The verdict returned by a jury in Florida has been thrown out after they weren’t tested for homophobia.
A verdict was given clearing police of misconduct charges after it was found that the jury could be biased against the plaintiff who is gay.
Raymond Berthiaume had accused police lieutenant David Smith of the Key West Police Department of framing him for battery.
He alleged that the department had forced his friend to make a false statement back in 2013.
The jury cleared Smith of wrongdoing in the case, but the decision was tossed out.
According to the Miami Herald, the district court in the case had “refused” to ask jurors questions about sexual orientation bias.
A second trial will now take place.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals released a decision stating: “The district court here asked the jurors multiple questions about any biases or prejudices they might have against law enforcement.
“But the district court refused to ask any questions at all about prejudice on the basis of sexual orientation. Therefore, we have no way to discern whether the jury was biased against the plaintiff for that reason.”
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The incident on which the accusations were based took place in 2013.
Berthiaume, wearing flip-flops and a loincloth, left Fantasy Fest 2013 with a group of friends.
After a disagreement over whether to stay out later, a friend, Berthiaume’s then partner, had stolen the car keys to stop them from driving home.
Berthiaume had struck a street sign in frustration, and Smith had knocked him to the ground, arresting him for domestic battery.
Despite never being charged, Berthiaume filed a lawsuit against now-retired Smith, saying he had attempted to get one of his friends to lie about the incident.
Berthiaume asked for $15,000 in compensation for surgeries he says were necessary to repair damage done when he was knocked to the ground.
The jury had issued a decision against Berthiaume in 2016, but the verdict has now been revoked.
“Berthiaume noted that homosexuals had only recently begun to gain acceptance in society, and many people still harbor bias or prejudice against homosexuals,” adds the ruling.
“Accordingly, Berthiaume contended that in a case such as his, involving both a gay party and gay witnesses, it is necessary for courts to inquire into prospective jurors’ potential biases against homosexuals to ensure a fair trial.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau marches in the Ottawa Capital Pride parade, Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017. The apology from Trudeau for past state-sanctioned discrimination against LGBTQ people is welcome news for those who have been calling for such an expression of regret, but some think he is not the only one who should be there. (Justin Tang/Canadian Press)
The Trudeau government has earmarked more than $100 million to compensate members of the military and other federal agencies whose careers were sidelined or ended due to their sexual orientation, The Canadian Press has learned.
The money will be paid out as part of a class-action lawsuit settlement to employees who were investigated, sanctioned and sometimes fired as part of the so-called gay purge.
An agreement in principle in the court action emerged Friday, just days before the government delivers a sweeping apology for discrimination against members of the LGBTQ community.
Details of the agreement must still be worked out by the parties and approved by the Federal Court, but it’s expected that several thousand people will be eligible for the financial compensation.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will deliver the apology — which is expected to surpass what other countries have done to make amends to LGBTQ people — in the House of Commons following question period on Tuesday.
Among apology-related initiatives, the government is putting $250,000 toward community projects to combat homophobia and provide support for people in crisis.
Application for expungement
In addition, it plans a commemoration in 2019 of the 50th anniversary of the federal decriminalization of homosexual acts.
The government also plans to table legislation Tuesday to expunge the criminal records of people convicted of consensual sexual activity with same-sex partners, whether in civilian or military courts.
The process will involve making an application for expungement and requests may be submitted on behalf of deceased people who were convicted.
The apology and associated efforts to recognize past wrongs will be genuinely historic, said Gary Kinsman, a sociology professor at Laurentian University and a leading scholar on the injustices for many years.
Gary Kinsman, a sociology professor at Laurentian University and a leading scholar on the injustices for many years, says an apology for the gay purge will be truly historic. (Kate Rutherford/CBC)
“It’s also been an incredibly long time coming,” said Kinsman, a spokesman for the We Demand an Apology Network, which includes people directly affected by the purge campaign as well as supporters and researchers.
“I’m very saddened by the fact that many of the people who really needed to be apologized to have passed away,” Kinsman said in an interview.
‘Should have happened decades ago’
“It should have happened decades ago, in my view.”
The discriminatory policies that often ruined careers and lives had their roots in federal efforts that began as early as the 1940s to delve into the personal lives of people who were considered security risks.
There is no evidence of a gay or lesbian employee ever giving information to Soviet agents or another foreign power, Kinsman said. On the contrary, victims of the purge say the only ones who tried to blackmail them were the RCMP or military security, trying to elicit information about friends and acquaintances in the public service.
“Really what it was about was pushing lesbians and gay men outside the fabric of the nation, defining our sexualities as being somehow a security risk,” Kinsman said. “And on the other side, defining heterosexuality as the national safe and secure sexuality.”
The apology is expected to include a federal commitment to reveal more of the hidden historical record of the government’s discriminatory policies and practices.
Milk was the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, winning a post on the Board of Supervisors as a result of changes in the social makeup of San Francisco after three unsuccessful attempts to gain office.
Having finally been elected in 1977, Milk only held his position for 11 months before he and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone were assassinated by Dan White, a former colleague who had lost his position in city administration.
Milk, born in Woodmere, New York, died aged 48.
(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
His legacy continues to live on. Writing recently in The Huffington Post, former US ambassador Nancy Brinker said: “Harvey Milk did something that few people ever do – he started a movement that changed the nation. His legacy lives on through the great work being done by his nephew, Stuart Milk, who accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Harvey’s behalf posthumously in 2009”.
Dan White was subsequently convicted of voluntary manslaughter, rather than of first degree murder. The verdict sparked the “White Night riots” in San Francisco, and led to the state of California abolishing the diminished capacity criminal defence.
White died by suicide in 1985, a little more than a year after his release from prison.
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One of Milk’s core messages was visibility.
He famously said: “You must come out. Come out… to your parents… I know that it is hard and will hurt them but think about how they will hurt you in the voting booth! Come out to your relatives… come out to your friends… if indeed they are your friends. Come out to your neighbours… to your fellow workers… to the people who work where you eat and shop… come out only to the people you know, and who know you. Not to anyone else. But once and for all, break down the myths, destroy the lies and distortions.”
Americans for Truth About Homosexuality’s Peter LaBarbera told Religious Right radio host Janet Mefferd that Religious Right activists need to “think more like” LGBTQ activists and work on reversing marriage equality.
Last week, on Mefferd’s radio program, LaBarbera and Mefferd discussed whether the LGBTQ community’s demands for marriage equality were anything more than “a ruse from the beginning”, citing a Washington Examiner article that questions why there have not been more gay marriages. LaBarbera insisted there were ulterior motives behind marriage equality.
“A lot of times they’ll say they need something in order to get something further and they’ll do it and of course it’s only to win a victory and then they’ll move on to something else,” LaBarbera said. “And that’s what they’ve done here and this has gone on since the beginning of the movement.”
Mefferd brought up that she was baffled that Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy had ever ruled in favor of marriage equality. LaBarbera speculated that Kennedy was “compromised,” perhaps because he had “some relative” was gay, leading him to become “the leading pro-homosexual activist on the high court.”
He went on to advocate for the Religious Right to work to overturn marriage equality.
“I see a lot of conservatives now telling me, ‘Oh, you know we can’t change the law back.’ Why not? When the homosexual side loses, they go say, ‘How are we going to change that?’ and that’s how we have to think. We have to think more like they do in politics,” LaBarbera said.
The Santa Rosa Metro Chamber is partnering with Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit and downtown merchants to boost business during the holidays.
This weekend and that of Dec. 2-3, shoppers will get a free one-way ticket on SMART for every $25 they spend. In all, 5,000 passes will be handed out to shoppers at participating businesses. Passes are valid through Dec. 31, and must be handed to an on-board conductor to be redeemed.
For information and a list of businesses participating, go to pd2go.net/XgzBoj.
The chamber will also create a guide to downtown deals and savings available this holiday season. The guides can be picked up at businesses around town, or viewed online at pd2go.net/kts49v.
Danica Roem (Photo by PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)
Republicans have abruptly taken the decision to stop using gendered language in the Virginia House of Delegates – so they don’t have to refer to groundbreaking trans politician Danica Roem as a woman.
Democratic delegate-elect Danica Roem made history earlier this month as the first openly transgender lawmaker to be elected to a state legislature, after unseating GOP incumbent Bob Marshall, who penned anti-transgender ‘bathroom’ legislation.
Roem is set to take up her seat in the Virginia House of Delegates in January.
But ahead of the new session, the Republican-controlled body has opted to make drastic changes to the chamber’s 400-year-old rulebook.
Under the changes, politicians speaking on the floor of the House will no longer have to refer to eachother as ‘Gentleman’ or ‘Gentlewoman’, and will instead use the term ‘Delegate’ as a gender-neutral address.
While the removal of unnecessarily-gendered language might be cheered by liberals in other occasions, the GOP’s actions appear to be preventing lawmakers from having to refer to Ms Roem as a ‘Gentlewoman’.
House Majority Leader M. Kirkland Cox (R-Colonial Heights) confirmed the change.
In a statement to the Washington Post, his spokesperson said: “All members will be afforded the same respect and courtesy that this nearly 400-year-old institution commands.
“Speaker-designee Cox believes the ‘gentlelady’ and ‘gentleman’ terminology is outdated, and that referring to everyone as ‘delegate’ is more timely and appropriate.”
Republicans repeatedly referred to Ms Roem as male during the campaign, with Marshall focussing much of his campaign on attacking his opponent’s gender identity.
Delegate-elect Roem, who focused her campaign on local infrastructure issues, did not rise to her opponent’s jibes.
After the election result, she said: “Bob is my constituent now. I don’t attack my constituents.”
Politics professor Bob Holsworth told the Post that the Republicans are “trying in some way to thread a needle with their own base”.
He added: “They’re willing to change the tradition in this sense before they will explicitly acknowledge Danica Roem as a woman.”
Delegate-elect Roem said: “What matters the most is that I’m there.
“What matters the most to the people of the 13th District is that the woman they elected to serve them will be working on their behalf.
“I will be the delegate from Prince William, and I will conduct myself as the gentlewoman from Prince William while I’m in Richmond and in any other official capacity in which I serve.”
Marshall, who will be unemployed in January, co-authored the state’s now-defunct constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
In her victory speech, Roem said: “This election has to prove nationwide that discrimination is a disqualifier.
“When you champion inclusion, when you champion equality, when you champion equity and you focus on the issues that unite us, like building up our infrastructure…those are the issues that you have to focus on,” she added.
“I believe in building up our infrastructure instead of tearing down each other. That is fundamental.
“When the negative ads started coming out, attacking transgender kids…we stayed on our message while decrying discrimination.”
Roem told everyone watching: “We can’t get lost in discrimination, we can’t get lost in B.S., we can’t get lost tearing each other down.
“No matter what you look like, where you come from, how you worship, who you love, how you identify – and yeah, how you rock – if you have good public policy ideas, if you’re well-qualified for office, bring those ideas to the table, because this is your America too…and we are stronger together,” Roem told the crowd.
She dedicated her win to everyone who’s been discriminated against.
During the campaign, she championed LGBT rights, saying: “We are unabashedly pro-equality & anti-discrimination.
“It’s time we put LGBTQ kids front-and-centre, and I’m standing with them.
“As a trans woman, I know representation matters.”
In contrast, Republican Bob Marshall, who has been in office since 1991, has a long history of introducing hateful anti-LGBT bills to the Virginian legislature.
In May, Roem said: “When the people of the 13th District elect a transgender woman to replace the most anti-LGBT legislator in the South, it will be an act of certainty, and it will be a defining moment that will resonate across the country.”
Hate crimes against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Russia have doubled in five years, researchers said on Tuesday, in the wake of a law banning “gay propaganda”.
Murders accounted for almost 200 out of 250 crimes analyzed, the Center for Independent Social Research said, attributing the surge to Russia’s 2013 ban on the spreading of “propaganda for non-traditional sexual relations” to minors.
“(Offenders) have become more aggressive and less fearful,” said Svetlana Zakharova, a board member with Russian LGBT Network, the country’s most prominent gay rights campaign group, which has noted the same trend.
“It seems to them that, to some extent, the government supports their actions. Many perpetrators openly talk about their crimes as noble deeds.”
The police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The number of sentences for crimes against LGBT people increased to 65 in 2015 from 18 in 2010, the St. Petersburg-based researchers said, drawing on court records and data from judicial watchdog RosPravosudie. Most victims were gay men.
Homosexuality in Russia, where the influence of the socially conservative Orthodox Church has grown in recent years, was a criminal offence until 1993 and classed as a mental illness until 1999.
Researchers said the figures are an underestimate as many hate crimes are not reported, investigated or prosecuted.
The ‘gay propaganda’ law, which has been used to stop gay pride marches and to detain gay rights activists, is seen by many as a move by President Vladimir Putin to crack down on dissent and draw closer to the Russian Orthodox Church.
Russia was ranked Europe’s second least LGBT-friendly nation in 2016 by ILGA-Europe, a network of European LGBT groups.
Face yo Face’s clients, staff, and volunteers have been devastated by the fires which swept through our beloved county in early October. Our compassionate team of professionals kept the doors open during the week of the fires, fulfilling our mission through limited services.
Even with these recent losses, we have never been more optimistic about the future. We will rebuild. We are #SonomaStrong.
At Face to Face our focus is on beating HIV and making the community healthier. We have tremendous hope: rates of new HIV infections in the county are on the decline for three consecutive years. And, with continued focus, together we can get to ZERO new HIV infections in Sonoma County in the very near future.
HIV medications are working as prevention: The FDA’s approval of Truvada as PrEP (Pre-exposure Prophylaxis)–taken once a day by HIV-negative individuals–has proven up to 99 percent effective at not transmitting HIV. Astounding results when you consider condom use at only 78 percent.
Not everyone who is at risk for HIV in Sonoma County is on PrEP or necessarily knows their HIV status. To reach them, we provide free, anonymous and confidential HIV testing at our office and in the commmunity. During each test counseling session we offer PrEP referrals to HIV-negative individuals. You make our HIV prevention services possible.
We know that you are being called upon more than ever with requests for your volunteer time and financial support. Thank you for considering making a gift to Face to Face on #GivingTuesday–a national day to kick-off the end of year giving season.
Late September, the last transgender Central American woman who arrived at the US-Mexico border over the summer seeking asylum as part of a caravan was granted parole and released from the Cibola County Correctional Center in Milan, New Mexico. The women and their attorneys now call on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to exercise similar discretion and release three gay men who also were members of the caravan, and continue to face risk to their health and safety in custody at the Otero Processing Center in Chaparral, New Mexico.
The asylum seekers were part of the Rainbow 17 Caravan, a group of 11 transgender women and 6 gay men from Central America and Mexico who arrived at the border in Nogales, Arizona, on August 10, 2017, and requested asylum after experiencing extreme forms of violence in their home countries.
ICE’s decision to release the women abides by the government’s long-standing parole guidance favoring release for asylum seekers who are not flight risks nor pose threats to the community. But since President Trump took office, ICE has failed to grant parole to the vast majority of individuals who have been locked up after requesting asylum at the border or a port of entry, and decisions on parole requests vary greatly between different regions of the country.
“My experience being locked up in the detention center was awful,” said a translatina caravan member who was released last month. “Never in my wildest thoughts did I imagine the conditions would be that unbearable. I am very happy to be out and grateful for where I am in the process now and for the family I am staying with, who are making me feel welcome.”
The women, along with their advocates and lawyers from the National Immigrant Justice Center, Transgender Law Center, and Instituto Legal, remain extremely concerned about the gay men who still are detained. Those individuals have reported they are being harassed by jail guards and other detainees, have been denied medical treatment, and fear for their safety because of their sexual identity.
“The lack of oversight in this parole process is really unfair,” said Keren Zwick, associate director of litigation at the National Immigrant Justice Center. “If you ask for protection at the border, ICE can send you basically wherever it wants, and the decision as to where they send you can mean the difference between release and detention, as we are seeing in these cases. On the court side, when you have an LGBTQ-based claim, where you are detained also can make a difference between winning or losing your asylum case.”
“We are relieved that these brave women, who came to the U.S. seeking safety from persecution, have finally been released from immigration detention centers that we know are horrifically violent and abusive of transgender women,” said Flor Bermudez, legal director at Transgender Law Center. “Unfortunately, there is still a long road ahead for the men still in Otero and for the transgender women who have been released, as they fight deportation back to the countries where their lives have been threatened. They are not facing this journey alone, though, and we are committed to doing everything in our power to ensure they, and all transgender immigrants seeking safety from torture and abuse, remain safe and free.”
“New Mexico has a long history of welcoming asylum seekers,” said Joaquin Sanchez-Leal, director of programs for Instituto Legal, a non-profit legal organization based in Albuquerque. “Placing those who are fleeing violence because of their gender identity or sexual orientation behind bars, even though they are eligible for immediate release, goes against our long-held tradition. We are all watching and will continue working to ensure the remaining caravan members are released from detention.”
The freed caravan members still each have a long road ahead of them as they pursue their asylum cases. In the United States, asylum seekers must wait months or years for permission to work and for access to housing or food support. They also have no right to appointed attorneys, so are left to find legal counsel on their own. Advocates must continue to work to support the women and improve the system in a way that gives bona fide refugees a fighting chance to prevail on their applications for protection. The human rights violations inherent in the ICE detention system have gained increased attention in the past month in Washington, D.C. In early October, U.S. House Representatives Adam Smith (WA-09) and Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) introduced the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act, which would hold ICE accountable to protect detained immigrants and ensure access to release for asylum seekers and other immigrants. Also this month, the U.S. Supreme Court heard re-argument in Jennings v. Rodriguez, which challenges ICE’s prolonged detention of immigrants fighting deportation.
“I cannot find the words to express how happy I am to be out of that horrific detention center,” said a translatina caravan member. “When I started my journey, I was very scared. I needed to flee the violence and transphobia in my country of origin, but had heard many stories of trans women who didn’t make it through the journey or were trapped for months in terrible detention centers. I know my release is not typical, and I thank God I have a great team fighting for my rights and safety. I feel like a new woman, secure and ready to take on the world.”
The deadline to claim Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA) for workers who lost wages or became unemployed due to recent fires has been extended to December 18, 2017, from November 16 by the U.S Department of Labor.
“This is an important support for the many residents and workers affected by fires in our county,” says Katie Greaves, Director of the Sonoma County Human Services Department Employment and Training Division. “As of November 8, residents had filed 4,700 applications for Disaster Unemployment benefits. The number of customers visiting the Job Link office for employment and job search support doubled in the four weeks after the fire, primarily to submit claims for Disaster Unemployment Assistance.”
Federal Disaster Unemployment benefits are available to individuals who are unemployed as a direct result of the October 2017 Sonoma County wildfires. Claims must be filed by December 18, 2017. Applications submitted to the EDD after December 18, 2017, will be considered if the claimant can show good cause for late application.
Sonoma County Job Link offers workers help to file these claims online at www.SonomaWIB.org, or Monday–Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., by phone at 565-5550 or in-person at the Employment and Training office 2227 Capricorn Way, Santa Rosa. Job Link’s online career center and employer and job seeker resources are available year-round, and can provide residents with information about health care options, regular unemployment insurance benefits, job training and retraining, and connecting with employers now hiring. Additional information about Disaster Unemployment Assistance is also available at https://www.sonomacountyrecovers.org/unemployment/.
DUA provides weekly benefit payments for individuals 1) whose work or self-employment is interrupted due to a disaster and 2) who are not eligible for regular Unemployment Insurance or State Disability Insurance benefits. Benefits are available for 26 weeks, beginning October 15, 2017, and ending April 14, 2018, which is the final payable week of disaster benefits.
To be eligible for Disaster Unemployment benefits, individuals must be unemployed as a direct result of recent wildfires. They must be 1) unemployed workers or unemployed self-employed individuals who lived, worked, traveled through, or were scheduled to work in a disaster area at the time of the disaster, and 2) due to the disaster:
No longer has a job or place to work; or
Cannot reach the place of work; or
Cannot work due to damage to the place of work; or
Cannot work because of an injury caused by the disaster; or
Became the head of household because the primary breadwinner or head of household died in the disaster.
DUA claimants must meet all eligibility criteria during the entire period of the claim to continue to receive disaster benefits. They cannot continue to receive benefits if they return to work before April 14, 2018. Individuals with regular UI benefits that end before April 14, 2018, who also meet all the Disaster Unemployment eligibility criteria, can file for DUA benefits for any remaining weeks or until they file new regular unemployment claims, whichever comes first.
DUA is a federal benefits administered by the Employment Development Department on behalf of the U.S. Department of Labor, so workers in these additional counties are also eligible: Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Orange and Yuba.
