Tat Bellamy-Walker

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Miami Pride hate crime: Attackers spared jail but forced to apologize in court

Do you remember the four men who attacked a gay couple at Miami Pride almost five years ago? Despite video evidence of the incident, the case dragged on considerably due to legal wranglings and the Covid pandemic. This week, it eventually reached its conclusion. Related: Disturbing video captures gay couple being violently attacked at Miami Beach Pride The four men in question (Juan Carlos Lopez, Luis Alonso, Adonis Diaz and Pablo Romo-Figueroa), faced up to 30 years in prison on charges of aggravated battery and hate crime. However, they accepted a plea deal which resulted in them escaping jail. The charges […]

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3 men killed in hit-and-run outside popular Black-owned gay bar in Chicago

A hit-and-run car crash that killed three men and injured another in front of a Black-owned gay bar early Sunday morning “appears to be intentional,” the Chicago Police Department said in a press conference Monday. Officials said the incident is not currently being investigated as a hate crime. Police said the crash occurred after an argument inside the Jeffrey Pub turned into a physical altercation on the street. At one point, one of the parties involved got into his car and slammed it against the group standing outside the pub. Officials said they recovered the vehicle that rammed into four men […]

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Biden administration charges Florida trailer park with anti-trans discrimination

The Biden administration has lodged a federal charge of discrimination against a Florida trailer park and its owner for allegedly demanding a transgender woman present as male to avoid being evicted from her mobile home. The charge, announced Tuesday by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, alleges the owner of the 21 Palms RV Resort in Davenport, Florida, sent a discriminatory and threatening note to  the woman after she came out as transgender in violation of the Fair Housing Act. “No one should have to change how they express their gender identity to maintain their housing,” HUD official Demetria L. McCain said in […]

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New York City LGBTQ bar set ablaze in arson attack

A bar serving LGBTQ New Yorkers has closed after an arson attack over the weekend, the New York City Police Department confirmed Wednesday.  At approximately 9 p.m. on Sunday, a man walked into the Rash Bar in Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood with a bottle of flammable liquid, poured it on the bar’s floor, lit a match and set the venue ablaze, according to the NYPD. Police said the suspect fled as the bar became engulfed in flames. Jake Sillen, one of the bar’s owners, told NBC News on Wednesday that they are still in shock.  “It’s so hard to believe and […]

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Oklahoma university allegedly fires professor over gay guest speaker

A private Christian college in Oklahoma has come under fire for terminating a professor who says he was let go for bringing an LGBTQ guest speaker to his classroom.  Michael O’Keefe taught graphic design at Oklahoma Christian University for more than 40 years before being fired March 7, NBC affiliate KFOR in Oklahoma City reported.  O’Keefe’s lawyer, Kevin Jacobs, accused the school of discrimination and said the school unfairly disciplined the longtime professor.  “Letting students expect a world where you may be different is the message Mr. O’Keefe wanted his students to hear. That’s the message this speaker delivered, not an […]

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Black, Latino queer students say they are on edge in the wake of ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill

Miami eighth grader Zen Nelson, who is Afro Latinx and uses gender-neutral pronouns, said they have been subjected to homophobic slurs from their classmates for at least the past four years.  Zen said they didn’t bring this up to school administrators because they feared their complaints would not be taken as seriously as those of their white and wealthier peers who were harassing them.   Now, as the Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, prepares to sign the the Parental Rights in Education bill — dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by critics — Zen worries that school will become an […]

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FDA approves first condom specifically intended for anal sex

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration this week approved the first condom specifically indicated for anal intercourse.  While the One Male Condom is not markedly different from the hundreds of other condoms on the market, it is the first that will be allowed to use the “safe and effective use” label for reducing sexually transmitted infections during anal sex. It is also approved for use as a contraceptive and as a means to reduce STIs during vaginal intercourse.  “This landmark shift demonstrates that when researchers, advocates, and companies come together, we can create a lasting impact in public health efforts,” Davin Wedel, […]

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Homelessness linked to poor mental health among LGBTQ youth, report finds

More than 1 in 4 LGBTQ youth have experienced homelessness or housing instability at some point in their lives, a new report from The Trevor Project shows, including nearly half of Native/Indigenous LGBTQ youth and nearly 40 percent of transgender and nonbinary youth. Thirty-five percent of LGBTQ youth who are homeless and 28 percent who have experienced housing instability also reported a suicide attempt in the last year, compared to 10 percent of LGBTQ youth who are not housing insecure. Homeless LGBTQ youth are also two to four times more likely to report depression, anxiety, self-harm, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts. These […]

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Hundreds rally in support of trans student outed in a bitter election

Hundreds of residents in Hastings, Minnesota, took to the streets over the weekend to rally in support of LGBTQ youth after an official’s transgender child was publicly outed.  The demonstrations in support of the child come after Concerned Parents of Hastings, a Facebook group for conservative parents, publicly outed Kit, 8, in the wake of a bitter school board election, KARE-TV, an NBC affiliate based in Minnesota, reported.  The child’s mother, Kelsey Waits, was running for re-election to the town school board in November when opponents of her campaign outed her child, who is nonbinary and uses gender-neutral pronouns. In light […]