For the father of bisexual teenager Adam Kizer, the pain is still fresh, days after his son was taken off life support last weekend following a suicide attempt. He was 16.
According to the Post Democrat, on May 17, Contra Costa, Calif., "sheriff’s deputies took [Adam] for a mental health evaluation,” but released him claiming he wasn’t a risk to himself. On May 26, not 10 days later, Adam killed himself.
Adam came out as bisexual six months ago, to a supportive family and to friends. However, his father said, “I don’t think the boy went a whole week without somebody messing with him.” School officials told the local media they were oblivious to the bullying.
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US: They carved ‘Die F**’ into his arms
Rick Jones suffered horrific wounds after a vicious homophobic attack. Then the thugs went after his family. Detectives are trying to catch whoever did this by ramping up their patrols and keeping a closer eye on the victim. But the string of attacks is doing a number on a the town of Delta, Utah (population just under 3,500) which was described by Jones’s mom as a real life utopia.
The attack on Jones was particularly ferocious. But it wasn’t uncommon, unfortunately. Out of the almost 6,000 hate crimes committed in 2013—the last year for which statistics are available—20 percent (approximately 1,200 that year) were based on victims’ sexual orientation, according to the FBI.
The family-owned Grand Central Pizzeria, which Jones runs along with his sisters and parents, has a policy in place for safety’s sake to never close up solo. “He sent his last employees home for the night saying, ‘I’ll finish this,’” Ricky’s mom Terri Jones, who works as a chef at the eatery, told The Daily Beast. “My son, being a male, was thinking he’s invincible.” Read More
US: Murders of LGBT and HIV-positive people in the US rise 11% in 2014
Homicides targeting LGBTQ and HIV-positive people rose by 11% in the US last year, making 2014 the deadliest year for people in those communities since 2012, according to a report from the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs. While the report shows that non-lethal attacks against LGBTQ and HIV-positive people has decreased, transgender women of color were still found to be at high risk of murder.
The report, which drew from data across 14 states, comes after a transgender woman was thrown on to subway tracks in NYC, the same week Caitlyn Jenner introduced her new identity as a transgender woman to the world, to a largely positive reception.
“This year, the report reconfirms some of the trends we’ve seen for multiple years and that includes a high number of homicides,” said Chai Jindasurat, co-director of community organizing and public advocacy. Read More
Morocco: Gay men to be tried for violating 'public modesty' over photo
Two Moroccan gay men are set to go on trial for violating “public modesty” after holding each other for a photo at a historic site in Rabat, and could go to jail for up to three years. Mohsine and Lahcen were touring and taking pictures near Hassan tower, the capital’s famous minaret, earlier in June when they were arrested by the police for supposedly standing too close to each other, activists said. It is not clear if the men were in a relationship.
Last month, Morocco sentenced three gay people to three years in jail, the first time the authorities are known to have used the maximum sentence to punish homosexuals. This week, the latest issue of Maroc Hebdo magazine controversially asked on its cover: “Should we burn gays?”
On Tuesday authorities arrested two French members of the controversial feminist campaign Femen after they protested topless in front of a Rabat landmark against Morocco’s treatment of gays. The women, one of whom had the slogan “in gay we trust” written in black on her torso, were expelled Tuesday evening. They had protested in front of the Hassan Tower, a landmark minaret in Rabat. Read More
El Salvador: Leading trans activist murdered
A leading trans activist was killed recently in El Salvador, prompting calls by human rights groups to ensure the authorities to prosecute and punish those responsible.
Francela Méndez Rodríguez was murdered by a group of unknown assailants while she was visiting the home of a friend in Sonsonate, which is roughly 40 miles west of the capital San Salvador. Her friend Consuela Flores Martínez, was also killed.
The 29-year-old had been a member of Salvadoran trans advocacy group Colectivo Alejandría since it was founded in 2010, working tirelessly for human rights and in HIV prevention programs. Read More
Iraq: Gripped by his ankles, a gay man is dropped to his death by ISIS executioner
Militants fighting for the Islamic State in Iraq have brutally murdered three gay men by throwing them from the top of a high building in front of a huge crowd of bloodthirsty onlookers.
Disturbing photographs of the atrocity - believed to have been taken place in ISIS' stronghold Mosul - shows one man being dangled over the edge of the building by his ankles before being dropped. In the event the horrifically injured men are not killed upon impact with the ground, the baying crowd are encouraged to surge forward and stone them to death with a mass of rocks helpfully provided by the ISIS savages who organise the terror group's sickening public executions. Read More
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Ukraine: Nationalists post photo album threatening LGBT activists
Groups affiliated with far-right Ukrainian nationalists have launched online campaigns threatening LGBT activists after an LGBT rights march was attacked.
“For the first time I am afraid for my and my boyfriend’s lives,” LGBT activist Dmitry Pikakhchi said. “Considering the number of these posts, the number of participants [of the group] and the radicalism — I think that the danger is more than real.” Pikakhchi said he was especially worried about a group called Zero Tolerance hosted on the Russian-owned social network VKontakte, which is the dominant social network in much of the former Soviet Union. The group, which has more than 2,800 followers, has posted a photo album of at least a dozen people the group’s moderators say are LGBT activists.
“These degenerates do not deserve to live,” said one person who posted to page. Another wrote, “Homothugs will be destroyed.” Read More
Turkey: LGBTI activists say 'You can murder f*gs, there is no penalty for that'
Seven trans women were assaulted in Istanbul in the last month. Kıvılcım Arat of Istanbul LGBTI said: “It is the government, which avoids producing legislation [against hate crimes] and which issues press statements that point people out as targets, who is responsible for the increase in assaults.”
Kıvılcım Arat, member of the board of directors of Istanbul LGBTI [sic] tied the high number of assaults during the month to the statements by government authorities. While they have avoided issuing statements regarding LGBTIs up until now, government authorities have begun bringing the issue to the forefront as the elections are approaching. Arat reminds us of the statements by President Erdoğan, “We do not put forth homosexual candidates,” and by Prime Minister Davutoğlu, “Homosexuals caused the destruction of the tribe of Lot.”
“Ever since the HDP [which has an LGBTI candidate and actively campaigns for LGBTI rights] started its election campaign, statements by government authorities about LGBTIs have encouraged people to commit hate crimes. Read More
US: Evangelicals open door to debate on gay rights
As a young, gay Christian activist, Matthew Vines considered it a victory just to get into a room at a conservative Christian university with influential evangelicals who disagreed with him over what the Bible says about homosexuality. Youth ministers and chaplains are studying how to respond to students struggling with their sexual identities. Governing boards are re-examining their policies on allowing openly gay people in Bible studies. And pastors are preaching and writing about, rather than ignoring, the recent books arguing that the Bible can be read to support same-sex marriage.
Few are dropping their opposition. But aware that they are seen by many as bigots, some evangelical leaders are trying to figure out how to stand firm without alienating the rising share of Americans — especially younger ones — who know gay people and support gay rights, or who may themselves come out as gay.
“Because this is such a relatively new thing, pastors and church people want to know, ‘How do we navigate this, and how do we navigate this well, without doubling down or capitulating?’ ” Glenn T. Stanton, the director of family formation studies at Focus on the Family, said. Read More
How recognizing LGBT Jewish identities and ritual practice enriches the entire Jewish community
Ritual Reconstructed is a collaborative project funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council. The project is a partnership between Liberal Judaism and several universities to work with London-based Jewish lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex communities to explore faith rituals which combine both Jewish and LGBTQI identities.
We’re working with film, performance, installation and narrative storytelling to look at the ways in which Jewish LGBTQI people engage in religious and community life.
We are also working with Rabbis, philosophers and theologians to enable us to explore the importance of ‘queering’ text and to think about how we can challenging hetero-normative assumptions about what it means to be a ‘good Jew’. The aim of the project is not only to demonstrate the richness, pride and imagination LGBTQI Jews bring to ritual practice, but also to show the importance of inclusive religious identities. Read More
Australian Archbishop Denis Hart lobbies parents to support 'the meaning of marriage'
Children at Catholic schools have been sent home with glossy booklets that oppose gay marriage following a request by the Archbishop of Melbourne. The 15-page booklet, "Don't Mess With Marriage" said redefining marriage would have "far-reaching consequences". "All marriages would come to be defined by intensity of emotion rather than a union founded on sexual complementarily and potential fertility."
The Safe Schools Coalition, which works to create a safe environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender students, urged principals not to distribute the material. The coalition's co-ordinator, Roz Ward, said the material could damage the mental health and wellbeing of same-sex attracted young people, by suggesting their relationships were unnatural or not as important.
"At school it is particularly important that they can feel they can be themselves and valued for who they. In a situation where you feel that is not valued, everything else becomes more difficult." She said same-sex families who sent their children to Catholic schools would see this as a "direct attack on their existence as gay Catholics". Read More
Russian Orthodox Church ends ties with protestants over gay marriage
The Russian Orthodox Church says it is severing ties with the main protestant churches of France and Scotland over the issue of same-sex unions. The Moscow Patriarchate said that "formal contacts" with the two institutions were pointless after France's United Protestant Church last month voted to allow pastors to bless same-sex marriages and the Church of Scotland approved ordaining clergy in same-sex civil unions.
"We regretfully acknowledge, that today we have a new divide in the Christian world, not only regarding theological subjects, but regarding moral issues as well," the patriarchate said in a statement.
The Moscow Patriarchate noted that it had previously suspended ties with the U.S. Episcopal Church in 2003 after it consecrated an openly gay bishop, and with Sweden's Lutheran Church after it sanctioned ceremonies for civil unions in 2005. Read More