Category: LGBTQIA

LGBTQIA, Women's Rights September 23, 2017

Lesbian couple attacked on the way to LGTBQ event

A group of women were attacked on their way to Dallas Pride on Sunday by an assailant who punched and stabbed them as he screamed they were going to Hell.

Love Seiber, Krystle Seats, and their friend Vanessa Stepney were heading to the parade downtown when they were approached by a homeless man later identified as 22-year-old Brandon Holbert.

“I thought maybe, ’Oh, he’s going to ask us for money,” Seiber told Fox 4 News. But he came closer and began yelling and then hitting Seats. Holbert then pulled out a pocketknife and chased Sieber and Seats into a nearby building, cornering them in an elevator before stabbing them repeatedly.

Seiber and Seats, who are both gay, say Holbert was shouting, “I see what you are doing. You are the child of Satan and God sees what you are doing. You guys are going to go to Hell.”

Seiber was stabbed multiple times in the neck, face, arm, forehead and chest before a bystander helped detain Holbert until authorities arrived. Holbert has since been charged with two counts of aggravated assault, although no hate-crime charges have been filed.

Police records do not reflect his homophobic rant, according to Fox 4, instead they “emphasize [his] erratic behavior.”

Recovering back home in Oklahoma, Seiber says her assailant deserves to be charged with a bias crime. “My family definitely thinks he got off a little too easy.”

LGBTQIA September 21, 2017

Woman suspected of being trans, told to expose her genitals to prove gender

In Cleveland, Ohio a woman who wishes to remain unnamed says she was threatened by an armed couple. The pair asked the woman if she was transgender and then demanded she expose her genitals to prove she wasn’t. When she refused, they shattered her windshield.

After having drinks at a bar Sunday night the unnamed woman said she began engaging in a friendly conversation with a stranger. The conversation quickly turned personal when the woman was asked if she was really a woman because there were rumors about the her gender. The stranger then asked for proof and demanded to see the unnamed woman’s genitals.

The young lady who demanded proof of gender was eventually escorted out the bar. But when the unnamed woman tried to leave 45 minutes later, she was blocked in by two cars.

Once again, she was confronted by the lady from the bar and an armed man she brought with her. And once again, the lady demanded she expose herself.

The unnamed woman was able to get images of the black Chevy Cobalt and a green Honda involved, hoping it may lead to an arrest.

The Greater Cleveland LGBT center has also spoken out on this woman’s behalf.

“Just because this person isn’t trans doesn’t negate the fact that this person still demanded to see someone else’s body,” said Community Relations manager Ryan Clopton-Zymler.

Clopton-Zymler says in recent years, hate crimes targeting transgender people have been on the rise. Here in Cleveland, four transgender women were murdered in just the last five years. Clopton-Zymler says particularly transgender women of color are being targeted.

“This comes down to sexual assault. This was someone being publicly discriminated against, publicly attacked based on the assumption of their gender identity” said Clopton Zymler.

Police have filed this case as a kidnapping and criminal damaging offense.
The woman hopes Cleveland’s fourth district will pursue her case until an arrest is made.

LGBTQIA, White Christians September 19, 2017

Church refuses to let Jewish lesbian volunteer at Hurricane Harvey relief effort

A Texas woman who volunteered at a church to help families in need after Hurricane Harvey has been ‘fired’ after the church found she’s Jewish and a lesbian.

Carmen Hix told OutSmart magazine that The Calvary Church in Friendswood, Texas needed volunteers to help at the food bank after Hurricane Harvey devastated the community. Hix decided to take off a week from work and donate $500 worth of food to the church. On Friday, September 8, she was taken by surprise when she was called in by a volunteer and the church’s pastor, Ron Hindt, who told her she was no longer welcome at the church after he found out about her religion and sexuality.

Carmen Hix told the news station she was hurt by their request, adding that she had nothing but good intentions. She said that she couldn’t sit idly by after Hurricane Harvey hit her native Texas. “I took a leave of absence – I work part time – and decided just to do 10 days straight of volunteering,” Hix told Channel 2.

Hix said she started getting questions from the man supervising the church’s food bank when he noticed she’d been saying “shalom” at the end of prayer each day. Typically, the group all came together to pray before they started working each morning but she simply bowed her head in respect and said the salutation which means “peace be with you” in Hebrew.

“The gentleman asked me, looked me in the eye, and says, ‘Are you a Christian?’ and I said, ‘No, I identify as being Jewish,’ and he said then you can no longer volunteer for Calvary,” Hix said.

Once she got home, Hix told the magazine she called the church to complain about the pastor and was invited back in. But when she arrived, she was confronted by the pastor about “rumors” of her sexual orientation. According to Hix, the pastor said that he ‘can’t let you represent our church, as being a Lesbian is a sin’.

Hix said that Hindt suggested that Hix and her partner, Christina Fiddmont-Norfleet, who have been together for 20 years attend a service so that they would learn about homosexuality and God’s will.

“He said when God strikes your heart and brings to light the sinfulness of your ways you’ll be able to walk away from that relationship and you’ll be good with God.”

The church’s pastor responded to the controversy in a Facebook post, claiming that they “would never” do such a thing. “Unfortunately, we’re saddened by an incident involving some miscommunication that took place off campus in an exchange between various community volunteers at the church’s food pantry. At no time did I ever say you couldn’t serve here. I told her I have Jewish friends. I go to Israel all the time…” Hindt wrote in a now deleted Facebookpost.

OutSmart magazine reached out to the Calvary Church for a comment, but did not get a response.

LGBTQIA September 13, 2017

Cis Men slit trans woman’s throat in India, then she was denied treatment at three hospitals

A trans woman was attacked by four men who slit her throat in Hyderabad, India.

The 21-year-old was attacked outside her home in Banjara Hills, an urban centre in the large southern city.

And when her friends took her to at least three hospitals, she was allegedly denied treatment.

It was the day of Ganesh Visarjan, a Hindu festival, when Sravya was approached by four men last Thursday outside her house.

The group wanted her to come with them to one of the men’s houses, who she knew.

Chandramukhi Vuvvala, a trans woman in Hyderabad, told TNM Sravya was found in a pool of blood.

‘At around 3pm, a man she knew came along with three others and asked her to come to his place. She refused to go with him, and tried to enter the house. That’s when one of them slit her throat and slashed her hands with a knife, and they fled,’ Vuvvala said.

When her friend Nakshtra was found lying on the floor and bleeding, she tried to get medical help.

That was when many hospitals allegedly denied her treatment, according to friends.

Trans woman survives after her throat is slit by attackers

She was finally admitted at the National Institute of Medical Sciences, a medical university.

Stravya’s life was saved. She has several stitches on her throat.

A police spokesperson said: ‘We have registered a case under IPC sections 324 (Voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) and 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) read with 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention.).

‘As per the available information we have identified one of the accused. Soon we will catch them.’

Could India’s homophobic law be about to end?

The Supreme Court recently made a judgement that experts say will lead to the end of the gay sex ban.

Currently affecting a billion Indians, the anti-homosexuality law currently bans any form of sex that is not a man and a woman in a missionary position.

But now, the highest court has ruled privacy is a fundamental right for every Indian. Further rulings will be needed to completely remove the homophobic law.

LGBTQIA September 10, 2017

Trans woman and HIV advocate murdered in Sri Lanka

A trans woman who was a tireless community advocate was killed in a violent attack in Sri Lanka.

Sanath Kumara, 34, received head injuries after she was beaten over the head with a club on Tuesday. Police said they had found multiple wooden clubs at the scene.

The brutal attack happened in Dambulla in the Matale District about 150km north-east of the capital, Colombo.

Kumara’s body was found in the parking lot at Dambulla Hospital at 5am on September 5.

Earlier that morning at about 3am, someon called Kumara’s sister from her own cell phone. The caller swore at Kumara’s sister and said he had killed Kumara, according to a report in Sri Lanka’s Daily Mirror.

Matale District Judicial Medical Officer, BD Vidarathna told BBC Sinhala that his office was still determining the cause of death. But he did notice a significant head injury.

Community advocate

Kumara was a trans woman who had not yet come out.

She worked as a HIV peer educator and helped to raise HIV awarenes among trans communities.

Dambulla Police said they were investigating leads but had not yet found the perpetrators.

LGBTQIA, Uncategorized September 6, 2017September 6, 2017

A White Man Attacks A Gathering For a Black Trans Woman.

A vigil to honor Kenneth “Kiwi” Herring,

a transgender woman killed by police in

north St. Louis Wednesday, turned ugly tonight when an impatient driver refused to stop for protesters, hitting three of them.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch photographer David Carson captured the moment when the car drove through the assembly on Manchester Avenue in the Grove.

Carson tweeted, “Car just drove through protesters on Manchester, few injuries not major, only scrapes. Driver fled police chased not pulling over.”

Schron Jackson, a police spokeswoman, said the driver was taken into custody on a charge of felony fleeing.

Jackson emailed us,

Tonight, a group of protesters marched from the Transgender Memorial to the intersection of Manchester and Sarah were they blocked traffic in all directions. A vehicle approached, stopped, honked its horn and attempted to drive around the protesters.

The protesters surrounded the vehicle and began striking it with their hands and a flag pole. Several protesters also kicked and jumped on top of the vehicle. The driver of the vehicle (white male) proceeded to drive away when three protesters ( 2 white females and 1 white male) fell from the vehicle. The three protesters reported minor injuries, but refused medical attention on the scene.

Police attempted to stop driver of vehicle who initially refused to stop. He stopped about a block away from the incident and was taken into custody for felony fleeing. The incident was captured on video. The investigation is ongoing.

But protester Keith Rose took issue with that assertion. In a public post on Facebook, he wrote,

The police are saying that he drove through the crowd because people were surrounding his car and striking it. That is not true.

He drove toward a group of about 4 protesters and stopped just before he was about to hit them. He had both hands off of the wheel and was giving the middle finger. More protesters got in front of the car to stand by the others. Some stood off to the side. I did not see a single person behind his car. He then began to drive forward, slowly hitting people.

It was only once he was already hitting people and increasing his speed that people began to hit his car. He continued to drive faster, deeper into the crowd, turning to his left as he went. By the time he left the intersection he was going pretty fast. He whipped around another corner and was chased by the police.

He was caught almost a mile away near Rally’s. (The police statement said “about a block from the intersection”.) The SLMPD is going out of its way to protect this man who tried to run over people just a couple weeks after the Charlottesville attack. This kind of immunity from consequences only emboldens the people who want to harm protesters.

Shaken attendees took to social media last night. Some shared the license plate of a black Mercedes sedan that they said was involved.

If we are calling out domestic terrorism, THIS IS IT. #KiwiHerring https://t.co/PrO7Qe7xeD

— M. Dove Kent (@dove_kent) August 24, 2017

Herring was shot to death by St. Louis police officers early Tu

esday in north St. Louis. They say they received reports of a domestic dispute and arrived to find a 30-year-old man badly cut around the face, arms and torso. Police allege that Herring, also 30, was armed with a large kitchen knife and swung at officers — and that they then shot her.

Kristy Thompson, 28, was taken into police custody. Police

say she was also involved in the attack on the 30-year-old male victim.

But the police response drew ire because they initially described the deceased as a 30-year-old man. Herring, friends and family say, identified as a woman.

The city’s LGBTQ community paid tribute yesterday, even as others criticized the language in the initial police reports

(and later media coverage).

The Metro Trans Umbrella Group has been raising money for Herring’s family online. So far, more than $5,000 has been donated.

LGBTQIA, Uncategorized August 31, 2017

Illinois bans “Gay Panic” Defense

On Friday, Governor Bruce Rauner (R) signed a law prohibiting the use of “gay panic” and “trans panic” legal defenses. SB 1761 was unanimously passed by both the Illinois State Senate and House of Representatives back in June. This law makes Illinois only the second state in the country to ban defendants from using the argument that unwanted sexual advances from an LGTBQ person or trans person created a panic that justified physical violence.

Gay panic or trans panic defenses have been utilized in several high-profile murders in recent decades, including those of Matthew Shepard, Brandon Teena, Marco McMillan, Gwen Araujo, and Angie Zapata. Being able to submit it as a defense at trial doesn’t automatically guarantee success to the defendant, but it has resulted in defendants being convicted of lesser charges, and been used as a mitigating factor in sentencing. In 2009, an Illinois jury acquitted Joseph Biedermann of first-degree murder after he stabbed his neighbor, Terrance Michael Hauser, 61 times. Biedermann claimed Hauser made an unwanted sexual advances and that he had merely been defending himself.

The American Bar Association has come out against the gay and trans panic defense, and urged local, state, and federal governments to pass legislation banning it. Lambda Legal has called the passing of this bill a victory and Christopher Clark, the Midwest Regional Director for Lambda Legal said “Today, our state is a fairer and more inclusive place for all people. ‘Gay panic’ and ‘trans panic’ defenses rely on anti-LGBT bias and reinforce it, perpetuating a vicious cycle of violence against our communities.” Clark added, “LGBT people, especially transgender women of color, are more likely to be victims of violent crime. We look to courts for justice, not to put victims on trial. We hope that other states will take Illinois’ example and do the same.”

“At the heart of gay and trans panic defenses is the idea that individuals who do not conform to gender norms are abnormal and should be feared,” said law professor Anthony Michael Kreis, who helped draft SB 1761. “They reinforce outdated notions that LGBT persons are mentally ill and predatory. They endorse the proposition that violence against LGBT people is excusable.”

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