Gay Pride Comes Back To Orange County

Orange County's first-ever gay and lesbian pride festival was held in Santa Ana's Centennial Park in 1988, when angry Christian conservatives showed up not because they'd finally come out of the closet (knew it!) but to fling urine-filled balloons, taunt attendees with chants of "Go back to your closet," and cheer on an airplane they'd hired to fly over the event with a banner reading, "Sodomites out of Santa Ana! No AIDS in OC!"
It's gone downhill ever since.
That is to say, OC pride fests eventually became less controversial, more mainstream and waaaaaay more taken for granted. (Wish we could say the same about angry Christian conservatives.) By 2002, and event that had once drawn 9,000 revelers was quietly canceled due to waning interest. Locals have had to be content with pride weekends in Long Beach, Palm Springs and West Hollywood ever since.
James S. Nowick aims to change that.
A member of the Orange County Equality Coalition and a UC Irvine professor who organized a Proposition 8 forum on campus last spring with UCI Law School dean Erwin Chemerinsky, Norwick is also helping organize the Orange County Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Festival "revival" on Saturday, Aug. 15, in William R. Mason Regional Park in Irvine.
"OC's LGBT Pride festival started 20 years ago in a public park, but was driven to the refuge of the UCI campus in subsequent years because of a confrontation between participants and protesters," Norwick explained. "Eventually, the cost of renting the UCI campus made it prohibitive to continue. Catalyzed by Proposition 8, the pride festival has been revived in a family friendly form as a public picnic."
If that sounds modest in comparison to the past, that's by design.
"The idea is to start relatively small and to commit to a picnic and build upon it," says Norwick, who expects 500 to 1,000 attendees. "It is my hope that in future years the festival will be larger and have a formal parade component."
This year, an informal precession will pass along Harvard Avenue to Mason Park in association with the "Orange County Kiss In for Equal Rights," an anti-Prop 8 event that occurs during the festival at 2 p.m. (Smoochers start gathering at 11 a.m. in front of Steelhead Brewery, across from UCI at 4175 Campus Dr., and then proceed to the festival site.)
The festival itself is scheduled to run from noon to 4 p.m. and mostly be centered around Mason Park Shelter 6. Speakers include Irvine City Councilwoman Beth Krom and Jennifer C. Pizer, Lamda Legal's senior counsel and Marriage Project director. Other entertainment is planned.
Participants are encouraged to bring picnic lunches, but alcohol is discouraged as this is an event that encourages the attendance of families, even dogs. Those who must get their drink on should hang around for the after-party at Steelhead from 4-8 p.m.
Festival admission is free, which is exactly how Norwick hopes it will always be.
"I feel that a public, participatory LGBT Pride celebration is better suited to Orange County than an extravagant, expensive festival, such as those in LA, Long Beach, or San Diego," he said. "Orange County's response to Proposition 8 has convinced me that the OC LGBT community has a tremendous grass-roots energy, and I would like our LGBT Pride celebration to match the strengths and needs of our suburban LGBT community."
from OC Weekly

L.A. Gay Pride Parade Darkened By U.S. Stance On Marriage

LOS ANGELES - The mayors of Los Angeles and San Francisco joined gay rights groups Sunday in raising concerns about the Obama administration's defense of a federal law restricting same-sex marriage.
"I think it's a big mistake," San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said shortly before he and his Los Angeles counterpart, Antonio Villaraigosa, kicked off the annual L.A. Pride parade in West Hollywood.
The mayors, potential rivals in next year's Democratic primary for governor, were each careful to avoid direct criticism of President Obama.
But their mutual disapproval of a Justice Department brief filed Thursday in support of the Defense of Marriage Act comes amid growing discontent with Obama among gay rights groups.
The battle over same-sex marriage added a serious note to the West Hollywood celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in Greenwich Village that launched the modern gay rights movement.
"I'm concerned about some of the arguments being made by the Justice Department," Villaraigosa told a cluster of news crews on Santa Monica Boulevard as motorcyclists in the "Dykes on Bikes" group revved their engines for the parade's start.
In his campaign for the White House, Obama pledged to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which President Clinton signed into law during his 1996 reelection campaign. The law bars the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages and enables states to refuse to recognize such marriages performed in other states.
The Justice Department brief, filed in opposition to a federal lawsuit arguing that the law is unconstitutional, says the act "reflects a cautiously limited response to society's still-evolving understanding of the institution of marriage."
It was filed by Assistant Atty. Gen. Tony West, who was a San Francisco fundraiser for Obama, and two other Justice Department lawyers.
Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund, called the administration's defense of the law unacceptable.
The Defense of Marriage Act "is and has always been an immoral attack on same-sex couples, our families and our fundamental humanity," Carey said.
Other groups denouncing the brief included the Human Rights Campaign, Lambda Legal and the American Civil Liberties Union.
White House spokesman Shin Inouye said the Justice Department, in submitting the brief, was following its normal practice of defending a law on the books in court.
"The president has said he wants to see a legislative repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act because it prevents [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] couples from being granted equal rights and benefits," Inouye said.
"However, until Congress passes legislation repealing the law, the administration will continue to defend the statute when it is challenged in the justice system."
Obama, he said, "remains fully committed" to his proposals on gay rights.
Gay rights groups have called on Obama to act more quickly on the major ones, including abandonment of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy that bars gays in the armed forces from disclosing their sexual orientation.
Rodney Scott, president of Christopher Street West, the parade's chief sponsor, said he was "deeply saddened" that Obama's administration was defending the marriage law.
"That's not the president I voted for," he said as thousands of people lining Santa Monica Boulevard cheered the procession of marchers and floats.
Bill Rosendahl, a gay member of the Los Angeles City Council and early Obama supporter, was equally blunt.
"I'm very upset with him on everything he's done regarding us so far," he said.
Among those vowing to fight for the repeal of Proposition 8, the November ballot measure that barred same-sex marriage in California, were Villaraigosa and Newsom.
"We're going to do everything we can," Villaraigosa said, "to put this issue back on the ballot."
from The Los Angeles Times

Forty Children To Join In Gay Pride Parade

AMSTERDAM - Forty children will take part in Saturday's Gay Pride boat parade through the Amsterdam canals. They are all under the age of 16.
It is the first time a boat especially for children will be included in the annual parade. Danny Hoekzema, a 14-year-old boy, thought up the idea for the children's boat together with gay rights organisation COC.
Hoekzema's announcement of the plan this spring caused considerable commotion. A ban seemed imminent, but Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen and Emancipation Minister Ronald Plasterk gave permission after COC agreed that the children would be accompanied by their parents. The children would also not be dressed as scantily as many of those taking part on 'regular' boats.
COC announced yesterday that 40 "homosexual children" would be taking part. "They will be encouraged by dozens of youngsters who are not venturesome enough to join in from the boat. About sixteen parents will be on board, wearing T-shirts with the text 'Proud Parent'."
COC's intention is "to show the entire country that there are young homosexuals who are completely normal boys and girls." For COC chairman Frank van Dalen, there is no doubt that children can know that they are homosexual or lesbian. The question is "why there are young people who sometimes know this as young as eleven, but who are denied the right to be happy and to shape their own identity."
from NIS News

Long Beach Gay Pride

Thousands will flood downtown streets this weekend for the annual Long Beach Lesbian and Gay Pride Celebration.
The event, now in its 24th year, is expected to attract some 35,000 festival participants each day and about 20,000 for Sunday's parade.
Among the musical artists scheduled to perform this weekend are Academy Award-winner Jennifer Hudson ("Dreamgirls"), the Indigo Girls and Sophie B. Hawkins.
The theme this year is "Harmony in Colors," in reference to the unification of the city's culturally diverse population.
Festivities today and Sunday will be held at Rainbow Lagoon Park and Rainbow Harbor Park from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Sunday's parade will kick off at 10:30 a.m. at Ocean Boulevard and Temple Avenue. It will then proceed west on Ocean Boulevard, and conclude at Los Alamitos Boulevard.
Festival tickets are $20 and can be purchased at the festival site entrance.
For more information about this year's festival and parade, visit Long Beach Pride or call (562) 987-9191.
from The Long Beach Press Telegram

Russian Gays Lose Case Against Moscow Mayor

MOSCOW - A Russian court on Friday threw out a lawsuit by two gay rights activists against Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov for publicly branding Gay Pride parades a "satanic act."
"The court has not found reasons to rule in favor of the suit," a spokesman for Moscow's Tverskoi district court said.
Luzhkov, who has run Moscow since 1992, has vowed to stop any attempt by homosexuals to march through Russia's capital this year.
The two gay rights activists, who organize such parades, filed a suit against Luzhkov in February demanding he retract his remark and pay them a symbolic 1,000 rubles ($39) each for moral damage.
"It was a joke of a process with violations of all the legal procedures of a civil case," one of the complainants, Nikolai Alexeyev, told Reuters after the court ruling.
He said the judge had not examined their arguments, made no comment on the tone of Luzhkov's remark and was overly casual.
"I have never seen anything like this in my life: the judge came out of her room and announced the decision not from the judge's seat but from the doorway.
"All she lacked was a muffin and a cup of tea."
Alexeyev quoted Luzhkov's spokeswoman in court as saying the mayor had violated no laws but simply exercised his right to free speech.
Last year Moscow authorities banned gay activists from holding a parade. When the march went ahead despite the ban, the activists were detained by police, abused by militant Christians and attacked by neo-Nazis.
In January Alexeyev, who was one of the parade's organizers, filed a suit at the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights against Russia for banning the march, demanding 20$26,340 compensation.
Russia decriminalized homosexuality in 1993. Tolerance is slowly rising, with a handful of gay clubs opening in large cities since the Soviet Union collapsed. But the country has no high-profile homosexual politicians or business leaders.
Alexeyev said he would appeal against Friday's ruling.
from MSNBC

Gay Pride Flag Vandalized

A flag hung on Cross Campus to celebrate Pride Week at Yale was found desecrated Sunday, forcing students in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Cooperative at Yale to remove it.
The duct-tape lettering on the rainbow-colored flag — which the Co-op had hung on the Porter Gate between Berkeley and Calhoun colleges — was altered late Saturday night or early Sunday morning so that it read “Yale Gluttony,” instead of “Yale Pride,” LGBT Co-op coordinator Anna Wipfler ’09 said. She said the LGBT Co-op board has not yet decided on a definite response to the incident, but is likely to address the issue through dialogue and Wednesday’s “day of silence” rather than turn to the administration for help.
The desecration of the flag is part of an ongoing pattern of offensive and insensitive attempts at humor on campus that are made at the expense of minority groups, Wipfler said. As an example of the increasing incidence of inappropriate jokes, Wipfler pointed to a campus-wide e-mail condemning homosexuality as a sin that was sent out by a fictional group called the National Organization to Gain Acceptance for Your Sins — or N.O.G.A.Y.S. — during last October’s National Coming Out Day.
“It definitely feels like a repeat of the N.O.G.A.Y.S. deal from the fall, and it’s really sad to the LGBT Co-op board in particular because we thought we made it clear to folks that this kind of ‘humor’ is just not funny,” she said. “We spent a large part of our time last October getting over that, so to see it just happen again feels like an attack on us personally.”
In November, two sophomores in Jonathan Edwards College — Will Wilson ’09 and Matthew Brimer ’09 — apologized to the LGBT Co-op board for sending the e-mail and posting similar fliers around campus, saying their actions were intended as a joke.
Other recent incidents include jokes published in a few campus periodicals that made fun of various minority groups, including Asian-Americans. Although such actions have been intended as humorous, they are still hurtful to many members of those groups, LGBT Co-op Political Action Chair Hugh Baran ’09 said.
“I find it offensive because I’m sick of people making jokes at the expense of people’s identity,” he said. “I don’t think my queerness is something that should be a butt of someone’s joke all the time, in a way that is really hurtful and that is suggesting that my identify is in this case sinful.”
Baran said the alteration of the flag right before the beginning of Bulldog Days on Monday is particularly worrisome, since many queer pre-frosh might be discouraged from attending Yale if they saw the flag while visiting.
Although they are still deciding whether to approach University administrators about responding to the incident, Wipfler said, for now, Co-op members are devoting most of their energy to generating public discussion about issues relating to sexuality and gender identity on campus. The LGBT Co-op will use an evening rally after Wednesday’s day of silence — which was originally scheduled not as a response to any particular event, but as part of a nationwide campaign — to discuss the vandalism, she said.
“I think it will be less behind the scenes, less one-on-one talks, and more public reaction and discussion about how this keeps happening,” Wipfler said. “We’re going to go with public avenues of silence as protest, followed by public discussions, which everyone is welcome to come to.”
Baran said he does not know what response would be appropriate, but he thinks the administration has a responsibility to respond in a proactive manner to cases of “bigotry” on campus.
Dean of Student Affairs Betty Trachtenberg said she has not seen the defaced flag but is open to working with LGBT Co-op members if they approach her to talk about the issue. Taking down another group’s sign and altering it without informing anyone is a “cowardly” thing to do, she said.
“If somebody has some problem with what the gay pride people are doing, they have to come forward and talk about it openly and above-board,” Trachtenberg said. “Why they don’t want to identify themselves is beyond me.”
Wednesday’s day of silence is part of a two-week-long series of talks and other events meant to highlight queer issues on campus that began April 7.
from The Yale Daily News

And More From Palm Springs Pride

It's been a while since I went to a gay pride parade, but this weekend I attended Palm Springs gay pride. Yes, there were the lesbian bikers, adult cheerleaders, and all the usual suspects, but there was also a group called Cane Pride and they got the biggest cheer. Another huge roar went up when Talk magazine's float suffered a potentially tragic failure.

from The WOW Report / Fenton Bailey

'Pride' Takes Center Stage In Palm Springs

Leather vests, rainbow-spangled baseball hats covering white hair, rainbow suspenders, rainbow dog kerchiefs and that special blend of tourism, rodeo, retirement, youth, Gay Pride and real estate.
It’s the 20th year of Palm Springs Pride, a two-day festival dedicated to celebrating the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community in a city measured by the Census as one of the “gayest” per capita in the United States.
Rick Bard, 45, of Salisbury, N.C. came to town for five days for the Pride Festival and to visit friends. He said he had not been to Palm Springs Pride, but had been to Palm Springs for vacation before.
“I think it’s a welcome embrace to the cultural diversity of the town, “ said Bard, who has been out for 25 years, he said. “It’s nice to see couples from the young to the old. I’ve been to Pride events before (in other cities) where everybody is.”
Bard said he was most looking forward to Dykes on Bikes, who returned to the parade this year with 17 motorcycles.
He admits the other thing he likes about Pride is “the dyed poodles.”
Bard said he likes Palm Springs because it is a place with a “comfortable population.”
Renee Divine, of Sky Valley, an out lesbian for about 20 years, was attending her 14 or 15th Palm Springs Pride parade. She and her partner remembered going to the parade many years ago when it wasn’t held on Palm Canyon, but on auxiliary streets.
“I think it’s fantastic and that it’s downtown and right in the heart of Palm Springs. We don’t have to worry about people staring at us.”
Thousands lined the parade route from Alejo to Ramon — from men in their early 20s to couples both male and female who are of retirement age. The golf shirt and shorts, the $450 LA jeans, the barechested, the proud t-shirt slogans, the lesbian clad in only a brown bikini, the Leather Order of the Desert in boots and and straps, all different uniforms were accepted.
Scott Betti of Palm Desert, who works for Trader Joe’s and his friends Gary Goodrich, who is in management in San Diego and Jan Hensley, who’s retired and lives in Hemet styled themselves as the “Drag Queen Repair Team,” dressed in shocking green t-shirts, equiped with extra false eyelashes, hydrogen peroxide and nail polish remover in tool belts as they passed out beads to Pride attendees.
“We’re beautifying the street, a little pink at a time,” Betti quipped. It’s their second year as the “Drag Queen Repair Team.”
“There’s no such thing as natural beauty,” said Goodrich, quoting the line from movie “Steel Magnolias” line for line from memory.
Betti and Goodrich described themselves as out gay males. Hensley said “I’m married. I’m straight. I’m just here to support my boys.”
Betti said that despite their fun-filled endeavor, Pride is “all about getting together and having a good time,” as a community — not just about the more extravagantly made up members of the community, though local female impersonators — like the famed Pinkie — passed by looking in no need of repairs.
The parade was led by a flower-adorned car bearing a portrait of Bob Hoven, considered the “father of Pride” in the desert, who passed away this year.
“Bob Hoven, 1931-2006 Man of the Year,” the black convertible’s placard read.
Hoven was the founder of one of the desert’s first gay publications and was one of the best-known people in the local community.
Other messages were also sent by floats in the parade. The California Teachers Association group urged Pride attendees to vote on Tuesday and carried printed rainbow placards reading “Thank You Fire Fighters” to the fire fighters who fought the deadly 40,200-acre Esperanza Fire near Cabazon in the past weeks.
Gay veterans, real estate and home building companies and local gay politicians were also out in force in the parade.
Palm Springs Councilman Steve Pougnet rode in a convertible with his partner Chris Green. The two dads have just welcomed a set of twins. “The babies are home sleeping,” Pougnet said from the car. “They’re too young.”
Other Palm Springs politicians including Mayor Pro Tem Ginny Foat, Councilman Mike McCullough and Mayor Ron Oden, rode in convertibles. Oden greeted paradgoers with “Good Morning Everyone!Happy Pride!“
Cathedral City’s politicians were out in force as well, with Chuck Vaszquez and Paul Marchand, both openly gay and up for re-election riding in convertibles. Councilman Greg Pettis rode in a convertible with Mark Leno, a Demoractic state official. Mayor Kathy DeRosa, also on the Nov. 7 ballot for re-election, waved to constituents from her convertible.
Democratic candidate for Congress David Roth brought a contingent of about 50 marchers, decked out in blue Roth t-shirts and rainbow Roth bumperstickers.
High school and college students were represented, with a group of Palm Springs High School students on a Gay Associated Youth float and students from Twentynine Palms High School marching to represent their school. College of the Desert and Riverside Community College students also brought chapters of their schools’ gay student groups.
Gay Rodeo paraded the flags of the 50 states, held by 50 gay cowboys. “Great Outdoors,” a group of 4X4 Jeep outdoor enthusiasts also had floats in the parade.
Boots In Squares, “GLBT Square Dancing in the Coachella Valley” danced along and invited people to join their Monday night square dances.
Pride groups from other California cities checked in as well, with contingents from San Diego, Long Beach and San Francisco. The Bienestar group from the greater LA area marched to Latin dance music.
The Los Angeles Police Department, which stressed that it is hiring, sent a sharp black Hummer with a female officer waving a large rainbow flag. Cheerleading groups from San Diego, San Francisco and Los Angeles marched and did stunts.
The Palm Springs High School Marching Band was greeted with great enthusiasm, their red, black and white uniforms and marching movements crisp in the November warmth.
The Braille Institute of Rancho Mirage entered a group that got some of the loudest applause along the route. The “Cane Pride: Precision White Cane Drill Team,” a group of visually impaired and blind marchers, stepped right along with their red-tipped white canes leading the way.
It was the 17 motorcycles ridden by more than 30 Dykes on Bikes that brought up the parade’s finale. The group had not been allowed to ride last year.
Women, two to a bike, from Sharon Stone look alikes on Harleys to a regal blonde in turquoise fringed suede chaps to a gal resembling a more masculine Ernest Borgnine revved their hogs to the approval of the crowd.
As thousands lining the streets made their way to the Pride Festival at Sunrise Park, to the area’s clubs and bars and to downtown restaurants, Tom Sweet, recently retired to Thousand Palms, said “There’s nothing like Palm Springs.”
from The Desert Sun

Israel Refuses To Ban Gay Pride Parade

JERUSALEM - Israel's attorney general refused to ban a gay pride parade in Jerusalem despite threats of violence from ultra-Orthodox Jews, instructing police and gay activists to try to work out a compromise, the police commander said Sunday.
A Justice Ministry statement said Attorney General Meni Mazuz ordered police to meet with gay activists "to work out a reasonable alternative proposal" for the march, set for Friday on a route through the middle of the city. The meeting is to take place Monday, gay activists said, and a compromise was likely.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews have rioted in Jerusalem nearly every night over the past week, burning garbage cans, blocking roads and assaulting police officers in an attempt to get the authorities to call off the march, approved months ago by the Supreme Court. Many religious Jews, Muslims and Christians see homosexuality as a sin and the march as an affront to the sanctity of the holy city.
Police said Sunday that the danger of violence was too great to allow the march to proceed, but left the final decision to Mazuz.
"We understand that the potential danger to life and bloodshed is greater than that to free speech," said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.
Ella Canetti, one of the organizers of the gay pride march, said they would meet police on Monday and were willing to be flexible.
"We are prepared to alter the route of our march to meet police concerns," she told The Associated Press. "According to what we understand, a modest gay pride march will take place in Jerusalem."
After meeting Mazuz, Jerusalem police commander Ilan Franco said, "It may be that there will be a march and a closing event at place which both sides decide is reasonable and minimizes potential damage and danger."
But it was unclear whether such a compromise would satisfy the ultra-Orthodox Jewish opponents.
At last year's march, an ultra-Orthodox man stabbed and wounded three participants.
There was some dissent Sunday among gay activists. Saar Nathaniel, a gay member of Jerusalem's City Council and one of the march's planners, suggested Sunday that gay activists cancel the march in return for ultra-Orthodox members of parliament supporting gay rights legislation.
A gay columnist in the liberal Haaretz daily called on organizers to show sensitivity for Jerusalem's special status as a city holy to three faiths and move the march to the more permissive Tel Aviv.
Jerusalem police said six policemen have been hurt in the clashes over the past week and 60 rioters have been arrested. Over the weekend, the disturbances spread outside Jerusalem to the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv, where rioters blocked one of Israel's main highways with burning tires.
from The Washington Post

Sentencing ing San Diego Gay Pride Attack

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - Three men who pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a series of brutal beatings after a gay pride festival in Balboa Park were sentenced yesterday to prison.
James Carroll, 24; Lyonn Tatum, 18; and Kenneth Lincoln, 24, admitted to criminal charges Friday on the second day of a San Diego Superior Court hearing in which prosecutors began laying out evidence.
In keeping with the plea agreement, Judge Frederick Maguire sentenced Carroll to 11 years in prison, Tatum to eight years and Lincoln to 32 months.
Prosecutors said Carroll, Tatum and a juvenile assaulted six men with a baseball bat and a knife July 29 as the victims were leaving the annual Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Festival in Balboa Park.
The attacks started about 10:45 p.m., on Redwood Circle near the lawn bowling center east of Sixth Avenue and north of Laurel Street.
One of the victims was beaten so severely that almost every bone in his face was broken. Reconstructive surgery was required for that victim, who almost died, and he spent two weeks in a hospital intensive care unit, according to court testimony.
Another victim, Paul Mullins, 34, testified he was hit twice with a bat by one assailant while another two shouted a gay slur.
Mullins said he called 911 after the attack and followed the men for about 10 minutes before they attacked another man sitting on a bench. He testified he then saw them beat a man in the bushes near Cabrillo Bridge while shouting “faggot.”
Mullins told the judge yesterday he was saddened and angry that no one who came in contact with the attackers, particularly those who heard them planning it, tried to stop them.
Mullins said he was “disappointed” he will have to attend a sentencing next week for a 15-year-old boy involved in the beatings, and speak to a judge about the teenager's fate.
“I don't know him. I don't know much about him, but this is what you've dumped in my lap,” Mullins said to the defendants.
The teenager pleaded guilty last Monday in Juvenile Court to three counts of assault with a deadly weapon and hate crime allegations. He could be sentenced to up to 13 years in the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Division of Juvenile Justice when he is sentenced Oct. 4.
Carroll pleaded guilty to attempted murder and assault. He also admitted using a bat and carrying out a hate crime.
Tatum pleaded guilty to assault charges, using a knife and committing a hate crime.
Lincoln, who was on parole on a domestic violence conviction at the time of the beatings, pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact. Prosecutors said he was not present during the attacks, but tattooed Tatum and shaved his head to help keep him from being recognized and arrested.
Lincoln and Carroll told the judge Friday that they disagreed with prosecutors' version of the facts, but felt it was in their best interest to take the plea agreement. Had they been convicted of the original charges they would have faced much longer sentences.
from The San Diego Union-Tribune

3 Men Plead Guilty In Attacks At San Diego Gay Pride

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - Three men arrested in connection with a series of beatings after a gay-pride festival in Balboa Park that prosecutors said were hate crimes pleaded guilty yesterday to criminal charges.
James Carroll, 24; Lyonn Tatum, 18; and Kenneth Lincoln, 24, admitted the crimes on the second day of a preliminary hearing in San Diego Superior Court, during which they heard testimony from three victims.
Prosecutors contended that Carroll, Tatum and a juvenile attacked the men with a baseball bat and a knife shortly after the annual Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Festival ended July 29.
Carroll pleaded guilty to attempted murder and assault, and admitted he used a bat in the attacks. He also admitted committing a hate crime and agreed to be sentenced to 11 years in prison.
Tatum agreed to an eight-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to assault charges, using a knife and committing a hate crime.
Lincoln, who was on parole for a domestic-violence conviction, was not accused of taking part in the attacks, but prosecutors said he shaved Tatum's head and tattooed his arm afterward, apparently to change his appearance.
Like Carroll, Lincoln told the judge yesterday he did not agree with the prosecutor's version of facts of the case, but felt it was in his best interest to take advantage of the plea bargain.
He pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact and will likely be sentenced to 32 months in prison.
Judge Frederick Maguire is scheduled to sentence the men Monday.
A teenage boy who also was involved in the attacks pleaded guilty Monday in Juvenile Court to three counts of assault with a deadly weapon and hate crime allegations. He is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 4.
Prosecutor Oscar Garcia said six men were attacked that night and that the most severely injured victim underwent reconstructive facial surgery and was recently released from a hospital.
Garcia said he did not know whether the man would appear in court Monday, but that all of the victims have been invited to attend and testify.
During the preliminary hearing, a detective told the judge that a girl said two men and a juvenile told her at a party that they were going out to rob people the night of the gay-pride festival. When they returned, the men were heard bragging about the assaults, with one saying he stabbed a man and another saying he smashed someone in the head with a bat.
The girl identified the man with the bat as Carroll and the man with the knife as Tatum, according to the testimony.
One of the victims, Paul Mullins, said he was hit twice with a baseball bat and that he saw the assailants attack two other men while shouting a gay slur. Mullins, 34, said he followed the attackers toward the festival for more than 10 minutes while talking to a 911 dispatcher.
Mullins said he saw the attackers assault a fourth man on a bench in Redwood Circle, an area where he said gay men often congregate after dark
from The San Diego Union-Tribune

2006 Taipei Gay Pride Festival Begins

TAIPEI, CHINA - Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou officiated at a ceremony yesterday marking the opening of Taipei's 2006 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) festival as well as the beginning of the city's LGBT civil rights movement.
Addressing the opening, Ma said it is hoped that by holding the festival, alternately titled the "LGBT Civil Rights Movement," Taipei will become a society that has peace, compassion and respect for all voices and cultures.
It is also hoped that Taipei will become bigger and greater by showing its commitment to multicultural tolerance, Ma added.
Ma announced the start of the annual Taipei LGBT civil rights movement by giving out a rainbow flag to participants after the ceremony was held in front of Taipei City Hall.
The rainbow flag was a gift from San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newson, who wrote to congratulate the city government for the Taipei LGBT Festival and work promoting human rights and in particular LGBT rights.
Newson has strived to promote the welfare of San Francisco's gay community since his election. His efforts have made San Francisco a strong example in the world in promoting gay marriage and rights.
With the involvement of city officials, San Francisco's LGBT movement is no longer based on an individual's quest for identity, but a collective effort on achieving true human rights and equal rights, said Chung Che-liang, commissioner of the city's Department of Civil Affairs.
With a similar aspiration toward becoming a world-class metropolis with a prosperous, multicultural atmosphere, the Taipei city government has a lot more to learn about its LGBT residents and their needs, Chung said.
Although Taipei has a long way to catch up, it is now the best city in all of Asia in terms of a LGBT rights movement and protection, Chung said.
The rainbow-flag-raising ceremony was followed by three different forums to map various aspects of Taipei's LGBT movement. All forums took place in the Taipei City Council's main assembly hall.
Taipei began to sponsor Taiwan's first LGBT Festival in 2000.
from The China Post