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US: City Council hopeful may lose place after allegations of using homophobic slurs
During the council meeting, Friedman said: I wouldn t bring this up if this was not a very long series of posts around the Internet on blog sites, on YouTube, that are extremely disturbing, that are racist, homophobic, misogynist, threatening and really beyond something that we as a city can afford to have associated with one of our commissioners. A user named Zareh Sinanyan, had been posting comments on Youtube, as well as other websites, including homophobic, Islamophobic and racist views, up until around five years ago, according to an email sent to at least three City Council members. The allegations arose after a Glendale Blog, sent screenshots of the comments to the council.
Some of the comments were posted in response to other users, however a Facebook comment from September 2012, allegedly left by the City Council hopeful, on the Armenian National Committee of America included a racial slur against mongolians. Another reads: Fuck you, fucking faggot. Name the place bitch.
Tell me where you are and I will be happy to meet you and shove a big tennis racquet up your vratsi ass. Most of the original comments had been removed from Facebook and YouTube. Both Friedman and Councilman Ara Najarian had moved to have the City Council consider taking the accused off the city Community Development Block Grant Advisory Committee at Tuesday s meeting.
In an election on 2 April, both Najarian and Friedman are seeking re-election, and are among 12 candidates, including Sinanyan, running for three seats. Sinanyan was appointed to the committee in November 2009 by Najarian and he served as chairman between 2009 and 2011. Friedman and Najarian declined to comment on the case ahead of Tuesday s meeting.
A spokesman for the council said that some people believed the comments were placed there as a cruel hoax . Scott Lowe, a blogger who reported the images, said that it appeared the posts were made anonymously, but that when Sinanyan linked his YouTube and Google+ accounts, the site retroactively connected his name to all comments made prior. He said the comments were removed this week, as emails began circulating.
The agenda for Tuesday s meeting read: City staff has not verified and does not and cannot represent that these posts or any other posts were made by Mr. Sinanyan. The accused s campaign director, Elen Asatryan, said: Since the City Council has chosen to place this on its agenda, he will address those concerns on Tuesday.
Several local leaders have pulled out from supporting Sinanyan, until it is proven that he did not write the comments. They include Representative Adam Schiff, Los Angeles mayoral candidate Eric Garcetti, and City Councilman Paul Krekorian. Krekorian wrote to Sinanyan on Friday to say that he was withdrawing his support.
He said: While I very much hope that the facts will demonstrate that you have no connection to these vile comments, until such time I cannot even impliedly lend my support to intolerant viewpoints and language that are contrary to everything I believe. On the campaign Facebook page for Sinanyan, his supporters have referred to these allegations as a smear campaign . Unfortunately it has become a common practice in this town that if you cannot beat an individual and/or when you feel that you have no possible chance against a candidate of Zareh s caliber, start spreading lies and rumors in order to distract people from the real issues, posted Sam Manoukian, a current member of Glendale s Civil Service Commission.
I promise you that we will diligently work to find out who is behind this smear campaign and hold them responsible for their actions.
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US: Illinois Republican party chairman may be ousted for same-sex marriage support
It strengthens and reinforces a key Republican value that the law should treat all citizens equally. Mr Brady said of the special meeting that it enforced public perception that the Republican party is a group of old white guys , but said he would respect the decision of the committee. State Central Committeeman Jim Oberweiss predicted that the special meeting would get the required three-fifths of committee support needed to vote Mr Brady out of the position.
When you start publicly lobbying against a plank in our state and national party platforms, without even discussing with or advising the board of directors, I think he s gone too far. We d have exactly the same reaction if suddenly Pat decided to talk about the merits of Obamacare, Mr Oberweiss added. The National Organisation for Marriage (NOM) organised a campaign to flood committee members with emails calling for Mr Brady to be ousted.
In February NOM pledged to spend $500,000 ( 329,000) to defeat any pro-equal marriage Republicans. Former Republican Governor Jim Edgar, who is anti-marriage equality, said he felt Mr Brady had done a thankless job , and cautioned against ousting him from his role, saying the party would be damaged for firing a major figure over their a personal view on a social issue. If you re concerned about the future of the party, if this is how it s perceived, We got rid of him because he s for same-sex marriage, long term that could have a detrimental effect on the party, he said.
In many ways Mr Brady s support echoed that of the British Prime Minister David Cameron who said I don t support gay marriage in spite of being a Conservative. I support gay marriage because I am a Conservative. Just like the Conservative back-benchers in the UK who oppose David Cameron s support for equality, Republican politicians have condemned Mr Brady s support.
I was shocked, Mr Oberweiss said: Very surprised. Did not expect that and didn t know why he would have done that. There were even calls from within the party for Mr Brady to resign, which he resisted.
Mr Brady stood by his support saying: If people want to throw me out because I took on an issue of discrimination as the chairman of the Republican Party, the party founded by Abraham Lincoln, then that s that s up to them and they re free to do it. But I m not backing down. Discuss this Get the latest LGBT headlines in your inbox with our free daily newsletter!
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London: Anti-gay marriage public meeting at Tooting Mosque in response to Muslim MPs support for equal marriage
According to the organisers, it s in response to the huge controversy of last month s decision of the majority of British Muslim MPs to support the government same-sex marriage bill. Muslim MPs Rushanara Ali (Labour), Sajid Javid (Conservative) Shabana Mahmood (Labour) and Anas Sarwar (Labour) voted in favour. Britain s most senior Muslim MP, shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan, has recently received death threats for voting in support of the bill.
The Chair of the Wandsworth LGBT forum, David Robson, became aware of the meeting on Friday afternoon after a member of the forum came across an advert near his home. Mr Robson told PinkNews.co.uk that the forum was worried about what potentially could be said at the meeting and the impact on the reputation of the borough as the meeting sends out an anti-gay message . According to Mr Robson, the Metropolitan Police has been informed of the meeting.
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FBI investigates gay and racist hate incidents at Ohio s Oberlin College
In one instance, a note was left in the Multicultural Resource Center that read Nigger + Faggot Center. In the same month, a poster was defaced to say Year of the Queer . Oberlin College was one of the first university s in America to allow racial integration between white and black students.
Classes were cancelled on Monday 4 March after a report of someone wearing what looked like a Ku Klux Klan-type hooded robe on campus. Oberlin College declared Monday a Day of Solidarity and President Marvin Krislov said in a statement: We hope today will allow the entire community students, faculty, and staff to make a strong statement about the values that we cherish here at Oberlin: inclusion, respect for others, and a strong and abiding faith in the worth of every individual. Indeed, the strength of Oberlin comes from our belief that diversity and openness enriches us all, and enhances the educational mission at its core.
Campus Pride previously gave Oberlin 5-out-of-5 for gay-friendliness.
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US: Parents of Tyler Clementi demand apology from anti-gay group for speech referring to their son s suicide
She was speaking to a group of Catholic students at the university back in February, and encouraged them to encourage gay peers to discourage them from becoming sexually active. That kid Tyler Clementi who killed himself who threw himself off the George Washington Bridge , she said. I mean, there was a much older man in the picture And so I think friendship is what you have to offer.
There are a lot of situations where people are doing something sexual that s probably not the best thing for them and it would be better if they had somebody who d be friends with them without coming on to them or without judging them. Jane and Joseph Clementi called Morse s comments ludicrous , for linking their son s suicide support from LGBT peers. To exploit our late son s name to advance an anti-equality agenda is offensive and wrong, the Clementis said in a statement.
By doing so, National Organization for Marriage proves that not only is there no low they will not sink to, to advance their cruel agenda but that neither they nor Ms Morse have any grip on reality. The very idea that Tyler s tragedy happened because of too much support instead of not enough is ludicrous. Shame on them.
GLAAD and the Human Rights Campaign, as well as the Clementis called for the apology from NOM. This is among the more reprehensible tactics we ve seen from NOM, GLAAD President Herndon Graddick said in a statement. They re using Tyler s story to pit young people against their own peers.
The case of Tyler s suicide attracted national attention in the US, including comment from President Obama, and prompted anti-bullying measures. Clementi, a Ridgewood native, committed suicide in September 2010 during his freshman year at Rutgers University after his roommate secretly recorded and broadcast his romantic encounter with another man in their dorm room. Roommate Dharun Ravi was convicted last year of invasion of privacy, bias intimidation and other counts and served less than a month in jail.
He is now appealing his conviction.
Rutgers University has announced that they will open the Tyler Clementi Centre, which will create programmes to help people transition to college.
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Gay Los Angeles city council candidate elected
Mr Bonin won on Tuesday night by a landslide, earning 61.9% of the votes. Candidates require more than 50% of the vote to avoid a runoff in May. He said on his website: I am grateful, relieved and thrilled to report that I won an outright victory yesterday, winning 61% of the vote.
I am truly humbled to have earned 17,566 votes more votes than any other city council candidate in the City of LA! Mr Bonin was quick to jump into the race, receiving an endorsement from Mr Rosendahl and managed to secure other major endorsements from politicians, neighbourhood groups and labour unions. During the election, he raised $357,000 ( 237,000) which was far more than his rivals Odysseus Bostick, Fred Sutton and Tina Hess, none of whom raised close to even $100,000 ( 66,380).
Mr Bonin will now represent the Westside of the city. He said: Working together, I know that we will move Los Angeles forward, do good, and get things done. There are several gay candidates who are still looking to win elections in Los Angeles including LA City Controller candidate Ron Galperin, LA Council District 13 candidate Mitch O Farrell and mayoral candidate Kevin James.
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US: City councilman comes under fire for sending email alert calling someone gay
Bryan is gay. Mayor Davis commented on the email. She said: This is completely inappropriate and unprofessional coming from an elected official.
She went on to say that a person who had signed up to receive the alerts had contacted the city to say that they were offended by the email, reports WPXI. Councilman Staniszweski released a statement about the incident, contesting what he said were the mayor s unprofessional assumptions about what he meant He said: It s offensive and unprofessional for the mayor to automatically assume one definition of the word when there are multiple definitions. The mayor, who confronted the councilman on Monday night s council meeting said that she did not know why he even had access to the password in order to send out the alert.
His response was that he sent it out and it wasn t him saying Brian is gay. He said gay means happy, Davis said. Maybe in the 1950s that s what it meant, but we are in a new era now and that doesn t represent the City of Washington.
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FIFA investigates claims that lesbians have been banned from playing professional football in Nigeria
We will call the club chairmen to control their players and such players will not be able to play for the national team. It is happening but we have to talk to the clubs and look inside the clubs, and these things have to do with clubs. There are particular clubs that don t even want to hear about it and once they heard it the players involved will be sacked.
Such a move would contravene FIFA s anti-discrimination policies and it is understood the world governing body has sent a letter to the Nigerian FA asking for clarification. Being gay is already illegal in Nigeria and in the past year attempts have been made to further outlaw same-sex marriage. In July 2011, FIFA criticised Eucharia Uche, the former coach of the Nigerian women s football team after she said she had forced out lesbian players.
Uche reportedly said that being gay was morally very wrong and a dirty issue and claimed that she had taken steps to stamp it out in the squad. In December 2010, FIFA President Sepp Blatter was forced to apologise for saying that gay football fans should avoid having sex in Qatar in light of the country s draconian anti-gay laws. Qatar hosts the World Cup in 2022.
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Lady Gaga fan group claims Madonna has encouraged gay men to have unprotected sex
Not only is this an insult to a true gay rights activist like Lady Gaga, but it insults every gay man and woman on this planet. Madonna is one of the major reasons for AIDS. Back in the 1980 s, she encouraged gay men to have unprotected sex.
While she certainly didn t start the disease, she and her lack of morals helped it spread. Please rethink your choice of having Madonna as a presenter. If you don t, we Little Monsters will strike back in a way you won t like.
Sincerely, Lady Gaga s Little Monsters It isn t the first time Little Monster Artpop has made outrageous claims about Madonna and the issue of HIV in the gay community. On 26 January the group said in a post which since been deleted: Madonna told her fans that it was okay to go out and screw anybody and anything Many gay men listened to her, had unsafe sex, and contracted AIDS. They died.
They were so stupid to listen to such a slut that their death was karma.
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Scouts Canada reaffirms inclusion of gay members and invites Carly Rae Jepsen to jamboree
San Francisco band, Train, also responded to say they will only appear in the jamboree if the Boy Scouts of America lifted its ban. In a statement they said: Train strongly opposes any kind of policy that questions the equality of any American citizen We have always seen the BSA as a great and noble organisation. BSA director of publicity Deron Smith said the organisation appreciates everyone s right to express an opinion and will remain focussed on putting on its jamboree, reports the Vancouver Sun.
The national Boy Scouts of Americas board previously postponed from making a decision, but is meeting in May, and is expected to decide on the policy then. It is considering lifting its national ban on allowing gay volunteers, members and staff, which would effectively allow individual scout troops to decide on whether to be inclusive or not. A rally recently delivered a petition with 1.4 million signatures pushing for the Boy Scouts of America to drop its ban.
The co-ed Scouts Canada, however, which is totally separate from the BSA, notes that it does not discriminate for reasons of gender, culture, religious beliefs or sexual orientation. Scouts Canada s social justice and diversity policy reaffirmed its stance on the issue of discrimination in 2001, said national youth commissioner Kaylee Galipeau. She did not address a question of whether she was concerned that people might link the two organisations, but said that Scouts Canada would remain open and inclusive and always have been.
We accept boys and girls, we accept LGBT members, we accept people of all faiths, she said. It s really just been an opportunity for us to remind people that we re still here, we re vibrant in Canada, we re growing and we are open to everyone. Scouts Canada will host its jamboree from 6-13 July, and regularly have musical acts and performers for the event.
Galipeau extended an invitation to Jepsen and the band Train, saying they would both be welcome to perform. We re proud to be hosting it here in Alberta and as a manager of special events for the jamboree, I d just like to throw in there that we d be totally welcome to having Train and Carly Rae come and play at our jamboree if they would so like to. Last August, Train released a statement saying they were upset that their song Marry Me was used on a New Zealand website set up in opposition to gay marriage.
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