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Daily Archives: May 29, 2017
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Indonesia’s West Java Police To Form Anti-Gay Task Force: Gays ‘Will Not Be Accepted in Society’
Indonesia’s West Java Police To Form Anti-Gay Task Force: Gays ‘Will Not Be Accepted in Society’
Police in Indonesia’s most populated providence of West Java on Tuesday announced plans to form a task force to investigate LGBT activity, mere days after authorities in the Aceh province publicly caned two gay men 83 times for homosexuality, Reuters reports. It was the first time Aceh officials have carried out such a punishment.
“I hope there are no followers in West Java, no gay or LGBT lifestyle or tradition,” West Java police chief Anton Charliyan (pictured) said. “If there’s anyone following it, they will face the law and heavy social sanctions. They will not be accepted in society.”
In response, LGBT activists in Indonesia hit back at his comments.
“Police have a mandate to follow the law. They are not the morals police,” said Yuli Rustinawati, chairperson of Arus Pelangi, an Indonesian LGBT activist organization.
On Wednesday, Reuters reports that Charliyan informed the media that the task force would include intelligence operatives and was especially interested in breaking up secret parties.
One such party was raided just this past Sunday in Jakarta’s Atlantis Gym and Sauna, leading to 141 arrests. Police claim that the sauna hosted an underground sex party known as “The Wild One.”
The raid led to widespread protests by activists, who claim that the police intentionally embarrassed the men by transporting and then photographing them nude before disseminating the photos on social media.
“The victims were stripped naked and transported in public transportation,” the statement, signed by 15 organizations, including the Community Legal Aid Institute, the Institute for Criminal Justice Reform and the LGBT rights group Arus Pelangi, said. “They were also naked while facing [police] interrogation.”
Jakarta police spokesman Prabowo Argo Yuwono said on Monday night that only 10 out of the 141 arrested were charged with violating pornography laws.
This isn’t the first raid LGBT Indonesian’s have fallen victim to, however.
On April 30, eight men were arrested for allegedly hosting a gay party, the Star Online, reports. 14 men were reportedly hosting the party in two hotel rooms in Indonesia’s second-biggest city, Surabaya. According to claims by Shinto Silitonga, Surabaya police’s head of detectives, some of the men were watching gay porn and engaging in “deviant sexual acts.”
The post Indonesia’s West Java Police To Form Anti-Gay Task Force: Gays ‘Will Not Be Accepted in Society’ appeared first on Towleroad.
Indonesia’s West Java Police To Form Anti-Gay Task Force: Gays ‘Will Not Be Accepted in Society’
This Gay Couple Was Just Married By Joe Biden
This Gay Couple Was Just Married By Joe Biden
A photo of Biden officiating is a reminder of the days when a vice president was an advocate for equality.
www.advocate.com/politics/2017/5/29/gay-couple-was-just-married-joe-biden
Gay shirts
Gay shirts
Kerstin Leishman posted a photo:
LGBTQ apparel and accessories. Buy donald trump t shirts, hillary clinton t shirts, gay t shirts, emoji t shirts, political & LGBT t-shirts queershirts.co
Meet the gorgeous contestants of Mister Global 2017 who say ‘cheese’ in 11 languages
Meet the gorgeous contestants of Mister Global 2017 who say ‘cheese’ in 11 languages
Queer
Queer
Kyle J. Letendre posted a photo:
All the things I was most eager to hide growing up are the things I want to bedazzle the living bejeezus out of as an adult.
Christians rally around gay teen struggling with his sexuality, offer love and support
Christians rally around gay teen struggling with his sexuality, offer love and support
Well, what do you know? Not all Christians are fire and brimstone homophobes who want to see gay people burned at the stake.
United Airlines Flight Attendant Accuses Gay Dad of Molesting His Son: VIDEO
United Airlines Flight Attendant Accuses Gay Dad of Molesting His Son: VIDEO
A gay man from North Carolina says he is devastated after a United Airlines flight attendant accused him of inappropriately touching his son’s genitals.
Henry Amador-Batten (above center) was flying to North Carolina with his five-year-old son Ben when a flight attendant made the accusation.
Henry Amador-Batten, a gay father flying to his North Carolina home, was accused by United flight attendants of… t.co/WTGIA4s92g
— Hometown Directories (@HmetwnDirectory) May 28, 2017
Huffington Post reports:
Amador-Batten, who was returning home from a family visit in Puerto Rico, said he was caught completely off guard by the accusation, but cooperated with police. He said he explained to the officers that Ben was afraid of flying, and he’d simply placed his hand on his son’s lap to comfort him as he fell asleep. Meanwhile, Amador-Batten’s husband, Joel, waited for the pair outside of airport security as the ordeal unfolded.
In the end, Amador-Batten was not charged with a crime and released. However, he told HuffPost that both he and Ben remain traumatized by the experience. “That flight attendant’s false accusation did not save a child, it put an entire family in danger,” he said. “We’re [made to] understand that families like ours, created out of choice and love, are fragile by nature. … We are not as protected nor solidified, and we need to be.”
In a Facebook post last week, Amador-Batten’s husband Joel wrote:
United has no idea who they’re messing with!!! We will not keep quiet while you conduct your internal investigation, we will not give anyone the benefit of the doubt when it comes to protecting our family from accusations of things as disgusting as pedophilia, and my husband and I will continue to use our own voices, amplified by the love and support of the massive community that you are all a part of, to shout as loud as we can that an individual who is the face of a company, and therefore of its standards and practices, cannot just accuse someone of something so dreadful as child molestation without any sort of investigation.
Henry said that an apology he received from United Airlines was “empty and hollow.” The couple, who are in the process of adopting a second son, have hired an attorney and are now planning to seek damages.
RELATED: United Airlines Suspends Pilot Who Called for Public Execution of Hillary Clinton
Kenneth Padowitz, a Florida-based criminal defense attorney representing Henry, said:
“Based on the horrible situation that they placed him in front of their son and other people on the plane, we are going to vigorously pursue to be compensated by the airline for this horrible embarrassing treatment.
“To have your young child see you be stopped by the police and be questioned like you have done something wrong based on nothing would cause any traveler to be mortified. That type of emotional distress and improper persecution of one of their customers based off zero evidence needs to be rectified.”
Henry said that the ordeal has been especially difficult for Ben. “The most painful part of this continues to be how this affected my son, and how it may continue to,” he said. “He’s not been sleeping well, refusing to sleep in his own room and just wants to be by his daddies.”
Last month, United Airlines came under scrutiny when a passenger was filmed being violently dragged off one of their planes.
Watch an interview with the couple below.
The post United Airlines Flight Attendant Accuses Gay Dad of Molesting His Son: VIDEO appeared first on Towleroad.
United Airlines Flight Attendant Accuses Gay Dad of Molesting His Son: VIDEO
Disabled, gay, and single: Josh Galassi is ready to mingle this Pride season
Disabled, gay, and single: Josh Galassi is ready to mingle this Pride season
“I think my disability always makes me feel awkward in any gay-centric setting,” Josh says. “Sometimes, I have to force myself not to overthink and stay confident.”