Arrested Made In Anti-Gay Robbery Attacks

NEW YORK - A 19-year-old Manhattan man has been arrested in connection with anti-gay robbery attacks on the Upper East Side in May and June, the police said on Friday.
The man, Driton Nicaj, was arrested on Thursday night near his home on East 84th Street, his father said. He faces charges including aggravated harassment and robbery as hate crimes. The police said they were searching for as many as three other men who participated in the early-morning attacks.
The police said the first robbery occurred on May 31, when two gay 19-year-old men sitting on a bench in Carl Schurz Park were approached by a group of men who demanded money and made off with $22. In the second attack, on June 27 on East 85th Street, Joseph Holladay, 36, was beaten and robbed by men yelling anti-gay slurs during Gay Pride weekend, he said. “They beat me hard and unconscious,” Mr. Holladay said.
In the latest attack, on June 28, a witness walking his dog on East 84th Street told the police that he saw two men kicking another man in the head. The victim, a 40-year-old gay man, was hospitalized with skull fractures and a broken nose, the police said. His iPod was stolen.
Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman, said Mr. Nicaj had admitted taking part in at least one of the robberies. Mr. Nicaj said he was a witness but not a participant in the June 27 attack, the spokesman said.
Mr. Browne said the breakthrough that led to Mr. Nicaj’s arrest came on June 30, when officers pulled over a gold-colored Toyota minivan matching the description of a vehicle seen by a witness after one of the attacks. Three men in the van were not charged with a crime, but one of them — apparently Mr. Nicaj’s younger brother — was identified by a witness who looked at a photo array.
But the witness was unable to pick Driton Nicaj out in a lineup, Mr. Browne said. Only later, when someone whom Mr. Browne described as an individual “known to both Driton and his brother” viewed a video of one of the attacks, was the older brother identified.
His father, Zef Nicaj, said his son had gotten into trouble with the authorities in the past, but he characterized those run-ins as minor. He recalled an arrest for trespassing, and trouble after his son skipped school.
In February, his son left high school and started working full time with him renovating homes. The father said that his son said nothing about the attacks, and that he was surprised by the charges of anti-gay bias.
“My neighbor is gay and all my children have a friendly relationship with him,” the elder Mr. Nicaj said.
from The New York Times

Three Anti-Gay Protesters At Opening Of 'Rent'

NEWPORT BEACH - It was opening night and the 46 students who make up the cast and crew of Corona del Mar High School's production of "Rent: School Edition" were scrambling through a hallway that doubles as a backstage for the school's tiny student theater.
Hannah Lindt, 18, made last-minute tweaks Thursday to the costumes she spent months searching for at thrift stores, tearing apart and tailoring to fit just so. Sienna Petree, 13, put make-up on cast members -- a homeless person, then a junkie and a cross-dressing street musician named Angel.
Outside, all but one gate to the affluent Newport Beach school was closed. Guy Olguin, principal of Corona del Mar's middle school, directed a staff of security guards in black uniforms. One guard was sent to wander the theater halls, another was positioned at the entrance to the stage, a couple were sent to the front of the school, and another headed to the open gate.
Ever since it was first proposed, the production of the modified version of the Broadway musical about artists struggling to survive in New York City under the shadow of AIDS has been mired in months of controversy.
The show was nearly canceled. The American Civil Liberties Union sued the school, alleging that the campus fosters a homophobic and sexist atmosphere. A handful of members of Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas, which is known for its anti-gay protests, vowed to come to the campus to demonstrate against what it saw as the godless enablers of homosexuality.
Ron Martin, the theater teacher and director, said he chose the production after a video appeared on Facebook showing Corona del Mar students using anti-gay slurs and after he overheard students using anti-homosexual insults on campus. He said he hoped the show would help teach students tolerance.
By midday Friday, the protesters had arrived. There were three of them, carrying signs that said, "[Gays] Are Beasts," among others.
As they gathered on the sidewalk, several students came together in counter-protest on the other side of the street. Within minutes, more than 200 -- some wearing rainbow tie-dye shirts and holding peace signs -- stood sentry in front of the campus, clutching signs that said, "Support Love," "God Hates No One" and "Love Is Not a Sin."
The students turned the protest into a mini-celebration, singing songs from the musical and breaking into the school's own fight song. A couple ran through the crowd in swim trunks, with the words "God Loves Gays" written across their chests. One was wrapped in a rainbow-colored cloth. Another wore a handmade shirt that read, "Love Is Equal."
At one point, several students ran across the street to stand near the protesters. They shouted, "God loves gays and lesbians too," and waved their signs at passing cars. Minutes later, Fred Phelps, pastor of Westboro Baptist Church, and his supporters walked away, taking their signs with them.
Martin, the theater teacher who had hoped his choice in musicals might touch some students, came by for a few minutes. But he walked away quickly, fighting tears. "I'm proud of them," he said.
Several cast and crew members stood nearby. In a few hours they would be at it again, tweaking costumes, applying makeup, rehearsing their lines and singing their songs for the second night's show.
from The Los Angeles Times

Airport Worker Fired For Anti-Gay Message

The skycap called it a prank. His bosses didn't find it funny. And now he is no longer working for them.
Jethro Monestime, 23, was fired Monday for a stunt he pulled six days earlier — broadcasting an anti-gay message over the public address system at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
A gay couple collecting their luggage heard the message and filed a complaint.
The county leadership was mortified. Broward's mayor, Josephus Eggelletion, issued an apology.
The Broward Sheriff's Office investigated and Monestime confessed.
Because he worked for a private contractor, Broward officials could not fire him.
But his employer, Superior Aircraft Services, did.
"This action in no way reflects the views of Superior, its owners nor its employees," said a statement from the company.
He will not face criminal charges, BSO said.
The recording played over the PA system was actually a verse from the Old Testament book of Leviticus, condemning homosexuality.
Monestime told BSO he downloaded the message to his cellphone and played it over the loudspeakers — not once but twice — about 1 a.m. May 1.
Anthony Niedwiecki and Waymon Hudson, a gay couple from Oakland Park, had just stepped off a late-night United Airlines flight from Chicago.
Niedwiecki and Hudson said they felt threatened by the message.
"It was dark. There was hardly anybody around," said Niedwiecki. "This was the last thing we wanted to hear at the airport."
Not wanting to compromise security at the airport, Broward authorities declined to comment on how they zeroed in on Monestime.
What they did say: Monestime was working in the terminal where Niedwiecki and Hudson landed that night.
Monestime had a security badge.
A badge is needed to get into the area and an employee code is needed to make an announcement over the speakers.
Monestime's security badge has been taken away, as has his job.
"Broward County has a zero-tolerance policy for these types of offenses," Eggelletion said.
from The Palm Beach Post

"If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, they should be put to death."
The announcement came from a variation of Leviticus 20:13.

Court Rejects Anti-Gay Challenge To School Dress Code

SAN DIEGO - The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to suspend a dress code at Poway High School that is at the center of a continuing legal fight over free speech and religious rights.
Tyler Chase Harper, a Poway High School student, sued the Poway Unified School District in 2004, saying his rights to freedom of speech and religion were violated when he was pulled out of class for wearing an anti-gay T-shirt.
Harper wore the shirt during the school's “Day of Silence,” which is meant to promote tolerance of gays and lesbians. Harper, who says he is a Christian, contended his religion compelled him to speak out.
He put masking tape on a T-shirt and wrote “I Will Not Accept What God Has Condemned” on the front, and “Homosexuality Is Shameful, Romans 1:27” on the back.
He at first sought an injunction preventing the district from enforcing a policy aimed at eliminating “hate behavior” that offended students in racial, gender, sexual preference or other minority groups.
Both a San Diego federal judge and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled against Harper's bid for an injunction. The Supreme Court affirmed those earlier rulings yesterday, in an 8-1 ruling. But the closely-watched case – which legal experts said could again reach the high court – remains very much alive.
The ruling yesterday, which dealt only with the injunction part of the case, was not unexpected.
In January, U.S. District Court Judge John A. Houston ruled in favor of Poway on the the broader and more substantive issues in the case. Houston found the school's actions didn't infringe on students' rights of free speech and free exercise of religion, nor did he find them hostile to a particular religious viewpoint.
It is Harper's appeal of that ruling that is expected to be the vehicle for settling the constitutional battle over religious freedom and free speech, said Jack Sleeth, the school district's lawyer.
Harper's attorney, Kevin Theriot, said yesterday's Supreme Court decision was important because it also deemed moot an earlier appeals court ruling that seemed to greatly expand school district's power to ban speech that demeans students based on their status as minorities.
He said the high court has wiped away that ruling, which he called “one of the worst opinions on student speech in years.”
from The San Diego Union Tribune

Soldier Convicted In Connection To Anti-Gay Murder Released Early

A soldier convicted in connection to an anti-gay murder in 1999 has been released early by the U.S. Army, according to reports by an activist group.
Former Army Specialist Justin Fisher, who was convicted of conspiracy to murder Private First Class Barry Winchell at Fort Campbell, KY, has been released from prison after serving just seven years of a 12 1/2 year sentence.
Winchell was attacked in July 1999 by Calvin Glover, a former soldier based at Fort Campbell, in what was later revealed as an anti-gay hate crime. A later investigation by Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) found that Winchell had been the target of anti-gay harassment in the months leading up to his murder.
"Army leaders gave Justin Fisher a shockingly lenient sentence in the first place, but just as importantly, they have also failed, every day since, to protect other soldiers from Barry's fate," said Patricia and Wally Kutteles, PFC Winchell's parents, in a release issued today. "As a mother, I never want to see Barry's story repeated. As an American, I am outraged that our leaders have taken no action to make sure it never happens again."
The SLDN noted that shortly after Winchell's death, the Pentagon adopted a 13-point "Anti-Harassment Action Plan," but contends they have found no evidence that the plan was ever implemented.
In a 2000 Department of Defense survey, 37 percent of troops reported that they had witnessed or experienced targeted incidents of anti-gay harassment, 9 percent of them reported anti-gay threats, and 5 percent oreported witnessing or experiencing anti-gay physical assaults.
"By the Pentagon's own admission, anti-gay harassment is rampant throughout the forces," said C. Dixon Osburn, executive director of SLDN, "yet Pentagon leaders have barely lifted a finger to curb attacks on its own troops."
"The most important step in curbing harassment is ending 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,'" Winchell's parents continued in the release, "and sending a strong message that second-class citizenship is not tolerated in a first class military. But, until that happens, Pentagon leaders must, at the very least, step up to the plate and take real steps to protect our troops."
from The Raw Story

Gay Man Finds Resistance For Massage Therapy Business

MANASSAS, VIRGINIA - In the past three years, the Manassas City Council has received two applications for home-based massage therapy businesses, and members have approved both. Then Howard Daniel, who is gay, applied.
The backlash against Daniel's request began last month when nearly two dozen people, many of them members of a local church, spoke in opposition to it at a public hearing. When it came time for the city to decide on Daniel's application the next week, council members balked and voted instead to consider changing the city's zoning laws.
The city's response and the community opposition have blindsided Daniel and his supporters, one of whom had an anti-gay message written on his car.
"This should have been a business issue, and somehow it has become political," said Daniel, 44. "Why?"
Richard Devine, Daniel's partner of 22 years, sees the dispute in less uncertain terms. "I think it's obvious what's going on here," he said. "It walks like a duck."
Questions of discrimination are already sensitive in Manassas, which is currently under federal investigation for housing policies that allegedly target Hispanic residents, a violation of the Fair Housing Act. Now the city is again facing a land-use decision loaded with political overtones. At least one council member, Andrew L. Harrover (R), said he has received threats that Daniel's home will be picketed if the council approves his application.
"It's going to be terribly challenging for me" to decide, said Harrover, who lives around the corner from Daniel. His wife has signed the petition in support of Daniel's application, but Harrover said he is opposed to home businesses that bring more traffic to residential neighborhoods.
The vast majority of those who have mobilized against Daniel's application do not live on his street or even in his neighborhood. Many are affiliated with Manassas's All Saints Catholic Church, though there is no indication they have organized their opposition through the church.
"This isn't a Catholic thing; it's a city thing," said Amy Bookwalter, who has spoken out against Daniel's application. "This is about keeping a residential area a residential area."
Those claims are growing increasingly hard for Daniel and his supporters to believe. Just one year earlier, they noted, another massage therapist in Manassas applied for a permit, and not one resident voiced opposition. "No one has officially come and said it yet," Daniel said, "but why are all these people concerned about traffic on a street they don't live on?"
Daniel and Devine have lived for 10 years in their Cape Cod-style home on West Street, three blocks from the city's commercial district, in a neighborhood with towering maple trees and an eclectic mix of red-brick single-family homes and Colonials.
A former Marine Corps reservist, Daniel works full time as a database administrator and treats patients on a part-time basis at the local hospital and in their homes. Daniel said he was encouraged to apply for the permit by the city planning office because his proposed client load was a fraction of that of similar businesses already approved by the council.
Daniel then spent more than $800 preparing his application: providing blueprints, inspectors' signatures, a business plan, a petition signed by all of his immediate neighbors supporting his application and a copy of his certification from the Virginia Board of Nursing. Appointments would be scheduled to minimize neighborhood impact, and clients would park in his driveway. On Aug. 16, the planning commission approved Daniel's application and recommended its approval by the council.
Then came the public hearing Sept. 18. Four of Daniel's neighbors spoke on his behalf. A long line of opponents followed.
"And you know what?" said Michael Hudson, Daniel's neighbor. "I started to look at these people, and I realized I didn't know any of them."
Of the 21 residents who publicly opposed Daniel's application, two live on West Street. Many said they were against home businesses on principle, and others expressed concerns about the preservation of "a family-friendly atmosphere" in Old Town, the presence of "unknown" people in the neighborhood and the unfair "competitive advantage" that Daniel could gain by working out of his home.
After the public hearing, Devine approached Daniel's opponents in the parking lot. "I went up to them and said I wanted to understand," he recalled. " 'I don't know who you are or where you live.' And the first person to speak said, 'It's not about your lifestyle.' "
Devine was stunned. "How do people from a different neighborhood know about our lifestyle?" he asked.
The next week, when council member J. Steven Randolph (I) introduced a motion to approve Daniel's application, no one seconded it.
Daniel's application hadn't actually been rejected, because no member was willing to introduce a motion to do so. That led to a 45-minute freewheeling discourse on the city's special-use-permit code, with council members ultimately voting to refer the issue to its Land Use Committee for further study -- leaving Daniel in the lurch. That same night, someone scrawled anti-gay graffiti on the car window of one of Daniel's supportive neighbors, escalating tensions further.
If the council votes on Daniel's application at next Monday's meeting, at least three of the council's six members said they are likely to vote against it. One is Jackson H. Miller, the Republican candidate for the 50th District of the House of Delegates, who introduced the motion to approve another massage therapy business a year earlier.
"I've had a mixed record on home businesses," Miller said. "I'm opposed if neighbors are opposed. That's been my standard," he said, noting that he voted with the council earlier this year to reject an application for a home-based optometry clinic.
But that standard seems like an arbitrary one to Daniel. "If they would have told me from the very beginning, 'We do not allow this,' it would have been fine with me," he said. "I would have never started the process."
from The Washington Post

Anti-Gay E-Mail Sent To Students

YALE UNIVERSITY - An anonymous, apparently anti-gay e-mail and postering campaign blanketed parts of campus on Wednesday as Yale's gay community celebrated National Coming Out Day.
The occasion, which was celebrated across the country, comes as the University moves forward in providing more institutional support for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer students. But the festivities were shadowed by the e-mail and corresponding flyers posted around campus that appeared to condemn homosexuality as a sin.
The e-mail, which appeared to have been sent from a Yale e-mail account, claimed to be sponsored by the National Organization to Gain Acceptance for Your Sins, whose acronym is N.O.G.A.Y.S. Information Technology Services officials could not be reached for comment on Wednesday about whether the University is tracing the e-mail.
The early morning e-mail, sent under the alias "Yale LGBTTQQQQ … (et al.)," appeared to implicitly compare gays who come out to people who expose themselves as racists or Nazis. Flyers posted in areas including Cross Campus and the Yale post office had similar messages - one featured a picture of Sen. Joe Lieberman '64 LAW '67 (D-Conn.) and suggested that he is "coming out" as a Republican. Another suggested that actor Mel Gibson is coming out as an anti-Semite.
"There's no shame in being who you are," the e-mail said. "Just remember, admitting it doesn't make it right."
Anna Wipfler '09, the coordinator of the Yale LGBT Student Cooperative, said she hopes University officials can trace the e-mail back to its sender. She said such a show of intolerance is a reminder of why events like Coming Out Day are so important.
"There is still a reason we have this day," she said, "Because people either treat homophobia as a joke that doesn't need to be talked about or actually have problems with it."
Yale College Dean Peter Salovey could not be reached for comment Wednesday night.
On Old Campus, participants in the Coming Out Day festivities were unfazed by the e-mail, which organizers said was the exact kind of behavior the day hopes to discourage.
"It's really just a celebration more than something more political," Wipfler said. "It's something to promote pride. We have a lot of people coming out as allies … it gives people the chance to show solidarity and support."
By midday, more than 30 people had come to the Coming Out Day booth on Old Campus to have their picture taken as they walked through a symbolic, freestanding door that was set up for the celebration.
Wipfler said reaction to the celebration varied, with some students stopping by to pick up leaflets or candy while others did not pay the event much notice.
"There's been a mix," she said. "[Some] people are just a little bit confused. But I haven't seen any outright fingers in the air, or hateful anything."
Students at the Coming Out Day booth said that the day was meant to stress acceptance - regardless of whether a person is gay or straight.
"It celebrates the freedom to be yourself and to be unapologetic about it," said Raj Persaud '10, coordinator of the group Not-So-Straight Frosh.
Justin Ross '07 said the controversial posters and e-mails directly attacked the celebration's message that people can define themselves in any manner.
"[The Day] is about accepting diversity within our own community," Ross said. "People come through this door and they proclaim themselves as anything, and that's partly what the posters are making fun of in a way - because you can come out as whatever."
Coming Out Day coincides with the Yale administration's growing focus on issues relevant to the LGBTQ community, which had been lacking institutional support, students said, despite the University's reputation as the "gay Ivy."
Last month, the University appointed Maria Trumpler as a special adviser to the administration regarding LGBTQ issues. The appointment followed a report from the LGBTQ Needs Assessment Task Force last spring that said the University lacked ample support structures for gay students. In its meeting last month, the Yale Corporation approved the expansion of the University's nondiscrimination policy to include "gender identity or expression."
from The Yale Daily News / Thomas Kaplan

Anti-Gay Speakers Ignite Volatile Crowd At The University Of Michigan.

A Lansing man stood on the Diag yesterday preaching hatred toward the gay. His booming voice drew a fiery and at times offensive counter-protest.
"The Pope is going to hell," Michael Venyah shouted to the crowd of dozens gathered around him. "Homos are going to hell."
Then, signaling one student out of the crowd, Venyah proclaimed "You are going to hell!"
The comment was one of the many that inflamed the large, angry crowd that faced off with him on the Diag for much of the afternoon yesterday.
Venyah and Chris Lemieux, who said he'd been following Venyah since he became a Christian seven years ago, berated students with religious rhetoric for at least five hours, squaring off with students who swore and cursed at them.
Both wore red shirts with yellow lettering that said "ALL HOMOS GO TO HELL." "God did not make you gay," Lemieux shouted, following his proclamation with obscene descriptions of sexual acts, which he said would result in damnation.
Venyah, who leads the Lansing-based Soulwinners Ministry with his wife Tamika, says he is on a nationwide tour of college campuses. According to his website, www.soul-winners.org, he and Lemieux are at the beginning of an eight-month, 15,600-mile, 27-state, 64-campus tour.
"We are here to tell the students, faculty and staff of the judgment that awaits them," Venyah said.
Venyah also condemned oral sex, masturbation and any form of sex outside of marriage.
LSA sophomore Jeremy Borovitz was one of the many students who challenged Venyah and Lemieux in response to a derogatory comment about anal sex. After Lemieux finished a vivid tirade, Borovitz jumped out from the crowd toward the two black preachers.
"You know what else it says is OK in the Bible?" Borovitz said. "It says slavery is OK."
Borovitz then sarcastically suggested onlookers chain the preacher up and "drag him out of here."
Many in the angry crowd cheered and laughed.
Although most modern Christians do not believe the Bible condones slavery, scripture has been used to support the practice in the past.
Reached by phone late last night, Borovitz said he regretted using slavery as an example. He said he was angry at the preacher and that he reacted in the heat of the moment.
"It angered me what that guy was doing," he said. "I'm not gay, but if there was a gay person there, it would have offended them."
Borovitz said that he was trying to point out how ridiculous the preacher was being.
"Slavery's wrong," Borovitz said. "Slavery's inherently wrong. I mean it entirely sarcastically. It's a ridiculous concept."
Other students consulted their Bibles and tried to confront the two preachers with theological rebukes of their claims.
LSA junior Jonathan Tyrpak, who identified himself as a member of Campus Crusade for Christ, urged interested students to join him for a more civil discussion of Christianity.
"I think this man is a misrepresentation of what Jesus Christ says in the Bible," Tyrpak said. "I believe that God will forgive all your sins if you believe in him. I think the crowd's reaction has to do with the lack of grace that this man shows."
As the afternoon wore on, the exchanges between the two preachers and the crowd grew more intense.
A large group of students began chanting "asshole" loudly. Several same-sex students kissed and hugged each other in order to draw the scorn of the preachers. Others went a step further and tried to spank Lemieux. Another student attempted to flick ash from his cigarette on Venyah's head.
Jeff Speaks, a School of Music sophomore who stopped one student from drawing pictures of stick figures engaged in anal sex on the back of Lemieux's shirt, said he was appalled at the behavior of the mob on the Diag.
"I have a strong disagreement with what they are saying," Speaks said. "But the crowd's reaction is despicable. They should not be shoving him and taunting him - he has every right to be on the Diag."
Borovitz said it was hard to not take action.
"He is saying hateful things," Borovitz said. "And I do not believe I have to stand by and watch him preach hate."
Other students stood by silently watching the spectacle unfold.
"You learn a lot just sitting here," Business sophomore Eric Jarrett said. "You learn a lot about different views and a lot about how people behave."
Venyah, who drove into town this morning in a camper with the license plate "SIN NOT," said he works full-time as a preacher. He and his wife jointly hold the title to Soulwinners Ministries International, a business registered in Lansing.
Last winter, Venyah gained notoriety for preaching at Michigan State University.
He and his wife both attended MSU in the early 1990s according to reports by the State News, the campus paper.
Ashley Hajski, an LSA junior who identified herself as a Christian and a member of New Life Church, questioned Venyah's aggressive methods.
"I just wonder what his turnover rate is," Hajski said. "It doesn't really help to tell people they are evil."
Venyah said he has a 100-percent success rate.
"Everyone that is here today now knows they are living in sin," Venyah said.
Venyah said that he and his cohorts will be back.
"Because you are all so ignorant and hell-bound, we have no choice but to come back tomorrow," Venyah said.
from The Michigan Daily / Walter Nowinski