Cripes, it's a scary time to be a gay man in the Chicago area!
First , we have a possible serial killer of gays terrorizing the queer neighborhoods, and now a straight guy is claiming he beat, raped, and violated a man with a broom handle because he 'hates gays'.
A Cicero man was in stable condition Thursday after police say he was beaten, raped and sodomized by another man Friday night.
A Cicero resident was arrested in the case and faces several charges, including aggravated criminal sexual assault, sexual assault, aggravated battery and a hate crime, according to officials.
In a videotaped confession with Cicero police, Felipe Rivera, 43, said he followed the victim — a 37-year-old man — to an outside staircase about 9:30 p.m. near the victim’s basement apartment on 50th Avenue, said Dan Proft, Cicero town spokesman. Police said Rivera then tore the man’s pants open and raped him.
Rivera then punched the man in the face, knocking him semi-unconscious, police said. Rivera then found a metal broom handle and sodomized the man while he was on the ground, according to police.
The man said in his videotaped confession he did this because he hates gay people and "this is what you get," police said.
Residents near the apartment called police to report the man lying outside injured.Meanwhile, Rivera had gone to his mother’s home in Cicero, where she called police because she had a protection order against him. Police arrested Rivera about 9 a.m. Saturday at the home on the charge of violating the protection order and then connected him to the alleged sex assault.
The incident happened shortly after a party down the street, where police said Rivera had punched the man when he reportedly winked at him. Police said Rivera reportedly became offended after thinking that the man was gay, police said.
Rivera was asked to leave the gathering and he did so, police said.His bond was set Thursday at $350,000, a spokesman for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office said.
Chicago police are investigating a string of possible gay hate-crimes, while crime advocates are fearing the city may actually be hosting a gay serial-killer:
Activists fear gay African-Americans are being targeted for murder. Two openly gay men were killed recently on the South Side, as CBS 2's Mike Parker reports.
African-American gay and lesbian groups are talking about the murders of two openly gay Black men in the past month.
On November 17, 24-year-old Larry Bland was shot to death in his Englewood home. Bland, a security guard at Northwestern Hospital was shot more than once after struggling with a man who had entered the house through an unlocked basement door.
Then on December 23, 47-year-old Donald Young, the choir director at Trinity United Church of Christ, was shot multiple times in his South Side apartment. His roommate found his body.
"We're calling on the police department to let the community know what's going on," said Marc Loveless of the Coalition for Justice and Respect. "Are we under attack? Is this a serial killer?"
Chicago Police Department Acting Sept. Dana Starks said, "I understand the concerns of any group, any community when it comes to homicide. As of right now, I cannot say whether there is a connection."
The media services director of the church where Donald Young taught and led the choir, said, "Young did live an openly gay lifestyle; that was his choice."
But she went on to call the Loveless statement, "self-serving." She also said the police are doing everything they can.
The brother of victim Larry Bland says if the murder was a hate crime, he would not be surprised.
No, that's not a current photo of me and my first boyfriend, it's a cupla years old. But I'm posting it because I think it embodies much of what the season means to me: the magic and wonder of childhood, and all things snuggly and cozy!
I'm off to the great North land, and barring a Minnesota blizzard, I'll be back w/plenty of post Holiday entries on the 26th.
This cant be a surprise to any of you (I hope not anyhow!).
According to a report just released, after an extensive investigation by the department's Office of Independent Review, it has been concluded that three members of the L.A County Sheriff's department gave Mel Gibson preferentialtreatment during his arrest for DUI last summer. They now face disciplinary actions:
An independent review of the case, which sparked a furor when Gibson's anti-Semitic remarks to arresting officers were revealed, concluded that actions by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department employees violated agency policy.
According to the report, Gibson was permitted to leave the sheriff's station in Malibu without providing a palm print or signing a statement promising to appear in court as required. A sheriff's sergeant also gave Gibson a ride to a tow yard to retrieve his car without clearing with it station commanders.
While constituting relatively "minor" infractions of department policy, those actions "create a perception of preferential treatment," said Michael Gennaco, who heads the Office of Independent Review.
He said two sergeants received formal reprimands and a department jailer was suspended for two days without pay.
"The general public expects equal treatment under the law, and when there's a perception that's not what is going on, that's a problem," he said.
To the department's credit, Gibson's arrest and prosecution were otherwise handled professionally, Gennaco said.
"Thirty years ago, if a celebrity was detained or stopped, most likely that celebrity would have been driven home and never even charged," he told Reuters. "So I think law enforcement has come a long way."
The report was less critical of another aspect of how Gibson's case was handled -- the way the agency first reported his July 2006 arrest to the media.
Department spokesman Steve Whitmore initially asserted that Gibson was pulled over and detained "without incident."
But it was later revealed, through a police report leaked to celebrity Web site TMZ.com, that Gibson was belligerent, had tried to bolt away and went into a drunken, anti-Semitic rant about Jews being to blame "for all the wars in the world."
The episode sparked a public outcry and international headlines two years after Gibson had fended off accusations of anti-Semitism surrounding the release of his box office hit "The Passion of the Christ."
Gibson apologized for his behavior, pleaded no contest to drunken driving and was placed on probation for three years.
The review board found Whitmore's treatment of the media was not a policy violation, but Gennaco said the agency needs to develop consistent guidelines for how to handle media inquiries into such high-profile cases in the future.
In an update to our story last summer, concerning a Catholic priest from Colorado who was arrested while strolling naked down a street after he had been jogging nude around a school race track, said priest has now plead not guiltyto indecent exposure:
The Rev. Robert Whipkey was arrested June 22 in Frederick, about 25 miles north of Denver, after an officer saw him walking on a street naked at 4:35 a.m. Whipkey told police he jogged naked because he sweats profusely if he wears clothing, according an arrest report.
Whipkey did not speak at a hearing Tuesday, and neither he nor his attorneys would comment afterward. His trial is scheduled for March.
Whipkey served parishes in Frederick, Mead and Erie but was placed on administrative leave by the Archdiocese of Denver in August.
The archdiocese said Whipkey was investigated for "inappropriate personal behavior" more than eight years ago when he was a pastor in Sterling. The archdiocese said that incident did not involve "physical or sexual contact with another individual," but it gave no other details.
Presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee's son David was recently arrested in Arkansas for bringing a loaded gun through airport security.
After being released from the Pulaski County Jail, Huckabee called the incident "a silly mistake" and said "it shouldn't" affect his father's presidential campaign.
According to the police report, the gun was a Glock and had a clip in it. Huckabee was asked if he knew what was in the bag, and “he replied he did now.” The report says he told authorities that he forgot the gun was in the bag.
Huckabee was arrested for carrying a weapon in a prohibited place at about 6 a.m.
He later pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge in Little Rock District Court. District Judge Lee Munson sentenced him to a one-year suspended jail sentence and ordered him to 10 days of community service, which he can avoid by paying $100. His fines and court costs totaled $855. He also will be on probation for a year.
Police say David Huckabee said he forgot he had the weapon inside his luggage. And Little Rock Police Lt. Terry Hastings said it is not unusual for people to forget they have a gun in their carry-on luggage.
Police say the 40-caliber Glock had eight live rounds in the clip but no bullet in the chamber. The pistol and ammunition were handed over to the Little Rock police.
This isn't the first time the lad has been in trouble. Back when he was a boyscout counselor, he was fired from his job after being accused of torturing a dog to death...
(Miller County, Arkansas) Two boy scout counselors, 17 year old Clayton Frady and 18 year old David Huckabee, the son of Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, have admitted to catching a stray dog during their summer session at Camp Pioneer in Hatfield, AR, and hanging the dog by his neck, slitting his throat and stoning him to death.
Camp officials, who did not report the crime to law enforcement officials, have admitted that the act did occur and have fired the boys from their positions. However, no charges have been filed against the young men.
Arkansas State Police conducted a perfunctory investigation, but did not attempt to locate witnesses to the crime.
I didn't know much about Mary J. Blige until this new Advocate article. I had no idea she loved the gays so much. She helps in the fight against AIDS, and will terminate any of her staff members she finds to be homophobic. Woohoo! Makes me wanna go buy her new album (If I weren't such a pauper that is!).
On her gay following she says:
“The majority of my fans are gay,” Mary says matter-of-factly. “The majority of them are, and I have to really make sure that they know I’m paying attention to the fact that they support me, and I support them.”
Asked at what point she realized that the children had made her their own, she immediately replies, “I realized that years ago. Like, probably during...was it Share My World or Mary? It was probably during the Mary album that I realized I had so many gay fans, because one of my managers at the time was gay and him and all his friends were die-hard Mary fans. And then there’s a lot of gay women that love Mary J. Blige -- a slew of gay women. And that’s never been something to bother me. Never. Because we’re all people at the end of the day.” She pauses for a second, then continues.
“When I was growing up,” she says thoughtfully, “my neighborhood was full of everyone -- black, white, Latino, gay, straight. A lot of people that I knew were gay, but they were great people. They were good people. It’s not like they were alien. They were just people. That [acceptance] was just something that was always in me. I’ve never been a judgmental person because I have been through so much hell myself…”
And on fighting AIDS:
In the fight against AIDS, Blige has done more than support from the sidelines. She has jumped in on our side. Longtime fans know of her involvement with AIDS organizations and awareness programs like Minority AIDS Project and her being a spokeswoman for MAC cosmetics’ Viva Glam III and IV campaigns. The death of her friend and songwriter Kenny Greene (who was responsible for many of MJB’s early hits, most notably “Love No Limit” and “My Love”) was her personal impetus for involvement in the cause. But it was noticing the silence around the disease that finally prompted Blige to take action.
“I was motivated,” she says, “by the fact that it came and was so huge, and then all of a sudden it disappeared, and it was the thing that everybody swept under the rug. It was the elephant in the room that nobody’s looking at. It made me be like, Oh, this is right at our front door. This can touch us. So why wouldn’t I want to get involved with something that can help save all our lives, save everybody’s lives? That’s why I wanted to get involved, because I knew that…” She pauses. “I had friends that… One of my gay friends that was a songwriter with me, Kenny Greene, was one of my really good friends and he died from AIDS. I was like…” She sighs deeply and falls silent before resuming the conversation. “And then everybody was just dropping off, dropping off, dropping off, but no one was saying anything.”
And, finally, on how she deals with homophobic staff:
“I’ve heard a couple of guys say foul things, and those guys are not around me anymore because when they say things like that, I’m looking at them like, What makes you so scared? You don’t know who you are? I guess it all boils down to them not being sure about themselves and what they wanna do, whoever that is. I won’t say any names. And I don’t dislike them or anything -- it just makes me wonder about them period. ’Cause if you’re not sure about that, then you ain’t sure about a lotta things!” she laughs.
Fresh from her previous historical revelation concerning the spherical nature of our planet earth, The View host Sherri Shepherd now claims nothing predates Jesus and Christianity...
(Little Rock, Arkansas) Republican Mike Huckabee's record on women's rights is coming under increased scrutiny, including his endorsement of the Southern Baptist Convention's stance that women should "submit graciously" to their husbands and his opposition to sending women into combat.
Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist minister, defended his record Thursday, saying he appointed many women to high positions in state government and on his staff during his 10 1/2 years as Arkansas governor.
"If you look at my cabinet, I had more women in my cabinet and on my staff in key positions, including chief of staff, than any other governor probably in Arkansas history," Huckabee said on ABC's "Good Morning America."
Huckabee had been asked on the TV show about his support of the Baptist convention's statement of beliefs on marriage. The former Arkansas governor and his wife Janet signed a full-page ad in USA Today in support of the statement with 129 other evangelical leaders in 1998.
"A wife is to submit graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ," the convention says in its statement of faith. Baptist Press reported that the 1998 ad was addressed to denomination leaders and said: "You are right because you called wives to graciously submit to their husband's sacrificial leadership."
Huckabee was supported by 17 percent of women in a nationwide AP-Ipsos poll earlier this month, making him roughly even with Rudy Giuliani and John McCain for the lead among female voters among GOP presidential contenders.
An HIV positive Navy Chaplain (pictured), who admitted to raping numerous sailors, and injecting them with his HIV Positive semen, has been sentenced to a measly two years after striking a plea bargain!
Lt. Cmdr. John Thomas Lee, 42, was sentenced at his court-martial after entering a plea agreement in which he admitted having sex with an Air Force officer without disclosing that he had HIV and coercing a U.S. Naval Academy midshipman into sex.
Charges of conduct unbecoming a military officer, aggravated assault and indecent assault and fraternization were dropped under the plea agreement.
After entering his plea Lee was questioned by judge Col. Steven Day and admitted that the Air Force officer had asked Lee if he were HIV-positive or negative.
"I said everything was OK," Lee said he told the man. He also admitted to Day that he understood the man " could die because of having anal intercourse with me."
Lee had tested positive in 2005.
The year before he began an ongoing sexual situation with a midshipman who had come to him for counseling.
Instead, Lee offered the man alcohol, and during the next two years coerced him into sex and taking nude pictures of him.
When Lee leaves prison he will be removed from the military. Whether the men with whom he had sex will be fired under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is unclear.
They have not tested positive for HIV a Navy spokesperson said.
Self-confessed adulterer, part-time Drag Queen, and Republican Presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani told Meet the Press that homosexuality in it's self isn't sinful, it's what we homos do that's damnable...
My, my moral views on this come from the, you know, from the Catholic Church, and I believe that homosexuality, heterosexuality as a, as a way that somebody leads their life is not—isn’t sinful. It’s the acts, it’s the various acts that people perform that are sinful, not the—not the orientation that they have.
And we all know what 'various acts' he's referring too (all of the fun ones!)
Ok, you have had your fluff today (re: Jodie Foster and the reality-gays), now back to the serious stuff:
A former Navy Chaplain is being accused of having unprotected consensual and non-consensual sex (aka rape) with numerous navy sailors:
An HIV-positive Catholic Navy chaplain plans to plead guilty Thursday to charges involving sexual misconduct with an unspecified number of men, according to his attorney, who said the priest has known of his HIV status for more than two years.
The chaplain, Lt. Cmdr. John Thomas Matthew Lee, 42, is facing a general court-martial in Quantico, Va. He had been charged with sodomy, aggravated assault, indecent assault, fraternization and conduct unbecoming a military officer, according to a Marine Corps statement. His attorney, David Sheldon, said Lee will plead guilty to “many” of those charges, but would not say which. Three witnesses will testify Thursday, he said.
Marine officials refused to release Lee’s charge sheet, which typically would give the number of specifications, explain why he is being charged and how much jail time he faces if convicted.
Neither Sheldon nor the Corps offered any details regarding the victims in the case. Sources said the sexual partners in question are all men.
“He has entered into a pretrial agreement with the government that will substantially reduce his exposure to confinement,” said Sheldon, who added that Lee was facing life without parole if convicted on all charges. “He’s extremely remorseful about what happened and about his conduct, both as a chaplain and as an officer. He will take responsibility for what he has done.”
Sources said Lee is facing aggravated assault charges because he is HIV-positive. In cases dating to 1987, military prosecutors have brought criminal charges for HIV-positive troops who have unprotected sex and fail to inform their partners. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces in 1991 approved the use of the aggravated assault charge in such cases.
Lee served as a chaplain at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., from 2003 to 2006, and was transferred then to Quantico, according to military records.
“We believe that the problem may be worse in the military than in other dioceses,” said David Clohessy, the national director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a victim’s advocacy group.
“For a sex offender priest, the military is very attractive because of the transience of military families and the even greater authority and trust that comes with having two titles — both a priest and an officer,” Clohessy said.
Awwwwww, don't they make a cute couple? (so don't scew it up boys!)
According to Out Zone TV, Project Runway's Jack Mackenroth and Top Chef's Dale Levitskihave announced they are dating...
Dale Levitski from "Top Chef" is dating "Project Runway's" Jack Mackenroth. How did we uncover this news? We picked up the phone and called Jack, who had this to say:
"It's very baby steps. I really like him a lot. And geography is a bit of an issue, but we'll see where it goes. I like him a lot. I assume he likes me a lot. Unless he's lying...(laughter)... He's adorable. I like keeping it incestual, keep it in the Bravo family."
SO we immediately had to call Dale, who told us, "Yeah, we randomly met over Myspace. And then we bumped into each other at the OUT100 party and clicked. He's hilarious. We're just gonna roll with it and see what happens. And he's cute as %&#@. We have the same sense of humor. We giggle a lot, and you know, anytime you end up going through the Bravo-reality-show...we just looked at each other and said, 'yeah...'"
The above picture was described to us, by the way, as "it was the first time we met. All starry-eyed and stupid."
Two New Zealand men (pictured top) are accused of beating to death a gay 'friend' (btm. photo), then biting chunks out of his body.
An unusual murder trial has begun in Palmerston North with the victim, a gay man, allegedly both beaten and bitten to death. The Crown says Andre Gilling (17) and Ashley Arnopp (21) took part in a frenzied attack that saw some of the victim Stanley Waipouri's ear and genitalia bitten off.
Police say Gilling had blood on his mouth and clothes.
The Crown claims the men were high on a mix of party pills and alcohol at the time.
Arnopp subsequently plead guilty of the crime he says was motivated by a debt:
In a statement given to Sergeant Steve Braybrook, Arnopp admitted to killing his "friend" during an angry, adrenalin-fuelled rage over money owed to him.
A fight began between the pair, deteriorating into an attack on Mr Waipouri over about an hour leading to his death.
A post mortem examination revealed Mr Waipouri died from head and neck injuries but had no defensive injuries.
The trial of Andre Gilling, who claims he had never met Stanley Waipouri until that night, continues.
A former Aide to Senator Maria Cantwell (pictured) has been arrested for trying to arrange a sexual encounter with a 13 year old boy...
James McHaney, 28, was nabbed by FBI agents after he arranged the afternoon liaison via a "cooperating witness" working with investigators.
According to the felony complaint and an accompanying statement of facts filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., the CW and McHaney were conversing online Friday afternoon when the CW asked whether McHaney was interested in engaging in anal sex with a 13-year-old boy. "I'll be there," McHaney allegedly replied.
He later asked for a photo of the child with whom he and the CW would have sex and whether the boy had "any pubes." When told no, McHaney allegedly replied, "That's hot."
McHaney was nabbed in the lobby of an unnamed "predetermined location," where he had arranged to meet CW. Until his arrest Friday, McHaney had worked as the D.C. scheduler for Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell. A caller to Cantwell's office was told late today that, as of last Friday, McHaney no longer worked for the Washington state politician.
Yikes! Poor Larry Craig's man-lovin' past is bubbling up to the surface faster than his beleaguered PR people can spin them.
Eight more men have come forward to accuse the Senator of various queer shenanigans... (Boise, Idaho) A total of eight gay men have told a Boise newspaper that they have been hit on by U.S. Sen. Larry Craig and have now come forward because they are tired of conservative Republican's insistence he is not gay.
The men allege they either had sex with Craig or he approached them for sex.
Craig is fighting a guilty plea he entered in his guilty plea from a gay sex sting bust. When news of the bust and the Idaho senator's guilty plea became public Craig called a news conference to say he felt pressured into making the guilty plea and "I am not gay. I have never been gay."
The Idaho Statesman reported Sunday that the men came to the paper as result of Craig's statements and his negative voting record on LGBT civil rights. Two of the men told the paper that they had sex with Craig. A third man said Craig had made a pass at him and the fourth said he had what the paper called "unusual attention" from the senator.
David Phillips, a 42-year-old information technology consultant in Washington, told the Statesman that that Craig picked him up at a gay club in 1986 and that they subsequently had sex. Mike Jones, the onetime hustler prostitute who outed the Rev. Ted Haggard (story) tells the paper that Craig also was a client and had paid him for sex in late 2004 or early 2005.A third man told the Statesman that in 1981, when he was in a college GOP group he turned down an advance made by Craig at a Republican meeting in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. The fourth man told the paper that his "encounter" with Craig occurred at Idaho's Bogus Basin Mountain Recreation Area in the early 1980s.
The Statesman also reported that four other men who did not agree to be identified described for reporters sexual advances or encounters involving Craig.
In the Senate Craig has consistently voted "anti-gay". He voted twice for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, voted for 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' the ban on gays serving openly in the military, and has opposed both a bill to ban job discrimination against gays and a bill that would add gays to federal hate crime law.
Craig initially said he would resign his Senate seat September 30. He later said he would stay on while fighting the guilty plea but will not seek re-election. His term ends in 2009.On June 11, an undercover police officer was the men's room at the Minneapolis Airport when Craig allegedly tapped his feet and swiped his hand under the divider in a way authorities said was a signal for someone wanted sex.Craig pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, but when the incident became public, he denied ever seeking sex there and said the officer misunderstood his actions. Craig then sought to withdraw his guilty plea to the misdemeanor.
In October a Minnesota judge refused to allow Craig to withdraw his guilty plea. Hennepin County Judge Charles Porter in a written ruling said that Craig's guilty plea was made voluntarily. (story)The case is now before the Minnesota Court of Appeals.
Many are speculating Trent Lott's abrupt resignation announcement is linked with a developing male escort scandal involving the Mississippi Senator...
The decision to retire only one year after a re-election many people saw as a rebound from the ThromSturmond birthday scandal that caused him to lose his Majority Leader post had some scratching their heads.Others are already alleging that it's a pre-emptive resignation designed to lighten the fallout from a scandal that is just about to hit.
That's what the site Big Head DC is saying, anyway:Via Big Head DC: "The boy happens to be real, and his 'stage name' is Benjamin Nicholas (pictured above-left).
One of the politicos Big Head DC has learned he’s alleged to have been involved with is the married Sen. Trent Lott, 66, who unexpectedly announced his retirement on Monday. Lott is well-known to have been against a plethora of gay rights issues throughout his terms in Congress. He was also good friends with Sen. Larry Craig throughout his time in Congress.
Nicholas told Big Head DC today via e-mail that he didn’t want to go on the record to talk about his dealings with Lott, because, said Nicholas, 'Trent is going through his fair share of scrutiny right now and I don’t want to add to it.' However, e-mail and other records confirm that the two have met on at least two occasions. 'All I can say at this point is no comment,' Nicholas told us. 'It’s the professional thing for me to do.'
In a subsequent e-mail message, Nicholas confirmed that another publication is working on a story about a 'possible relationship' between Lott and himself, but Nicholas also 'politely declined' an interview for that story. 'As I said before, Lott has quite a bit on his plate right now and I don’t really want to add fuel to the embers,' Nicholas told Big Head DC."
Benjamin Nicholas, the alleged escort, who once wrote an article for Seattle's The Stranger newspaper about the importance of confidentiality in the escort business, is denying relations with Lott: "I will continue to offer a great sense of confidentiality to the people I see. I have not, nor have I ever seen or had contact with Senator Trent Lott. It's as simple as that. It never happened."
And as far as that "other" publication, Larry Flynt just told FOX he's "hoping to expose a bombshell" within the next week or two. We'll see, I guess.Take it for what you will, but given that 2007 is the year of the hypocritical Republican, nothing would surprise me.
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