Salt Lake City DA Files Charges in Alleged Hate Crime
March 3, 2010
The Salt Lake County District Attorney’s office has filed charges against seven individuals accused of physically assaulting two men in an alleged bias-motivated crime.
According to Salt Lake City Weekly, on July 5, 2008, DJ Bell, an openly gay man, claims he heard a knock at his door. Upon answering, Bell says he discovered a neighbor’s 2 year-old child and that child’s 4 year-old cousin. Before Bell could contact his neighbor about the wandering children, he heard screams from next door and was approached by his livid neighbor who accused him of kidnapping the two toddlers. Multiple suspects, presumed to be related to the mother, then broke into Bell’s home and severely beat him and his partner, Dan Fair. Bell suffered multiple head wounds, laceration of his throat and toe, and a loss of hearing in his right ear as a result of the brutal attack.
Bell and Fair allege that anti-gay bias is at the root of the assault.
Initially, Salt Lake City Police arrested Bell on charges of kidnapping. In a trial, however, jurors were not convinced, reportedly saying that the wrong person was on trial.
That jury later acquitted Bell of all charges.
Now, nearly 2 years later, the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office has filed a total of sixteen charges against the seven suspects accused of physically assaulting Bell and Fair.
GLAAD will continue to follow the media’s coverage of this case. Updates can be found on GLAADblog.org
Related Posts:COAD News Buzz
January 22, 2010
Here’s a look at some COAD-related stories in the media:
Rev. Irene Monroe Wonders if Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Would Have Defended LGBT Equality
To honor MLK Day, African-American lesbian Reverend Irene Monroe wrote an op-ed for Bay Windows, the largest LGBT newspaper in New England. In her piece, “Would the public King have spoken out on LGBTQ justice?” she revisits an on- going question that many civil rights and LGBT leaders have pondered over the years.
“As I comb through numerous books and essays learning more about King’s philandering, sexist attitude about women at home and in the movement, and his relationship with Bayard Rustin, I am wondering would King be a public advocate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer rights?”
She strongly believes so, but believes he would have paid a price for doing so. She writes:
In the public address I gave at the Gill Foundation’s National Outgiving Conference in 2007, I said, “If Dr. Martin Luther King were standing up for LGBTQ rights today, the Black community would drop him, too.”
King understood the interconnectedness of struggles. An example of that understanding is when Dr. King said, “The revolution for human rights is opening up unhealthy areas in American life and permitting a new and wholesome healing to take place. Eventually the civil rights movement will have contributed infinitely more to the nation than the eradication of racial justice.”
This statement clearly includes LGBTQ justice, but would King have spoken on that subject at that time and even now? Yes, according to King’s now deceased wife.
In 1998, Coretta Scott King addressed the LGBT group Lambda Legal in Chicago. In her speech, she said queer rights and civil rights were the same. “I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King’s dream to make room at the table of brother and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people,” she said.
Sadly, Bayard Rustin, the gay man who was chief organizer and strategist for the 1963 March on Washington that further catapulted Martin Luther King onto the world stage, was not the beneficiary of King’s dream.
In the Civil Rights movement, Bayard Rustin was always the man behind the scenes, and a large part of that had to due with the fact that he was gay. Because of their own homophobia, many African American ministers involved in the Civil Right movement would have nothing to do with Rustin, and they intentionally rumored throughout the movement that King was gay because of his close friendship with Rustin.
In a spring 1987 interview with Rustin in Open Hands, a resource for ministries affirming the diversity of human sexuality, Rustin recalls that difficult period quite vividly. Rustin said, “Martin Luther King, with whom I worked very closely, became very distressed when a number of the ministers working for him wanted him to dismiss me from his staff because [I was gay]. Martin set up a committee to discover what he should do. They said that, despite the fact that I had contributed tremendously to the organization … they thought I should separate myself from Dr. King.”
Read her piece in its entirety here.
14 Gay Men Killed While HIV Clinic is Destroyed in Haiti
Fourteen men who worked for or accessed services from SEROvie, Haiti’s largest organization serving gay and transgender people with HIV, were killed during last week’s earthquake in Haiti, according to International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.
The message of the men’s tragic death came from an e-mail SEROvie’s leader Steve La Guerre managed to send to IGLHRC asking for help.
“We were having our usual support group meeting on a quiet Tuesday afternoon when the worst happened.” La Guerre wrote. “The sound is unforgettable. I can’t even describe the horror as the ceiling and the wall of the conference room started to fall and the chaos started.
“It is now more than ever that SEROvie and ACCV (Civic Action Against HIV) are needed to provide the quality services we provide to our beneficiaries: food, clothes, and any type of help,” La Guerre continued. “Light a candle for these souls and for Haiti. Lord help us.”
IGLHRC executive director Cary Alan Johnson says that his group has sent funds directly to SEROvie to allow their services and supplies to continue to reach their clients. The group is also sending funds to Colectiva Mujer y Salud, a feminist Dominican organization that has crossed the border into Haiti to assist with direct relief to the LGBT community there. IGLHRC has provided a donation page, where Johnson said 100% of the funds collected “will go directly to our friends and colleagues in Haiti.”
Inside Higher Ed publishes article about murdered English professor Don Belton
Don Belton, openly gay novelist and University of Indiana professor was found dead in his apartment on December 29. The Chicago Tribune reported that that Michael J. Griffin confessed to killing Belton, claiming that Belton had “sexually assaulted” him on Christmas Day.
In his piece “Love and Death in Indiana,” for Inside Higher Ed, journalist Scott McLemee discusses the murder, the “gay panic” defense, Belton’s loved ones and his broad scope of work.
He had been friends with James Baldwin and lectured on him at the Sorbonne; the influence of the novelist and essayist on his own work was not small. One of his friends has quoted a passage from Baldwin that seems to epitomize Belton’s work: “Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.” Although I did not know the man himself, this touches the heart of his writing, which suggests a desire to go beyond, or beneath, the prescribed roles and rules governing “identity.”
This is easier said than done, of course. It is also dangerous; love can be dangerous. Belton wrote in his journal (to quote from the detective’s statement again) “that he is very happy that an individual by the name of Michael has come into his life.” It is not necessary to use pseudopsychological terms like “gay panic” to describe the response this created. Keep in mind that the killer brought his own special knife and a change of clothes. Arguably another vocabulary applies, in which it is necessary to speak of evil.
One of the remarkable things about the response to Belton’s death is just how much of it there has been. Hundreds of people turned out for a vigil on New Year’s Day (see video). There is a website called Justice for Don Belton. An open letter from the chair of his department has appeared on the departmental Web site. A memorial service will be held in Bloomington.
And Josh Lukin tells me that he is proposing a session called “Remembering Don Belton” for the next MLA — a panel “engaging his scholarship, art, journalism, and pedagogy.” Possible topics might include “his writing and teaching on black masculinity, Baldwin, Brecht, Mapplethorpe, Morrison, Motown, jazz, cinema, abjection,” to make the list no longer than that.
“The guy’s range of interests was huge,” Josh says, “and he kept surprising me with his knowledge of critical texts, both recent (‘Bowlby, Just Looking? Great chapters on Dreiser.’) and more traditional (‘Why not talk about Morrison using R.W.B. Lewis, American Adam?’).”
Read his piece in its entirety here.
Related Posts:COAD News Buzz
January 12, 2010
Here’s a look at some COAD-related stories in the media:
Denise King, Mother of Hate Crime Victim, Dies
Denise King, a gay rights advocate in South Florida, died of a heart attack on New Year’s Eve. King’s son, Simmie Williams who was gay, was gunned down in February 2008. Since his unresolved murder, King made educating others about the violence LGBT people face a priority:
Since her son’s death, Mrs. King “brought the conversation of love, acceptance and compassion into a community where black [gays and lesbians] are invisible,” said Michael Emanuel Rajner, a co-founder of Transgender Equality Rights Initiatives, who became a family friend after the murder.
“The night of her son’s viewing, she left early because she had gotten a call from someone that evening that there was a youth, about 16, thrown out of his home because he was openly gay,” Rajner said.
“Denise, not even knowing the child’s name, hit the streets with her car up and down Sistrunk looking for this child. She would take them in. Her home became this safe haven for people to run. In her pain she was moved to make certain no child was turned away.”
Mrs. King’s aunt said she was committed to justice.
“Everything she did, she did it from her heart as a mother,” said Rose Barnes, of Fort Lauderdale.
Julian Bond Chosen For Marriage Equality Advisory Board
The American Foundation for Equal Rights today announced that it has chosen champion civil rights leader, Julian Bond for its advisory board, which includes a diverse and prominent roster of civil rights leaders. The American Foundation for Equal Rights launched its groundbreaking federal court challenge to Prop. 8 in May, and brought together attorneys Theodore Olson and David Boies to argue the case, Perry v. Schwarzenegger.
The Windy City Times reported:
Julian Bond is Chairman of the NAACP Board of Directors. He co-founded and was the first president of the Southern Poverty Law Center and was a founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) . He served more than 20 years in the Georgia legislature after a 1966 U.S. Supreme Court ruling held that the Georgia House of Representatives unconstitutionally denied him the seat he had won.
“The humanity of all Americans is diminished when any group is denied rights granted to others,” Bond said. “This is not a special interest case, but one that should be of great importance to everyone who believes in the principles of equality on which this nation was founded.”
The Los Angeles Times op-ed on being black, gay and African:
In the Los Angeles Times, Douglas Foster, a journalism professor at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, addresses the anti-gay belief that being gay is “un-African,” his experiences in South Africa and the anti-gay legislation in Uganda. Here is an excerpt from his op-ed.
South Africa is far from nirvana for lesbians and gay men: There’s certainly no shortage of homophobia within its borders. But it’s the one place on the continent — and one of the few places in the world — with a constitution that explicitly prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation.
In 2007, when I spent a year in Johannesburg, I heard the deputy chief justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, Dikgang Moseneke, address the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. In his speech, he paid tribute to liberation heroes like the late Simon Nkoli, a courageous black revolutionary and an out and proud gay man. Nkoli, like the men and women with less well-known names who regularly turn up at Simply Blue, countered the lie that same-sex attraction is a relic of colonialism.
The theme of homophobic African politicians is that gay identity is a perversion imposed on black people by white oppressors. The historical fact is the reverse, of course: Legal prohibitions on homosexuality were originally imposed by white colonial rulers. So it’s no small twist in the plot that the new wave of threats to Ugandan gays should be reinforced by American religious extremists.
The proposed legislation places in stark relief the persistence of deadly prejudice. The roots of hatred can be traced to myriad traditions — indigenous and foreign, white and black. What’s more important than identifying the sources of the poison is to find the antidote. The first step is listening to the voices of African lesbians and gay men, and taking our cues from them about how to offer the most effective support.
I’ve been logging on daily in recent weeks to the Box Turtle Bulletin, the website widely credited with alerting Americans to the Uganda legislation, and also to Gay Uganda, the distinctive, irrepressible blog of a partly closeted young gay blogger who’s broken important news, and provided bracing perspective, ever since the anti-gay panic began to build in Uganda. “I am fighting for our lives and freedom in my country,” the Gay Uganda blogger wrote on New Year’s Day, as government officials and preachers called on Ugandans to join in a nationwide demonstration against homosexuality on Jan. 19.
Read the piece in its entirety here.
Lala Vazquez Poses Topless for Marriage Equality 
The VH1 host follows in the footsteps of her friends Kim, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian and poses for the grassroots campaign against the passing of Prop 8 in 2008.
MTV/VH1 veejay Lala Vazquez bares all and lends her famous form to the NOH8 marriage equality campaign, a photographic protest speaking out against California’s Proposition 8 gay marriage ban.
N0H8 is a photo project and silent protest created by photographer Adam Bouska and his partner Jeff Parshley. Other African-American celebs who have posed are the cast of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, actors Isaiah Washington, Jenson Atwood, Rachel True and Daryll Stephens ; singers Dawn Richardson (Dantity Kane) and the girl group Rich Girls; and Entertainment Tonight Reporter Kevin Frazier to name a few.
Related Posts:African-American Mother Shares Story about Transgender Daughter with The Grio
October 26, 2009
In mid-September, Bonnita Spikes, a Maryland resident attended a GLAAD media training for the Maryland Black Family Alliance, an organization of African American straight leaders who advocate for marriage for all couples. During the training, Spikes shared that she felt compelled to be part of this group because she wanted for her transgender daughter Michelle to have the opportunity to be legally married one day. She also talked about the pain her family endured when Michelle became the target of a near fatal hate crime in 1999 and how the attack strengthened their mother-daughter relationship.
This was a story that needed to be told on a grand scale.
After the training, I approached Spikes about her writing a story about her experiences and told her I would help pitch it to the media. She said, “Absolutely.” A few weeks later, we saw that our hard work paid off.
On October 16, The Grio―NBC’s news website for African Americans―published Spikes moving article, “A mother’s story: Hate crime brings new bond with transgender child.”
Here is an excerpt:
Early on, l knew my son Michael was different. While my three other sons begged me to buy them G.I. Joe figurines and were obsessed with football, Michael preferred playing with My Little Pony and taking tap dance lessons.
In Prince Georges County, Maryland where we live, we have a diverse group of friends so the idea of having a gay son didn’t scare or shock us. Sure, we feared he had a hard road ahead of him – being bullied at school, getting fired from his job for being gay and facing the possibility that he may never be able to be legally married – but with our love, we knew he was going to be okay.
When Michael turned 16, he told us that he wasn’t a gay man. Instead, he was a transgender woman named Michelle who had been dressing as a woman when he left the house. At that point, my husband and I both realized that this was a big deal. My son was now my daughter.
Even though I am an activist and somewhat liberal, I didn’t know what being transgender meant. After doing some serious soul searching, my husband and I concluded that our child needed us. Unlike too many of her friends whose parents had kicked them out for being gay or transgender, we were going to open our minds even further than what we thought was possible. It was difficult. But we started going to family therapy and things were slowly getting better.
But everything changed in December 1999, the day my daughter Michelle became the target of a hate crime.
While standing in line with her friends at a club in Atlanta, Michelle was struck in the head with a metal pipe by a stranger who did not like the fact that she was a transgender woman. She fell to the ground and her skull split open.
The doctors weren’t very hopeful – they didn’t think she was going to make it. As she lay there unconscious, she was unrecognizable. Her head was shaved, there was a V-shaped scar down the side of her face, and she was bruised and swollen.
For weeks, my family, my friends and my minister prayed by her bedside, not confident that we would ever hear her voice again. When she finally woke up, we were ecstatic. But we were realistic that a full recovery was miles away. Michelle had temporary amnesia and didn’t even remember me. One day, I asked her if she knew who I was and she said, “No, but you seem like a really nice lady.”
Those moments made my heart break, but my daughter was alive and that’s all that mattered.
Read the story in its entirety here.
Related Posts:Roundup of Black LGBT Stories in the Media
October 10, 2009
Stories about and voices of black LGBT people in the media are starting to be heard in new and interesting ways. There is still a long way to go and yes the spectrum of issues impacting the black LGBT community are still underreported and overlooked. Yet, over the past couple months, stories ranging from the good and the tragic about the community have emerged including support for marriage, openly gay politicians, pop culture shake-ups and violence against transgender women.
In July, the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) unveiled its LGBT Equality Task Force, a new partnership between them and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The Task Force is comprised of seven members and is co-chaired by NAACP National Chairman Julian Bond and California NAACP Chair Alice Huffman. They plan on tackling hate crimes, ENDA, safe schools and HIV/AIDS. This was the first time that a black LGBT organization has ever addressed the NAACP―and they had a powerful ally, President Barack Obama. In a speech he gave at the NAACP convention, the President told the crowd that black gay men and women are still being denied rights and how we have to stand up for everyone.
Celebrities have also started to speak out about marriage and are helping to squash the dialogue that the black community is unsupportive of fairness and equality. Last month, True Blood and Desperate Housewives star Mechad Brooks told Honey Magazine that he did not want to marry until everyone could legally marry in this country. “I find it really offensive. I just find it really problematic when you start throwing people’s rights away. Until we get our gay brothers and sisters back into a realm of consciousness that everyone else is in, it’s just not right.”
This past August, R&B songstress Latoya Luckett told The Advocate that marriage for all is inevitable. 
“It eventually has to, or people are going to move and go to places where it’s accepted. It’s going to have to happen eventually. I don’t know if it’ll happen tomorrow, but whatever is in God’s will, it will be. Hey, everybody deserves love”
Marriage hasn’t been the only focus politics-wise. Anthony Woods, a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom who was discharged for violating the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy was the first openly gay black man to run for Congress in California. While he lost his bid in September, throughout the election, the Harvard graduate appeared on CNN, Real Time with Bill Maher and numerous other shows talking about his experiences and the importance of working toward repealing the military’s ban on gay and lesbians serving.
From a religious, spiritual and faith perspective, LGBT figures are gaining more and more visibility, notably Cari Jackson of Stamford, Connecticut. Jackson is the first women, the first African-American and the first openly gay senior pastor of the First Congregational Church in Stamford, Connecticut.
On an entertainment front there has been a small surge in black LGBT characters and reality stars on the large and small screens. Whether it’s gender bending Layette on True Blood, fashion guru Dwight on The Real Housewives of Atlanta or Leigh the lesbian sister in the film Mississippi Damned, images of black LGBT people are slowly, but surely making a positive impact. Notably Vogue Evolution, the first openly gay dance group on MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew sparked a much-needed conversation about race, sexual orientation and transgender issues.
Amidst the successes, there is still an incredible uphill battle the black LGBT community faces, especially in terms of violence and hate crimes. This July, Dwight DeLee was sentenced to 25 years in prison after being found guilty of manslaughter in the first degree as a hate crime in the shooting of Lateisha Green. Green―a transgender woman from Syracuse, NY―was fatally shot last October at a party she attended with her brother. Witnesses at the scene stated that DeLee and others made anti-gay slurs at the time of the shooting.
Green’s story is not rare. According to the Human Rights Campaign, 1 in 12 transgender Americans face the chance of being murdered; while the average person has about a one in 18,000 chance.
Violence is only one of many issues. Whether it is the alarming rise of HIV among gay and bisexual gay men; disturbing and pervasive bullying of gay students; gay couples being turned away from their churches; the “accepted” homophobia in hip-hop and popular culture; or the increase in violence,the message is clear – we still have a lot of work to do. And most importantly, we must all work together to get it done.
Related Posts:Hate Crimes Mar World OutGames
July 29, 2009
World OutGames, Copenhagen 2009
According to local news reports and on-the-ground reports from OutSports.com, several explosive devices were thrown and detonated at a track meet during the World OutGames in Copenhagen, Denmark on Tuesday, July 28, 2009.
The World OutGames is a sporting, cultural and human rights event for LGBT people. The first World OutGames, held in 2006, drew as many as 12,000 participants to Montreal, Canada. The second World OutGames started July 25 and run through August 2.
Although Denmark is considered to be very gay-friendly (in 1989 it became the first country in the world to recognize same-sex partnerships), two hate crime incidents have taken place since the opening ceremonies.
According to local reports, two men were arrested for yelling anti-gay epithets and attacking three athletes following the Opening Ceremonies. The three men, from England, Norway and Sweden were hospitalized for injuries incurred after being punched and kicked and later released.
The police are charging the two attackers with hate crimes and the judge has ordered them to remain in jail until the end of the World OutGames. According to Danish law, a hate crime requires proof that the person charged was motivated by sexual orientation, religion or race. Hate crimes are considered aggravating circumstances and can result in longer jail terms.
After the attack, a member of the Canadian curling team told Danish TV, “Obviously it’s scary. That fear will haunt you forever. Hate crimes go beyond bruises, go beyond broken bones and they affect you as an individual and it scars you for life.”
Koga with injured hand continues to compete.
The second attack came yesterday at a track and field event. According to reports from Outsports.com, the Advocate and other sources several explosive devices were hurled onto the track just prior to a race. Police arrested a 31-year-old man and have charged him with a hate crime for the attacks. A Seattle-area athlete, Dean Koga, was taken to the hospital to remove shrapnel from his hand and released.
In an exclusive interview with Outsports.com, Koga related his story:
“The [bomb] container hit the ground and everyone yelled to run,” said Koga, who was in his running lane and then headed for the infield area. “That’s when I felt the impact” from the shrapnel that ricocheted off the ground and into the top part of his right hand.
Koga returned the next day to compete in the 800 meters.
Stephen Stuehling, another athlete present during the attack, said, “I was scared and shocked. It was just disheartening to see that. Because of how open Denmark is, I felt pretty darn safe and this kind of corrupts that feeling.”
“The World OutGames are intended to create a safe space and bring together LGBT athletes and artists from all over the world, many from countries where being gay remains illegal,” said Senior Director of Media Programs Rashad Robinson.
“Attacks of this kind affect not only the individual athletes, but frighten participants and mar the experience for all attending. We urge the media to report these incidents and continue to delve into the dangers of homophobia here and abroad.”
GLAAD will continue to monitor coverage of this and other events.
Related Posts:Perfil/Profile: Latino Gay Times
May 4, 2009
Ramon Frisneda
Latino Gay Times es uno de los pocos ‘blogs’ latinos en español en los Estados Unidos dirigido especificamente a la comunidad gay latina. Ramon Frisneda es el ‘blogger’ y periodista con más de 12 años de experiencia en los medios de comunicación en español de Nueva York. “Empecé este ‘blog’ para ofrecer noticias y opiniones, para promover el fin de la difamación y otras formas de injusticia, para mejorar el acceso a recursos legales para mi comunidad”, dijo Frisneda.
Lo siguiente es un ejemplo del trabajo de Ramon Frisneda en Latino Gay Times/The following is an example of Latino Gay Times content:
No hay que ser gay para morir por la homofobia
Vigil in Brooklyn for Hate Crime Victims
“La discriminación y la violencia hacia los gays no es algo nuevo. Han estado presentes desde el mismo día, quien sabe hace cuanto, que las primeras empezaron a “salir del clóset” en busca del reconocimiento e igualdad. Y aunque no se puede dudar que ha habido avances en esa búsqueda, cada día nos enfrentamos a casos atroces contra la comunidad LGTB que nos hacen seguir preguntándonos…hasta cuando?
El más reciente, que paradójicamente envuelve a un par de hermanos ecuatorianos heterosexuales, ha consternado a la comunidad gay e hispana de la Gran Manzana por su crudeza. El caso paradójico, por que aunque las victimas no son gay, los motivos del ataque tienen un claro origen en la homofobia de los ejecutores. Hace poco tiempo, José Sucuzhañay, de 31 años, y su hermano Rommel salieron de una fiesta en Brooklyn y debido al frío iban abrazados. Eso fue suficiente para que sus agresores los confundieran con una pareja gay y decidieran atacarlos. Hakim Scott y Keith Phoenix, ambos afroamericanos, les gritaron insultos anti-gay y golpearon a José en la cabeza con un bate de aluminio y un abotella de cerveza. El joven inmigrante ecuatoriano murió una semana después del ataque en un hospital en Queens. Rommel logró huir durante la agresión y salvar su vida…”
Para leer la nota completa y ver el resto del contenido de Latino Gay Times visita: http://latinogaytimes.blogspot.com/
Latino Gay Times is one of the few Spanish language blogs directed specifically to the gay Latino community in the United States. Ramon Frisneda is the blogger and has over 12 years of experience as a journalist in Spanish language media in New York. “I created this blog with the intent to present news and commentary to promote the end of defamation and other forms of injustice and to encourage the need for improved legal resources for my community,” said Frisneda.
To learn more about the content of Latino Gay Times visit: http://latinogaytimes.blogspot.com/
GLAAD Reports from the Angie Zapata Murder Trial
April 15, 2009
GLAAD Media Field Strategist Adam Bass is in Greeley, Colo. as the trial in the murder of Angie Zapata begins, working alongside local advocacy organizations on the ground to coordinate local media efforts and support Zapata’s family and friends. Angie Zapata was an 18-year-old transgender woman who was brutally murdered in her own home last July – and the trial for the man accused of murdering her began Tuesday, April 14.
The man who allegedly murdered Angie goes on trial for premeditated murder this week. He also faces a hate crimes charge, the first time such a charge has been leveled against a defendant in the case of a murdered transgender person – in Colorado and the nation.
Colorado media outlets, as well as some national media, have been reporting on Angie Zapata and this murder trial.
Angie Zapata s family gathers for a vigil in her honor Tuesday in Greeley, Colo.
Tuesday, in Greeley, was no different. Locals, led by the Lambda Center of Fort Collins, gathered for a brief candlelight vigil in a downtown Greeley park. They gathered to show support to the family as the trial begins. Speakers included retired Pastor Steve Brown of Greeley and Andy Stoll of the Lambda Center.
Monica Zapata, Angie’s older sister, also spoke, surrounded by many other family members. Monica remembered Angie as “beautiful.” She said that Angie would be happy to see that the community was coming together to “change the world” and make it a better place for other transgender people to live.
Over 60 people gathered in the park to show support to the family, and the event ended a busy news day. Denver television stations CBS 4 Denver, ABC 7 News, NBC 9News and Fox 31 KDVR, as well as Greeley’s Channel 5, filed reports from the opening day of court.
Angie Zapata
TruTV is covering the entire trial. Denver Post and Greeley Tribune reporters were also at the court house, while Pam’s House Blend contributor Autumn Sandeen will be live blogging and using Twitter throughout the trial. The first day of the trial consisted of jury selection, and it is expected that opening statements in the trial will be presented on Thursday.
GLAAD is on the ground to work with the media as they cover this trial – to ensure that Angie’s story is told fairly, accurately and inclusively, and that the story of Angie’s life isn’t lost in the coverage of her murder.
To find out more about Angie Zapata and her life, visit www.angiezapata.com
Local Activists Respond to Anti-Gay Assault in Cincinnati
March 20, 2009
Cincinnati's LGBT community rallied to protest the hate crime yesterday. (Photo by Barry Floore)
Learning about the amazing LGBT media advocacy work local activists in Cincinnati, Ohio, have been accomplishing this week made me prouder than ever of my home town!
Cincinnati is known for its history being one of the least LGBT-friendly large cities in Ohio. And as local community members will tell you, the local media’s LGBT coverage isn’t perfect.
That point was driven home again after I heard that two students at the University of Cincinnati-where my younger brother will attend school next year-were victims of an anti-gay assault.
Local activists wrote at the Bilerico Project, about their work uncovering news of the assault:
Sadly, our information about the attack and the condition of the victims is limited because both the UC Police Department and the local mainstream media have seemed reluctant to inform the public about this crime…
Jamie Royce of the blog Stuff Queer People Need to Know and Donald Caster of Cincinnati Blog have searched court records…
Both the UCPD and the local mainstream media have seemed reluctant to inform the public about this crime until they were virtually forced to action.
Though information about the attack was not disseminated until 12 days after the crime occurred, local community members did not let that hinder their activism. Cincinnati activists got to work quickly, organizing a protest against anti-gay attacks, and securing media coverage at local and national blogs, the local ABC affiliate, and the city’s largest paper, the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Utilizing Facebook, Twitter, and good old-fashioned e-mail, local activists created momentum for their protest rally yesterday in just one day, garnering 250 participants along with print, online, and broadcast media coverage. Check out local blogger Barry Floore’s photos from the rally: http://tinyurl.com/c9q8dm
Over 250 folks attended the rally. (Photo by Barry Floore)
GLAAD’s Media Field Strategy team works with local individuals and organizations across the country every day to provide media relations assistance. We have reached out to folks in Cincinnati to offer support, and to congratulate them on the amazing work.
As we learned in the poll GLAAD comissioned from Harris Interactive at the end of last year, seeing stories of real LGBT people in their communities in the news is one of the leading factors Americans cite in why their perceptions of LGBT folks have gotten more favorable.
If you’re working on a local LGBT issue, don’t hesitate to reach out to GLAAD for support! Media Field Strategy contacts: Eastern U.S.: mediastrategyec@glaad.org Western U.S.: mediastrategywc@glaad.org
Call to Action: Demand that Colorado Radio Host Trevor Carey Disavow Remarks Condoning Violence Against Transgender People
March 17, 2009
Earlier today, GLAAD issued a Call to Action in response to comments made by Colorado radio host Trevor Carey.
Here’s some of what it said:
In a disturbing diatribe on KNUS radio on March 14, host Trevor Carey engaged in a conversation with a caller in which both men condoned violence against transgender people, blaming slain Greeley, Colo. resident Angie Zapata, an 18-year-old transgender woman, for her own brutal murder.
(Transcript from Colorado Media Matters):
CAREY: And what the transgender segment of our society needs to be telling their type is, you don’t commit fraud because –
CALLER: No, that’s exactly what it was.
CAREY: A), you’re at least gonna get your teeth kicked in, and B) — [caller laughs] — here’s a story from Greeley that turned out very tragic, and you should pay attention to this, because -
CALLER: You know, when I was growin’ up in Greeley, I grew up in Greeley, that kind of stuff didn’t ever, you know, surface in this town. And it’s just sad, you know; my heart just weeps for all, everybody that’s concerned. But, you know, we gotta go back to basics. You’re a man or you’re a woman, and, like you said, if you’re fraudin’ somebody, then you deserve to have your teeth kicked in. Not necessarily hung or you’re killed, but it just — they shoulda known better, you know?
Carey sustained his gratuitously defamatory tone throughout the entire show, and his remarks during the segment – including a false representation of a conversation with a GLAAD representative – make it clear that his references to Angie and her tragic murder will continue to be disrespectful, abusive and inaccurate. The transcript and audio for the program can be found on the Colorado Media Matters website.
It was reported in The Greeley Tribune on March 13 that Carey had issues with following The Associated Press’ style guidelines on transgender people in talking about Angie Zapata’s story. GLAAD often works behind the scenes with media profession to educate them on terminology and best practices for fair,
Radio host Trevor Carey
accurate and inclusive reporting on LGBT people and issues (details can be found in the GLAAD Media Reference Guide). After reading about Carey’s comments in The Greeley Tribune, GLAAD reached out to him last Friday. Carey not only has a weekend show with KNUS, but also a morning show on KFKA in Greeley – where Angie was murdered.
Carey was unwilling to discuss the issues at hand over the course of a half hour conversation, and instead continued to bring up unrelated – and often offensive – topics about transgender people. The following night, he went on the air and made his defamatory claims, and while doing so, falsely characterized his conversation with GLAAD.
At the end of the day, there is no excuse for promoting violence against transgender people. As a news host, and as a media personality, Carey has a responsibility and obligation to treat Angie Zapata’s story with dignity and respect. He did not, and he needs to disavow his remarks.
Here’s how you can make your voice heard:
TAKE ACTION NOW!
Please contact Trevor Carey and ask him to disavow his remarks that condone violence against transgender people. Call on KFKA and KNUS to hold Carey accountable for his remarks and establish clear standards to ensure their media platforms will not be used to condone or promote violence towards any parts of the communities they serve.
Please forward this link to any of your friends and others who may also wish to take action. When contacting KFKA and KNUS, please ensure that your emails and phone calls are civil and respectful and do not engage in the kind of name calling or abusive behavior that we are expressing our concerns about.
Trevor Carey
Host, KNUS, “Trevor Carey” and KFKA, “AM Colorado with Trevor, Troy and George”
Phone: (720) 434-2714
trevorcareywork@aol.com
Justin Sasso
General Manager, KFKA
Phone: (970) 356-1310
justin@1310kfka.com
Kelly Michaels
Operations Director, Salem Communications (KNUS)
Phone: (303) 750-5687
kelly@salemdenver.com
Sean Kennedy’s Killer Denied Early Parole
February 11, 2009
Coverage of Tuesday's vigil, including Elke Kennedy (right).
As we reported at glaadBLOG last month, the man who killed 20-year-old Sean Kennedy because he was gay was up for early parole after serving only 8 months.
After getting word of this, Sean’s mother Elke Kennedy called on the community for help through the foundation she started in her son’s name, Sean’s Last Wish.
Tuesday night, Sean’s Last Wish held a vigil in Sean’s memory at the South Carolina State House. The vigil was a call to local authorities to keep Sean’s killer behind bars, and to recognize hate crimes. Elke told WIS-TV news that the state needs a hate crimes law: “[Sean] always said, ‘when I get older, I’m gonna change this, make sure people are treated equally.”
Local South Carolina media reports today that Sean’s Killer, Stephen Moller, was denied early parole. South Carolina is one of only five states that does not have hate crime legislation on the books.
Click here to see local news coverage of Tuesday’s vigil.
UPDATE: Police Claiming Long Island Vandalism Not A Hate Crime
February 10, 2009
As an update to the recent post by former GLAAD Transgender Advocacy Fellow, Mik Kinkead, Newsday.com is reporting that the incident is not being classified as a hate crime. From the article:
The Suffolk County Police Hate Crimes Unit investigated last week’s incident at the Long Island Gay and Lesbian Youth Center as a hate crime but determined it was not, police said Tuesday.
Police arrested three men and a woman, all from Bay Shore, Monday in connection with the vandalism and charged each of them with second-degree criminal mischief. None of the four was charged with a hate crime.
The Long Island GLBT Center plans to issue a statement soon. We’ll update this post with that statement once it is made.
UPDATE: The Long Island GLBT Community Center has released it’s statement. Here is an excerpt:
Over three years ago, two of the four people arrested were former clients of LIGALY. The individuals regularly displayed inappropriate and disruptive behavior toward staff and other clients. This behavior made many of our clients feel unsafe, and the organization responded appropriately by discharging them from our services. We are saddened to hear that the individuals arrested continued to act out in hatred and violence, as these attacks illustrate.
While the vandalism is no longer being investigated as a bias crime, we feel that the investigation and the attention paid to these crimes by public officials and media was appropriate. Vandalism of this magnitude is intended to send a message of fear. The Center stands as the most public declaration of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender pride on Long Island. As the most visible symbol of GLBT presence and pride, the vandalism was indeed interpreted and felt as an attack on these already vulnerable communities.
Guest Post: Growing After Bias
February 10, 2009
Police investigate the hate crime. Pictured is the shattered front door to the Center.
This post was written by GLAAD’s former Transgender Advocacy Fellow, Mik Kinkead. Mik now works for the Long Island GLBT Community Center.Recently the Long Island GLBT Community Center, home of Long Island Gay and Lesbian Youth (LIGALY), has been inundated with media requests. Reporters and camera operators from news stations as diverse as Newsday, WABC Eyewitness News, 1010 Wins and WNBCNews have appeared on our steps asking for footage of the Center. Calls have been flooding the office from The Associated Press, 365gay.com, and the blog Pam’s House Blend.
The reason is a disheartening, but familiar one. On Monday morning staff members arrived at work to find the Long Island GLBT Community Center vandalized. The door to the Center was smashed in, and the van used to transport youth to and from programs was destroyed. The windows on the van had been broken, the tires slashed and the mirrors mangled.
For staff such as me, the attacks represented an affront not on personal property but on our individual and collective lives – the lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Long Islanders. Our decision to alert the media through the help of GLAAD’s National News and Media Field Strategy Teams was a direct result of our experience working with community members. We know that when we remain silent on the issues that matter to us, and when our issues go un-reported, that our lives are not seen as valid or important. By reporting these attacks and making the Center open to news crews we put our lives and our experiences in the spotlight and were able to frame the discussion.
In my former position as GLAAD’s Transgender Advocacy Fellow, I was directly involved in the news coverage of the sixteen known murders of transgender people in the US during 2008. I can vividly recall pressuring media in Kentucky to cover the murder of Nakhia Williams, whose story went unreported for over a month. I can recall chasing down reporters across the nation to advocate for correct pronouns, correct names, and in-depth reporting of transgender people. Too often the physical attacks on members of our community are understood to be the price we pay for living openly. Too few reporters were willing to investigate the transphobia surrounding the murders.
I admit that I feel angry when I see the numerous publications that have referenced the attacks on our Center who did not report on the police brutality and eventual murder of Duanna Johnson, the murder of Lateisha Green days before the Transgender Day of Remembrance, or even the triumphs of our community such as Diego Sanchez being appointed legislative aide to Barney Frank.
My hope is that the staff of our Center and the excellent reporters we have encountered will make the correlation between what happened to our Center and what actually happens to our physical bodies tangible to viewers and readers. We can show that when the murders of people like Duanna or Lateisha go unreported or incorrectly reported we create a culture where bias incidents like this one are allowed to thrive.
As a media analyst, and as an advocate, I know that the presence of LGBT lives in the media leads to political action, self education, and policy changes – a presence we couldn’t have accomplished without partnering with GLAAD. Already, we here at the Long Island GLBT Center have seen the effects of media presence. The quick reporting of Newsday, WNBC News, and WABC Eyewitness News sufficiently pressured the Suffolk County Police Commissioner and Suffolk County Executive, Steve Levy to make statements supporting the Long Island lesbian gay bisexual and transgender community. Only one day later Governor Paterson issued a statement calling these kinds of attacks “unacceptable” and sent the State Commissioner of Human Rights to the Center for a public forum with our community.
Without fair and accurate coverage of the bias crime in the news none of this would have been possible. Without inclusive media representation that saw our tragedy as a community tragedy we could not have received the attention from the Police Commissioner, our County Executive, or Governor Paterson.
Mik Kinkead is the Transgender Services Coordinator for the Long Island GLBT Community Center. The Center is connected to Long Island Gay and Lesbian Youth (LIGALY) and Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders-Long Island (SAGE-LI) through the umbrella organization of the Long Island GLBT Services Network. All are located in Bay Shore, New York.
Media Coverage of Transgender Day of Remembrance Grows, Remains Respectful
November 24, 2008
One of the most important and somber days of the year for gay and transgender communities and our allies occurred last Thursday as communities around the world commemorated Transgender Day of Remembrance.
While these events are primarily a way to memorialize and honor the lives of transgender people, media plays a key role in illuminating transgender experiences. Accurate and fair portrayals of Transgender Day of Remembrance events helps to expand public awareness and understanding of transgender lives.
This year, press coverage of the events grew in both national and local regions. Sadly, this seems to be linked to the recent murders throughout November. Coverage this year was particularly poignant in Tennessee, New York, and Florida where recent deaths shocked and galvanized communities. The recent murders of Duanna Johnson and Lateisha Green, and the recent death of Aimee Wilcoxson brought issues of anti-discrimination laws, proper health care, and community responses to violence into media focus.
One of the many news outlets that overall accurately covered the Day of Remembrance was News-10 in New York. News-10 originally had inaccurately reported on the murder of Lateisha “Teish” Green in Syracuse, however they quickly corrected their reports after outreach from GLAAD and local community organizations. On Friday, the station explored the meaning of Transgender Day of Remembrance vigils, focusing on the local one for Lateisha Green. From the article:
“Many may think that violence against transgender individuals happens in bigger cities. But that, in fact, is not the case. And the recent murder of Teish Cannon brought that to the forefront.”
Reports from Tennessee closely followed Duanna Johnson, often reporting on the pending legal case against the Memphis Police Department and the ongoing instigation into her murder by the FBI. The day before the Transgender Day of Remembrance, Nov 19, MyFOX and MyEyewitness News both reported that one of the officers responsible for her assault, Bridges McRae, had been indicted. National publications such as the New York Times also covered the assault and her death.
Reporters also covered the vigil for Duanna, which occurred on Nov 16. From MyEyewitness News:
“Back at the vigil on the streets of Midtown Memphis, those paying their respects to Duanna Johnson honored her as a woman who became the face of the fight against racism, homophobia and transphobia. They remembered her as a woman who received no justice in life, but whose life and struggle for equality will not be forgotten.”
Other local outlets included Maryland’s The Herald Mail, which focused on job discrimination.
The quarterly magazine ColorLines reported on the day in their blog, RaceWire. The blog, written by ColorLines‘ Managing Editor, focused on the reporter’s personal experience covering the murder of Gwen Araujo in 2002. Gwen was a Latina transgender woman whose case made headlines across the nation, the reporter compared Gwen’s story to the brutal and devastating murder of another Latina woman who was murdered this year, Angie Zapata of Greeley Colo.
Casual Loafing, a weekly alternate newspaper in Fort Lauderdale, Fla covered the day in their blog, Daily Loaf, as well. The blog focused on the murder of Simmie Williams, a Fort Lauderdale resident, who was murdered in February of this year. The reporter highlighted how underreported anti-transgender violence is:
“It’s definitely a problem and one that gets little coverage and even less understanding. One just has to look at the Pinellas County Commission’s decision this year to not cover transgender folks with their revamped Human Rights Ordinance. Or the circus surrounding Susan Stanton.”
Online networks and blogs also observed the day with bloggers from Jezebel, feministe, and feministing all participating in remembering the names of those murdered this year and in providing information on vigils and other events.
The Day of Remembrance was commemorated on many college campuses as well, with reports from newspapers such as Penn State’s The Daily Collegian, Purdue University’s The Exponent, the University of Georgia’s Red and Black, University of Tulsa’s The Collegian, and Towson University’s The Towerlight, reporting on the ways in which transgender lives are remembered on campuses throughout the nation. Vanderbilt University’s InsideVany reported on the campuses’ first-ever Transgender Day of Remembrance.
The University of Minnesota paper MN Daily included a long column on the importance of both remembering the dead, and working to improve the lives of the living:
“For many transgender people, the threat or the fact of physical and psychological violence is a daily reality. The fear and risk that accompany performing a non-normative gender are shaped simultaneously by their experiences of identities. The terrain of work for justice, equity and compassion for people who experience gender violence demands that we uplift and engage in all of these struggles. Thus, the challenge — and the promise — lies in working together, and in creating space to honor the multiple dimensions of each of our identities so that each person might be able to be present, to live in their bodies in their fullness.“
As we reported yesterday, international coverage has also been ongoing as the Transgender Day of Remembrance is commemorated across the globe.
