The latest news about homophobia across the UK and the globe.
We love a bit of Westboro shenanigans; we find their updates and interest in our sexuality most heartening. That’s why when we found that they had discovered Vine we just had to watch. And predictably, like a hideous car crash or Liza Minnelli on stage, it’s utterly captivating.
The gay rights activists shouted ‘Bruce, you’re wanted! Unrepentant murder!’ and ‘Gay rights are human rights!’
The protesters lined the pavement outside the Harlem Institution for over an hour and received comments from supportive and non-supportive bystanders.
A statement from the National Anti-Discrimination Alliance (NADA) said that Golding is symbolic of Jamaica’s homophobic culture. He publicly announced his opposition to gays serving in his Cabinet on BBC Hard Talk in 2008 and has since made other homophobic statements.
This year there have been a number of anti-gay crimes in Jamaica, including the brutal murders of 16-year-old Dwayne Jones and 41-year-old Dean Moriah. Dwayne was murdered in July this year; he was dressed as a woman. His gender identity and sexuality are unconfirmed at this time.
In September, two men escaped a ‘mob’ of men, who became violent towards them, after a car accident in the small town of Old Harbour. The crowd assumed that the two were gay.
Dwayne Brown, organiser of the demonstration and a gay Jamaican who fled to the USA because of death threats, said he would not go inside for Golding’s speech because he feared a violent response from the audience.
The press release from NADA continued with:
‘The Jamaica Anti-Homophobia stand feels strongly that Bruce Golding must be held accountable for the human rights offenses he oversaw during his tenure, including the Tivoli Gardens Massacre and the perpetuation of anti-gay attacks.’
Watch video from the protest here
Arron Keahey was beaten and brutalised by an 18-year-old suspect, after meeting up with him an hour after the two men struck up conversation on the MeetMe app.
Keahey said to ABC News8 reporter Steve Stoler that he was ‘ambushed almost immediately’ after his arrival at the 18-year-old’s address saying,
‘He started getting all frustrated and talking all angrily,” Keahey said. “I don’t remember anything after that.’
Police in North Texas are currently investigating the attack after Brice Johnson called 911 to say that he had ‘found Keahey outside his house in the trunk of a car.’
The police later arrested and charged Johnson with aggravated assault, causing serious bodily injury and are treating it as a ‘possible hate crime,’ however as the victim doesn’t remember the attack and Johnson is also saying that he remembers very little about the incident.
Keahey has broken facial bones, nerve damage and has lost some teeth. He will require corrective cosmetic surgery for his injuries.
A spokesperson for the MeetMe app has said,
‘Safety is MeetMe’s top priority. To ensure that our 1 million daily users have a safe and enjoyable experience online, we employ a variety of human and technological filters that include real-time review of every image posted to the site and a zero-tolerance policy for interactions that violate our terms of service.
‘As this tragic incident illustrates, offline meetings can carry significant risk – which is why MeetMe prominently displays safety messages to every user of our mobile apps and logged-in users of our website see reminders at the bottom every screen about the dangers of meeting people they don’t know.
‘In addition, MeetMe created and operates the website www.socialsafety.org as a resource to help users and their families stay safe online and links to it from throughout MeetMe’s website and app.’
To watch the news report click here.
A pub in North Yorkshire has had to apologise to Al Butler, 26, and a old school friend who were handed a receipt that described the two as ‘Gay Guys’ on stools – to indicate where the men were sitting, even though the two are straight.
Judson’s Bar has apologised ‘unreservedly’ to the two men and the waitress who wrote the receipt has been ‘disciplined’.
The two men went to Judson’s Bar for lunch. It was only after the food had been delivered that Mr Butler’s friend noticed the note.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Mr. Butler said:
‘My friend spotted it first and said, “I think the manager’s misconstrued our lunch”
‘I obviously thought it was inappropriate. It took a while for it sink in. It was not insulting, it was just a shock.
‘I was surprised. I would not expect it anywhere else. It’s as equally unacceptable as racism.
‘It’s not a bad thing to be called gay – although I’m not and neither is my friend – but I think it’s prejudiced. It’s jumping to a conclusion without the need to do so.’
The bar’s owner Peter Ward told The Press, Yorkshire,
‘We have apologised unreservedly. While it was completely wrong, I don’t feel it was prejudiced.
‘It was completely unprofessional and it is not what our business is about.‘We understand why the two gentlemen concerned were offended and we have apologised to them unreservedly.
‘We have also disciplined the waitress concerned and put in place a procedure so it will not happen again. I would add that everyone is welcome at Judson’s.’
A spokesperson from Stonewall said,
‘Incidents like this highlight the importance of staff training. Identifying customers by their perceived sexual orientation is unnecessary and could cause offence. It’s right that the bar should apologise to the customers for this inappropriate behaviour.’
The 83 year-old televangelist has lost his fight with YouTube to have a comment he made about gay men spreading AIDS with a ring which could cut and infect those who shook hands with someone wearing the ring in San Francisco, removed after the Google owned service re-instated the video.
Robertson claimed the gay community had also passed several ‘draconian laws’ which prohibited people from discussing this particular affliction.’
The video’s copyright owner the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) initially had the video removed, stating copyright infringement but when the clip reemerged with Robertson’s outrageous remarks removed Right Wing Watch (RRW) wrote,
‘…The episode reveals the lengths CBN will go to hide and censor the statements made by its own leader,’
The video has now been reinstated after RWW said that the clip fell under a fair use clause – and seemingly YouTube agrees.
Last week Stonewall released a list of nominees for its 8th Annual Awards, Pat Robertson has been nominated for a Bigot Of The Year Award.
* Officers are appealing for witnesses to come forward after a man and woman were assaulted on the Tube.
* The incident happened around 3pm on Monday, 8 July onboard an eastbound Piccadilly line train travelling between Hounslow East and Northfields London Underground (LU) stations.
* News comes same day as BTP release data showing that homophobic attacks on the UK’s transport system have risen from 2011/12 to 2012/13
PC Paul Franklin, the investigating officer, said: “Three men and a woman were standing on the platform at Hounslow East LU station when a man made homophobic remarks towards them.
“The argument continued on the train and the woman was assaulted by the man.
“A member of the public then intervened and he too was assaulted by the man. The altercation spilled out on to the platform at Northfields LU station and the victim left the station before police arrived.”
PC Franklin added: “Enquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances surrounding the incident and, at this stage, I am appealing for anyone who was at the station to come forward with information about what they saw.”
A 27-year-old man from Hounslow has been arrested in connection with the incident and bailed pending further enquiries.
BTP also revealed statistics that show recorded offences of homophobic crimes reported on the London Underground have risen 9 fold in the period 1st Oct 2011 – 31st January 2012 to 1st Oct 2012 – 31st January 2013.
Anyone with information should contact British Transport Police on Freefone 0800 40 50 40, or text 61016, quoting reference B3/LUA of 12/08/13 or call the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
The French news agency AFP is reporting that several people have been injured after a homophobic group hurled rocks and home-made bombs at the ceremony in Haiti’s capital Port-Au-Prince.
The British man, who is identified as a Red Cross worker, is said to be unhurt.
Speaking to TheGayUK a spokesperson for the BritishRedCross said they did have ‘comprehensive security rules’ to protect those people working and volunteering for the organisations.
Two cars were set alight and numerous windows smashed at the residence were the ceremonies was said to have taken place.
A local inspector, Patrick Rosarion told the AFP that intervention by the police prevented someone being killed by the mob.
“This is a criminal act and homophobic,” said Charlot Jeudy, an official from Kouraj (Courage), a group that defends the rights of homosexuals in Haiti.
“There is no justification for this kind of attack on people in a private residence. Hopefully the justice authorities will react to the perpetrators of this act.”
Same-sex sexual activity between consenting adults in private has been legal since 1986. The age of consent is eighteen.
Thames Valley police have released a statement which confirms that one 16-year-old boy has been arrested in connection to a homophobic assault which happened in the early hours on Sunday 21st July in Cintra Park, Reading.
The two gay men were walking through the park just after midnight after spending the evening at a barbeque, when they were set upon by a gang of youths, beaten and one of the men robbed of cash and cards.
The boy from Reading, was released on police bail until 20th August.
PC Nick Hook of Reading Local CID, is calling for help from anyone who may have seen the attackers, who are described as youths aged 15-20, some of them are described as being stripped to the waist.
One was a white male of slim build approximately five ft with short dark hair and wearing no top. Another was a white boy of slim build, aged about 15, and about five ft with short dark hair, wearing long trousers and no top. A third boy was white, of slim build aged about 16 with dark hair, wearing dark tracksuit trousers and a top.
He said: “We are investigating the incident as a homophobic hate crime which has left the victims understandably shaken.
“This incident is being treated extremely seriously. We will not tolerate hate crimes in our community and will be making every effort to track down and bring to justice those responsible.”
Call the police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
The two men, who have not been named, were in Cintra Park in Whitley at 12:04am after spending the evening at a barbeque when they were set upon by a large gang of youths, who shouted abuse, kicked and punched them before robbing one of the men.
PC Nick Hook of Reading Local CID, is calling for help from anyone who may have seen the attackers, who are described as youths aged 15-20, some of them are described as being stripped to the waist.
One was a white male of slim build approximately five ft with short dark hair and wearing no top. Another was a white boy of slim build, aged about 15, and about five ft with short dark hair, wearing long trousers and no top. A third boy was white, of slim build aged about 16 with dark hair, wearing dark tracksuit trousers and a top.
He said: “We are investigating the incident as a homophobic hate crime which has left the victims understandably shaken.
“This incident is being treated extremely seriously. We will not tolerate hate crimes in our community and will be making every effort to track down and bring to justice those responsible.”
Call the police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
The project which is being labelled as NoHomophobes 2.0 is using crowd sourcing techniques to obtain labellers to identify tweets that use homophobic language. These human-generated labels will later be used in a machine-learning approach to this research study.
The research team are looking for as diverse a set of individuals as possible to participate in this unique study. You do not have to be a Twitter user or have Twitter account to participate. You can help them by simply visiting our research project to sign up as a labeller to help code the tweets you will see.
“Not only is the labelling process important, it’s also a fun, educational, and eye-opening experience,” said a statement from projects website.
To get involved simply visit:http://www.nohomophobesresearch.com or the Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/ResearchUofA
When we asked Twitter what they were doing to combat homophobia online, a spokesperson said:
“As a policy, we do not mediate content (see section 4 of our Terms of Service) or intervene in disputes between users. However, targeted abuse may constitute an infringement of the Twitter Rules”