Gay couple faces discrimination at Safeway, employee terminated

A Safeway employee was terminated after harassing a gay couple the same day as the D.C. Pride parade, as reported by Metro Weekly.

Brendan Harrington and his partner Jason Morgan were in the check-out line June 11 when the cashier reportedly said “Oh God, they’re faggots.”

They asked her to repeat herself, and she replied, “You guys are f***ing faggots.” The cashier, named Deangelah, admitted to the incident in a brief video apology.

”I’ve never been called a ‘fag’ ever in my entire life,” Harrington said. ”It was absolutely appalling.”

After several days of public pressure and contact from Harrington and Morgan, the employee was terminated on June 16.

”This goes against everything we believe and practice in terms of serving and welcoming our customers, and in being a part of the diverse communities we are privileged to serve,” said Craig Muckle, manager of public affairs and public relations at Safeway’s Eastern Division, in a statement to Metro Weekly.

These results came after the couple made multiple phone calls to the store to speak with the manager and eventually sought legal guidance. They filed a complaint with the D.C. Office of Human Rights on June 1.

SILENCED: Government to Put Dan Choi on Trial in August!

The government will put Dan Choi on trial in August for chaining himself to the White House last November in protest of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" because Choi refuses to accept a plea deal.

Jane Hamsher at FireDogLake was in the courtroom yesterday:

...Today [Assistant U.S. Attorney Angela ]George faced an equally skeptical Judge Alan Kay, who had little patience for George’s assertions that she did not know until today that Choi was refusing the government’s deal, and was thus unprepared to proceed.  At the the previous hearing, George spent considerable time complaining that Choi was not accepting the government’s deal and removing his name from the settlement documents.

Choi is represented by Kurland and Christopher R. Lynn, who came prepared to argue their case today.  Although Judge Kay said repeatedly he thought it would take a half day for the trial, George said she expected it to take two days, as she was prepared to call multiple witnesses.  She also told Choi’s attorneys that there was no way he could have failed to hear the order to disperse issued by the park service “unless he’s hard of hearing.”

LIAR: Virginia delegate Bob Marshall regarding Anti-Rainbow Flag Mess!

Virginia delegate Bob Marshall, who wrote a letter to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond condemning the bank’s decision to raise a rainbow-striped gay pride flag, has been chastised by the LBGT Democrats of Virginia for lying about gay and lesbian people.

Marshall claimed in his letter that “homosexual behavior ‘celebrated’ by your Richmond’s Federal Reserve Bank . . . undermines the American economy, is a class six felony in Virginia, shortens lives, adds significantly to illness, increases health costs, promotes venereal disease, and worsens the population imbalance relating to the number of workers supporting the beneficiaries of America’s Social Security and Medicare Programs.” He then asked Lacker to remove the flag.
 

ATTACKED: 'Blade' Reporter Chris Johnson Mugged in Rehoboth Beach!

Chris Johnson, a Washington Blade reporter was mugged in the resort town of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware over the weekend by assailants who took his cell phone, the Blade reports:


Johnson said the attackers jumped him from behind as he walked along King Charles Street while he was headed toward the town’s business section to meet friends at the Blue Moon gay bar and restaurant.
hnson said a police officer and detective from the Rehoboth Beach Police Department interviewed him about the incident, saying the matter was under investigation.

Johnson is recovering after being released.

Transgender Woman Attacked at Virginia 7-11

A transgender woman was attacked by a group of people outside a 7-11 in Fredricksburg, Virginia over the weekend, NBC Washington reports:

The attack happened on Saturday afternoon, outside of a 7-Eleven in Fredericksburg. Four attackers backed the transgender woman against a wall and began to beat her, with fists, kicks, and a metal broom handle.

The victim said throughout the beating that her attackers shouted slurs mocking her transgender status. She said that before the attack, she had an argument with one of the attacker's relatives about a dog.

The victim, who was injured over various parts of her face, mouth, and body, was saved by a neighbor who shielded her from the assailants.

Hate crime victim: 'This just has to stop'

Richard Tso was was traveling in Maryland last August when a man charged at him while yelling anti-gay slurs.


"He lunged at me and continued to call me faggot repeatedly," he told KOMO4. "He had punched me probably six or seven times, and I was on the floor."

"I yelled, 'Help! Please, someone help me!" And amid the confusion, he even blamed himself. "I am gay. For me, I felt like maybe I deserved it, for a second," he said. But Tso now knows he did not deserve the brutal beating that left him with two black eyes and in need of an ambulance.

The ringing in his ears and emotional collapse followed him home to Seattle.

SHAKE UP: HRC poised to lead Md. marriage effort!

HRC's Sainz

The Human Rights Campaign is expected to emerge as the coordinator of a reorganized coalition of national and local LGBT groups pushing for passage of a same-sex marriage bill in the Maryland Legislature next year, according to sources familiar with the effort, reports Washington Blade.

In a separate development, a new statewide transgender advocacy organization called Gender Rights Maryland announced its presence on the Maryland political scene this week, saying it will take the lead role in pushing for a “comprehensive” gender identity non-discrimination bill.

Attempts failed earlier this year to pass same-sex marriage and gender identity bills in the Maryland Legislature. Now, insiders familiar with LGBT politics in the state say these two new developments represent a shakeup of the established order, where the LGBT group Equality Maryland led lobbying efforts on behalf of the two bills for the past seven years.

Meanwhile, rumors that HRC has offered to make a significant cash contribution to the financially troubled Equality Maryland in exchange for the group allowing HRC to select its next executive director were heightened this week when HRC’s regional field director, Sultan Shakir, began working at Equality Maryland’s headquarters office in Baltimore on Monday.

“HRC is working with local and national groups to help build a strong campaign to pass Equality Maryland’s entire legislative agenda next year,” said HRC spokesperson Fred Sainz. “While HRC currently has a field staffer working in the Baltimore headquarters to support their new executive director, there are no set plans to keep him there,” he said.

VICTORY: Civil Unions Now Legal in Delaware!

Governor Jack Markell signed a law granting same-sex couples the right to form civil unions in Delaware last night, in a packed and celebratory event at the Queen Theatre in Wilmington. “Tonight, we say to loving and committed couples across the state … ‘Your love is equally valid and deserving, your family is now equal under the law,’” Markell declared before a cheering crowd of more than 600, the Daily Times reports.





The Rainbow Chorale of Delaware performed, and flutes of champagne completed the festive atmosphere. The law makes Delaware the eighth state to allow civil unions, effective Jan. 1, 2012, according to the AP. It passed both chambers of Delaware’s legislature by almost 2-to-1 margins.

BEEFCAKE: The Ripped Congressman's Men's Health COVER!

Aaron Schock, of Illinois

GOODBYE: John Ensign Gives Farewell Speech—to Empty Room!

John Ensign took the Senate floor one last time Monday and delivered a contrite farewell speech—to a whole lot of empty chairs. Not one of Ensign's senate colleagues showed up to hear the address; Democrat Chris Coons sat in the presiding officer's chair, but opened a folder and started writing about other matters as soon as Ensign started talking, according to the AP. None of his family or friends were there, either, save five staffers lining a bench. One was seen wiping away a tear.

"I was blind to how arrogant and self-centered that I had become. I did not recognize that I thought mostly of myself," a contrite Ensign told the room. He advised his absent colleagues to surround themselves "with people who will be honest with you about how you really are," lest they suffer the same fate.

TRUMP Roast DC-Style: Obama Zings Trump!

Don't go to Vegas with Donald Trump these days: The would-be presidential candidate was betting last night that "I wouldn't think [Obama] would address me" in his speech at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. No such luck, reports Politico:

•Trump's "taken some flak lately but no one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than The Donald," said Obama. "And that's because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter, like, 'Did we fake the moon landing?' 'What really happened in Roswell?' And 'Where are Biggie and Tupac?'"

•Obama moved on to other rivals, including Michele Bachmann, who's "thinking about running for president, which is weird because I hear she was born in Canada. Yes, Michele, this is how it starts."

KISS OFF: D.C. Cabbie Dumps Gay Couple Over Kiss!

Washington Post columnist Petula Dvorak reports on a gay couple who were dumped from their cab last week in the nation's capital because of a kiss, a "peck" as it was described:


“My cab is not a bed. You cannot have sex in my cab!” declared the driver, who ordered the couple to get out of his taxi.

Stunned, the two men got out of the cab, just a few blocks from the restaurant. It took Fredge’s partner, Christopher Holloway, 51, a little longer to get out. Recovering from double hip surgery, he was using a cane and wasn’t moving so quickly.

The driver demanded that the men pay $6.35 for the four-block ride and unceremonious dump. When they refused to fork over the money, the cabbie warned them that he’d call the police for nonpayment, said Fredge, who works in human resources at a Georgetown hotel.
“Too late; I’m already calling 911,” Fredge told the driver, who then sped off.
The men were devastated by what happened.

No list of LGBT promises for 2012 election?

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney
 (Blade photo by Michael Key)

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Monday he doesn’t expect President Obama to issue a list of promises to the LGBT community as part of his re-election campaign as he did during the 2008 election season, according to the Washington Blade.


During a news conference, Carney made the remarks in response to a question from the Washington Blade on whether Obama would publish a list of objectives he wanted to achieve for the LGBT community during the second term of his administration.

“Well, I don’t anticipate reissuing a list,” Carney said. “I think his position on a number of issues has been clear and his accomplishments on a number of issues have been clear. So as is true with a number of the goals he set forward during his campaign and in the first two-plus years of his administration, he remains [committed to] those that are unfinished.”

Carney noted the president has been “saying a lot lately we still have a lot of work to do, and we’re not done yet” and maintained Obama “will remain committed to a number of policy objectives that haven’t been achieved yet.”

VICTORY: McDonald's Beating Video Attacker Denied Bail!

An attacker in the McDonald's beating video that went viral has been denied bail by a Baltimore County judge. The pressure by LGBT advocacy groups to prosecute the matter as a hate crime may have had an impact; the victim is a transgendered woman, writes Gather.

Teonna Brown, 18, is being held without bail in the violent beating of Chrissy Polis, 22, a transgendered woman who lives in Baltimore.

Prosecutors are still mulling over the possibility of charging Brown and her 14-year-old accomplice with a hate crime.

The violent McDonald's beating video went viral after an employee captured the grisly attack on a cell phone while he was on duty.

The owner of the franchise said that employee has been terminated for his role in the incident.

Community Outraged by Disturbing Video of Apparent Anti-Trans Assault!

A video that has garnered attention within the LGBT community appears to show a Baltimore County transgender woman being assaulted physically by two patrons of McDonalds on Monday, April 18, as employees from the restaurant stood by, one of them recording the incident on a portable phone.


The Bilerico Project reported on the video today, which shows the woman battered after being kicked, punched and dragged on the floor. The video of the incident was posted by the McDonald's employee on a web site called "World Star hip Hop.com."

Local transgender activist Dana Beyer expressed outrage about the incident, noting one immediate impact of the departure earlier today of Equality Maryland's executive director, Morgan Meneses-Sheets.

"The problem is that there is no executive director to deal with this," she says. "There's no one to go to. There's certainly no functional leader in the functional LGBT [Maryland] community. That's problematic because this is what the organization is supposed to be dealing with."

Bracing for possible Hill attack on D.C. marriage!

An agreement by President Obama and Senate Democratic leaders to Republican demands for imposing two D.C.-related riders on a federal budget bill has renewed fears among LGBT activists that the city’s same-sex marriage law could be the next target of Republicans in Congress.


The president and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said they reluctantly agreed to demands from conservative members of the House to budget amendments barring the city from funding abortions for low-income women and imposing a school voucher program that city officials oppose as a condition for averting a federal government shutdown.

“The president continues to oppose riders in this bill that undermine the District’s ability for home rule,” said White House spokesperson Shin Inouye in a statement released last week. “However, as he has said repeatedly, the ability to reach an agreement to keep the government open meant that all parties had to make some compromises,” Inouye said.

Sorry, No Gay Adoption in Virginia!

Virginia's Board of Social Services voted late yesterday against a measure that could have let gay couples adopt children in the state. The board voted 7 to 2 to continue to allow faith-based organizations to screen prospective parents' religious and moral beliefs. Currently, discrimation based on national origin, race, and color is banned; the rejected overhaul would have additionally banned discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender, age, religion, political beliefs, disability, and family status.

Currently, only married couples or single men and women can adopt in Virginia, and there is some disagreement over whether the proposed overhaul would have actually allowed unmarried couples to adopt, the Washington Post reports. Even so, the president of a national gay-rights organization said, “Today, the State Board of Social Services told the 1,300 children already waiting for a loving, forever home that they’ll have to wait longer."

Maryland Senate Kills Gender Identity Bill!

Morgan Meneses-Sheets

A gender identity bill which had been criticized by some transgender activist groups for failing to include "public accommodations" has been sent back to committee by the Maryland Senate, MetroWeekly reports:

The Maryland Senate just sent the Gender Identity Anti-Discrimination Act, House Bill 235, back to the Judicial Proceedings Committee during the bill's second reading, 27-20, killing the bill in this year's legislative session.

The development comes two days after supporters of the legislation were relieved when the bill passed favorably in the Senate's Judicial Proceedings Committee on April 9, with a 7-4 vote with only one amendment from Sen. Brian Frosh (D-Montgomery), which according to Morgan Meneses-Sheets, executive director of Equality Maryland, was non-substaintial.

The "public accommodations" clause had been removed from the bill in order to help its chances of passage in the Senate.

Black DC church leaders look to reconcile with the LGBT community!

Public apologies, minus any equivocation, are so uncommon that when they happen attention should be paid. A number of Washington, DC areas churches asked for forgiveness from the gay community.

As reported by The Root, a group of predominantly black church leaders wanted to sit down with the “LGBT community” and apologize for the anti-gay rhetoric coming from the pulpit.