Republican candidate for Louisiana governor Ralph Abraham has released a new TV ad that takes aim at abortion rights and the transgender community as he works to draw attention for his campaign.
In the 30-second spot launched Thursday, the three-term congressman looks directly into the camera to establish what he calls “the truth.”
The conservative hits several points in quick succession, declaring that “life begins at conception,” taxes are too high and he supports President Donald Trump.
With a chuckle, he wraps up with a swipe at the LGBTQ community: “And as a doctor, I can assure you there are only two genders.”
Abraham is one of two major GOP contenders challenging Democratic incumbent John Bel Edwards on the Oct. 12 ballot, along with businessman Eddie Rispone.
In the years before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples have the same rights and responsibilities to marriage that different-sex couples do, the National Organization For Marriage, known to many simply as “NOM,” was a recognized leader in the fight against equality.
The religious right poured millions of dollars into the tiny organization, despite its ludicrous efforts to battle equality. Some said it was the Catholic Church. Others said it was the Mormon Church. At one point, investigations into NOM’s taxes revealed the vast majority of its funding came from a tiny handful of anonymous donors sinking a few million into the group’s coffers.
Despite ever-increasing and ever-desperate fundraising emails, their funding was drying up even before the Supreme Court’s Obergefell decision. Their leaders found jobs elsewhere, and today it’s unclear if NOM really even exists anymore – and if so, to what degree.
Visitors to the once-infamous NOMblog.com are now greeted with a GoDaddy screen declaring: “NOTICE: This domain name expired on 7/25/2019 and is pending renewal or deletion.”
Domain owners are sometimes given a few weeks to renew in case of an accidental lapse, but at some point the owners lose any rights to the domain and someone else can snatch it up, via auction or just trying to register it once it goes dead.
And someone has.
“I’ve put in the required whopping $12 bid to snap up the domain,” Jervis announces, noting he’ll forward any traffic from visitors to NOMblog to his own site.
He was known as the “I-95” killer and evaded police for nine months by using stolen identification documents, before finally being caught.
Bowles was given the death penalty following a 1996 trial, but the sentence was reversed by the Florida Supreme Court. He was sentenced to death again in 1999.
Bowles has been on death row for 20 years.
Between March and November 1994, Bowles killed six gay men – attacking them because of their sexuality.
Bowles confessed to all six murders after police caught him in 1994, saying that he was tired of running.
The first was a 59-year-old gay man, Walter Hinton, who Bowles had been living with in Florida, having met him at a bar. Bowles beat and choked the man until he bled to death, and then fled to Washington DC having stolen his victims credit cards and car.
He killed again, and in the following eight months continued to murder gay men and evade police using their stolen ID documents.
Bowles’ victims included John Hardy Roberts, 59, David Harman, 38, Milton Bradley, 72, Alverson Carter Jr, 47, and Albert Morris, 38. All of those he killed were gay men.
Police eventually caught him at an office for day labourers, at that time only suspecting him of the first murder. But Bowles confessed to the rest.
In interviews with police, Bowles described a violent upbringing that led to him leaving home at 14 and working as a sex worker to support himself.
He was first arrested in 1982, at the age of 20, for brutally attacking his then-girlfriend. He was sentenced to six years in prison and released after serving three.
Bowles told police that after leaving prison, he moved to Daytona Beach, Florida, where he moved in with a girlfriend and resumed sex work. According to Bowles, his girlfriend became pregnant but had an abortion after she learned that he was a sex worker.
Bowles’ told police this meant he blamed gay men for the abortion, and this led him to his murderous rampage.
His moved in with his first victim, Hinton, after the breakup of his relationship following the abortion.
Unless there is a last-minute appeal in his case, he will be executed on Thursday.
A California state senator has formally asked state Attorney General Xavier Becerra to investigate whether the powerhouse AIDS Healthcare Foundation is fraudulently misusing savings from a federal drug-discount program designed to help poor patients.
The request comes from state Sen. Ben Hueso (D-Chula Vista), who has urged an investigation into the politically powerful organization that has dumped upwards of $60 million into state ballot drives since 2012, according to Hueso’s letter obtained by POLITICO.
The senator’s concerns center on a somewhat obscure federal drug discount program known as 340B, which requires pharmaceutical companies to sell their drugs at steep discounts to participating hospitals and other providers that serve a significant percentage of indigent patients.
Hueso contends that the AHF is spending millions from the drug discount program to lobby for various California ballot measures not directly related to health care, such as rent control and affordable housing, an aspect of their work that has been well discussed here on JMG over the years.
The AHF, the self-proclaimed largest AIDS advocacy group in the world, contends that with an annual budget of $1.6 billion they don’t come close to approaching the limit of allowable lobbying.
However they have declined to provide documentation to support that claim, which recently resulted in being removed from Baton Rouge’s drug discount program. While based in California, the AHF has a sprawling network of pharmacies and thrift stores nationwide.
The group is perhaps best known here on JMG for their characterization of Truvada as a “party drug” when used for HIV prevention and for its combative CEO, Michael Weinstein, pictured above.
According to its website, the “radically inclusive” Metropolitan Community Church of Albuquerque celebrates “all forms of self-expressions, identities and orientations”.
Andy Najar, a member of the congregation who has been attending for more than 30 years, told KOB4: “I think it’s really sad.
“Really the first time, I thought, oh, maybe it was just a mistake or some kids playing around, but after six times you really feel you’re taking it personally, this is a hate crime, let’s try to figure this out.”
“We really celebrate diversity in our community because we’re all different,” Najar added.
The pastor, Judith Maynard, said: “After six attacks, I do feel it’s targeted. It’s just the times we live in.”
KOB4 reported that the rocks used to smash the windows are being stacked inside the church to symbolise the strength of the mostly LGBT+ congregation.
Maynard said: “It’s just a visual so show that we forgive, that we’re stronger than a little rock. Together our faith makes us stronger.
“This community is a great community and we’ll get through this.”
The Metropolitan Community Church was founded 45 years ago by reverend Troy Perry, a Pentecostal minister who was kicked out of his former church after members discovered that he was gay.
It started out as a gathering of just 12 people in Perry’s living room, and has now grown to 160 affiliated churches around the world.
Perry has published two books, The Lord is My Shepherd and He Knows I’m Gayand Don’t Be Afraid Anymore, detailing the story behind the congregation.
Berlin police say a central memorial to the gay victims of the Nazis has been vandalized.
The concrete memorial in Berlin’s Tiergarten park, near the memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, features a window into which visitors can look and view a video of a same-sex couple kissing.
Police said Monday that security guards reported that overnight the window had been painted over.
Palestinian police have banned events organized by the LGBTQ rights organization alQaws because they go against “traditional Palestinian values,” the rights group said in a statement Sunday.
“AlQaws condemns the use of prosecution, intimidation and threats of arrest, be it by the police or members of society,” the group wrote on Facebook. “We have always been public and accessible about our work, through maintaining an active website, social media presence and engagement in civil society. However, we have never received threats to this extent before.”
AlQaws for Sexual & Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society emerged as a project in 2001 and formalized in 2007, according to its website. As part of the group’s work, it regularly holds events throughout Palestinian territories and offers support for LGBTQ people through hotlines and partnerships with other civil rights groups.
The statement from the Palestinian police announcing the ban came after alQaws held an event in Nablus, a city in the northern West Bank, in early August. The organization had plans to hold another event there at the end of the month.
Police said Sunday they would “pursue this gathering” and seek charges against anyone involved in it, according to The Associated Press. The Palestinian police are under the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Word of the gathering had sparked fierce debate on social media, with some Palestinians defending the activists and others condemning them for violating religious and traditional norms.
“We have never received threats to this extent before,” alQaws said in its Facebook statement. However, it acknowledged that the “crackdown against the fight for sexual and gender liberation is not new.”
“Throughout modern history, it has served as a powerful card for oppressive regimes and governments,” the group stated. “Sadly, the PA statement and subsequent public responses are well-honed tactics in the game of political gain and smoke-screening, not limited to the Palestinian Authority or to this particular event.”
Despite the crackdown, however, the alQaws said it will continue to work to combat the “social violence against LGBT Palestinians.”
Neither alQaws nor the Palestinian police immediately responded to NBC News’ request for comment.
Sa’ed Atshan, an assistant professor of peace and conflict studies at Swarthmore College and author of “Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique,” said the Palestinian police’s statement about alQaws is an attempt to “score morality points.”
By focusing on LGBTQ people, Atshan told NBC News, the Palestinian Authority can distract everyday Palestinians away from “its impotence in the face of the occupation.”
Being openly LGBTQ in Palestine, though, isn’t easy regardless, according to Atshan. He said unless you’re from a wealthy or secular family or live in a city, it can be difficult being out.
“While increasing numbers of LGB Palestinians are identifying as such, and slowly trans folks in Palestine are coming out, it is still tremendously difficult to live one’s life authentically, particularly as a trans person,” he explained.
Atshan also noted there seems to be an increase in anti-LGBTQ public expressions in Palestinian territories.
“This is a serious problem in our society,” he said, “and we have not grappled with the long-entrenched and ingrained homophobia in our society in a serious or robust, large-scale manner yet.”
And authorities seem to be leading the charge.
“The Palestinian Authority’s police have also been inciting surveillance and violence against LGBTQ Palestinians from their own families, neighbors and co-workers, with a spike now in social media posts calling for assaults against queer people in the West Bank,” Atshan explained.
Homosexuality is taboo in Arab countries, many of which criminalize it. Approximately 70 countries around the world — most in Africa and the Mideast — criminalize homosexuality.
In a little-noticed development, U.S. Park Police have made at least 26 arrests during the past year in Meridian Hill Park in D.C. of men seeking other men for a sexual encounter after they allegedly act in a way that violates the law, according to a Park Police spokesperson.
Sgt. Eduardo Delgado, a Park Police public information officer, told the Washington Blade the 26 arrests made in the park since Aug. 7, 2018 involve charges of one or a combination of Disorderly Conduct, Lewd Acts, Unlawful Entry, and Simple Assault (Sexual).
He said he couldn’t immediately determine if the arrests were made by plain clothes or uniformed officers, but said the arrests were prompted by complaints from the public about “lewd acts” in the park.
D.C. defense attorney John Albanes told the Blade that several of his fellow attorneys who represent clients arrested at Meridian Hill Park report that the men were arrested by undercover officers who pose as consenting prospective partners interested in a sexual tryst.
“I am on a D.C. Superior Court trial lawyers association listserv and recently several criminal defense attorneys on the email list have mentioned that they have had criminal cases involving essentially the same set of facts,” Albanes told the Blade in an email. “[U]ndercover plain-clothes Park Police officers entice men in Meridian Hill Park for purportedly consensual sexual activity and then proceed to arrest their targets for a crime (often misdemeanor sexual abuse),” according to Albanes.
“I find this pattern extremely disturbing and reminiscent of the Stonewall days when gay men were often the target of police discrimination. The tactics used in these cases just fly in the face of proper police work and should be exposed,” he said.
“The officers are posing as willing participants in a consensual encounter between adults,” Albanes said. “The target is deceived into thinking that what he is about to do is wanted. This raises serious doubts about whether the government can prove criminal intent.”
When asked about Albanes’ assessment of the Meridian Hill Park arrests, Delgado responded with a statement by email that did not address the claim by the defense lawyers that the arresting officers were “enticing” the arrested men into committing an illegal act.
“The U.S. Park Police receives complaints about lewd acts that occur within Meridian Hill,” Delgado said in his email. “As with any other complaint of illegal activity, we then take actions to stop it,” he said. “Plain clothes officers are just one method of enforcement sometimes used to deter, stop, and/or arrest violators within the parks.”
Albanes said he asked the defense lawyers representing some of the men arrested on sex-related charges at Meridian Hill Park to reach out to the Blade to talk about their cases, including whether prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office have moved the cases forward toward a trial or a possible plea bargain offer. He said some of the cases may also be prosecuted by the Office of the D.C. Attorney General, which handles some misdemeanor cases.
The Blade asked Albanes to inform the attorneys that it would continue its longstanding policy of not disclosing the names of those arrested in cases like this. However, none of the attorneys had contacted the Blade as of late Tuesday.
“While I am sorry to hear that, I am not surprised,” said Albanes. “I suspect the attorneys – in line with their ethical obligations – do not want to disclose client confidences without their informed consent,” he said, noting that many of the clients are most likely closeted gay men.
Meridian Hill Park, also known as Malcolm X Park, has been known for at least 50 years as a cruising spot for mostly African-American gay men. In past years, men who go to the park to seek other men for sexual encounters have told the Washington Post and the Washington City Paper that the cruising often takes place late at night in secluded areas of the park covered by shrubs, bushes and trees.
Similar to other cruising locations in the city, the men interviewed by the Post and City Paper have said they sometimes invited the person they met at the park to their homes or another private location and did not engage in sex in the park.
LGBT activists have said the number of arrests of gay men in public places like parks appears to have declined dramatically in recent years due to the proliferation of online gay meet-up sites and apps like Grindr, in which a sexual tryst can be arranged quickly without the risk of outdoor cruising.
Gay D.C. Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Rob Hudson, in whose Ward 1 ANC 1B Meridian Hill Park is located, said he had not been aware of the arrests there of gay men until the Blade contacted him about the development. He said he would make inquires with D.C. police and would raise the issue with fellow ANC members.
D.C. police spokesperson Alaina Gertz said D.C. police respond to 911 emergency calls at Meridian Hill Park but notify U.S. Park Police about such a call because Park Police have official jurisdiction over the park, which is considered to be on federal land.
The 12-acre park includes fountains and a highly acclaimed landscaping design modeled off of Italian and French estates. Those who patronize the park say its reputation as a gay cruising place is overshadowed by its more widely known reputation as a cultural melting pot made up of a diverse population that hangs out in the park.
An August 2015 feature story about the park in the Washington Post says that in a changing and sometimes divided city, Meridian Hill Parks serves as a “gathering place for all of the District’s disparate tribes: black and white, rich and poor, young and old, immigrant and local, gay and straight, boring and bizarre.”
This fall more public school students could see LGBT content as states move toward mandating a more inclusive K-12 curriculum. However, publicly funded private schools continue to seek religious exemptions to anti-discriminatory measures.
In 2011 California passed its Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful (FAIR) Education Act, and lawmakers in New Jersey, Illinois, Colorado and New York City have moved to follow suit.
California’s FAIR Education Act mandates the inclusion of the political, economic and social contributions of LGBT people and persons with disabilities into educational textbooks across the state. It amends an existing educational code previously mandating inclusions based on race, ethnicity, nationality and gender.
Sen. Mark Leno, the state’s first openly gay state senator, sponsored the bill, stating the goal was to ensure the contributions of LGBT historical figures were “accurately and fairly portrayed in instructional materials.”
In New York, the city council approved a 2019 budget that included $600,000 for LGBT-inclusive educational programming. Included are lessons about pioneers such as Harvey Milk, Bayard Rustin, Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera and others. Also included are opportunities to meet current history makers and view an interactive map of LGBT historic sites through the city.
Proponents state the inclusive measures were necessary to protect both LGBT students and faculty from bullying and other forms of discrimination.
Illinois State Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz (D-Glenview) said if their bill had been law 15 years ago, her brother would not have been harassed and denied tenure in a suburban Chicago school.
“My brother was teaching history,” Gong-Gershowitz said at the time. “And a student asked whether the historical figure, that was the subject of the lesson, was gay. He answered the truth.”
As a result, her brother was subject to hate mail and called into the principal’s office.
New Jersey also passed a law mandating LGBT-inclusive curriculum for middle and high school students. However, the mandate does not apply to private schools.
Len Deo, president of the New Jersey Family Council, said these measures infringed on parents’ choices regarding teaching sexuality to their children, echoing concerns of conservative groups across the country.
Lauri Higgins of the Illinois Family Institutesimilarly said at a hearing on the matter, “The left’s motive is what it always is … to normalize homosexuality,” The Hill reports.
This concern about parental choice in education is at the heart of the school voucher movement championed by Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. However, the program has its roots in a resistance to school integration efforts in the 1950s and 1960s.
According to the Center for American Progress, a progressive-leaning policy institute, in response to federal desegregation orders following the Brown v. Board of Education decision, Prince Edward County, Virginia issued tuition grant vouchers for white students to attend segregated private schools. Then as now, these schools rely on significant levels of public funding to continue to operate.
While Title IX of the federal Education Amendment prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in educational programs receiving federal funds, the Obama administration’s inclusion of gender identity and sexual orientation in this definition remains controversial.
Still, some schools continue to submit religious exemption waivers to perceived Title IX mandates, permitting them to discriminate against out LGBT students or faculty with impunity.
Additionally, an investigation by Huffington Post found thousands of these schools use discriminatory evangelical Christian curriculum often purchased using public funds.
As of 2017, 30 percent or more of the Christian (non-Catholic) schools participating in private school choice programs in Virginia and Maryland, and up to 10 percent in D.C., used textbooks from ultra-conservative publishers such as Bob Jones University Press.
Bob Jones University, submitted a Title IX religious exemption request in 2017 for permission to discriminate against LGBT students and faculty despite receiving public funds.
Students who attended programs using these discriminatory texts reported feeling ill-equipped to succeed in a diverse society and felt instilled with racist, sexist and intolerant views of the world.
Capri Coleman, an educator in the D.C. area, says it’s important to take students’ feelings into account just as much as parental “choice” when considering curriculum.
“Parents are always going to have a choice in what they want their children to be exposed to,” she says. “But at the same time, children will always run into people who are not like them.”
This is why she felt it was important for parents and society to first “teach tolerance and understanding.”
Unfortunately, due to voucher programs and religious exemptions, the tolerance and understanding promised by LGBT-curriculum legislation is not reaching all students receiving publicly funded education.
