Z 2003»
rTîTTTîTTm news
Continued from P age 17
promise of asylum is in question when an
immigration judge recognizes that a man is
being persecuted and sends him hack to the
country telling him to disguise the very charac
teristic that leads to persecution and makes
him eligible for asylum. This is a deeply dis
turbing case, and we intend to help secure asy
lum for Jorge Soto Vega.”
Four men were arrested and released on
bail. “I fear that, in time, we will see an esca
lating violent backlash to accompany the far
right’s war against L G B T equality," said Ran
dall Ellis of the Leshian/Gay Rights Lobby of
Texas.
pect seems to be offering the standard ‘gay
panic’ excuse for killing Mr. Homedo— ‘he
made a pass at me, so I had to kill him.’ ”
judge has freed the way for the Hispanic
A ID S Forum, the state’s largest Latino
A ID S service provider, to prtKeed to trial in a
case against its former landlord for trans dis
crimination, the American Civil Liberties
U nion announced O ct. 15. T h e agency
brought suit against its former landlord for
illegal eviction after the landlord complained
24-year-old trans woman who immigrated
that its trans clients were using the “wrong"
two years ago from Acapulco, Mexico, was
bathrooms and banished all trans people from
murdered Sept. 30 in San Pablo.
the common areas of the building.
Officers reported finding Ricardo "Sindy"
“It is unfortunate that the bathrixim has
Cuarda bleeding heavily from several gunshot
once again become a battleground in the
wounds and lying in the driveway of a business.
fight for equal rights," attorney James Esseks
She died shortly thereafter at Doctors Medical
said. “T h e landlord’s decision to exclude
Center.
transgender people from the bathrooms and
T he suspects are at large. “Heartless bru
common areas was just as wrong tixlay as it
tality such as this only underscores the grim
was 50 years ago when business owners in the
reality that transphobia is lethal," said Tina
South tried to force African Americans to use
P ’Elia of the Community United Against
separate bathrooms.”
Violence.
The trial court’s ruling was in response to a
NEW YORK
motion by the landlord, who claimed trans peo
ple are not protected by the state’s civil rights
he killer of a gay man whose body was
laws. It joined other New York courts in inter
found in his van O ct. 1 3 in Ridgewood,
the state’s civil rights law to include pro
Queens, claims he stabbed the victim with preting
a
tections for trans people.
screwdriver in response to an unwanted sex
This is the first lawsuit under New York’s
ual advance.
civil rights law that has dealt with the issue of
Eric Homedo apparently met the suspect,
which hathrcxims are appropriate for trans peo
Walter Drayton, through a phone service wide
ly used for sex
ple to use. After this lawsuit was filed, New York
ual encounters.
City amended its civil rights law to provide
According to
explicit coverage for trans people.
Drayton, after
Homedo came
on
to
him
WYOMING
O ct. 11, he
he Casper City Council unanimously
tried to escape
rejected Oct. 28 a request from the Rev.
the van, hut
Fred Phelps to erect a “monument" to the
the dixtrs and
death of Matthew Shepard. The bronze plaque
windows were
would have featured the student’s image and
locked.
the words “Matthew Shepard entered hell
Drayton
O ct. 12, 1998, at age 21 in defiance of God’s
was arrested
solemn warning."
O ct. 28 and
C iting a ruling last year by the 10th C ir
charged with
cuit Court in Denver, Phelps says the city has
second-degree
murder, rob
no choice hut to display the intolerant and
bigoted message in Shepard’s hometown or
bery, criminal possession of stolen property and
criminal possession of an illegal weapon.
remove another statue in the park displaying
the Ten Commandments. A disbarred lawyer,
Before his arrest, he had allegedly ordered two
cell phones and pornographic movies with the
he told The Salt L ake Tribune he would buy
private property to display the monument or
stolen credit card.
sue the city.
“From what we know so far, this could be
Shepard was the victim of an anti-gay hate
a classic case of an anti-gay predator,” said
crime in Laramie. At his funeral, Phelps and
Richard Haymes of the New York City Gay
his Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka,
and Lesbian A nti-V iolence Project. “T h e sus
A
ARIZONA
T
A
r
T
OUR PLANTS ARE 6
ON THE KINSEY SCALE
C a n a d ia n
[ pharmaceutical
Su p p ly
U .S. Sen. John Edwards, D -N .C ., condemned
the Rev. Fred Phelps’ proposed “monument”
to Matthew Shepard
Kan., screamed “Gixl Hutes Fags” and held
signs that read “No Fags in Heaven.”
“This ignorant hatred represents the worst in
humanity,” said U.S. Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C.,
who is mnning for president. “I am disgusted by it.”
TEXAS
A
n off-duty Austin police officer was
attacked O ct. 25 in an apparent anti-gay
hate crime.
T h e victim , his
partner and a friend
were at a stop sign in
a car with a rainbow
sticker on the license
plate
when
two
pedestrians in the
crosswalk
blocked
the vehicle while six
to eight other men
began pounding it.
W itnesses say one
man struck the vic
tim in the face and
pulled him from the
passenger seat while yelling, “Faggot.”
The officer fell to the ground, and the
attackers picked him up only to beat him again.
He suffered broken teeth and puncture wounds
on his lower lip.
T
Compiled by News Editor JlM R a po st a , who can
be reached at jhn@justout .com .
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he Arizona Supreme Court refused Oct. 29
to hear a challenge to Gov. Janet Napoli-
tano’s executive order prohibiting discrimina
tion based on sexual orientation against state
employees.
She issued the executive order in June,
adding Arizona to nearly two dozen other states
with similar policies. Six state legislators asked
the Supreme Court to overturn Napolitano’s
order, claiming the governor lacked the author
ity to set such a policy. J H
I’m A V A ILA BLE, „
Saw up to 8 $
till fret: i-IIM IIM o t (M J-jjJ-M )
he L G B T Q C oalition at Arizona State
University in Tempe is calling on admin
istrators to address the needs of the queer
campus community in response to an appar
ent increase in homophobic sentiment and
harassment.
T he students expect officials to amend their
nondiscrimination policy to include gender
identity and expression; to approve and imple
ment a proposed gay and lesbian studies certifi
cate academic program; to increase binding to
initiate more diversity and awareness program
ming; and to provide a larger space to serve as
a drop-in and resource center for queer stu
dents. This call for action comes from an
increase in reports of bias-related incidents on
and around campus:
• A gay student working security at an
apartment complex O ct. 16 was told “Fuck
you, faggot” by a student on the m en’s basket
ball team after responding to a noise
complaint.
• While waiting to be seated at a restaurant
Oct. 16, a group of pledge members of the gay-
straight Sigma Phi Beta fraternity were taunted
by two men who made den>gatory statements
and threatened to assault them.
• A student found these words written on
the walls of a bathroom Oct. 15: "Get AIDS
here,” “Kill the fags" and “Faggots should die.”
• A straight ally wearing a National Coming
Out Day T-shirt was called a “faggot” Oct. 9 in
her classrixim.
• A gay student found the words “Suck my
cock, faggot" written on his car and that his
rainbow stickers had been torn off the
bumper O ct. 2.
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