The LGBTQIA-community

[Double 0]

Who Cares About Islan Nettles

The weather in Manhattan on January 30 was bitter, frigid — not the kind of day you go out into if you don’t have to, least of all to a windswept plaza in the shadow of the bunker-like headquarters of the New York City Police Department. But that afternoon, a bundled-up crowd of more than 100 people, about half of them transgender women of color, massed there for more than an hour, holding signs that read "Transgender Lives Matter And Justice For Islan Nettles". In the crowd was Janet Mock, a former People magazine editor who was about to publish her memoir, Redefining Realness, about her life as a transgender woman. She was with Melissa Sklarz and Madison St. Claire, the trans women who were advocating for trans rights in New York City years before boldfaced names like Chaz Bono, Chelsea Manning, and Laverne Cox helped thrust the issue into the spotlight.

Suddenly, a woman in outrageous red cat’s-eye sunglasses, a cobalt coat, pink scarf, and black tights came stalking toward the crowd, shouting, “Trans lives matter!” It was a local transgender actress Daisy Lopez. Her peers began whooping. Lopez looked at the wall of NYPD cops there to patrol the rally in their dark blue uniforms, expressions impassive. “You fucking saw it!” she screamed at them. “Everybody saw it! Do your jobs!”

“Do your jobs!” the crowd started chanting. Despite the freezing cold, the rally was on.

Its ostensible purpose was to demand a full account and update from the NYPD and the office of New York County District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. on the investigation into the death of Islan Nettles [pronounced élan], a pretty, young, transgender woman from Harlem. Shortly after midnight on August 17, 2013, Nettles, finally in possession of her own apartment after periods of homelessness and newly embarked on a career in design, was walking with friends in Harlem when what apparently began as flirting with a group of young men took a bad turn as the men realized the women were transgender.

According to several accounts, one young man struck Nettles to the ground and beat her unconscious. Some accounts say that police, summoned from a nearby station by Nettles’s friends, had to pull the young man off of her. Nettles was taken to Harlem Hospital in an ambulance and declared brain-dead four days later.

A young man, 20-year-old Paris Wilson, was immediately arrested for the attack and released on $2,000 bail. The crime was initially classified as assault, a misdemeanor. That charge was dropped in November, even as authorities said they were still investigating the beating as a possible homicide and hate crime.

Since then, there have been few announcements from authorities on the case, although in private visits, they have told trans activists they are aggressively pursuing it. In an off-the-record call, a DA’s office staffer told me that much of the community’s story about the attack and the police’s mishandling of the case is inaccurate. For example, the staffer said, it appeared that the attacker had not beaten Nettles repeatedly but had struck her once, hard enough for her to fall down and incur a concussion on the sidewalk.

The staffer also told me that the DA’s office was pursuing the case every day, but that bringing someone to trial depended largely upon certain witnesses — with whom the DA has met — being willing to surrender more information.

But that Thursday in late January, trans activists and their cisgender (where one’s experience of gender aligns with their born sex) allies from groups such as ACT UP were out to demand that investigators bring them up to date. Passing around a large red megaphone, they shouted questions at the cops: Why did it appear they had not taken a DNA sample from Wilson at the scene of crime, though they reportedly had to pull him off of Nettles? (The DA staffer told me that there was no blood on Wilson’s knuckles.) Why weren’t all witnesses detained and questioned? Why was there no police follow-up on Nettles while she was in the hospital? Why had no footage of the crime surfaced, even though it had occurred across from a police station covered in security cameras?

“Why didn’t a detective come to the hospital?” demanded Delores Nettles, Islan’s mother, through the megaphone. “A social worker there had to call the DA’s office. I said to them, ‘Half of my child’s brain is hanging out of her head and you can’t tell me anything?’ ”

Yet, at the rally, beneath the demand for answers about Islan Nettles, was a deeper anger. As Mock put it to me when the rally was breaking up, “[The death of ] Islan isn’t the first death of a transgender woman of color, and she’s not going to be the last. I’m at risk every day myself just walking the streets of New York City. We all are.”

I know of some protests that are happening in NYC, probably around Harlem, but I feel like stories like this don't get nearly enough air play. This is a serious problem, and we all need to do more to help stop it. From the micro-aggression's up to the acts of violence.

[PretenderNX01]

it appeared that the attacker had not beaten Nettles repeatedly but had struck her once, hard enough for her to fall down and incur a concussion on the sidewalk.

It's still a crime and if it results in a death you can be tried for murder even if it's one punch. In Michigan a referee died after being punched and that man was charged with "assault with intent to do great bodily harm" and held on $500,000 bond.

[Kieran_Frost]

Who Cares About Islan Nettles

I know of some protests that are happening in NYC, probably around Harlem, but I feel like stories like this don't get nearly enough air play. This is a serious problem, and we all need to do more to help stop it. From the micro-aggression's up to the acts of violence.

I want to say something meaningful, but this just makes me very sad. Nettles deserved better. She deserved better than to find a guy attractive enough to flirt with, who is so insecure with his sexuality he'll beat her for it. She deserved better than prejudice cops handling and mishandling the case. She deserved better than a DA who doesn't care if it was mishandled. She deserved better than everything she got. Just so sad.

[Rob Allen]

Here's a local columnist answering the question, "Why do the L's come first in LGBT?"

http://www.wweek.com/portland/articl...t_in_lgbt.html

[thespianphryne]

Here's a local columnist answering the question, "Why do the L's come first in LGBT?"

http://www.wweek.com/portland/articl...t_in_lgbt.html

That last line!

[Kieran_Frost]

Here's a local columnist answering the question, "Why do the L's come first in LGBT?"
http://www.wweek.com/portland/articl...t_in_lgbt.html

"Why did the gay community adopt the acronym “LGBT,” placing the lesbians first? It was gay men and drag queens at Stonewall—I find it appalling that lesbians get top billing! Can we change it to GLTB? (“B” is last because they’re sellouts.)"

- CHRIS V

If this had been said ironically, I think it would have been one of the best tongue-in-cheek jokes I've read in a very long time. Didn't know (but VERY proud to learn) it was the Advocate that started putting the L first.

Also, good to learn this: The first blows of that uprising [RE: Stonewall Riots] were struck by a lesbian—a “stone butch” who single-handedly fought off cops for 10 minutes. Reports vary, but many believe this scrapper was drag king Stormé DeLarverie, now hailed as the “Rosa Parks of the gay rights movement.”

[the4thpip]

Vicky Beeching, Christian rock star 'I'm gay. God loves me just the way I am'

And she will be crucified. Boycotts of her music are already in place since Beeching decided to speak up for same-sex marriage over a year ago. Hatred has been flung at her online ever since: "You've been deceived by the devil," is a typical, charming comment.
(...)

That summer, at a Christian youth camp in the English countryside, Beeching became subject to an altogether more extreme way to make her sexuality "pure": an exorcism.

"The walk felt like 10 years. The music was very loud. At the altar one of the prayer team said, 'What would you like us to pray for you about?' I said, 'It's really hard for me to say this but I am attracted to people of the same sex and I've been told God hates that and I'm so ashamed and I need Him to take it away because I can't keep living like this. I'm so sad and depressed, I can't carry on.'"

Beeching stood with her arms outstretched as the leaders brought in extra people to perform the deliverance. "I remember lots of people placing their hands on my shoulders and back and front, praying in tongues really loudly and then shouting things: 'We command Satan to let you go! Cast these devils out of you! We speak to you demon of homosexuality: let her go!' People around me were wailing and screaming. It was really frightening. I was already feeling so vulnerable, it was horrible to think, 'Am I controlled by demons?'"

How did it feel? "Degrading," she says. "Very humiliating – it made me so embarrassed."

[PretenderNX01]

I was already feeling so vulnerable, it was horrible to think, 'Am I controlled by demons?'

That's just sad.

The first blows of that uprising [RE: Stonewall Riots] were struck by a lesbian—a “stone butch” who single-handedly fought off cops for 10 minutes. Reports vary, but many believe this scrapper was drag king Stormé DeLarverie, now hailed as the “Rosa Parks of the gay rights movement.”

I never knew of her before, found a bit on Wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storm%C3%A9_DeLarverie


Anti-Gay Crusader Jonathan Saenz's Ex-Wife Left Him For A Woman
Court documents reveal the wife of an anti-gay extremist left him for a woman months before he became the head of an anti-gay Texas group.

And isn't it ironic? Don'tcha think?

[the4thpip]

That's just sad.


I never knew of her before, found a bit on Wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storm%C3%A9_DeLarverie


Anti-Gay Crusader Jonathan Saenz's Ex-Wife Left Him For A Woman
Court documents reveal the wife of an anti-gay extremist left him for a woman months before he became the head of an anti-gay Texas group.

And isn't it ironic? Don'tcha think?

Sounds more like he has a personal ax to grind, if she left him before he became head of the group.

[the4thpip]

I'm just glad he didn't say "queerest."

[Kieran_Frost]

I'm just glad he didn't say "queerest."

HAHAHAHA! I don't know, the amusement value of "queerest"... like "Joker's boner"; it's one of those amusing my modern standards old comics.

[Omegastorm]

3 Favorite Films with LGBT Themes

I know I am late but:

1. Angels of Sex-sooo good, if you are bi watch this film
2. Short Bus- there's a lot of literal sex in it. I mean actual penetration by actors and yet it's porn but not.
3. Philidelphia was amazing

o

[tombo]

I just bought and watched Shortbus on DVD. I want to give to to my gay brother, as I think he would love it, but am embaressed to. If he's offended, I would worry.

[DebkoX]

I like Brokeback mountain also, you know, as a neutral watcher. I'm embarrassed to admit I have not yet soon Philadelphia ;L

[Kieran_Frost]

My housemate has managed to pursued my boyfriend and I to watch RuPaul's Drag Race... and it is strangely addictive. Having now seen the show, I can 100% call foul on the objections raised several months ago about She Mail and other such things. It's crazy and camp and so tongue-in-cheek anyone taking it seriously is just an idiot. ALSO... surprised to learn RuPaul actually spends more of the episodes not in drag than in drag. Didn't expect that.

3 Favorite Films with LGBT Themes

I know I am late but:
1. Angels of Sex-sooo good, if you are bi watch this film
2. Short Bus- there's a lot of literal sex in it. I mean actual penetration by actors and yet it's porn but not.
3. Philidelphia was amazing

YEY, hello O, very happy to see you here. No Brokeback Mountain (2005)?

I like Brokeback mountain also, you know, as a neutral watcher. I'm embarrassed to admit I have not yet soon Philadelphia ;L

Don't be, it's not that good. It's important, but not that good. Hanks is amazing, and I like the complexity in Denzel's feelings but the directing... 80s style, unsubtle, heavy handed... ruins the film (at-least for me).

I just bought and watched Shortbus on DVD. I want to give to to my gay brother, as I think he would love it, but am embaressed to. If he's offended, I would worry.

I really don't know any guy (gay or straight) who is offended by being given porn