Remember Parents & Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX), that rag-tag group of heterosexual activists that just can’t seem to find many “ex-gay” people to advocate for? Last we heard from PFOX, the group was celebrating a court decision which said that “ex-gays”—people who were once gay, but are now totally heterosexual—should be covered under the District’s sexual orientation protections. PFOX was psyched with the ruling, because it meant that the group could begin to capitalize on protections that have been afforded to the LGBT community (hate crime legislation, anti-discrimination policies, etc.) and open up the possibility of suing on behalf of persecuted “ex-gays.”

Read More “Ex-Gay Group Calls Hate Crime Laws “Anti-Ex-Gay”” »

The shit these people come up with. In a bizarre opposite marriage of viewpoints, The Washington Independent is reporting that “a small number of Senate Republicans” are looking to pad the Matthew Shephard Hate Crimes Prevention Act with a conceal-and-carry gun provision:

“It makes sense for a group of people who would be protected by hate crime legislation to support something that would let them defend themselves before or after the crime,” said one Republican Senate aid familiar with the discussions. “It’s relevant, and we want to work together with gay groups to get the message out.”

Because when crimes against gays are punished harsher than regular crimes, only the gays will have guns? Whatever, I don’t understand Congress.

GLOV (Gays and Lesbians Opposing Violence) is holding an open community forum on Tuesday, June 2, with D.C. police chief Cathy Lanier.

The deets:

Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Foundry United Methodist Church
5:00 – 6:00 pm Community discussion on public safety and anti-GLBT crime
6:00 – 7:00 pm DC Chief of Police Cathy Lanier joins the discussion

According to the press release, “Chief Lanier is expected to discuss the status of MPD’s efforts to combat crimes in general and hate crimes in particular, as well as discuss her plan to staff the Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit of the MPD.”

From yesterday’s House hearing on the Hate Crimes Prevention Act: Rep. Alcee Hastings apologizes to the transcriber before reciting a long list of sex acts another represenative proposed in order to mock the proposed legislation. The legislation would extend federal hate crime protection for crimes based on “sexual orientation, gender identity, gender, and disability.”

“We had an amendment offered by one of our colleagues to this particular legislation, and i guess it was done in a creative fashion and certainly the author of it did spend some time looking in the dictionary or creating new terms,” says Hastings. The proposed amendment was meant to ensure that the following sexual conditions would not be covered by the bill. They are:

Hmm. Yeah. I’m really feeling for the toucherist on this one.

A complete list of the sex acts is after the jump.

Read More “I Demand Hate Crime Legislation For Toucherists!” »

Tomorrow, the U.S. House will vote on HR 1913, the “Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act.” Also known as the “Matthew Shepard Act,” it would add the categories of sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, and disability to federal hate crime legislation.

The Human Rights Campaign is urging you to voice your support of the bill to Congress. Others want you to contact Congress, too—to protest the “un-American” bill with the sole aim of “punishing wrong beliefs about homosexuality” that “could lead to the criminalization of the Biblical view of homosexuality in sermons and elsewhere.”

Oh, bills—they “could” always “lead” places.

In California, political action courts political violence

Santa Clara County, the California county south of San Francisco, has released its hate-crime data for 2008. In 2007, 15 percent of hate crimes were classified as homophobic; in 2008, 56 percent of hate crimes were motivated by homophobia. What changed? Deputy District Attorney Jay Boyarsky told The Mercury News that it is “headlines and controversies of the day” that lead to “surges in types of hate incidents”—meaningthe ongoing battle over Prop 8 may have turned some Californians violent.

Read More “Prop 8: Leading Cause of California Hate Crimes?” »

Local GLBT advocacy group Gays and Lesbians Opposed to Violence (GLOV) are calling out Adrian Fenty for what they characterize as a lack of attention to hate-bias motivated attacks in the District. GLOV is upset that the mayor has snubbed the group’s appeals for a meeting on the issue. From a press release:

Despite GLOV’s many requests to meet with Mayor Fenty to address concerns about the violent attacks occurring against DC’s GLBT citizens, the Mayor has yet to respond. He did however have time Thursday to speak to Fox News about the issue saying simply, “Hate crimes, I think, are down for the most part in DC this year. We take all of them (bias crimes) seriously and look for trends.”

GLOV cites the recent Logan Circle killing of Durval Martins as evidence that hate-motivated crimes against gays have reached a critical point in the District of Columbia. GLOV’s letter to Fenty, after the jump:

Read More “Fenty Angers Gay Group” »

Though hate crimes decreased on the whole in 2007, the FBI reports that the year saw a marked increase in violence against gays. Hate crimes decreased by 1 percent; crimes against gays increased by six.

So are anti-gay crimes on the rise? Or are they just being tracked and recorded better?

Tony Randolph Hunter, the victim of an assault outside Mt. Vernon Square nightclub BeBar, has died, Metro Weekly reports. Hunter, a gay man, was struck in the back of the head while walking near the club on the evening September 7th. He died yesterday afternoon.

The incident is being investigated as a hate crime by MPD. Hunter’s assault is one of several recent incidents that have heightened attention on hate crime investigation in the District. I’ll update with more as the investigation continues.

Update: Feministing has a piece on the perceived spike of LGBT-related hate crimes in the District. Miriam notes that “Nationally, around 16% of hate crimes are LGBT related. In DC, it’s 60%.” Miriam also points readers to the resurgence of D.C.’s GLBT Anti-Violence Group, or “GLOV.” GLOV was active in the 1990’s, but stopped meeting in recent years. On Monday, Sept. 22, the group will begin meeting again. Interested parties can join GLOV at the law offices of Dewey and LeBoeuf, 1101 New York Avenue NW, at 7:30 p.m.