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.

NEW YORK: Empire State Pride Agenda Fires Executive Director Ross Levi

The Empire State Pride Agenda has let go its executive director, Ross Levi. Paul Schindler reports at Gay City News:

Barely eight months after New York State’s gay rights movement won its biggest victory ever, with the enactment of marriage equality, the Empire State Pride Agenda, the state’s LGBT lobby, has fired its executive director, Ross Levi. The action came in a March 5 conference call with members of the boards of the organization’s two arms –– the Empire State Pride Agenda, Inc., its lobbying and political action component, and the Empire State Pride Agenda Foundation, Inc., which does educational, organizing, and advocacy work on behalf of the LGBT community.

The two boards, which have some overlap, include nearly three-dozen members. According to two board members who deliberated on the call but wished to remain anonymous, the decision was broadly embraced by those participating on March 5. In a call with Gay City News, the group’s two board leaders –– Louis A. Bradbury and Marla Hassner –– confirmed Levi’s departure. He “will be stepping down” effective April 6, said Hassner, a co-chair of ESPA’s foundation and vice chair of the lobbying and political action arm. Asked how the phrase “stepping down” squared with the boards’ decision to terminate Levi’s employment, Hassner said, “The Pride Agenda does not comment on personnel matters.”

This morning the Pride Agenda released this statement:

“We greatly appreciate Ross's twelve years with the organization. He has been part of the Pride Agenda's major legislative victories, culminating in the momentous marriage win last year,” said Louis Bradbury, co-chair of the Empire State Pride Agenda Foundation and chair of the Empire State Pride Agenda. “We wish Ross the very best in his future endeavors."

Ross declined to speak to Gay City News. Read their full report.

More Questions About Taylor Garrett

Over at Gay City News, Duncan Osborne examines a curious aspect of the alleged assault on GOProud's Taylor Garrett, who claims he was beaten because he's a conservative Christian who's friendly with Ann Coulter.

According to Dallas Police Department reports, officers were called to 2800 Knight Street in Dallas, where the assault happened, at roughly 10:20 pm. Garrett was attending a birthday party at 3000 Knight Street and left the party to get a gift he left in the car. It was then that he came upon the man. The man punched him once in the face and the punch knocked him to the ground, Garrett said. Garrett’s nose was bleeding and his left ear struck the curb, which also caused a cut and bleeding. The police report notes that “Comp refused PES to the location.” The police department press office said that “comp” stands for complainant and “PES” stands for Physical Evidence Section, or the department’s crime scene unit. It is not uncommon for complainants in minor crimes to refuse crime scene services because they may not want to wait for detectives or they may not want to clean up after them. In Garrett’s case, however, it could be perceived differently.

Help! The leftist gay Gestapo assaulted me! No, don't take fingerprints. Don't collect evidence. And no photos, please. This is a job for Daily Caller, not the police.

Time Running Out For NY Marriage

Gay City News reports:

With six days to go in the State Senate legislative calendar before the June 20 scheduled adjournment, leading New York marriage advocates and their ace-in-the-hole Albany ally, Andrew Cuomo, are pushing forward with what everyone involved insists is an unprecedentedly unified front –– one they say has held firm since the earliest days of the new governor’s administration. That is all for the good, since the gay and lesbian community is going to need every bit of unity, determination, savvy, and perhaps a measure of luck if the job is to get done.

With 32 votes needed for passage in the Senate, where Republicans hold a narrow 32-30 majority, the tally of public supporters of the bill stands at 26. A source with direct knowledge of the effort being waged from Cuomo’s office said the feeling there is that “the path to success” involves everybody “staying organized and focused, and not going off on tangents.” That individual hastened to add there is “a full-court press coming out of the highest levels on the second floor,” the location of the governor’s executive offices in the State Capitol.

NEW YORK: Five State Senators MAY Be Changing Their Minds On Marriage

Gay City News reports that five New York state senators who voted against same-sex marriage in 2009 are now "taking no public position" on the issue. Obviously, this could possibly bode well for the upcoming vote promised by Gov. Cuomo. At least six changed votes would be needed for the bill to pass.

According to statements on the record (to Gay City News and/ or other media), two Democrats who previously voted no –– Joe Addabbo and Shirley Huntley of Queens –– and three Republicans in the same category –– James Alesi of Fairport, Greg Ball of Brewster, and Joseph Griffo of Utica –– are currently taking no public position on the marriage bill. Griffo’s undeclared status first became known in an April 26 email message to Gay City News from his office. Rayan Aguam, the senator’s director of communications & community relations, wrote, “Senator Griffo won't comment until it's clear which bill will come before the Senate for a vote. He wants to see all the details of the legislative proposal laid out before him before he makes his decision. It wouldn't surprise anyone if Senator Duane's current bill is amended or if another bill is substituted.” The position of freshman Republican Jack Martins of Garden City is not fully clear from the public record, and he did not respond to Gay City News’ request for comment.

The most surprising name on the above list is Democrat Shirley Huntley, whom you may recall famously declaring in 2009 that she would never vote for gay marriage, "not even if you gave me a million tax-free dollars!" In her 2010 reelection campaign, Huntley claimed that she'd been the subject of death threats by gay activists. Last month the state Attorney General's office investigated Huntley for allegedly running a taxpayer-funded charity scam. That case is still ongoing.

WIKILEAKS: American Gov't Kept Quiet About Murders Of Gays In Iraq

Gay City News reports today that according to a portion of latest documents revealed via Wikileaks, the Pentagon knew about the murders of gay men in Iraq for more than a year before news outlets reported them. Via Duncan Osborne:

“The male was shot (___) times in the chest, and a note was discovered on the body stating that the man had been killed by ___ for stealing cars and being homosexual,” read the January 1, 2005, memo, in which some words were redacted. The body was discovered in Ramadi, a city in central Iraq, and a note was left at the scene by the gunmen who killed the man. The fact that the note was written in advance of the killing suggests that the gunmen knew whom they were targeting and why they were killing him, and had time to plan and prepare for the murder.

“After talking with the locals (through an ___), a CO discovered that the male was killed at approximately 1545C by gunmen driving past in a vehicle,” the memo read. “The vehicle drove past, fired, dropped the note, and then fled. The note is being brought back to - -___ for further analysis. No friendly casualties or damage to equipment reported.”

Gay City News found the memo by searching on wikileaks.org with keywords such as gay, lesbian, homosexual, fag, and faggot. The 2005 memo was the only document Gay City News found that related to the killings of gay Iraqis. Gay City News first reported on such killings in March of 2006. Reporter Doug Ireland, who authored that first story, found killings that occurred as early as April of 2005. An April 2006 report from the United Nations added further evidence that gay, lesbian, and transgender Iraqis were being targeted.

Read Duncan Osborne's complete report.

October 18th In NYC: The 14th Annual Anti-Violence Project Courage Awards

Hosted once again by Law & Order's BD Wong, this year's Anti-Violence Project Courage Awards honorees are the Paul Rapoport Foundation, Gay City News journalist Duncan Osborne, and Village Voice columnist Steven Thrasher. Get tickets here. AVP executive director Sharon Stapel raves about Thrasher to the Village Voice:

"Your work at the Village Voice, particularly your coverage of proposed state funding cuts for domestic violence, has been exemplary. In recognition of your work as a community activist, advocate and journalist, we would like to honor you with a 2010 Courage Award. In accepting this award, you will join the distinguished company of past awardees including: progressive LGBTQ bloggers -- Bill Browning, Joe Jervis, Pam Spaulding and Andy Towle, Tony Kushner, Emil Wilbekin and George C. Wolfe to name but a few."

The NYC Anti-Violence Project is the city's primary civilian organization dedicated to immediate responses to incidents of violence against the LGBT community. Please consider supporting their vital work.

Michael Luongo Returns To Baghdad

This week Gay City News launches a four-part series from Michael Luongo in which he examines "what changed and what didn't" since he last investigated gay life in Iraq in 2007. Here's an excerpt from the first installment:

This visit would be full of stark contrasts. It was as if there were two different Baghdads — at least. I would interview men from Sadr City, one of the poorest, most dangerous districts, who talked about friends killed by sprays of bullets in drive-by shootings, their gathering places firebombed, their names posted on lists, others raped and disappeared by militia-infested police squadrons at checkpoints. I would see a hospital where the bodies of gay men had been dumped, their anuses closed shut from a heavy glue used to torture them. I would visit a safe house, chatting with gay men and transgender Iraqis who hid for safety, yet at the same time were welcoming and life-affirming, teaching me gay Arabic slang and joking about sex with gay Saddam-look-alikes.

And I would meet other men from different parts of Baghdad, young, fashionable, masculine, with far less to fear, who did in fact cruise along the colorful banks of the Tigris on Abu Nuwaz Street and spend their evenings at fashionable cafés popular among gays in West Baghdad, flirting with men they met through the website Manjam as they sat back in comfortable seats visible from the street. I would grow to fall in love with a newly vibrant Baghdad. Not that I didn’t still have much to fear as a visiting gay journalist — from conversations that could be tapped to entrapment, spies, and the bullets of panicked Iraqi soldiers.

Read the entire first installment.

Nightclubbing: Will New York City Finally Get Another Gay Mega Dance Spot?

Currently only three* gay nightclubs in NYC have the necessary cabaret license that allows dancing: Chelsea's medium-sized Splash, the basement room of the Monster in the West Village, and Escuelita, the Hell's Kitchen drag and Latin club. This week, the highly anticipated reopening of the legendary Roxy was finally (and probably, permanently) shot down when the backers of a new venture for the property retreated after facing fierce opposition from the venue's West Chelsea neighbors.

But via Paul Schindler at Gay City News, we learn of a massive project proposed for West 42nd Street that, should it come to fruition, would be the largest and most elaborate gay entertainment complex in the city.

At a time when city officials nervously double-check and then triple-check their once confident projections about tourism growth and more than a few gay locals grumble about the dearth of fresh nightlife choices, a $20 million project could bring nearly 80,000 square feet in tourism and dance club space to West 42nd Street — in the form of New York’s first full-service gay hotel and the first new nightclub serving the LGBT community in more than five years to have a cabaret license, needed if patrons wish to dance. Officially described as “The Out NYC: a hospitality and entertainment destination geared to the gay community,” the project, due to be completed by early next year, is informally dubbed “a hetero-friendly urban resort” by its developers. In addition to 123 guest rooms and a 10,000-square-foot dance club capable of serving 750 patrons, the project — which will renovate a three-story building originally developed as a Travel Inn in 1960 to accommodate the crowds expected at the 1964 World’s Fair and later used by the Red Cross, before it was abandoned several years ago — will also include a gym, spa, restaurant, and 24/7 café, making it the most ambitious commercial development ever to court New York’s gay community.

It should be said that a dance club that holds 750 people strains the definition of what we've known as a "megaclub," but in these days of dwindling and smaller gay dance clubs, that's pretty good. According to Schindler's exhaustive article, seasoned NYC promoter John Blair, the man behind the demised Roxy, will be resurrecting his late Chelsea club XL at the new complex on W.42nd.

*The NYC Eagle may have a cabaret license for its relatively small ground floor, but I've only seen dancing there on the day of the Folsom East Street Fair.

12 Gay Men Face Execution In Iran

Twelve gay men are awaiting execution in Iran for the "crime" of homosexuality. Gay City News' Doug Ireland reports:

Ten young Iranian men, including eight teenagers, are currently awaiting execution for sodomy, and two more are being re-tried on the same capital charge. And, in an exclusive interview with Gay City News, an Iranian student gay rights activist confirmed for the first time the existence of queer organizing on multiple university campuses throughout Iran. The information about the ten youths currently under sentence of death for sodomy (lavaat in Persian) was released on November 25 in a joint appeal by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), the Iranian Queer Organization (IRQO), and COC of the Netherlands, the world’s oldest LGBT rights group, founded in 1946. The three organizations called on Western countries “with significant diplomatic and economic ties to Iran, including Germany, France, Canada, as well as the European Union, to pursue diplomatic efforts to cease these executions.”

According to the above-linked story, a new movement of queer organizing has sprung up at Iran's college campuses.

Misaghi confirmed to this reporter the existence of queer organizing on a number of university campuses throughout Iran, marking the first time that a student activist has spoken openly to a Western reporter about this new development. The reason there has been no reporting outside Iran on campus queer organizing, according to the activist, is that “based on what I’ve experienced, there is great secrecy on the part of student queer activists, most of whom use aliases in their work, and in issuing public statements will do so only in the name of a group. There is no visibility, no head figure, no out activists.”

Read Doug Ireland's excellent investigative report.

NOTE: The above photo is from the 2007 execution of gay teenagers in Iran.

You Don't Get To Kill Somebody Because He Is Wearing A Dress

In his confession to the decapitation murder of gay teen Jorge Mercado, Juan Martinez Matos (left) claimed that Mercado had been dressed as a woman in an area known for prostitution, driving him, he claimed, to murder Mercado in "gay panic" once he discovered Mercado's true gender. But according to Puerto Rican activist Pedro Julio Serrano, those close to Mercado are calling bullshit on that claim. Via Doug Ireland at Gay City News:

“None of Jorge Steven’s friends, and I’ve spoken to many of them, knew anything about his ever having engaged in sex work, not his family, and not the police,” Serrano, who met with investigators on the case, told this reporter. “Nor was he known as a cross-dresser. He identified and lived as a very proud gay man, he was very genuine and authentic. He was just very fashion-oriented and what you could call a gender-bender, but not in a transgendered way.” Serrano added, “We do not know if the murderer’s claim that Jorge Steven was wearing a dress is true or not, because the body had been so dismembered, its legs and arms and torso strewn in different locations, and it had also been burned along with the clothes he was wearing.” In footage aired on Telemundo-Puerto Rico, Martínez was asked by a reporter if he was gay, to which he replied no, and added, López “tried to kill me.” When he realized that López was a man, Martínez said he regressed to an incident when he was sexually assaulted during a prison term, Telemundo and local reports said. “He had a deep-seated rage,” said prosecutor Bermudez. Martínez’ lawyer has since indicated that he will employ a “gay panic” defense.

Obviously, whether Mercado was in drag or not, or was a sex worker or not, is completely irrelevant to the horrific crime committed against him. That his killer is claiming such is evidence that he knows he can gain more sympathy if others believe he was "tricked" by a man pretending to be a woman. Sadly, that belief is not limited to outsiders. Below, Pedro Julio Serrano ferociously criticizes the audience at a gay nightclub for anti-trans comments made in the wake of Jorge Mercado's murder.

Marriage Optimism In Albany

Over at Gay City News, Paul Schindler has written an inside look at the negotiations to get the state senate to agree to a marriage equality vote before the end of the year. The Empire State Pride Agenda's Alan Van Capelle and openly gay Sen. Thomas Duane remain optimistic that "the votes are there."

“For the very first time, we have an historic commitment from the Senate majority to bring the bill to the floor,” Van Capelle told Gay City News the morning after the announcement. “I believe that we had the votes to pass the bill in June. I believe if it had been debated last night we would have had the votes.” Others echoed Van Capelle’s assessment of the significance of Tuesday evening’s announcement. “I would say that what it means is that there is almost a certainty that the marriage equality bill be voted on imminently,” said Marty Rouse, national field director for the Human Rights Campaign, which was also represented at the Paterson meeting. Agreeing with ESPA’s handicapping of the bill’s chances, Rouse said, “We’ve talked to our legislative allies, and our understanding is that the votes will be there when the vote comes to the floor.” Senators also voiced satisfaction, with Duane telling Gay City News, “I feel very happy, very positive.”

However NY1 has today posted a recap of likely votes and it doesn't look good.

While the vote is all but guaranteed, the bill's passage is anything but. A NY1 tally of lawmakers shows support for same sex marriage is not even half way there. Of 62 senators, 21 are supportive. The remaining 41 are opposed, wouldn't say, or couldn't be reached Wednesday, a state holiday. Proponents admit some of the 30 Republicans will be needed. A spokesman for the GOP conference says none are publicly supportive. Opponents like New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms Executive Director Jason McGuire say they have reason to be concerned at the polls, referencing a socially moderate Republican pushed out by a conservative in a recent congressional contest upstate. "No senator wants to be the next Dede Scozzafava and lose their seat because of the issue of marriage," McGuire said. On the other side, there's political heft for supporters facing a tough vote. Generous campaign contributions from gay rights supporters helped return Democrats to senate power for the first time in more than four decades.

NY Senate Promises Marriage Vote And Debate (Sometime This Year)

NY Gov. David Paterson appeared on the local news last night and with great gravitas announced that a major breakthrough had been made with the NY Senate regarding marriage equality. An agreement had been reached that the Senate would debate and vote on marriage equality at an unspecified date to occur before the end of the end. I was thinking, "THAT'S all you got?" but apparently the agreement is a big deal. Paul Schindler at Gay City News:

Flanked by four members of the State Senate Democratic majority and the leader of New York's LGBT lobby, Governor David A. Paterson announced an agreement by which the Senate leadership has, for the first time, agreed to debate and vote on a marriage equality bill before the end of 2009.

"This is the first time that the Senate leadership has indicated that it will support a vote on marriage equality," the governor said. "This is a stunning and very happy development in this process. I will continue to place marriage equality on any special sessions that I call on Monday and Tuesday because I feel that the bill should be debated immediately. However, I have profound respect for the leadership of the Senate and the process that they took to bring us to this vote."

Paterson was joined by the Senate's deputy majority leader, Jeffrey Klein, who represents portions of the Bronx and Weschester, Brooklyn Senator Eric Adams, Manhattan Senator Eric Schneiderman, and Thomas K. Duane, the out gay Chelsea senator who is the lead sponsor of the marriage equality bill. Alan Van Capelle, the executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda, was also on hand.

Politicos, Activists, Stars Come Out For Pride Agenda's Annual Dinner

Last night I attended the Empire State Pride Agenda's annual dinner, a massive and swank affair held in sprawling ballroom where activists mingled with Gov. Paterson, Mayor Bloomberg, Sen. Chuck Schumer, emcee Margaret Cho, Alan Cumming, Cheyenne Jackson, and Anne Hathaway (who brought her openly gay brother and smokin' hot father - who is an LGBT activist/ally in his own right.) Gay City News' Paul Schindler reports:

During an evening when Governor David A. Paterson employed both his trademark humor and a sobering lesson in the state’s fiscal crisis to reiterate his pledge that “marriage equality is coming to New York State” –– “just in the next few weeks,” no less –– the head of the Empire State Pride Agenda issued a stern warning to members of the State Senate, allies included, who might fail to help make that a reality.

Addressing Senate supporters who have nonetheless “run to the sidelines as fast as they can,” Alan Van Capelle, the executive director of New York State’s LGBT lobby, said, “We have campaigned for you, we have raised money for you, we have supported you in every way imaginable, and we should have no patience for these sorry summer soldiers.” Coming less than a year after ESPA orchestrated the raising of more than $1 million to support the Democratic takeover of the Senate, Van Capelle’s remarks, delivered at the group’s annual Manhattan fall dinner on October 22, reflected his rising frustration with the allies the LGBT community helped install.

“We can find other friends who will do that job for us and do it faster,” he said of the potential that Senate Democrats might fail to heed his call. “We know such friends exist.” The threat to find “other friends” was, in fact, an echo of challenges Van Capelle once issued to the Republican leadership that held sway over the Senate for decades until last November’s election. Then, he warned that if the GOP leadership was unwilling to allow votes on marriage equality, transgender rights, and a school anti-bullying measure, the Pride Agenda would work to put a new team in charge. The group held true to that pledge.

The 1200 attendees of the event raised over $1M for the Pride Agenda. Near the end, I got to shake the governor's hand - he's even tinier than Bloomberg. Here's a slideshow of my photos.

Gay City News Disses Bloomberg, Endorses Bill Thompson For NYC Mayor

Saying Mayor Bloomberg's actions on gay marriage "are at sharp odds with his words," NYC's sole remaining LGBT newsweekly, Gay City News, has endorsed City Comptroller Bill Thompson for mayor. One of the reasons for the snub of Bloomberg is his support for upstate Republicans who may have blocked progress on marraige equality.

In 2005, at the same time the mayor decided to appeal a Manhattan district court judge’s pro-gay marriage ruling, for the first time he announced his support for marriage equality and pledged to lobby Albany to secure that right. That December, he told Gay City News, “When I say I’ll do something, I’ll do something.”

Yet since that statement, Bloomberg has contributed nearly $3.4 million to support the state Republican and Independence Parties, the bulk of those dollars directly funding State Senate Republican incumbents, at a time when that party’s majority refused to bring marriage equality to a floor vote. A $1.2 million Bloomberg contribution to the Independence Party last year was used to support the three most stridently anti-gay Republican senators. The mayor’s support for one of them, Frank Padavan of Queens, helped him squeak out a victory over Democratic City Councilman James Gennaro, a vocal supporter of equal marriage rights.

It’s fair to note that there are marriage equality opponents among the Senate Democrats, too, and that even after gaining the majority last November, their party did not deliver a floor vote. But it’s a good bet that had Gennaro and perhaps another Democrat or two prevailed in 2008, the two disgraceful senators who this past summer crippled a body riven by a 32-30 split would not have had their opportunity. The best information available to Gay City News indicates that without that disruption, Senator Thomas K. Duane would have gotten the marriage equality vote he seeks.

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.

Gay Bashing Victim: I Deserved It (And Thanks For Beating The Queer Out Of Me)

Well, this has got to be the strangest story of the year. Dwan Prince, 31, has sent an apology to the man whose 2005 attack in Brooklyn left Prince partially paralyzed, telling him that it was Prince's own flirtatious behavior that brought on the assault and that thanks to the beating, he is no longer gay. Duncan Osborne at Gay City News:

In a move that may complicate the retrial of Steven Pomie in the 2005 attack on Dwan Prince, Prince sent Pomie a letter in which he blamed himself for the brutal, anti-gay assault and expressed the hope that Pomie serve just five years in prison, with five years post-release supervision for the crime. “First please allow me to deeply apology for my hated comment,” Prince wrote in the July 20 letter, which Gay City News is quoting verbatim. “Please I do hope you know I am truly deeply sorry for what ever was sayed that night. I have made some big mistakes in my life and that was the stupidiest and biggest one of all.”

Pomie, now 26, allegedly attacked Prince in Brooklyn’s Brownsville section after the now 31-year-old flirted with him. Pomie first beat and kicked Prince with two other men, and then made a second assault with another man, witnesses said during Pomie’s 2006 trial. When Pomie returned alone to deliver a third beating, witnesses prevented him from attacking Prince, who was lying unconscious on the sidewalk. One witness testified that as Pomie walked away from the scene, he quickly turned back and “kicked [Prince] with his Tims,” referring to the Timberland brand of boots. “Then blood started gushing,” the witness said.

Pomie was originally sentenced to 25 years in prison for first degree assault as a hate crime, but his conviction was overturned last year and Pomie was ordered to be retried on lesser charges. He remains in prison awaiting that trial. Since the attack, Prince says he has been attending bible studies and told Pomie in his letter that the beating turned him straight, saying, “Steve you changed me! So hopefully when you get out we can hang out. You know me. I know you. I help you calm that angry machine down. And allow you to know I am not gay but a lover, and you can find me a female I can love and can love me.”

Read Duncan Osborne's entire story to get all the crazy details. I don't know what to say about this.

Gay City News On Albany Revolt

If you're still trying to figure what the hell has been going on in Albany this week (and who isn't), Gay City News editor Paul Schindler has posted an excellent and very detailed breakdown of this still chaotic situation.

Late yesterday, Schindler got openly gay state Sen. Thomas Duane (left, at podium) to finally comment on the widespread speculation that he is contemplating joining the Democratic Senate defectors who now support GOP Majority Leader Dean Skelos.

"Yes, I did miss a Democratic press conference on Monday," he responded, when asked about the reports. "And except for when I really needed to be in the Capitol, I chose not to be there because it's a very toxic place, full of only rumors. My not being there has nothing to do with anything other than it not being a place where I wanted to spend a lot of time. I don't think anyone should read anything more into it." Duane, however, conceded that he had not attended any meeting of the beleaguered Democratic caucus since the Senate was thrown into turmoil Monday, and made no attempt to deny rumors that he was talking to the Republicans. When asked if he could dispel stories that the GOP had reached out to him, he responded, "I have spoken to people on both sides of the aisle about seeing every issue accomplished that I have spent my whole life working to accomplish." He then added quickly, "And with that I will leave you," and ended the call.

Secret alliances, indicted pols, wealthy influence peddlers, sexual scandal, domestic violence, double-crossing, pork barrel corruption - it's all in a days work in Albany. Where same-sex marriage may end up in this swirling sewer called New York state government is anybody's guess at this point.

RELATED: I will never make fun of Illinois politics again.

(Photo via Gay City News)

Guilty Verdict In Murder Of NY Gay Man, Killer Had Called Victim A "Faggot"

A 18 year-old Brooklyn man was found guilty of second-degree murder yesterday for stabbing a 20 year-old gay man to death after calling him a "faggot" and accusing him of coming on to him. Duncan Osborne at Gay City News covered the trial, which nearly ended in a hung jury due to the poor credibility of witnesses.

Following a roughly three-day trial and four days of deliberation, a Brooklyn jury found Omar Willock guilty of second-degree murder in the 2007 stabbing death of Roberto Duncanson, a 20-year-old gay man. "Justice was served," was the only comment from Howard Jackson, the prosecutor in the case, following the March 18 verdict. The trial began on March 9, and the jury started deliberating on March 12. The 12 jurors spent the morning of March 13 listening to trial testimony. A verdict appeared to be in doubt at several points in the deliberations, with the jury repeatedly sending notes to Neil J. Firetog, the trial judge, saying they could not reach a verdict.

"The status from the get-go until Tuesday afternoon was nine to three in favor of conviction," said Beriah Wall, one of the jurors. "It wasn't until Tuesday afternoon that the foreperson really came around... At the point, it was ten to two." The prosecution relied primarily on two witnesses - Belinda Toon, who knew the 18-year-old Willock, but did not see him stab Duncanson, and Jeimar Brown, who saw a man stab Duncanson, but never identified Willock as that man. Wall said one juror, a retired Army sergeant, put the case together for the reluctant jurors. "He was truly patient and tenacious in connecting the dots," Wall said. "Neither of the witnesses were totally credible, especially Belinda... We really had to, step A, step B, run through the narrative numbers of times."

The judge dismissed the hate crime count of the charges, even though the prosecutor cited the Willock's repeated use of "faggot." Willock faces 15 years to life in prison; the hate crimes enhancement would have added five years to his sentence.

Saturday At Noon: Protest At Bloomberg's Home Over Gay Men Falsely Arrested For Prostitution

Tomorrow at noon there will be a protest at Mayor Bloomberg's Upper East Side home over the NYPD's practice of falsely arresting gay men for prostitution at the city's adult bookstores. Duncan Osbourne at Gay City News has been following this story for months; I first mentioned his coverage here in late October.

Basically, the cops are sending hot young guys into porn shops where they offer to pay much older gay men for sex off the premises. As ridiculous as that scenario may be, if the customer does leave with the young man, he is arrested outside. So far over 50 gay men have been arrested. Some have plead guilty in order not to go to trial. Others are vigorously denying the charge.

The protest is being organized by Robert Pinter, who was arrested in October. Pinter's story is here. The arrests have been condemned by several high-ranking NYC officials, including City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. Mayor Bloomberg lives at 17 E.79th Street near Central Park. I'll be there and get some photographs of the protest.