INDIA: Television Station Outs "Deviant" Gay Men In Dating Site "Sting"

The Australian site SameSame reports that an Indian television has conducted a "sting" to out men using a gay dating site.

The report from news channel TV9 Telugu shows people searching through gay youths profiles on online dating/social networking website planetromeo.com. The men found on the website were labeled ‘deviants’ and photos of them, along with personal information such as names, were clearly displayed. Extremely private information about one user – including his penis size, fetishes, and his preferred sexual position – was shown in the report. The item continued with phone-call ‘gay-stings’ of two of the website’s users whose profiles and faces were also shown. During the calls an investigator posed as a planetromeo.com user and the men are covertly asked questions about their sexual lives and preferences. Homosexual activity in India, while legalised in 2009, still remains a cultural taboo within wider Indian society and government.

Outraged Indian activists have told the station that it will be held responsible for any reprisals or physical attacks made against the men it outed. The station has since removed the report from its official YouTube channel, but others have reposted the clip. An English translation of the video can be found at the above link.

CALIFORNIA: Palm Springs Police Chief Resigns In Wake Of Gay Slur Scandal

Less than a week after he admitted to and apologized for calling gay men "filthy motherfuckers," Palm Springs police chief David Dominguez is resigning.

"After careful consideration of the recent debates surrounding the Warm Sands Law Enforcement Operation, I believe this decision is in the best interest of my family, my health, the Department and the City," Dominguez said in a statement. "It has been a privilege to be the Chief of Police and work with the professional men, women and volunteers in the Police Department who are extremely dedicated to the community."

Dominguez has faced fierce criticism for operating public sex stings that focus on gay men.

Palm Springs Police Chief: I'm Sorry I Called Gay Men "Filthy Motherfuckers"

Palm Springs Police Chief David Dominquez has apologized for an anti-gay slur made during a sting in which gay men were arrested for public sex. Dominquez reportedly told cops on the scene: "What a bunch of filthy motherfuckers. You guys should get paid extra for this."

The comment “did not display the utmost professional conduct expected from the Chief of Police and I sincerely apologize to the community at large,” Dominguez said in a statement. It’s the first time Dominguez has admitted to making expletives during the lewd-conduct sting, which has sparked controversy across the valley over how it was carried out, the severe charges those arrested face, and the gay slurs police made during surveillance. The comment “did not display the utmost professional conduct expected from the Chief of Police and I sincerely apologize to the community at large,” Dominguez said in a statement.

It’s the first time Dominguez has admitted to making expletives during the lewd-conduct sting, which has sparked controversy across the valley over how it was carried out, the severe charges those arrested face, and the gay slurs police made during surveillance. Dominguez previously declined to comment on the complaint. His apology came about an hour after City Manager David Ready released a memo to the Palm Springs City Council, outlining Ready's conclusions – and regrets – about how the controversial sting to curb public gay sex in the area played out. “Portions of the operation were not conducted according to the professional standards that are expected of our Police Department,” Ready stated. “As a result, appropriate disciplinary and correction action has already been taken.”

The 19 men arrested face charges that may require them to register as sex offenders for the rest of their lives.

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.

No Appeal For Larry Craig

A Minnesota court has refused to allow former Sen. Larry "Wide Stance" Craig to withdraw his guilty plea from his sex-sting arrest in the Minneapolis airport. Craig responds:

"I am extremely disappointed by the action of the Minnesota Court of Appeals," Craig (R-ID) said in a statement. "I disagree with their conclusion and remain steadfast in my belief that nothing criminal or improper occurred at the Minneapolis airport. I maintain my innocence, and currently my attorneys and I are reviewing the decision and looking into the possibility of appealing. I would like to thank all of those who have continued to support me and my family throughout this difficult time."

While we all took great delight in the downfall of a self-loathing homosexual Senator who repeatedly opposed gay rights legislation, we must continue to protest these entrapment arrests.

Cincinnati Christian University Official Entrapped And Busted For Gay Sex

A gay sex sting in Ohio resulted in the arrest of the CFO of Cincinnati Christian University.

Cincinnati Christian University’s chief financial officer entered a written plea of not guilty Monday after he was arrested Saturday in Mount Airy Forest and charged with sexual imposition. Robert Williams, 52, of Independence, was arrested at 9:23 a.m., accused of getting into a man’s car and touching his genitals. The man was an undercover officer. The university placed Williams on administrative leave while officials there assess the facts of the case, according to a statement from the university. “We are shocked and dismayed by the news,” Cincinnati Christian University President David Faust said in the statement. “This is a personal tragedy for him and for his family, and we lift them up in our prayers.”

These stings are wrong, wrong, wrong - even when the victims run Christian colleges.

Lawsuit In Tenn. Public Sex Sting Case

Lambda Legal has filed a federal lawsuit against the police department of Johnson City, Tennessee and its chief of police for releasing the photos of 40 men arrested in a sex sting in a public park. The suit was filed on behalf of Kenneth Giles, a nurse who was fired from his job after his picture appeared in the local paper.

"In America, the police do not get to add an extra punishment to people they don't like," said Greg Nevins, Supervising Senior Staff Attorney in Lambda Legal's Southern Regional Office based in Atlanta. "They also do not get to ignore the principle of innocent until proven guilty. The JCPD went out of its way to humiliate Mr. Giles and caused irreparable damage."

On October 1, 2007 the JCPD issued a press release, personally approved by the police chief, that included photos that were taken at the scene where 40 men, including Mr. Giles, were arrested in a public sex sting. The local news ran the story prominently along with the pictures and addresses of the men involved. Lambda Legal reviewed the police department's press releases for over a period of a year and found that out of approximately 600 other releases, none pertaining to arrests was accompanied by photos or personally approved by the chief. Of the 40 arrested, one man has committed suicide, and several others have lost their jobs, including Kenneth Giles, who was fired from his job as a nurse at the VA hospital.

"I don't understand how the police department can release photos of one group and not any others," said Kenneth Giles. "I lost my livelihood because my arrest was treated differently."

Lambda Legal argues that the JCPD violated federal equal protection law by singling out these men for harsher treatment by making their images available to the media. Indeed, the actions of the JCPD are the latest in a long history of the police going beyond legitimate law enforcement measures to take extraordinary action designed to target gay men for humiliation and harassment.

Shortly after his photo was published, a 55 year-old man committed suicide.

PREVIOUSLY ON JMG: Stinging Shame.

Married Gay Straight Stud For Same

I hesitated to do yet another post about yet another public sex sting ...

BEDFORD - A sting aimed at men who cruise a rest area off Interstate 684 for gay sex resulted in charges against 20 men in the past month, including a Catholic priest and a registered sex offender. The sting, which also netted a local Rotary Club president and a 72-year-old man, was prompted by a complaint from a man who stopped to use the rest area with his 10-year-old son, said Capt. Robert Meyer, state police commander in Westchester County. Most of the men were charged with either loitering or trespass violations or both. One was charged with forcible touching, a misdemeanor.

But Dan Savage once again makes this critical observation: "Out of the 20 men arrested seeking gay sex in a toilet off I-684, how many do you think were openly gay?"

With the exception of Mead [the priest], all of those charged are married, police said.

Savage: "The correct answer was none! How does the same story get written after every public 'gay sex' sting? 'Hey, all the men arrested are married or priests! What’s up with that!' What’s up with that, of course, is that squalid, anonymous toilet sex isn’t something most openly gay men engage in. It is, for the most part, the preferred mode of sexual expression for closeted gay and bisexual men. Cruisy toilets and parks, while frequented by some openly gay men (none of whom ever seem to get caught, however), are primarily patronized by straight-identified closet cases, married men, losers, and priests—hell, the existence or cruisy toilets and parks make it possible for many of these men to remain closeted."

I'd add that probably the biggest draw for the few openly gay men that do cruise these locations is their fetishization of the "straight" men who comprise the bulk of the cruisers. You know, because straight men are, by default, hotter than queers.