Video: Florida residents wake to anti-gay graffiti on homes and cars

Wilton Manors, Florida - Residents awoke to anti-gay graffiti on their homes and automobiles.

One of the victims felt empathy towards the perpetrators and hoped they would seek help.

View video report below.

El Paso, Texas GLBTQ Center opens amidst violence

El Paso, Texas - Thursday night marked the opening of a new GLBTQ community center in downtown El Paso.

Last Monday night the director of the Center, Charles Sloane, was assaulted (kicked and hit in the head) in the lobby of the Center. He said "That's one of the things we're here to combat. We're going to continue to go to the community and bring this up."

"Imagine if the adults are doing this what's going on in the schools. Nationwide, more than 50 percent of students (who identify as gay) say they’ve been assaulted."

Sloane said the attackers used the term "faggot," and that such occurrences were fairly well known within the gay community, but not always well-reported.

"We've gotten three reports of assaults in the last two months, and in every single one they would not report anything to the police department."

Sloane said he wanted the opening of the center to be marked by a positive outlook, and not defined by the single act of violence that took place Monday.

full article - source: The El Paso Tree - author: Sito Negron

Friends Claim Texas Man's Killing Was Hate Crime

Adrian Clay, also known as Shari Campbell, was found dead in the 4800 block of Presa Road. Evidently Shari was killed after leaving The Boss, a local bar.

Adrian, dressed in drag, was found near the bar bleeding and unconcious. After being rushed to the hospital he died from sustained injuries.

Friends of the victim believe it was a hate crime

full article

Anti-gay activists attack Czech Gay Pride

ČeskéNoviny.cz

Brno - At least 20 persons were hit by tear gas used by anti-gay activists about 20 minutes after the end of Czech homosexuals' march at the namesti Svobody square and the Masarykova street in Brno today.

The police and neo-Nazis clashed after the end of the homosexuals' Queer Parade, the first of its type in the Czech Republic.

The chaos lasted about 45 minutes and the tension largely subsided after 16:00.

The city police said the emergency service treated two people and one city police who collapsed and had to be hospitalised.

In adjacent streets, the police chased neo-Nazi activists. One of their groups pelted a group of about five Romanies with tomatoes.

Clashes between opponents of the gay march and homosexual activists started even before it started as the former threw crackers in the crowd. The police detained three persons.

The march did not start at the planned 14:00 and organisers were considering cancelling it for fear of clashes. The march eventually did take place, but on a shorter route.

The march lasted about 20 minutes and there was no violence. The crowd included about 500 persons with hundreds of onlookers in the city streets.

It ended at 15:00 when homosexuals released rainbow balloons at the namesti Svobody square.

Ontario, Canada: Pride and Diversity Day planned by NPC

Anti-racism, gay/straight groups hope awareness solves problems

The transition into high school is a big and exciting step for most students, but, for some it can be a frightening experience.

When walking down a hallway during a break at any high school, you can be positive that you'll hear every possible curse word and multiple forms of harassment.

"That's gay," seems to be one of the most popular phrases heard today. Students use the word gay as a negative term meaning bad and stupid and this is the type of discrimination that students at North Park Collegiate are trying to eliminate.

On May 7, North Park Collegiate's Anti-Racism Committee(ARC) and Gay/Straight Alliance(GSA) are hosting their first Pride and Diversity Day.

We're showing that North Park is ready to take a stand," says Wendy McIsaac, a drama and English teacher at NPC and the teacher advisor to the Anti-Racism Committee.

The events will begin promptly at 11:45 a.m. when lunch break begins. There will be displays of ceremonial and traditional dress from all over the world in the school's courtyard. T-shirts have been on sale leading up to the event and will also be sold during the event. Anti-Racism T-shirts have been on sale since September and 200 have been purchased.

full article

USA supports Uganda homophobia

The United States should reconsider funding anti-HIV/AIDS strategies in Uganda, where recipients of such money violate the rights of homosexuals, Human Rights Watch has said.

The New York-based watchdog group said Ugandan officials and the media have intensified attacks on the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, in a letter to US officials Thursday.

It said a prominent anti-condom and anti-gay pastor, whose church has received US funding for a so-called "abstinence and fidelity programmes" for the fight against AIDS, listed the names and pictures of gay rights campaigners on a website.

Also, a local tabloid last month published the first names, workplaces and other details of 39 alleged homosexuals -- all men -- under a banner headline "Homo Terror" and promised to "name and shame top gays in the city."

As in much of Africa, homosexuality is illegal, and in Uganda it is punishable by imprisonment up to life.

Kill a Fag week: Michigan Technical University

Anti-gay threats written in chalk were discovered on the campus of Michigan Tech University in Houghton last Friday. They were written in the middle of the night the same week that a slate of gay pride activities was scheduled at the University.

The threats involved the killing, mutilation, and shooting of gay people. The activities on campus at MTU last week included the wearing of "Gay, Fine By Me" T-shirts, meant to send a message of tolerance to students there. Obviously, some homophobe was threatened. If the message that anti-gay prejudice is real wasn't getting across before, it surely has now.

Said Vice President of Student Affairs Les Cook: "This is probably the most pervasive incident we’ve had on campus since I’ve been here. We take these kinds of things serious and we are trying to provide our support. It’s an issue. It’s not healthy for our community and we’re hoping we can resolve things quickly."

Authorities are still trying to find out the identity of the vandals.