Resumen GAYPARADE 2014 – Open MIND Fest – LGBT TeVe
Hace nueve años que se hace la Open Mind organizada por MOVILH, nueve años y a cada vez crece mas en publico y artistas que asisten a este gran evento por los derechos de las personas LGBT…
Daily Archives: November 18, 2014
Elliott
No Stay in South Carolina; Marriages Could Begin Thursday
No Stay in South Carolina; Marriages Could Begin Thursday
Antigay state officials have Chief Justice John Roberts as their last hope to stop same-sex marriage.
Lucas Grindley
New York's Largest Jail To Open Housing Unit For Transgender Women
New York's Largest Jail To Open Housing Unit For Transgender Women
NEW YORK — The country’s second-largest jail will open a housing unit this week for transgender women, officials announced Tuesday, in a historic effort to protect transgender inmates from violence, rape and harassment.
The New York City Department of Correction said that the new housing unit at the Rikers Island jail facility will have an initial capacity of 30 beds, which it said would be sufficient for the number of transgender women at Rikers at any given time. Inmates will be placed in the unit voluntarily.
“Because inmates are not all alike, the Department is creating specialized housing for many specific inmate groups,” said Correction Commissioner Joseph Ponte in a statement. “Providing [transgender women] with specialized housing and services is good policy and meaningful reform and is expected to reduce incidents involving these individuals while also leading to better long-term outcomes, including possible reductions in recidivism,” he said.
Currently, transgender women incarcerated at Rikers either are housed with males in the general population — where they face disproportionate rates of violence, rape and harassment by both staff and other inmates — or choose to go into protective custody, which is essentially solitary confinement. Transgender inmates under protective custody are locked alone in a cell for 23 hours a day.
The new housing unit was developed with advice from several advocacy groups. Alisha Williams, director of the Prison Rights Project at the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, told HuffPost that her group and others started talking with the city about the struggle of transgender inmates over two years ago. It wasn’t until Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) took office, she said, that a plan to create a transgender housing unit gained momentum.
De Blasio appointed Commissioner Ponte earlier this year to bring dramatic reforms to Rikers Island, which for years has been plagued by violence and corruption. A U.S. Justice Department report earlier this year described a horrifying “culture of violence” inside a facility for adolescent inmates.
Williams added that while the new housing unit is a “good development” for transgender inmates, the Sylvia Rivera Law Project is also focused on keeping transgender women out of jail in the first place.
According to a report from the National Center for Transgender Equality, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community has a “disproportionate contact with the justice system” due to “a history of bias, abuse, and profiling toward LGBT people by law enforcement.”
The report states that about “16% of transgender adults have been in a prison or jail for any reason. This compares with 2.7% of all adults who have ever been in prison.”
The NYC Department of Correction said Tuesday that guards for the new facility have received special training in how to deal with transgender inmates.
“We are taking extra precautions to ensure these individuals are safe and receive appropriate support,” said Assistant Chief Yolanda Canty, who oversees the North Infirmary Command on the island, where the new housing unit will be located. “This includes recruiting dedicated staff who are comfortable working with this population and providing them with training on how to work with transgender women sensitively and effectively.”
Two New York City Council members expressed support for the new housing unit on Tuesday. Council Member Elizabeth Crowley, who chairs the Committee on Fire and Criminal Justice, told HuffPost in a statement that “for too long, the Department of Correction has operated under one size fits all practices that neglected to recognize the unique needs of diverse jail populations.” She added, “I commend Commissioner Ponte for helping move the Department into the 21st century.”
Council Member Daniel Dromm, a vocal critic of conditions on Rikers Island, told HuffPost that the new unit was an “important step in the right direction.” He said that “nothing happened under [former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s] administration” to address the plight of transgender inmates and that he commended de Blasio and Ponte for beginning real change at Rikers.
Nefarious Cop Busted For Exposing His Penis To Unsuspecting Male Motorists
Nefarious Cop Busted For Exposing His Penis To Unsuspecting Male Motorists
Bad cop alert.
37-year-old New Jersey police officer Jason Miller (pictured) was arrested and charged with official misconduct and public lewdness earlier this week after it was discovered he had a naughty habit of waving his wiener at male motorists aged 18 to 26, the Smoking Gun reports.
The dash cam from Miller’s police cruiser allegedly captures the married father of two undoing his trousers and exposing himself at least five times over a seven-month period earlier this year.
The incidents all happened during late-night and early-morning traffic stops. In many of the surveillance videos, the sound of Miller unzipping his pants can be heard, prosecutors say. In one video in particular, his penis is clearly visible.
“His junk was hanging out!” one victim reportedly told police during the investigation.
Drivers allege Miller, who has been a police officer since 2001, would approach their vehicles then ask them if they had “noticed his zipper was down.”
One driver claims Miller followed him after the initial traffic stop to ask if the passenger in his car was his boyfriend. Another time, Miller allegedly allowed a man who admitted to being drunk go without so much as issuing a citation, presumably because he had just exposed himself to the 26-year-old.
A probable cause affidavit alleges that Miller exposed his wiener during “numerous” late-night traffic stops to “satisfy his prurient interests.” He is currently free on $35,000 bail, but he has been suspended from his job indefinitely without pay.
Related stories:
Cute Cop Admits To Signing Up Tea Party Leader On Gay Dating and Porn Websites
PHOTOS: Hot Castro Cop Is An Internet Sensation. We’ve Got the Shirtless Pics That Show Why
You Won’t Believe What This Cop Did In Public Restrooms To Get Himself Arrested
Graham Gremore is a columnist and contributor for Queerty and Life of the Law. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
Graham Gremore
Kansas Supreme Court Clears Way For Same-Sex Marriage In At Least One More County
Kansas Supreme Court Clears Way For Same-Sex Marriage In At Least One More County
Earlier today, we told you about the chaos and confusion that pervades the state of Kansas on the question of the legality of same-sex marriage. Now, a ruling from the Kansas Supreme Court has this evening further complicated matters, clearing the way for same-sex marriage in Johnson County but not necessarily the rest of the state. Just exactly how far reaching the court’s ruling will be depends largely on how judges throughout the state will interpret it. From the Kansas City Star:
The decision means Johnson County will join a handful of Kansas jurisdictions where marriage licenses can be issued to same-sex couples. At least two such couples are expected to seek the licenses Wednesday, supporters of same-sex marriage said.
But the ruling eventually might be expanded beyond Johnson County. The court said other Kansas judges were free to reach the same conclusion as [Judge] Moriarty [who in October authorized the issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples in Kansas] — language that might convince other judges to order the licenses in their courthouses…
The Kansas Supreme Court did not determine whether the Kansas ban on same-sex marriages is constitutional. Instead, the court said it wouldn’t decide until after the U.S. Supreme Court settles the issue.
You can read the court’s order HERE.
Sean Mandell
4R3A0025
IOC Proposes Gay-Inclusive Antibias Language for Olympic Charter
IOC Proposes Gay-Inclusive Antibias Language for Olympic Charter
The proposal, announced today, is one of 40 recommendations the International Olympic Committee will vote on in December.
Annie Hollenbeck
www.advocate.com/sports/2014/11/18/ioc-proposes-gay-inclusive-antibias-language-olympic-charter
The Delicious Awakening of the Italian Gay Powers
The Delicious Awakening of the Italian Gay Powers
It took some time before I was ready to return to writing. Why? The answer is simple: I no longer recognized my own country. The mayor of Rome, Ignazio Marino, was celebrating the right to love, registering 16 gay weddings (much applauded abroad), 11 joining men and five joining women. The prime minister, Matteo Renzi, announced that he would legalize civil unions, and that he had already prepared a text appealing to the state to recognize all same-sex couples. Vladimir Luxuria, an activist for LGBT rights, after hosting Silvio Berlusconi’s girlfriend, Francesca Pascale, at Rome’s Gay Village, accepted an invitation to visit the ex prime minister and published two snaps of the evening on Twitter: one in the company of Berlusconi and Pascale, the other with her dog, Dudù, with the caption “A friendship is born.” And, to cap it off, there was the pope. When asked about “the gay lobby,” the pope said that in the Vatican it isn’t as though such things are written on one’s identity card, and in any case, the problem was one of lobbies in general, not one of sexual orientation. “If a person is gay and is searching for the Lord and is of good faith, who am I to judge?” he asked.
In short, I was finding it hard to write. My imaginary friend Stella and I, having fled an Italy crushed by inequity, thought at the time that there was precious little to lose. But Italy is changing. For real. And Stella and I are changing along with her. For us it’s a wonderful breath of fresh air to realize that there is still a country we can return to, and for which we can still have hope. We no longer feel like escapees, freaks, renegades. We are happy, damnably happy, even if in America there are 33 states, Alaska and Arizona among them, that have said yes to same-sex marriage, while in Italy there’s still a long road ahead, in spite of the positive signs.
Meanwhile the bishops, in the so-called “relatio synodi,” have slowed up Pope Francis on the gay issue and his progressive stance. Vladimir Luxuria, as an ex-parliamentarian of the Rifondazione Comunista, has been harshly criticized by the left for meeting with Berlusconi (responding like this: “Well, who can I talk to on the right? Berlusconi invited me to discuss gays. I have no ideological barriers. The only question I have is how to dress.”) Furthermore, the prefect of Rome countered Mayor Marino with an act to annul the marriages the mayor had registered, but the mayor persisted, ignoring the Italian ban on same-sex marriage. Then even the interior minister, Angelino Alfano, released a statement informing legislators that any registration of foreign marriages between same-sex couples would be “voided.” So, in a country like mine, the war is ongoing. But hope has awakened, at last.
Filippo is an Italian journalist who wanted to become a wizard. Stella is his imaginary friend. Filippo and Stella live in New York after having escaped from Italy.
Previous posts:
Proctor & Gamble Comes Out In Support of Marriage Equality
Proctor & Gamble Comes Out In Support of Marriage Equality
Today, P&G, a Fortune 500 company including brands that are among the world’s best-known household names like Tide detergent, Pampers diapers, and Head & Shoulders shampoo, announced its support for marriage equality.
HRC.org