NYS Comptroller To Sochi Sponsors: Denounce Russia's Anti-Gay Crackdown

New York state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has signed onto a letter which demands that sponsors of the Sochi Olympics issue a denouncement of Russia's anti-gay pogrom. Andy Humm reports at Gay City News:

Ten major Olympic sponsors from Coke to Dow Chemical –– none of which has acceded to calls that they speak out forcefully against Russia’s laws making it a crime to be gay in public –– are now being pressured by the $161 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund, led by Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, to do that and more. New York City Comptroller John Liu and 19 private investment firms also signed the December 3 letter, which has yet to yield a response from the sponsors of the Olympics scheduled for February in Sochi, Russia. “The Russian government’s discriminatory laws have cast a shadow over the Olympics,” DiNapoli said in a December 5 release calling on the sponsors to “stand up for the respect and equality enshrined in the Olympic movement, advocate for human rights, and confront abuses.”

DiNapoli is under pressure from gay politicians, including state Assemblyman Daniel O'Donnell and state Sen. Brad Hoylman, who have called on him to divest New York state of all Russian interests.  Read the full letter to Sochi's sponsors.

HomoQuotable - Andy Humm

"Bloomberg's speech today amounted to hollow words. He is the sole reason that Republicans are in the majority in the NYS Senate as he has propped them up literally with MILLIONS of dollars in just the last several years. And he has repeatedly said that he will NOT stop donating to Senators who oppose marriage equality--who also happen to be the ones who oppose GENDA, the AIDS bills we need, and virtually everything else of a progressive nature. Let Bloomberg put his money where his mouth is: Stop funding bigots. It is sickening to watch the gay establishment and average gay people fawn over him like some kind of hero when he is in fact the main reason we don't have marriage equality in New York." - Gay City News reporter Andy Humm, via email.

Gay USA: Year End Wrap-Up

This week you'll find yours truly on the year-end episode of Gay USA, the nationally broadcast weekly LGBT news show hosted by Ann Northrop and Andy Humm.

Happy New Year! On this week's show, Ann leads an end-of-the-year roundtable discussion of 2009's events and issues. Our guests are Joe Jervis, author of the JoeMyGod.com blog; Pauline Park, veteran transgender activist and chair of the New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy; and longtime gay and civil liberties activist Bill Dobbs. The panel discusses the scary implications of the Uganda anti-homosexuality bill and its evangelical authors, the sins of out LGBT politicians, the political usefulness of blogging, and the role of the fight for marriage equality in a larger liberation movement, among other topics.

You can view Gay USA podcasts online via their site. To watch on TV:

Gay USA is seen in Manhattan on MNN on Thursdays at 11 PM on Time-Warner 34, RCN 82, and Verizon FiOS 33 and simulcast at www.MNN.org channel 34/84. It is distributed nationally on the Dish Network (Ch. 9415) through Free Speech TV. Go to www.FreeSpeech.org for the schedule. In the Philadelphia area, Gay USA is on Global MiND (35.2 over the air, 265 on Comcast, and 475 on FiOS) Thursdays at 8 PM, Fridays at 2 AM and Saturdays at 9 PM.

I know you probably won't be home at 11pm this Thursday night in NYC, so I'll let you know when the podcast goes up. Recent episodes can be found here.

Gilbert Baker: "Where's The ANGER?"

At last night's Maine response rally in NYC's Union Square, rainbow flag creator Gilbert Baker said to me, "Where's the ANGER? Where are the pitchforks?" as he surveyed the glum crowd. I told him his opinion reflected much of what you folks here were saying yesterday. From the bullhorn came the usual speechifying to the usual audience of activist regulars. NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn urged the crowd to continue to pressure NY's state senators, as did Marriage Equality NY head Cathy Marino-Thomas.

Here's a report from the rally by Our Scene TV reporter Blake Hayes.

More On Jack Price Rally

Andy Humm at Gay City News has published his story about Saturday's rally in Queens for gay bashing victim Jack Price. Here's what the counter-protesters had to say.

An interracial group of about 20 of Danny Rodriguez’s supporters boldly demonstrated across the street from the rally with signs and chants insisting that he did not commit a hate crime, though most conceded the assault itself was a crime.

Marcel Gelmi, said, “Danny has gay relatives and friends. It was an assault. Drop the hate crime.”

Gelmi is now famous for displaying to WABC-TV News a tattoo on his bicep reading, “Thou shall not lie with a male as one does with a woman. It is an abomination. 1 Leviticus 18:22.” Asked why he picked that particular Bible verse, he said, “It’s what I believe in,” but refused to elaborate. When told that the end of the verse is “they shall surely be put to death,” Gelmi protested and pulled out his version of the Bible that omitted that phrase.

“There’ll be gay people testifying in Danny’s defense,” Gelmi claimed.

Joseph Perez, another of Rodriguez’s friends at the counter-protest, said, “[Price] blew kisses at [Rodriguez]. [Price] was always writing on walls, ‘For a good time, call Jack,’ and putting his number there. [Price’s] a drug addict and a crackhead.” Perez said if a man blew him kisses, he’d beat him up, too. “Take me to jail,” he said.

Rodriguez’s friends have been telling these stories in his defense to the media and prosecutors, but a middle-aged College Point woman at the anti-hate crime march who wore a hood to obscure her identity and asked that her name not be used said that the stories are lies and that some among the suspect’s supporters are threatening people.

“A lot of teens wouldn’t come here today because they’re a gang,” she said. “I’m afraid they’ll come after me. It’s people who don’t like Jack who wrote it,” referring to the graffiti saying that Price was looking “for a good time” and giving out his number. She said vandals wrote that her son “is a pussy” on her door using the same magic markers in the same script. “Everyone knows these boys are troublemakers.”

Some of the above-quoted counter-protesters have been commenting on my own report from the day.

Cleve Jones At NYC LGBT Center

National Equality March founder Cleve Jones spoke long and passionately to an enthusiastic overflow crowd at NYC's LGBT Center last night. Numerous well-known activists were in attendance, including Brendan Fay, Gilbert Baker, Lt. Dan Choi, Brandon Brock, and Jeff Campagna, but the only real dissent came from Gay City News' Andy Humm (pictured above on the right, Father Tony on the left). Humm demanded to know what the concrete goals of the March were, leading Jones to repeat his earlier call for "full civil equality in all 50 states."

Mentioning complaints about the March's short lead time, Jones criticized earlier March On Washington events (which had many notable problems), prompting the organizer of the 1987 MOW to lengthily defend its tactics. Jones responded by citing Facebook and other tools of the digital age as obviating the need for yearlong planning. Father Tony provides the video clip below of Jones opening his speech.

UPDATE: Here's World Of Wonder's Wayne Anderson's report from the evening.

NYC: Protest At Iraq Mission Over Murders Of Gay Men In Iraq

Led by activist Brendan Fay, today a small group of LGBT activists protested in front of NYC's Iraq Mission over the recent spate of gay men murdered in Iraq. What would have been a relatively low-key demonstration turned somewhat ugly due to the NYPD, who at first refused to allow activists to stand on the public sidewalk in front of the Iraq Mission, then threatened to arrest anyone who attempted to ring the building's bell and deliver a formal letter of protest.

Reporter Andy Humm of Gay City News vehemently objected, shouting, "You can't ring a bell and deliver a LETTER in NYC?" Eventually two men appeared from inside and a man who identified himself as Yassar Mohammed accepted and read the letter but said he would have no official comment, as the Mission was observing "Great Friday." Below is my slideshow of the protest and my video of Brendan Fay's passionate speech in support of LGBT people in Iraq.

UPDATE: Wayne Anderson at World Of Wonder has his post up with more photos.

False Arrests Protest At Mayor Bloomberg's House

Today a group of LGBT rights and sexual freedom activists gathered just down the block from Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Upper East Side mansion to protest the false arrests of gay men in NYC's adult bookshops. Robert Pinter, a victim of this campaign, gave interviews to a number of local and national newsmedia outlets as two dozen gay men marched with placards denouncing Bloomberg and the NYPD.

On hand were a number of familiar LGBT activists: Brendan Fay, Gilbert Baker, Ann Northrop, Father Tony, Eric Leven, John Weis and journalists Andy Humm and Duncan Osbourne. It was Osbourne's relentless pursuit of this story that brought the entire illegal campaign to light.

Also present were protest observers from the National Lawyers Guild and Susan Wright, the founder and spokesperson of the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom, with whom I had a chat about our mutual enemy, Peter LaBarbera. The NYPD was generally friendly and cooperative, although they did not allow the protesters within 100 feet of Bloomberg's home.

Curious passersby and tourists exiting Central Park took photos of the protest and were handed fact sheets about the action. Many of the men giving interviews to the press stressed that the entire "prostitution" campaign was in fact meant to close the city's adult businesses under nuisance abatement laws.

BELOW: Father Tony gets video of playwright George Tynan Crowley reading his special Valentine's poem to Mayor Bloomberg. Go to Father Tony's site for more on the rally, including photos and more video.

UPDATE: Robert Pinter tells his story to Eric Leven.

UPDATE II: The New York Times has published their coverage of the protest.