19 posts tagged “civil rights”
The number of reported attacks against LGBT people increased 24 percent in 2007 over 2006, and they were expected to jump in 2008, said Sharon Stapel, executive director of the New York City Anti-Violence Project.
Anti-gay violence feared rising
By The Associated Press
12.15.2008 10:35am EST
(New York City) A rash of attacks against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people across the country - including the severe beating of a New York man whose attackers believed he was gay - suggests the number of reported assaults could rise in 2008, an advocacy group said.
The number of reported attacks against LGBT people increased 24 percent in 2007 over 2006, and they were expected to jump in 2008, said Sharon Stapel, executive director of the New York City Anti-Violence Project.
Officials were still crunching the 2008 figures, which will be released next spring, Stapel said.
The baseball bat murder of Ecuadorean immigrant Jose Sucuzhanay in New York on Sunday was the latest in a number of reported assaults, said the project, which coordinates organizations that document violence against LGBT and HIV-positive people. The attack left Sucuzhanay, 31, brain dead.
Since the February fatal shooting of Lawrence King, a 15-year-old Los Angeles boy who endured harassment after telling classmates he was gay, “we are witnessing what appears to be an increase in both the occurrence and severity of violence motivated by racism, homophobia, and transphobia,” said Stapel.
Stapel attributed the increase in part to more people reporting incidents, but she believed there actually could have been more assaults because 2008 was an election year.
“Election years are always violent years for us because of wedge issues,” Stapel said, referring to ballot measures this year banning gay marriage in California and Florida. “With increased visibility comes increased vulnerability to LGBT stereotypes and violence. We’ve seen some of the most violent hate crimes that we’ve seen in a while.”
In the case of Lawrence King, one of his classmates was charged as an adult in the slaying, which prosecutors classified as a hate crime.
Other incidents include the discovery of Angie Zapata’s body in July in her apartment in Greeley, Colo. Zapata, 18, was a transgender woman. Police have charged a man with murder as a hate crime in her death.
In June, a surveillance tape was publicized showing Memphis, Tenn., police officers beating Duanna Johnson, a transgendered woman, and shouting slurs in a jail booking area; a public outcry erupted. Johnson was found fatally shot on a Memphis street in November.
Also in New York City, police arrested four teenagers on charges of assaulting a priest outside a shelter he ran for homeless transgender youths in July. Witnesses said the four teens had harassed and taunted residents with homophobic slurs and insults before the assault.
“I expect the number will increase from 2007 to 2008,” Stapel said. “I hope I’m wrong about that.”
Odetta, the singer whose deep voice wove together the strongest songs of American folk music and the civil rights movement, died on Tuesday at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan. She was 77.
Odetta sang at coffeehouses and at Carnegie Hall, made highly influential recordings of blues and ballads, and became one of the most widely known folk-music artists of the 1950s and ’60s. She was a formative influence on dozens of artists, including Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Janis Joplin...
Rosa Parks, the woman who started the boycott of segregated buses in Montgomery, Ala., was once asked which songs meant the most to her. She replied, "All of the songs Odetta sings."
Odetta sang at the march on Washington, a pivotal event in the civil rights movement, in August 1963. Her song that day was "O Freedom," dating to slavery days: "O freedom, O freedom, O freedom over me, And before I’d be a slave, I’d be buried in my grave, And go home to my Lord and be free."
This episode features couples who are part of a lawsuit in Maryland seeking to overturn state law that bars lesbians and gay men from marriage. Despite being in committed relationships, they lack the hundreds of legal protections afforded to heterosexual married couples, and must worry about how to look after their families without these protections. In courageously taking their fight for civil liberties to the public arena, they seek to change a system that unfairly harms same-sex couples and their families.
Connecticut court legalizes gay marriage
The Washington Blade | Oct 10, 11:24 AM
The Connecticut Supreme Court today ruled that denying marriage rights to same-sex couples is unconstitutional.
Connecticut is now poised to become the nation’s third state to allow same-sex marriage, joining California and Massachusetts.
Eight same-sex couples sued, claiming their constitutional rights to equal protection and due process were violated when they were denied marriage licenses.
October 10, 2008 will mark the arrest of the 20 millionth cannabis consumer arrested under cannabis prohibition, circa 1937
From NORML:
Marijuana Arrests For Year 2007: 872,721 Tops Record High -Five Percent Increase Over 2006
September 15, 2008 - Washington, DC
Washington, DC: Police arrested a record 872,721 persons for marijuana violations in 2007, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's annual Uniform Crime Report, released today. This is the largest total number of annual arrests for cannabis ever recorded by the FBI.
Cannabis arrests now comprise nearly 47.5 percent of all drug arrests in the United States...
...at current rates, a cannabis consumer is arrested every 37 seconds in America...
Of those charged with marijuana violations, approximately 89 percent, 775,138 Americans were charged with possession only...
...there has been a dramatic 195 percent increase in marijuana arrests in the last 15 years -- yet the public's access to pot remains largely unfettered and the self-reported use of cannabis remains largely unchanged...
...The total number of marijuana arrests in the U.S. for 2007 far exceeded the total number of arrests in the U.S. for all violent crimes combined...
...October 10, 2008 will mark the arrest of the 20 millionth cannabis consumer arrested under cannabis prohibition, circa 1937...
...Enforcing marijuana prohibition costs taxpayers between $10 billion and $12 billion annually and has led to the arrest of nearly 20 million Americans. Nevertheless, nearly 100 million Americans acknowledge having used marijuana during their lives...
ABC Reporter Arrested in Denver Taking Pictures of Senators, Big Donors
Asa Eslocker Was Investigating the Role of Lobbyists and Top Donors at the Convention
By BRIAN ROSS
Aug. 27, 2008
DENVER -- Police in Denver arrested an ABC News producer today as he and a camera crew were attempting to take pictures on a public sidewalk of Democratic senators and VIP donors leaving a private meeting at the Brown Palace Hotel...
...During the arrest, one of the officers can be heard saying to Eslocker, "You're lucky I didn't knock the f..k out of you." ...
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the
freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of
grievances."
Lesbian activist who fought for marriage rights dies
Martin's partner of 55 years, Phyllis Lyon, was by her side at the UCSF hospice, the National Center for Lesbian Rights said.
Martin and Lyon, 84, tied the knot June 16 in a ceremony officiated by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.
"Ever since I met Del 55 years ago, I could never imagine a day would come when she wouldn't be by my side. I am so lucky to have known her, loved her and been her partner in all things," Lyon said. "I also never imagined there would be a day that we would actually be able to get married.
"I am devastated, but I take some solace in knowing we were able to enjoy the ultimate rite of love and commitment before she passed."
“Anyone who trades liberty for security deserves neither liberty nor security”
Benjamin Franklin
“Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”
Benjamin Franklin
(video is from yesterday Tuesday, July 08, 2008)
Congress votes to immunize lawbreaking telecoms, legalize warrantless eavesdropping
Kick Bolthouse Farms Out Of Your Refrigerator
William Bolthouse, founder and 43% owner of Bolthouse Farms, a farm in California that provides organic juices, lemonades, and smoothies to places like Whole Foods and other organic market places, has just recently given a donation of $100,000 to proponents of a campaign to strip California couples of the right to marry...
...company spokespeople for Bolthouse Farms will iterate that they do not donate directly to any campaigns. But their owner, William Bolthouse, uses the profits from the sales of their organic drinks to fund his noxious political views. In addition to funding the initiative to strip Californians of their marriage rights, his foundation, the Bolthouse Foundation, is a major donor to the Alliance Defense Fund, the right's response to the ACLU...
...Please take a moment and let Bolthouse Farms and their distributors know that you will no longer be purchasing their organic products, because even though they are organic, they come with some nasty side effects...
Speak out now!
The William Bolthouse Foundation is a major donor to the Alliance Defense Fund. The Foundation receives all of its donations from William and Nora Bolthouse, i.e. money coming from the sale of their organic juice products.
William Bolthouse has given money to the campaigns of George W. Bush and Gay Bauer.
We need to just say no to Bolthouse Juices.
Click Here to join the boycott!
Edit:
You may receive an email from Bolthouse Farms that states:
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and comments with us.
The Bolthouse Foundation is a private foundation funded by some
of the former owners of Wm. Bolthouse Farms, Inc. The foundation
is a separate entity and is not connected to Bolthouse Farms in
any way. Furthermore, they do not receive financial support or
benefit from the profits of Bolthouse Farms. We appreciate your
concern and apologize for the confusion. Thank you for taking
the time to contact us, and we hope you will continue to enjoy
our products.
One problem with their explanation:
The Foundation is funded completely by William and
Nora Bolthouse, who own 43% of Bolthouse Farms. The financial
support may not be direct, but it still exists.
and
The foundation gets all of its money, according to its 990, from
William and Nora Bolthouse. And they get their money from their
family business, Bolthouse Farms.
