A man was shot and killed by a Walgreens security guard for being black and gay, the man’s sister has claimed.
Jonathan Hart was shot in the back of his neck and killed in December 2018.
Armed guard Donald Vincent Ciota II suspected Hart of shoplifting.
However, Hart’s sister Psykssyanna believes her brother was a victim of racism and homophobia.
A suit filed with the Los Angeles County Superior Court states Hart was ‘maliciously, wrongfully, internationally, negligently and/or carelessly’ shot and killed.
Ciota, Walgreens and two security companies are named in the suit.
What allegedly happened in that Walgreens store
Ciota, 28, allegedly confronted Hart and two of his friends inside the Hollywood, California store.
It is also alleged Ciota thought Hart was stealing.
The two men then got into a physical fight. Ciota then allegedly pulled out a gun and shot Hart as he fled.
Carl Douglas, an attorney for the man’s family, said Hart, who was in his early 20s, gay and homeless, was hit in the neck and died hours later at the hospital.
The complaint denies Hart was shoplifting. It also accuses Ciota of targeting Hart because of his race and sexual orientation.
According to the lawsuit, Hart and his friends had allegedly complained to a Walgreens employee. Apparently, prior to the shooting Ciota was acting in a ‘aggressive and hostile manner’.
Ciota, who had a Taser and a gun, allegedly grabbed his weapon, yelled ‘freeze’ and then fired a shot, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit states: ‘Jonathan committed no crime or other act against defendant Ciota, or any other person, to justify the use of deadly force against him.
‘He was unarmed and did nothing to cause defendant Ciota to believe he was confronting an imminent threat to his life or anyone else’s life.’
Charged with one count of murder
Ciota was charged in January with one count of murder.
In response, he pleaded not guilty during a court appearance.
Records, according to NBC, show Ciota is being held at a Los Angeles jail on $3 million bail.
Walgreens said any suggestion customers are racially profiled is ‘false and contrary to our deep commitment to inclusive diversity’.
The company added: ‘At the time this tragic incident occurred, we immediately terminated the security company that employed the guard involved.
‘We are fully committed to providing a safe environment for our employees and customers in the communities we serve.’
The U.S. House is expected to hold a floor vote next week on the Equality Act, legislation that seeks to ban anti-LGBT discrimination, a senior Democratic aide told the Washington Blade on Monday.
The official announcement on the vote, the aide said, was set for Friday, which is the normal day for when the next week’s schedule is announced in the House.
The floor vote on the Equality Act, legislation that was introduced for the first-time ever this year with a Democratic majority in the House, will mark the first-time ever either chamber of Congress has considered the pro-LGBT legislation.
The floor vote is expected shortly after the House Judiciary Committee reported out the legislation without any Republican support. Additionally, no GOP amendments were adopted to the legislation.
With 240 co-sponsors, including three Republicans, the bill should easily surpass the 218-vote threshold in the House necessary to approve legislation. (The next step, passing the bill in the Senate where the Republican majority controls 53 seats is another matter, as is President Trump signing the legislation into law.)
However, Republicans in the House have an opportunity to thwart the bill with a motion to recommit, a legislative maneuver that forces a vote on an amendment the majority would otherwise not allow to come up. It remains to be seen what the nature of the motion to recommit will be for the Equality Act.
For example, during the vote on gun background checks, Republicans claimed victory on a motion to recommit requiring the notification of U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement when an undocumented immigrant fails a background check when attempting to buy a firearm. A similar motion to recommit on the Equality Act could complicate the effort to prohibit anti-LGBT discrimination.
Introduced by Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I. and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), the Equality Act would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fair Housing Act to ban anti-LGBT discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, jury service, education, federal programs and credit.
The bill also seeks to update federal law to include sex in the list of protected classes in public accommodation in addition to expanding the definition of public accommodations to include retail stores, banks, transportation services and health care services. Further, the Equality Act would establish that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act — a 1994 law aimed at protecting religious liberty — can’t be used to enable anti-LGBT discrimination.
The House is advancing the Equality Act shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would take up legislation seeking clarifying on whether the existing on prohibition on sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 applies to cases of anti-LGBT discrimination. A decision in those cases isn’t expected until June 2020.
After helping the police catch a serial killer in On a LARP, Sidonie “Sid” Rubin and her best friends are on lockdown. Despite how impressive the group’s actions were, their parents were not pleased, and all but one of the five teens have been grounded for their senior year of high school. Yes, the whole year, and yes, that even includes stepping off school property to pick up lunch. That means the fearless friends have to suffer the ignominy of cafeteria lunches with the rest of the student body.
Sid’s friend Vikram finds a loophole for our loveable “geek lesbionic brainiac” and the rest of their crew when he suggests they sign up for a robotics tournament. Not only will they get to work on something cool together, but their parents won’t have any choice but to let them get together outside of school hours to work on the project.
It’s all going great until Vikram’s girlfriend, Ari, texts the rest of the group: “Vik. Melting down. Something about his stuff being gone. He’s pissed. Presentation in two hours, needs to get ready, not listening. Need help.” When they meet up with Ari, she explains that Vik’s Contagion account was hacked and all of his stuff is gone. As one of the MMORPG’s (massively multiplayer online roleplaying game) top players in the world, he had a wealth of weapons, potions, and antidotes, some of which were incredibly rare. The blow is so crushing that he can’t actually play that character anymore.
Sid knows what she needs to do to help Vik be himself again—find the hacker and get his stuff back. And if she has to sign up for a Contagion account and sleuth her way through it night after night? Well, that’s what she’s going to do, and she’s going to get their friends to help as much as they can.
Just like On a LARP, Zero Sum Game is told in the first person from Sid’s perspective, so we’re right there with her as she hurtles through the events of the story. Sid is way too smart and she definitely knows it; her arrogance sometimes taking precedence over her friends’ feelings. Lucky for Sid, they love her anyway and embrace her, because she has a sweet side too. She also has a singular voice and it’s impossible to read this book or its predecessor without knowing intimately who Sid is in all of her smart-assed, loquacious, well-read glory.
We didn’t find our thief that day, or for the next entire week. Which wasn’t for lack of trying, just for lack of time. Between classes, after school, and even before school can be summed up in one word: robotics.
Since the night the challenge dropped, things have been moving at lightning speed. We do not have a lot of time and there is a ton of stuff to be done.
I am rather chuffed (so love that word; it’s somehow “puffier” than just the old “I’m rather pleased,” and yet still falls, just barely, but nonetheless under the level of overly obnoxious braggadociousness) that our table’s design was deemed the better choice, and the assembling of the robot actually came together pretty seamlessly.
Deoul does a fabulous job of bringing a lot of elements together—robotics, online gaming, working as a team to find the thief, and even what it feels like to be a teenager (remember those fits of laughter that went on and on until you were lightheaded because you and your friend kept bringing each other back into the laughter loop? There’s some of that as well.). Even better, she’s made Sid a thoughtful storyteller, because we’re never left out of the loop. Sid always explains things we may not understand otherwise, like MMORPGs. This also happens in a somewhat different way when Sid meets Ze, a nonbinary friend of a friend whose name is the same as one of their pronouns (they/ze), as Sid works through what that means.
People who enjoyed On a LARP are also sure to like Zero Sum Game. And while it’s possible to read Zero Sum Game without having read the first book, you’d be missing out if you did because that one’s just as spectacular. Even if young adult fiction isn’t usually your thing, you may still find a soft spot in your heart for Sid and her pals. Stefani Deoul is writing some seriously fun books with this series and it will be fun to see what’s in store for our brainiac next.
Zero Sum Game By Stefani Deoul Bywater Books Paperback, 9781612941417, 190 pp. December 2018
Graphic new evidence has emerged of the torture of gay men at the hands of authorities in Chechnya. The new evidence comes from the most recent crackdown of the LGBTI community.
Earlier this year new reports revealed Chechnya had conducted another round up of LGBTI people in its ‘gay purge’. Authorities rounded up about 40 people and detained them at the Grozny Internal Affairs Department in the region’s capital. Two people died as a result of torture.
Chechnya, a Russian federal subject in the Northern Caucasus, began its ‘gay purge’ in 2017. It is a highly conservative majority-Muslim society and homosexuality is generally viewed as severely tainting family honor.
But a new report from Human Rights Watch (HRW) revealed the accounts of four men detained. The men were detained between three and 20 days. Police officials kicked them with booted feet, beat them sticks and polypropylene pipes. Three of them were tortured with electric shocks. One was raped with a stick.
First hand accounts
‘They screamed at me. One of them started kicking me, I dropped to the floor, flat on my stomach… Another one then beat me with a stick, from the waist down, he was hitting me very hard for some five minutes,’ said Anzor*, 29.
‘Then they made me kneel on the floor and put metal clips on my thumbs [the wires were hooked to a device delivering electric shocks], he turned the knob [of the device], first slowly and then faster and faster… With every turn, my hands bounced up and excruciating pain went through them…
‘He stopped when I screamed my heart was about to burst. They took the clips off and my hands were heavy and felt dead.’
Anzor described how police beat and humiliated him and Aslanbek in front of the other inmates:
‘They were three or five [police], I don’t quite recall but one of them, Maga, had a stick with a black handle,’ he said.
‘They yelled, “Where are the pansies?” [and] began to humiliate us, verbally, using obscene words, calling us fags, asking which one of us is active, which one passive, whether we derived pleasure [from having sex with a man].
‘And all the inmates were watching… They hit [us] on the head with their sticks… Then, they left but another three officers walked in.
‘They were coming in groups for a long time – smaller groups and bigger groups…[T]hey entertained themselves by mocking us, beating us.’
The other men described being deprived of food and water, with some chained to radiators in blacked-out rooms.
Family honor killings
They all said police interrogated them under torture. Police also demanded they identify other gay men in their social circles, in some cases showing them photographs. Police seized the detainees’ cell phones for the same purpose.
One man said the police handed him over to his family, exposing his sexual orientation and indirectly encouraging his family members to kill him. Some of those interviewed said this happened in at least two other cases. In at least three cases, police demanded large sums of money for the men’s release.
Impunity sanctions torture
‘There wasn’t anything remotely resembling an effective investigation into the anti-gay purge of 2017, when Chechen police rounded up and tortured dozens of men they suspected of being gay,’ said Rachel Denber, deputy Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
‘Impunity for the 2017 anti-gay purge has sanctioned a new wave of torture and humiliation in Chechnya.’
Three of the men said the police shaved off their beards and hair or forced inmates to shave each other’s heads.
Police officers also humiliated them by probing into the details of their lives, using homophobic slurs, exposing them as gay to other inmates, and forcing them to undress. Police also forced several of the presumed gay inmates to clean the toilet and wash floors and doors along a corridor, making it clear to them and the other inmates that the gay detainees were given ‘women’s work’ as a form of humiliation.
Chechen denials
Chechen authorities have continued to deny reports of the new wave of persecution.
‘This is an absolute lie… There were no detentions on grounds of sexual orientation in the indicated periods in the Chechen Republic,’ said presidential spokesperson, Alvi Karimov, in January.
Human rights groups and LGBTI advocates have called on Russian authorities to speak out or act against the ‘gay purge’. But Russian authorities have not commented on the allegations nor investigated.
In May 2018, Russia’s justice minister, Aleksander Konovalov, told the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC): ‘The investigations that we carried out… did not confirm evidence of rights’ violations, nor were we even able to find representatives of the LGBT community in Chechnya.’
International outcry has continued over Chechnya’s actions. In November 2018, 16 participating states of the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) invoked the “Moscow Mechanism”. They also appointed a rapporteur to look into allegations of abuses in Chechnya.
In March, 30 countries supported a joint statement at the UNHRC. The statement expressed deep concern about reports of the persecution and called for a thorough and impartial investigation.
‘Russian authorities should immediately investigate the new wave of torture and humiliation by the Chechen police of men they believe to be gay and, finally, carry out an effective investigation into the purge of 2017,’ Denber said.
‘The investigations should be conducted at the federal level with security guarantees provided to victims and witnesses who come forward, and their families. Otherwise, we can expect further episodes of this depraved abuse.’
National Guard leaders in five states have decided to defy the Trump Administration’s ban on transgender troops in the military. The states of California, New Mexico, Oregon, Nevada, and Washington are refusing to discharge their trans soldiers in the National Guard.T
Two months ago, the assistant adjunct general for the California National Guard announced they would not be dismissing trans troops.
‘Nobody’s going to kick you out,’ Major General Matthew Beevers said at the time.
Now, four more states are following suit. The governors of New Mexico, Oregon, Nevada, and Washington have decided to retain their transgender soldiers.
Each of the 50 states have their own National Guard units, primarily under the governor’s control. Because of this, many governors have been emboldened by this chain of command to defy Trump’s discriminatory policy.
New Mexico
‘We are not going to discharge any transgender individual from serving in our state National Guard, nor would this state ever discriminate against someone based on their gender identity,’ a spokesperson for New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said.
Nevada
‘The State of Nevada does not discriminate against anyone, including and especially servicemembers, based on gender identity or expression,’ Helen Kalla, communications director for Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak, told The Daily Beast.
Oregon
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown told The Daily Beast she’s ‘appalled that the Supreme Court is delivering an intentional blow to civil rights by supporting a push from the Trump Administration to bar transgender people from serving in the military.’
‘I will use every option available to ensure that every eligible Oregonian, regardless of gender identity, can serve their state and country,’ Gov. Brown stated.
Washington
In Washington State, a spokesperson for Gov. Jay Inslee told The Daily Beast that they stand ‘in solidarity with transgender Americans across the country in opposing this policy and won’t stop fighting until it is defeated.’
‘Until then, we will continue to welcome transgender service members to the greatest extent possible under the rules,’ the spokesperson continued. ‘It’s our understanding that is what New Mexico is doing as well.’
A study by AARP (American Association of Retired Persons), an organization supporting elders, found that today’s grandparents are more open-minded when it comes to LGBTI grand kids.T
The online survey was conducted between 20 August and 4 September 2018. The results were published April 2019. The survey included 2,654 grandparents ages 38 and up.
According to the study, 4 in 5 of today’s grandparents would be accepting of an LGBTI grandchild
‘In contrast to former generations, today’s grandparents are more accepting of their grandchildren’s different sexualities as well, with a majority saying they would support an LGBT grandchild,’ the report states.
The study shows that today’s grandparents value gender equality and raising girls to be strong and independent. To the question ‘It is important to raise girls to be strong/independent women,’ 42% of respondents agreed, and 49% strongly agreed.
To the question, ‘If my grandchild came out as LGBT, I would accept him/her regardless,’ 46% agreed and 42% strongly agreed.
43% of respondents agreed with the notion that girls and boys should be raised the same.N
However, it seems the idea of non-binary gender identities is still something many grandparents are struggling to grasp. Only 28% agreed that they’d support a non-binary grandchild (plus 9% marking ‘strongly agree’). On the other side, 29% disagreed and 25% strongly disagreed.A
The survey covered many other topics. For instance, having mixed race grandchildren, parenting styles of today, financial support of grand kids, and time spent with grandchildren. Additionally, the survey found that today’s grandparents are welcoming of the internet as a source of information and communication. Eight in ten Boomer and Gen-X grandparents prefer online channels.
Podcasts are a great way to connect to to the global LGBTI community.
They can transport you to a conversation, no matter who you are, or where you are in the world.
Which is why for the Gay Star News Digital Pride festival we brought together some of the best new and up-and-coming LGBTI podcasts from across the world to talk about loneliness and isolation – this year’s theme of the festival.
But don’t just listen to them during Digital Pride, this is our guide to the best LGBTI podcasts out there right now.
Download, subscribe and take these shows, and the Digital Pride festival, with you.
Digital Pride is the only global Pride dedicated to enabling everyone to be part of a Pride, whoever they are and wherever they live in the world. This year, we are focusing on tackling loneliness and isolation. It takes place on Gay Star News from 29 April to 5 May 2019. Find out more or watch the videos now:
The Digital Pride LGBTI podcast collection:
Food 4 Thot
No it’s not about food – they just really liked the pun. In this podcast, a multiracial mix of queer writers talk about sex, relationships, race, identity Listen every week as Dennis Norris II, Joseph Osmundson, Tommy Pico, and Fran Tirado talk what they like to read, and who we like to read. Produced by the Forever Dog Podcast Network.
Throwing Shade is the political comedy podcast hosted by Erin Gibson and Bryan Safi who deliver their fresh takes on pop culture, women’s rights, and LGBT rights with hilarity and – of course – vulgarity. Out every Thursday.
What happens when seven gay men come together to record a podcast? On The Latch is a podcast where no topic is off limits. And yes, expect thot provoking material ahead. They have a new episode every Tuesday. They ask you to send in your dilemmas and dick pics for them to discuss to onthelatchpodcast [at] gmail.com.
In a time where we’re all threatened by hateful rhetoric from the people in power; A Gay And A NonGay is the delightful giggles that challenge many of our differences head-on. Every week James Barr (the Gay) and Dan Hudson (the Nongay) promises to prove to you that no matter who you are, or what you’re into (Bruce Springsteen or Britney), love is love and gay and nongays can be friends.
Digital Pride episode: Out May 8th Best episode to start with: The show is topical, so start at the top of the feed – or deep dive and scroll back to ‘A Gay and a Nongay and a Trans’ for a special episode with Juno Dawson. Spotify / Apple
#QueerAF
Listen for free every week, as a different student, graduate or LGBT+ producer tells their most #QueerAF story on the podcast by National Student Pride. The podcast commissions young LGBT+ producers to tell their own stories that are beyond the binary, sex-positive, challenge mental health, sexuality and identity taboos.
From chemsex, the life of a queer Muslim sex worker, and dating as a non-binary person – the show is sex-positive and taps into what young LGBTI people are talking about because it is told by them.
The ultimate weekly pop culture and dating podcast. Hosted By LGBTI podcaster Martin Joseph and friends Ella Kora and Becky Herszenhorn. Join ‘The Real Brunch’ every week for your weekly dose of celebrity gossip, dating dilemmas and round table topical discussions.
Featuring interviews with inspiring and powerful women and important voices from the LGBTQ+ community – this show is everything brunch should deliver. (Bring your own prosecco and avocado)
Digital Pride episode: ‘Drinks Yoga and Digitial Pride’ ‘with Gay Star News very own Shannon Power and James Besanvalle as guests. Best episode to start with: ‘Brunch with… Gok Wan’ Spotify / Apple
F**Ks Given
The honest, frank and refreshing ‘F**ks Given’ with Come Curious presents a candid exploration of their guests’ sexual histories, from the first f**k to the best f**k. Plus all those the bad, average and comical ones in between. Each episode is an uncensored look at what’s gone on beneath the sheets with a variety of coveted guests.
Digital Pride episode: ‘Discharge and Dirty sheets with Jess‘ Best episode to start with: ‘Size Queens & Surgery with Talulah Eve’ the first ever transgender model to appear on Britain’s Next Top Model. Spotify / Apple
Busy Being Black
Busy Being Black is ultimately a love letter to the queer Black community. On the show, hosted by Josh Rivers, guests regularly speak about combatting loneliness, isolation, shame, stigma and mental health – in order to live more fully in their lives. It features incredible guests each week and is a mixture of inspiration and taboo-breaking conversations.
YouTuber Calum McSwiggan explores everything sex, LGBT+, the outrageous and downright inappropriate! The world’s top drag queens, the UK’s most passionate activists and the funniest names around join Calum each week to discuss everything from trending topics and the porn industry to fetishes and queer representation in the media.
Regular features include reacting to listeners sex confessions and some naughty games for good measure. You can listen live on Fubar at 6pm GMT – or listen back in your podcast app.
Digital Pride episode: ‘73: Lady Peach‘ Best episode to start with: We love the recent LGBT+ History Month episode (64) with Rowan Ellis and Anick in Intersex and Asexual identities Spotify / Apple
Qmmunity
Qmmunity is the LGBTQ+ series that brings together our community to explore who we are as a whole and as individuals. But it also looks back at where we have come from, how we’ve changed & developed and what the future may hold for us.
Hosts Christina and Alexis meet weekly and are joined by a guest to discuss a new topic. The QmmunityPod was this year nominated for a British Podcast ‘Sex and Relationships’ award.
Digital Pride episode: ‘11: Digital Pride – Loneliness‘ Best episode to start with: Start with episode two ‘Our History’ before delving into the archive. Its a great episode on the last 50 years of the modern LGBTI rights movement. Spotify / Apple
Queer Confessions
In this new podcast, Jacob Edward has rounded up their favorite Queers to spilling the tea on their past and YOURS! If you want relatable stories about growing up queer and advice for you the listeners on how to deal with your embarrassing moments – this is the show for you.
Digital Pride episode: S1, E1 ‘It’s Ben Hodge’ Best episode to start with: The show is brand new, listen from the top of the feed. Spotify / Apple
Queers
What the hell is queer theory? Who gets to identify as queer? Does it mean anything to call yourself a “queer ally”? These are the kinds of questions writers Benjamin Riley (writer and journalist) and Simon Copland (PhD Student in Sociology) ask on Queers, a discussion and interview podcast about critical queer politics and culture.
Digital Pride episode: ‘Foxhole Fantasy‘ Best episode to start with: The show is super topical, so start at the most recent episode. Spotify / Apple
Men Talk Health
Just how honest can two men be? Long term Gay Star News supporters, Men Talk Health is the podcast with hosts that have a broad history of mental health issues between them.
Join Davey, Damian, and their friends on a journey to find humour in some of their darkest moments. It’s all to try to get men talking about their own mental health.
Digital Pride: Read Davey’s op-ed about loneliness and mental health. Best episode to start with: ‘Time to talk extravaganza’ with Gay Star News very own Lewis Peters and Joe Morgan as guests. Spotify / Apple
Special mentions:
Though they aren’t part of the Digital Pride festival – if you’ve got this far and are big LGBTI podcast fan – you should also check out these shows:
David’s Out For A Good Time
The Spotify Studios original from the Tumblr star who set the world on fire with ‘The Shitney Spears’ blog. David Olshanetsky is joined by Naledi Dube to chat pop culture, dish out LGBTI advice and speak to amazing celebrity guests every week. We’re big fans of #DO4AGT here at Gay Star News.
Intimate, personal portraits of both known and long-forgotten champions, heroes, and witnesses to history brought to you from rare archival interviews. This long-running podcast from Eric Marcus is a masterpiece. We’re looking forward to the new season and upcoming #Stonewall50 episodes.
From the masters of podcasts, WNYC, Nancy hosts and BFFs Kathy Tu and Tobin Low are the super queer duo ready take over your podcast feed. Join them for provocative stories and frank conversations about the LGBTQ experience today. Because everyone’s a little bit gay. There are so many fantastic stories in this feed including personal stories from the hosts, the audience and contributors all over the US. We feel part of a global LGBTI community listening to your show.
Probably a front runner as one of the longest-running LGBTI podcasts out there, Dan Savage has been improving your sex for over 600 episodes – and still going strong. A community favorite, mixing conversations about sex and politics, we’d be amiss not to nod to the Savage Lovecast.
To some Americans, Buttigieg may just be the man to vanquish America’s demons. In a field of more than 20 candidates—including six Senators, four Congressmen, two governors and a former Vice President—Buttigieg (pronounced Boot-edge-edge) has vaulted from near total obscurity toward the front of the Democratic pack, running ahead of or even with more established candidates and behind only Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders.
Buttigieg is a gay Episcopalian veteran in a party torn between identity politics and heartland appeals. He’s also a fresh face in a year when millennials are poised to become the largest eligible voting bloc. Many Democrats are hungry for generational change, and the two front runners are more than twice his age. But Buttigieg’s greatest political asset may be his ear for languages. He speaks eight, including Norwegian and Arabic, but he’s particularly fluent in the dialect of the neglected industrial Midwest.
Anti-gay preacher James David Manning faces abuse allegations
The preacher is under scrutiny after an investigation by Huffington Post revealedallegations of abuse at the private fundamentalist school attached to the church, also run by Manning.
One former ATLAH High School student, Tamar, alleged that Manning had sexually harassed her and touching her inappropriately.
Aged 18, Tamar secretly recorded a conversation with Manning in which the preacher makes sexual comments and states he had feelings for her when she started at the school.
He says: “You got an incredible body… In fact, like on Wednesday night you came, and you had on a black blouse and black stockings and a gray or something skirt. All I could think about was, ‘Wow, I sure would like to remove those stockings and that blouse,’ and just look at your body.”
James David Manning at ATLAH World Missionary Church in Harlem
Another former student told the outlet that he was locked in a basement for three days by Manning as a punishment for having sex with a girl.
Other students said that homophobia was rife at the school, with Manning frequently railing against evil “faggots.” Others likened Manning’s grip over Atlah congregants to a cult leader.
Four attendees at Atlah church also alleged that Manning encouraged them to “defecate in a bag and leave it at gay-owned businesses.”
The private religious school has been operating for years despite its “registration pending” status with New York state.
A spokesperson for the New York Department of Education told Huffington Post: “The Department takes all allegations of misconduct against certified educators extremely seriously.”
“[We] would encourage anyone that believes they may have been the victim of misconduct to contact us with the appropriate complaint information.”
Anti-gay preacher blames ‘LGBTQ mafia’ for abuse allegations
Manning did not comment on the allegations.
However, in a Twitter storm he claimed: “THE LGBTQ MAFIA IS SPREADING LIES ATTEMPTING A HIT JOB ON OUR CHURCH. THEY WANT HARLEM TO BE WHITE AND HOMOSEXUAL.
“THEY SAY HATE ALL WHO PREACH AGAINST THEIR SEXUAL RACISM. IT WILL BE A COLD DAY IN HELL BEFORE THEY TAKE ME OR ATLAH CHURCH DOWN.”
He added: The LGBQT have attacked The Lord’s House And The Lord’s Servant.
“This attack will fail like a pervert news reporter boarding a bus with a student math protractor. He will fall on the needle and die the death when I stand and preach The Word.”
The Department of Health and Human Services issued the new rules, extending rights for religious objection against an alleged “culture of hostility to conscience concerns in health care.”
It advises healthcare professionals: “You have the right under Federal law to decline to perform, assist in the performance of, refer for, undergo, or pay for certain health care‐related treatments, research, or services (such as abortion or assisted suicide, among others) that violate your conscience, religious beliefs, or moral convictions.”
Nancy Pelosi: Trump rules are ‘bigoted, downright deadly’
In a statement, Pelosi repeated concerns from equal rights groups, who fear the provision is tantamount to a license to discriminate against LGBT+ people.
The Democratic leader said: “These bigoted rules are immoral, deeply discriminatory and downright deadly, greenlighting open discrimination in health care against LGTBQ Americans and directly threatening the well-being of millions.
“Make no mistake: this is an open license to discriminate against Americans who already face serious, systemic discrimination.
“Since Day One, this Administration has waged a cruel campaign of intolerance and discrimination targeting the civil rights of our most vulnerable communities.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaks during her weekly news conference on Capitol Hill, May 2, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Mark Wilson/Getty)
“House Democrats fully, flatly reject these attacks on LGBTQ Americans and on the rights of all Americans to get the health care they need and will fight these hateful actions.”
Pelosi recently vowed to pass the Equality Act, a bill that would introduce federal protections outlawing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity for the first time.
Her criticism of the healthcare discrimination rules echo those of LGBT+ campaigners.
Human Rights Campaign Government Affairs Director David Stacy said: “The Trump-Pence administration’s latest attack threatens LGBTQ people by permitting medical providers to deny critical care based on personal beliefs.
“The administration’s decision puts LGBTQ people at greater risk of being denied necessary and appropriate health care solely based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. Everyone deserves access to medically necessary care and should never be turned away because of who they are or who they love.”
GLAAD tweeted: “The Trump Administration essentially wants to hand people a license to discriminate against LGBTQ people.”
The ACLU added: “Trump’s HHS issued a rule today allowing for discrimination in health care when there is a ‘moral or religious objection.’
“Preventing people from accessing critical medical care may endanger people’s lives, especially trans people and those seeking reproductive care.”
