Today is a big day for the hate crimes act, according to Congressional Quarterly.
The conference report on the fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill (HR 1585) is expected to be released as early as Tuesday, and members of the Armed Services panels hope to clear the measure before heading home for the Thanksgiving Day recess.
That means the hate crimes act will be heading for the president’s desk soon. So, it seemed like a good time to post a list of all the cases I’ve researched and written up thus far for the LGBT Hate Crimes Project.
As I mentioned in the previous post, I’m researching and writing up cases of anti-trans or anti-trans-related hate crimes between now and the Transgender Day of Remembrance. I’ll have two new cases up in the next couple of days. But for now, here’s a full list of the cases compiled thus far, by last name of victims where known and/or appropriate.
It’s been a strange week for me and presidential campaigns. First, I get a phone call from the Hillary Clinton campaign about a volunteer meeting. Me? Volunteer for Hillary? When did I sign up for that? And why? I couldn’t have been drunk, because I haven’t had a drink in 15 years or more. And I tend to waive off those people with the clipboards.
I’m still trying to figure that one out when I get an email that Barrack Obama wants to be my friend n some social network. And I’m not talking about Facebook. That I can understand. But Barrack Obama with a profile on a gay social nework? What are his evangelist friends gonna say about this? See, a while back I registered with GLEE, a gay social network. Well, not just gay. GLEE stands for “Gay, Lesbian & Everyone Else.” And I guess that’s where Barrack comes in.
I was fortunate to be able to grow up seeing America from varied viewpoints. My childhood was spent in Hawaii and Indonesia. After college I worked as a community organizer on the South side of Chicago focusing on improving living conditions in poor neighborhoods.
I came to understand that to truly solve the problems facing our communities, it would take a change in our laws and our politics. I ran and served for seven years in the Illinois state Senate, where I fought for expanding children’s health care, providing tax cuts for the working poor and enacting welfare reform. In 2004, I was elected to the U.S. Senate, where I have worked to pass laws securing dangerous weapons and making government more accountable. I have also opposed the Iraq war from the start, and believe that we need to bring our troops home by March of 2008 so we can refocus on the wider struggle against terrorism.
So, which is more surprising? That Obama has a profile on a gay social network? Or what that profile doesn’t say?
The Electronic Village has a post listing the top 10 black bloggers, according to Technorati, and this blog is on it.
While floating through the blogosphere I came across a listing of the 50 most influential bloggers. I noted that there were no bloggers of African descent on the list. Of course, there are millions of bloggers out there so I understand why Black bloggers might be overlooked. But, the point of creating The AfroSpear was so that we can learn from one another. As such, I propose to publish a monthly list of the Top Ten Black Bloggers.
The only qualification is that the blogger needs to be of African descent. The blogger does not have to be a member of The AfroSpear or the Afrosphere Bloggers Association. Of course, we invite all Black bloggers to join either (or both) of those fledging organizations. These Top Ten Black Bloggers are influential role models for the rest of us out here in the afrosphere.
Yeah, i saw that list of the 50 most influential bloggers and, just as I suspected, I wasn’t on it. And I don’t think I made the cut for D.C.’s new young blogging elite either. I have been called many things and will be called many more, but influential and elite haven’t often been among them.
Not who’s targeted for a hate crime because of their (real or perceived) sexual orientation ends up being murdered. Some survive, but their lives are never the same. Like Dwan Prince. His was one of the stories I wanted to write about when I started this project. I’d blogged about it before and always wanted to cover it in more detail.
What struck me as I was reading about how Dwan Prince was attacked by three men — right outside of his apartment building, who beat, stomped, and kicked him while shouting anti-gay epithets (and, according to some witnesses, his name), and how one attacker returned to deliver one final kick to Prince’s face, as lay dazed and bleeding — was what sparked it all. Unlike what happened to Richie Philips or Jason Gage, there were no alleged (and allegedly unwelcome) sexual advances behind closed doors. Like Roberto Duncanson, what happened between Prince and his attacker happened in the street. And what happened to Dwan Prince happened in the street.
And what sparked the beating that would leave Dwan Prince with lifelong consequences? A look and a flirtatious remark. Like Roberto Duncanson, Prince’s main offense was just looking at his attacker. (I’m reminded of the response I used to hear in kindergarden, “How would you know he’s looking at you unless you’re looking at him?”) Like Duncanson’s attacker, Prince’s asked “What the fuck are you looking at?” And, according to witnesses, Prince responded with a flirtatious joke. (Just like Kevin Aviance’s attackers claimed he provoked a beating by calling one of them “sweetie.”)
After some consideration, and discussions, I’ve come to the decision that I will add no further articles on LGBT hate crime victims to Wikipedia. When I started the Hate Crimes on Wikipedia project, it was because I’d noticed that there were several anti-LGBT hate crimes I knew, and had written about, of that were not documented on Wikipedia for some reason. I thought that by adding them to Wikipedia, I could bring more exposure to a broader spectrum LGBT people who have been the targets of hate crimes.
I have learned, however, that the notability guidelines on Wikipedia, and some of the community members who enforce them, make it almost impossible to show to bring exposure to hate crimes that happened long ago and/or not received widespread coverage. And that means that it is difficult to being exposure to more diverse LGBT hate crime victims on Wikipedia, if their stories are not recent, having received widespread coverage, or otherwise launched major protests or new legislation. As subjective as those guidelines sound, they are reasons I was given as objections to some of the articles I posted.
So, rather than fight that battle, I’ve decided to launch a new site: the LGBT Hate Crimes Project. I wanted to keep it simple, so that the focus will be on the stories. It’s a wiki that I spent much of yesterday and today setting up, and it’s where the new stories I will research and write up will be housed. I’m also in the process of copying the articles I wrote for Wikipedia onto this new site. I’m also in the process of rounding up support, as it looks like it will be an ongoing project.
The Hate Crimes on Wikipedia project continues. I’ve got more cases to post this week, as time allows. Right now it looks like another one made the front page of Wikipedia’s “Did you know…” section. First it was the article on Nizah Morris. This time it’s the article on Nireah Johnson. (Second from the bottom in the clip below.)
Want to support the project to document anti-LGBT hate crimes on Wikipedia? Hit the PayPal button on the sidebar. All contributions will go to access news archives in order to better document hate crime stories.
You are a total feminist. This doesn’t mean you’re a man hater (in fact, you may be a man).
You just think that men and women should be treated equally. It’s a simple idea but somehow complicated for the world to put into action.
No big surprise there. I mean, Duh! Who wouldn’t “Agree” or “Strongly Agree” with those questions? OK, OK. I know who. I just don’t like to think about them too much.
Actually, more like complete renovation. I put off upgrading to the newest version of Wordpress for as long as I could. Mostly because I finally had the blog looking and working pretty much the way I wanted it, and because I knew that upgrading would break my theme and any number of plugins, etc. But time and technology marches on, and sooner or later you realize it’s dragging you along behind it whether you like it or not.
So, when my host upgraded to what I think was new version of PHP, and my old version of Wordpress and the WP-Cache plugin started acting loopy, I took a deep breath and started preparing to upgrade. My one problem was finding a theme that would be compatible with the new version of Wordpress, and allow me to preserve at least some of the great look and feel Lauren created for the blog a while back.
Fortunately, I’d bookmarked a post from Mashable about 30 3-column Wordpress themes. That’s where I found Mandingo, a terrific theme that let me incorporate the banner and background Lauren created. Not only is it a great theme, but according to the Showcase page now have something in common with Björk.
The site is pretty much the same, but there is one new addition. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to keep some posts from getting buried in the 1,000+ posts on this blog. (And that’s not counting the XXXX posts in the October 2003 - June 2006 archives.) Right now the Articles page is my attempt to give some of those posts a chance to see the light of day. (Thanks to the great work of Alex King, BTW.) That page will be updated as I unearth more posts to feature there. I’m also working on a way to showcase series of posts, but haven’t been successful with that yet.
I’ve also added a PayPal button to the sidebar. For now, donations will go to support research for the Hate Crimes on Wikipedia project, and will be used to pay for access to newspaper archives.
Hope folks like the new look, etc. Feedback is appreciated!
That’s what the killer in this case said he was doing when he shot Gary Matson and Winfield Mowder — a gay couple in Redding California — to death. He was “obeying God’s law,” which according to him says:
Benjamin Matthew Williams, the 31-year-old white supremacist accused of murdering a gay couple outside this Northern California town in July, is now admitting that he slipped into the men’s home while they were sleeping and shot them to death in their bed.
He did it, he said, because they were gay and God told him to.
When asked if he had killed the pair, Williams answered, “Absolutely.”
…”The defense that he has is a religious defense, and he is saying the Bible says that homosexuality is wrong and they should be killed and the blood is on their heads,” O’Connor said. “But as a practical matter I don’t think the judge is going to allow that defense, as opposed to one using the laws of the state of California.”
Of course, it’s not that simple. It never is. That’s one thing I’ve discovered as I continue this project of documenting anti-LGBT hate crimes on Wikipedia. There are almost always other elements at play, which fall into place to unleash that “uncontrollable rage” that seems to be a theme in so many of these cases; sometimes just rage that LGBT people happen to exist. But sometimes an attackers rage at himself is simply projected outward. This looks like one of those cases.
I’d heard earlier that it was a possibility, and last night I got confirmation that my Wikipedia article on Niza Morris — part of the Hate Crimes on Wikipedia project — was included in the “Did you know…” section on Wikipedia’s front page. (Second from the bottom.) I’m not sure how long it will be up, so I grabbed a snapshot.
Definitely more to come. Unfortunately, it will be a while before I run out. In fact, another article about a lesbian couple will go up today.
I was bruised and battered I couldn’t tell what I felt
I was unrecognizable to myself
I saw my reflection in a window I didn’t know my own face
oh brother are you gonna leave me wastin’ away
on the streets of Philadelphia
~ Bruce Springsteen, “Philadelphia”
I kept hearing those lyrics over the last couple of days as I felt like I was walking the streets of Philadelphia with Nizah Morris. Just a short distance, really, from Juniper and Chancellor streets to 16th and Walnut streets, before she disappeared into a few lost minutes that nobody who knows anything about is talking about. And at the end of that short journey — half a mile, just to end up three miles from home — she was gone, and nobody seemed to know why. And after two days, I don’t know why myself. But I do know that her story illustrates one of the reasons why one aspect of the hate crimes bill is needed.
Given how local law enforcement handled Nizah’s death, I can only imagine that the possibility of federal involvement or intervention might have lifted the haze that seems to cover the details of this case: police logs that don’t match their own accounts, police reports that were never filed; Morris lying unidentified in the hospital for 64 hours, when at least one of the three police involved knew her from past arrests, and one witness identified her to one of the officers involved; a detective who informs Morris’ mother of her death with by saying “He’s dead”; a medical examiner rules Morris’ death a homicide, but the police department assesses it as accidental until the second opinion they sought confirms the M.E.’s findings; a recording of a 911 call (one of two) edited down to 6 minutes when transmissions between the police officers involved really went on for 49 minutes; still no transcript of the call released; and an investigation that leads precisely nowhere.
But don’t take it from me. Talk a walk with Nizah for yourself.
I knew it. So, last week I griped about the whole working-at-home-vs.-working-around-people thing. And during my travels in search of wireless internet access and the proximity of other people, I’d started to develop a sneaking suspicion that — with more and more people working from locations other than an office — some institutions that offer the lure of wifi also wield a stick to make sure the “road warriors” among us don’t adopt their space as a semi-permanent office space.
Maybe I’m being paranoid. I mean, there are the obvious, reasonable measures that most places take, like logging you off their wifi after you’ve been there a certain amount of time (that’s if it’s free wifi). I can understand wanting to open up a table for a new paying customer when I finished my latte/frappucino/chai tea a couple of hours ago. But I swear there are some more subtle strategies employed. Like the lack of electrical outlets. And electrical outlet is an invitation for someone like me to sit and stay a while, after all. And if there is an outlet available, more than half the time the seat or table nearest it is occupied by someone who’s not using the outlet.
That’s not a problem. After all, people can sit where they want. But I swear there have been times when I’ve seen people sit by the outlets all day. They’re there when I make my first pass, and they’re still there if I pass by a few hours later. I’d swear that the store owners are paying people to sit those outlets, but I know if doesn’t make much sense. But they aretaking out the comfy chairs.
Well, I'd hope so. Anyone stupid or careless enough to put an uzi inthe hands of an eight-year-old ought to be charged with something. The D.A. looking into "whether anyone committed a reckless or wanton act" by allowing the child to fire a weapon. Oh, I'd say that qualifies as reckless and wanton. If it doesn't, then nothing does.
I admit it. My first thought when I saw this was, "Honest, officer. I don't know what happened. I totally meant to hit the brakes. I guess my foot just slipped."
I'm not saying its the kind of thing that anyone should base their vote on, but I gotta admire a campaign when I find out about the candidate's economic plan on an LGBT social network, and then get a link to read or download the entire plan on Scribd. It tells me that a campaign is making a special effort to reach out to people like me, and that the campaign is up to date on the latest ways to disseminate information.
If you haven't yet, take the time to stop by Box Turtle Bulletin, where they have been doing a great series of day-by-day posts on the Matthew Shepard murder. Today's post is a particularly heartbreaking one, about the moment ten years ago when Dennis and Judy Shepard walked into their son's intensive care room and saw him for the first time since the attack. It also links to the earlier posts in the series.
Its sounds like a joke, but it's true. You know the economy has gone South when folks around in Macon (or anywhere else in the south) are going to restaurants and not ordering sweet tea.
Big news. Clay Aiken is gay. Bigger news. So is Lindsey Lohan. Or, at least, she's been dating a woman "for a really long time." I don't know what counts as "a really long time" for Lohan. But kudos to Aiken, at least, for finally coming out. The closet is no place to raise a kid.
See, stuff like this is the reason I don't use Google Ads already. I tried it for a while, but I kept getting advertisements for James Dobsons' books on my posts, and I never found an easy way to block them other than entering the URL into the Google Ads filter every time I discovered one. No thanks.
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