Tag Archives: Washington

Washington Man Arrested In Killing of 17 Year Old Transgender Girl

Washington Man Arrested In Killing of 17 Year Old Transgender Girl

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David Y. Bogdanov, 25, was arrested Tuesday on murder charges for the killing of a 17 year old transgender girl, Nikki Kuhnhausen after her skull was discovered in the woods in southern Washington this month the Vancouver Police Department said in a news release.

“I believe that David became enraged at the realization that he had engaged in sexual contact with a male whom he believed to be female and strangled Nikki to death,” Officer Jason Mills wrote in a probable cause affidavit.

Detectives used data from Kuhnhausen’s Snapchat account to find out who she had been talking to early on June 6 — which led them to Bogdanov, who “corroborated that the two had met and that he had transported her in his vehicle,” police said

“Bogdanov stated Nikki walked away and he never saw her after that,” police said.

Court documents said Bogdanov reported being “shocked” and “really, really disturbed” by the revelation that Nikki was transgender, saying “homosexuality is unacceptable in Russian culture”.

Cellphone location data showed that Bogdanov’s phone had been in a variety of locations at the time — including the area of east Clark County near Larch Mountain where a person found Kuhnhausen’s remains on Dec. 7, according to police.

Judge Suzan Clark granted the state’s request for no bail in Bogdanov’s case. A hearing to contest the no-bail hold is scheduled for Jan. 2.

Exxon/Mobile Bans on LGBT Rainbow Pride Flags

Appeals Court Dismisses Lawsuit Against Congressman’s Displaying of Gay Pride Flag

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A federal appeals court has dismissed a lawsuit brought against Rep. Susan Davis for hanging a rainbow gay pride flag outside her Washington office.

Chris Sevier, a anti-LGBT activist and lobbyist who has filed numerous lawsuits, filed suit in U.S. District Court in Washington in July 2017 against Davis and Reps. Alan Lowenthal, Donald Beyer and Earl Blumenauer.

In his suit, Sevier described homosexuality as a “sect/denomination of the ‘sex-based self-asserted’ religion of ‘western postmodern expressive individualism moral relativism’m so therefore the rainbow flag should not be put on display.  “Sevier also said he believes GLBT advocates have sought to persecute and indoctrinate others who do not share their views”

 The original suit was dismissed in March by Judge Randolph D. Moss of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia: “If the mere acceptance of homosexuality — or support for gay rights—constitutes a ‘religion’ for Establishment Clause purposes, then the same conclusion would presumably follow for any value judgment about how people should or should not live their lives,” Moss wrote in an opinion filed Monday. “The Establishment Clause’s meaning is not so capacious.”

Moss further wrote, “The gay rights movement bears no trappings of ‘religion’ as that concept is widely understood, and Sevier has not plausibly alleged that a reasonable person would perceive the display of the rainbow flags as religious in nature.” He added, “Common sense … forecloses Sevier’s claim.”

Sevier appealed. However, the appeals court dismissed the suit again when Sevier failed to follow through on his appeal.

Sevier also in the past lost a lawsuit in which he sought the right to marry his laptop computer, clearly a stunt aimed at undermining marriage equality and recently has pushed anti-pornography bills in various states. A bill he persuaded Rhode Island legislators to introduce would block all online pornography unless a user paid a $20 fee. The bill is nicknamed the “Elizabeth Smart law,” after the Utah kidnapping victim who was forced to watch porn during her captivity. Smart has sent a cease-and-desist letter demanding that her name not be used in connection with the legislation.

Donald Trump Defends GOP Jim Jordan as 4th Abused Wrestler Comes Forward

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Just as a fourth former Ohio State University wrestler came forward Thursday to contradict Rep. Jim Jordan’s claim that he had no idea the wrestling team doctor was molesting athletes, serial groper Donald Trump came forward to defend him saying ““Jim Jordan is one of the most outstanding people I’ve met since I’ve been in Washington.”

Via Reuters: 

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he did not believe allegations by several former wrestlers at Ohio State University coached by Republican Representative Jim Jordan that he was aware the team doctor was molesting them.

“Jim Jordan is one of the most outstanding people I’ve met since I’ve been in Washington. I believe him 100 percent,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One while traveling to Montana.

Shawn Dailey, the fourth Ohio State wrestler to come forward said he was groped half a dozen times by Dr. Richard Strauss in the mid-1990s, when Jordan was the assistant wrestling coach. Dailey said he was too embarrassed to report the abuse directly to Jordan at the time, but he said Jordan took part in conversations where Strauss’ abuse of many other team members came up.

“I participated with Jimmy and the other wrestlers in locker-room talk about Strauss. We all did,” Dailey, 43, told NBC News, referring to Jordan. “It was very common knowledge in the locker room that if you went to Dr. Strauss for anything, you would have to pull your pants down”

Does anyone know has Democrat Kirstin Gillibrand has called for Jordan’s resignation? Or does she only eat her own party?

UPDATE:  5th Witness — Former UFC Champion — Comes Forward

Former UFC Champion Mark Coleman, says, “There’s no way unless he’s (Jordan) got dementia or something that he’s got no recollection of what was going on at Ohio State.”

Washington, Vermont, Seattle Join Others City/States Banning Government Travel to NC Over Bigoted Anti-LGBT Law

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Washington, Vermont Governors Join Others Banning Travel to NC Over Anti-LGBT Law

Washington, Vermont, and Seattle have banned official city/state travel to North Carolina over its anti-LGBT law joining New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, and the governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo.

The Stranger reports:

(Governor) Inslee’s memo to cabinet and agency heads today bans “publicly funded non-essential travel” to North Carolina as long as the bill “exists in its current form.” Inslee spokesperson Tara Lee says “non-essential travel” covers most state-funded trips. “Essential travel would only be to absolutely fulfill the duties of the work of the state,” she says in an email. “It would be a very rare case for that to happen.”

“It is the law of Washington State and the policy of my administration to demand equality for all persons,” Inslee’s memo reads.

Said Vermont’s Governor Peter Shumlin:

“The law passed in North Carolina is an absolute disgrace,” Gov. Shumlin said. “Vermont has a proud tradition of protecting the rights of LGBT individuals. I’m making this decision in that tradition. I’m proud to join with New York in taking this action. I hope other states will join us in applying pressure on North Carolina to recognize common sense, common decency, and common humanity and repeal this law.”.

New York City’s Mayor Bill De Blasio, during a Monday news conference with reporters, said he would be doing the same:

“Yes, we’ve initiated a non-essential travel ban for North Carolina as of today, and in the event that the governor’s veto in Georgia is overridden, we will do so for Georgia as well,” De Blasio said Monday afternoon at an unrelated press conference.

“I think it’s quite clear that voices of conscience all ver the country are expressing outrage at these decisions which are reinstituting discrimination against the LGBT community,” he said, adding, “My hope is that both these states will relent, but we certainly are not going to have any non-essential travel to those states if these laws do continue in effect.

Governor Mario Cuomo followed shortly after the mayors, banning all non-essential state travel to the Tarheel State:

“In New York, we believe that all people – regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation – deserve the same rights and protections under the eyes of the law,” Cuomo said in a statement. “From Stonewall to marriage equality, our state has been a beacon of hope and equality for the LGBT community, and we will not stand idly by as misguided legislation replicates the discrimination of the past. As long as there is a law in North Carolina that creates the grounds for discrimination against LGBT people, I am barring non-essential state travel to that state.”

Spread the meme….

#NoCarolina

 

ACLU Prepares Lawsuit Against North Carolina

15 Year Old Girl Arrested In Gang Attack Of Gay Couple On Washington, D.C. Metro

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Teen artrested in DC gay couple attach

A 15-year-old black teenaged girl has been arrested for the Nov. 22, 2015, violent assault and robbery of a gay man and his partner on board a Green Line Metro train in Washington, DC shortly after 1 a.m. on Nov. 22, 2015

Calvin Lawrence and his partner, Joseph Coward, became the target of as many as a dozen teenagers on the train car after Cowart tried to stop one of the teens — a young woman — from assaulting and robbing a 14-year-old boy. “By the time I got to him the girl had pounded him in the head,”

According to police, the girl started by mocking Cowart’s disability – he had a stroke – called him slurs and started the beat down.

Calvin Lawrence recounted how the girl attacked Cowart.  All of a sudden out of nowhere 12 teenagers had him down on the ground kicking him in the head, stomping him in the chest,” said Lawrence. “I threw myself into the middle of it,” he said. “I tried to get him up and they stole his iPad and iPhone and all of that.” Lawrence said he, too, was assaulted during the altercation before he managed to pull Cowart away from the melee and the two fled to another train car.

“Police allege that the girl  is the person responsible for first mocking, and then violently kicking and punching an adult male victim who attempted to intervene on behalf of the 14-year-old,” the Metro statement says.

Lawrence said at least one of the attackers called Cowart an anti-gay name at the time Cowart was being punched and kicked by multiple assailants. Metro police did not initially list the incident as a hate crime but a Metro spokesperson said police and prosecutors would revisit that question after an arrest was made.

“The more egregious part was the physical act of them mocking him about his disability,” Lawrence, his partner said. “Both are egregious to me. It needs to be called a hate crime because I heard those words myself.”

Joseph Cowart was taken to Howard University Hospital after Metro police arrived on the scene at the Shaw-Howard station on the night of the incident. Lawrence said Cowart continues to undergo physical therapy for the injuries he sustained in the attack. Under D.C.’s juvenile justice laws, the identity of juveniles charged with crimes must remain confidential and all court proceedings in such cases are closed to the public.

According to latest statistics from the F.B.I over 56.3 percent of hate crime victims are gay males.

200 Congressional Democrats Call On Obama To Issue LGBT Federal Workers’ Executive Order‏

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ENDAOver 200 Congressional and House Democrats have joined together and are sending a letter to President Obama calling on him to sign an executive order banning federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT workers.

The move comes as the White House keeps maintaining that Obama’s preferred path is passage of Employment Non-Discrimination Act into law is through Congress rather than signing the executive order and the LGBT community continues to push for the executive order in the wake of last fall’s Senate passage of the ENDA, which is now stuck in the GOP controlled House and is likely to go nowhere.

The bill that would ban most private employers who have Government contracts from anti-LGBT discrimination.

The nearly 200 congressional Democrats write, “We are committed to doing all that we can in Congress to get ENDA to your desk this year; however, there is no reason you cannot immediately act by taking this important step.”

The effort was led by Sen. Jeff Merkley and Rep. Jared Polis, with support from Sens. Tom Harkin and Tammy Baldwin and Reps. Michael Michaud, David Cicilline, Sean Patrick Maloney, Mark Pocan, Kyrsten Sinema, Mark Takano, Frank Pallone, Lois Capps, Diana DeGette, Joe Garcia, Raul Grijalva, Mike Honda, Barbara Lee, Jerrold Nadler, and Adam Schiff.

The proposed order follows Obama’s agreement in a 2008 candidate questionnaire that, if elected president, he would support a nondiscrimination policy for LGBT employees of federal contractors. Advocates and lawmakers have been pressing Obama to model the policy off an existing executive order, Executive Order 11246, that bans federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.


SIGN THE DAMN E.O. ALREADY!

Live Nativity Scene Protest Held At Supreme Court Because Christians Are Oppressed

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A live nativity scene protest was held on the Supreme Court building in Washington, DC to protest the horrible oppression that Christians have to deal with in the country.

The Nativity Scene, sponsored by Faith and Action and The Christian Defense Coalition, was held Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. in Washington, D.C. in response to other courts banning nativity scenes in some parts of the country.  “Sadly, we are seeing an erosion and hostility toward public expressions of faith in the public square. This is especially true during the Christmas season., the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, said.

“’The Nativity Project’ is a reminder that our Constitution provides freedom of religion not freedom from religion. By encouraging people of good will to publicly display nativity scenes all across America, we are not only supporting religious liberty and First Amendment freedoms but we are loudly proclaiming the powerful message of Christmas. That timeless message needs to be heard now more than ever: ‘Peace on earth and goodwill toward man.’

Come Easter, I want to see them re-enact the crucifixion.  I’ll bring the nails.

Perhaps to protest OUR oppression we should re-enact the famous finale from Joe Gage’s classic 1976 porn movie Kansas City Trucking Co. on the Supreme Court steps.  It would be a blast.

H/T to the hunky, hairy and hung Joe Jervis @ Joe.My.God

Maine, Maryland, and Washington State To Have Economic Windwalls For Passing Gay Marriage Laws

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The Associated Press is reporting that Maine, Maryland, and Washington state are all about to have huge economic windfalls and major booms in travel and in the hospitality business due to passing pro-same sex marriage laws.

Add the coast of Maine, the banks of the Chesapeake Bay and the shores of Lake Washington to gay wedding destinations. Next month and in January, laws go into effect in Maine, Maryland and Washington that allow same-sex marriage. They’re the first states where voters approved such laws, rather than legislators or courts. Nearly 18,000 same-sex couples in those states will exchange vows in the first three years after the new laws are in effect, estimated The Williams Institute, a national think tank at the UCLA School of Law, and the laws should generate at least $166 million in wedding spending in the three states over the next three years from in-state couples alone, boosting tax revenues and creating new jobs. Wedding-related spending for in-state couples is projected be about $16 million in Maine, $63 million in Maryland and $89 million in Washington. The numbers go up when figuring in out-of-staters who travel to those states to be wed

And here I am in economically depressed and dying CinciNASTY, Ohio.

Maybe one days these rubes will learn a lesson.

A vote for marriage equality is a vote for a more fabulous economy!

Video – Rick Santorum Grins Demonically As Washington Protesters Get Beaten & Tasered

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LGBT Activists and Occupy Wall Street protesters chanted and attempted to drown out Rick Santorum for 44 minutes at the Washington State History Museum as Santorum  condemned the state’s newly-enacted same-sex marriage law.

SANTORUM: I know this is a very important day in Washington. And in many respects a sad day for many people. We saw the law signed into here in Washington sate. But it is very important you understand what just happened in another place….in the Ninth Circuit….The Ninth Circuit decided that anybody that disagrees with any of these folks, anyone who disagrees with these folks when it comes to the issue if what marriage is in this country, well they are irrational. That’s what the Ninth Circuit said. They said anybody who disagrees with their decision to shoot down Prop 8 in California, they do so because they are irrational and the only possible reason they can possibly…

Before Santorum could finish Police shoved two protesters to the ground, tased and arrested them.

Santorum briefly paused and as you can see from the capture above grinned demonically and then said , “Let’s give a hand to our men and women in uniform. It’s not easy.”  Santorum then labeled the  protesters as a “radical element” that represents “true intolerance.”

Look at the picture above and and watch the video and then tell me that “The Omen” was just a work of “fiction.”

Starbucks Supports Washington Gay Marriage

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Add coffee giant Starbucks to the growing list of corporations/organizations calling for equality in marriage. From Joe. My. God. and The Seattle Times here is Starbucks statement:

To: U.S. partners
Date: January 24, 2012
Re: A Message from Kalen Holmes: Starbucks Supports Marriage Equality

Dear partners,

Starbucks is proud to join other leading Northwest employers in support of Washington State legislation recognizing marriage equality for same-sex couples. Starbucks strives to create a company culture that puts our partners first, and our company has a lengthy history of leading and supporting policies that promote equality and inclusion.

This important legislation is aligned with Starbucks business practices and upholds our belief in the equal treatment of partners. It is core to who we are and what we value as a company. We are proud of our Pride Alliance Partner Network group, which is one of the largest Employer Resource Groups for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) employees in the U.S., helping to raise awareness about issues in the communities where we live and work.

For the last 20 years, our benefits program has offered domestic partner benefits in the U.S. These benefits include medical, dental, vision, prescription drugs and alternative health care coverage. All partners (part-time and full-time) in all work locations, whether in a store, a roasting plant or a corporate office, adhere to the same eligibility requirements for health coverage and have access to the same comprehensive health plans.

We are deeply dedicated to embracing diversity and treating one another with respect and dignity, and remain committed to providing an inclusive, supportive and safe work environment for all of our partners.

We look forward to seeing this legislation enacted into law.

Regards,

Kalen Holmes
executive vice president, Partner Resources