Giuffrida was told to repeat his driving test or have his licence suspended because of his “sexual identity disturbance”.
Mr Giuffrida passed his test for the second time but his licence was renewed for just one year rather than the usual 10 years because of his homosexuality.
A court in Catania, Sicily, ordered the ministries to pay damages on the basis that Mr Giuffrida’s constitutional rights had been breached and that homosexuality could not be considered a “mental illness”.
I can’t think at the moment of any stereotypes about gay drivers. So I’ll just guess that the Italian defense ministry thinks you have to be straight to drive straight. (Or, “gaily forward,” as we sometimes say….)
Well, that didn’t take long. Just this morning I asked:
I’m just wondering if it’s too far-fetched to suggest that we’re probably not too far from the day when someone — a gay couple who gets married, or the person who officiates — does get arrested and locked up. What happens then?
I know I’m all kinds of late with this, but gimme a break. I’ve just cleared out “starred” items — stuff I wanted to read and/or blog about — going back to mid-June. I just gave up on most of them. But this I couldn’t quite let go.
There’s an irony to this happening in Virginia, famous as the state that launched the Loving v. Virginia case. I missed blogging about the gay couple who got a license and got married before the state figured it out.
The couple walked into a Norfolk, Va., courthouse on a spring day, exchanged a few words, and within 10 minutes, were seemingly husband and wife.
It was an unremarkable ceremony — except that several weeks later, officials realized the shapely bride might not have been a woman.
Now authorities in Virginia, where same-sex marriages are illegal, are weighing whether to file misdemeanor charges against the couple, Antonio E. Blount, 31, and Justin L. McCain, 18. An announcement is expected this week.
A prosecutor says the decision to press charges could turn on whether the pair knowingly misled officials when they applied for a license and later, traveled to a courthouse for a ceremony. If the bride was transgender, and identified as a woman, it is unclear whether the marriage would be considered illegal.
The pair went to Newport News Circuit Court on March 24 to obtain a marriage license — McCain appearing as a woman and saying the name “Justine” before a deputy, said Newport News Circuit Court clerk Rex Davis.
McCain produced a Virginia driver’s license, but a design quirk — the ‘m’ or ‘f’ for male or female appears directly against a darkened state seal — meant nobody noticed McCain’s gender, Davis said.
Authorities were considering whether to press charges? That’s interesting
One of the most often heard refrains during the wave of anti-gay marriage ballot initiatives and state constitutional amendments a few years ago went something like this: “Nobody’s banning gay marriage. You can’t ban it because it’s not legal in the first place. This is just defining marriage as between man and a woman.” The other favorite tactic was to point out that “no one’s being locked up for getting married.”
A couple who obtained a Virginia marriage license and had a ceremony before authorities realized both were biological men will not face charges, officials said Monday.
Antonio E. Blount, 31, and Justin L. McCain, 18, faced misdemeanor false information charges, punishable by a fine up to $250.
Authorities said the couple applied for a license in Newport News Circuit Court in March and passed off McCain as “Justine.” Officials realized later that McCain was actually born a man in North Carolina.
Court clerk Rex Davis sought an investigation because same-sex marriage is illegal in Virginia.
The case turned on whether the pair knowingly committed a fraud, something prosecutors couldn’t determine, according to a letter Davis received Monday from Newport News Commonwealth’s Attorney Howard E. Gwynn.
“We don’t have the ability to prove beyond a reasonable doubt there was an intent to deceive,” said Jack Fitzpatrick, a spokesman for Gwynn.
Fitzpatrick said Virginia law does not clearly define “bride” and “groom,” which at the time were the only spaces on the marriage license application the couple filled out. The forms have since been changed to specify “male applicant” and “female applicant.”
“Now that the forms have been changed, that is a crime and should someone do that again, they will be prosecuted,” Fitzpatrick said.
I’m just wondering if it’s too far-fetched to suggest that we’re probably not too far from the day when someone — a gay couple who gets married, or the person who officiates — does get arrested and locked up. What happens then?
It’s been a while since I’ve made any updates to the LGBT Hate Crimes Project. Honestly? The project requires more research and writing than I have time to do right now. So, though there are more stories I want to add, it just hasn’t happened. And even some of the cases I’ve written up so far need updating that I haven’t gotten a chance to do. (In fact, I almost didn’t get the chance this time. Right after I wrote the previous sentences —the first tiny bit of writing I’d been able to do all day — at about 11:40 p.m., our entire neighborhood lost power.)
Thalia Mosqueda, a transgender woman, was shot in the head in the parking lot of a Daytona, FL, nightclub on July 29, 2007, and died soon after. Her killer, Cesar Villazano, said he became enraged when Mosqeuda made sexual advances toward him.
The Background
Thalia Mosqueda
Born Oscar Mosqueda, in Mexico, Mosqueda, 34, was a member of the Farm Workers Association of Florida. She lived in the United States legally, worked at a fern farm, and regularly sent money to her mother in Mexico.1) On July 29, Mosqueda went to Garibaldi, a restaurant which operated as a club in the evenings, and catered to a clientele of Latino crossdressers, transgender Latinos, and gay men.
Mosqueda encountered Cesar Villazano at Garibadli when, according to Wesley Rosser, a friend Mosqueda’s, Viillazano was trying to persuade a drag queen at the club to go with him in his car. When she refused, he pulled her hair and tried to force her into the car.2)
The Attack
The shooting occurred when Mosqueda intervened, saying to Villazano, “Leave her alone. Can’t you see she doesn’t want to be with you? Villazano argued with Mosqueda before pulling a gun, firing two shots in the air, and then fired a shot at Mosqueda, striking her in the head.3)
Villazano shot Mosqueda in the head at about 2:30 a.m. Police were called to the scene around 3:30 a.m. and arrrived to find Mosqueda lying on the ground.4) Mosqueda was transported to Halifax Medical Center, where she died at about noon on July 29. 5)
The Aftermath
Villazano & Acosta
Following his arrest, Villazano told police that he was in the United States illegally, and police reports showed two warrants against Villazano for failure to appear in court on a charge of driving without a license. Villazano said that Mosqueda approached him in the restaurant, and that he became angry because he is not gay.6) Villazano said Mosqueda grabbed him by the penis, and that angered him because he was not gay.7)
Rosser said that Villazano was a regular at Garbaldi’s, and though he did not identify as gay, engaged in sexual activity with other gay men. “In Spanish culture,” Rosser said, “you’re not considered gay if you have sex with another guy as a top.”8)
Villzano later fled the scene after the shooting.9) Around noon, Villazano was stopped by a Volusia County police officer, arrested, and charged with second degree murder. The driver of the car, Louis Acosta, 21, was arrested on a cocaine possession charge.10)
On July 7, 2008, Cesar Villazano was convicted of Mosqueda’s murder and sentenced to life in prison. Villazano rejected a plea deal offered by prosecutors, which would have sentenced him to 25 years in prison. 11)
Actually, I didn’t. And I couldn’t if I wanted to.
Why’d I bring up serial killers? I actually spent several months last year immersed in research about serial killers for a fictional project I worked on during my brief sojourn as a consultant. I’d always been simultaneously intrigued and repelled by serial killers, and the research — because I swore I would spend as much time learning about the victims as I did the killers, up to and including looking at any crime-related photos I found — eventually left me more repulsed than intrigued. And, in at last one aspect, surprised.
What amazed me was how many of them were married, and how many of them had married after their crimes, trials, and convictions. After learning everything else about them — reading and seeing what they did to their victims, and reading the accounts of those who survived — what probably surprised me most was that there apparently wasn’t anything these people could do that was bad enough for them to lose the right to marry.
Only at a gay pride event (NYC Gay Price, to be specific) would this song become an audience participation number. Pardon me while I have an “Effie Moment.”
Via Ex-Gay Watch. This doesn’t surprise me at all.
Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX) sent out a mailing today titled “NAACP Rocks,” referencing a 2006 letter of appreciation from the organization to PFOX. According to the attached copy, PFOX held an exhibit at the NAACP annual convention that year. It is not yet known if they participated in 2007 or if they will be there this year, but the email suggests they plan on participating in 2009.
The PFOX exhibit displayed useful information on unwanted same-sex attractions and tolerance for the ex-gay community. We distributed many brochures, flyers, stickers, and buttons. The attendees were enthusiastic about our booth and our ex-gay volunteers staffing the booth were well received. Many people remarked at how glad they were to see us and took extra handouts to distribute at their church back home. Gay groups like the Human Rights Campaign have exhibited at the NAACP for many years, but PFOX was the first and only ex-gay booth there.
We would like to exhibit there next year. Please make a love offering at http://www.pfox.org/donate.htm or send a gift to the address below so we can pay the exhibit booth fee.
Thanks and see you at the NAACP convention next year!
Here are examples of the brochures PFOX might have circulated.
Two United States Senators implicated in extramarital sexual activity have named themselves as co-sponsors of S. J. RES. 43, dubbed the Marriage Protection Amendment. If ratified, the bill would amend the United States Constitution to state that marriage “shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman.”
Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID), who was arrested June 11, 2007 on charges of lewd conduct in a Minneapolis airport terminal, is co-sponsoring the amendment along with Sen. David Vitter (R-LA).
Craig, who entered a guilty plea to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct, was detained and charged for attempting to engage in sexual activity with a male undercover police officer. His arrest and plea became public two months later. At that time, Craig attempted to withdraw his plea and enter a new plea of not guilty. To date, his efforts have been denied by the courts.
In July of 2007, Vitter was identified as a client of a prostitution firm owned by the late Deborah Jeane Palfrey, commonly known as The DC Madam.
With a Democratic controlled Congress it is unlikely the bill will be brought up for a vote in either the Senate or House of Representatives.
Of course it wouldn’t occur to them to start with own.
Well, all they need now is Ted Haggard to do the T.V. spots.
I’ve got some stuff in mind to post, but first I have to get lunch and do any number of things. And I might not get around to posting anyway.
Since a big portion of my day job is promoting other people’s writing, I might as well do the same here. Besides, I come across more worthwhile content than I have space to promote at work. And if I’m not creating any content myself….
Anyway. Here’s some of what I’ve been reading this morning.
I probably shouldn't say this, but I work on K Street. I've even bumped into Robert Novak once, when we were both pedestrians, crossing the street in opposite directions. Now, I'll have remember to keep an eye out, and look both ways before I cross the street, lest Robert Novak run into me.
I don't really care about the Madonna/Alex Rodriguez affair story, because I'm not married to either of them. But in this day and age why would anyone (who's not "in the business" and getting paid for it) intentionally record their sexcapades on video? Why, when there are a thousand different ways for someone to get and distribute that video? How dumb do you have to be to make a 'sex tape' nowadays?
Maybe I'm taking this the wrong way, and I know these aren't Warren Buffett’s actual words of widsom, but nothing irritates me more than hearing things like "Happiness comes from within," and "Find happiness in simple pleasures." From a billionaire? Easy for him to say...
Gimmick or no gimmick, I would sodance with Lance. Hey, I took ballroom dancing in college, and was pretty good at it. Later, I learned to two-step in a gay C&W bar, and was pretty popular because I was a good follower. Not like dragging around a sack of potatoes. So, Lance, you can lead if you want to...
I knew there was a reason I'm not buying an iPhone today. (Besides the fact that I don't "need" one, and the reality that I don't need to spend that much on a tech purchase. It looks like Apple's having a pretty bad day, along with people who did buy iPhones that currently don't work due to server problems.
My friends and I used to joke that in D.C. it's a law that in DC, you're never more than a block from Starbucks. When tourists stop me and ask where's nearest Starbucks, I usually end up pointing in three different directions. But that may change.
I'm getting tired of wanting to write, and needing to write, but not writing because writing is not my job. Anybody know anyone looking to hire a writer?
A Greek court Tuesday ruled that a gay rights group can use the word lesbian in its name, stating that the people from the island of Lesbos do not have sole claim to the word, Reuters reported.
Thalia Mosqueda, a transgender woman, was shot in the head in the parking lot of a Daytona, FL, nightclub on July 29, 2007, and died soon after. Her killer, Cesar Villazano, said he became enraged when Mosqeuda made sexual advances toward him.
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