Tag Archives: Virginia

Virginia Restaurant Refuses To Serve "Christian" Hate Group

Virginia Restaurant Refuses To Serve “Christian” Hate Group

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Via The Washington Post: A restaurant in Richmond last week canceled a reservation for a private event being held by a conservative Christian organization, citing the group’s opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion rights. “We have always refused service to anyone for making our staff uncomfortable or unsafe and this was the driving force behind our decision,” read an Instagram post from Metzger Bar and Butchery, a German-influenced restaurant in the Union Hill neighborhood whose kitchen is helmed by co-owner Brittanny Anderson, a veteran of TV cooking shows including “Top Chef” and “Chopped.”

The group in question the Family Foundation of Virginia Family describes itself as “socially conservative and Christian fundamentalist lobbying organization headquartered in the US city of Richmond, Virginia. It was focused originally on opposition to sex education. It has expanded to opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment, nondiscrimination policies, Family Foundation of Virginia is a Family Policy Council, meaning it is affiliated with Focus on the Family.

According to WRIC, Todd Gathje, Director of Government Relations for the Family Foundation had this to say — “We’ve had events at restaurants all over the city and never encountered a situation like this,” Gathje said. “It’s no secret that we are very much engaged in the public policy debate on a number of controversial issues. But we never expected that we would be denied service at a restaurant based on our religious values or political beliefs.” *snort*

Gathe and the Family Foundation have recently tried to revitalize a stalled effort in 2021 to remove an unenforceable provision of the Virginia Constitution — invalidated by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2015 — that defines marriage as between one man and one woman, saying that removing it would open the door to “polygamous, incestuous, kinship or even child marriages.”

3 Men Arrested In Connection to Murder of Gay Man in Virginia

3 Men Arrested In Connection to Murder of Gay Man in Virginia

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Gavin Collins, Joshua Hunter, and Handy Colindrez – Photo: Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office.

The Loudoun County, Virginia Sheriff’s Office announced it had arrested Gavin Collins, 21, , and Joshua Hunter, 22, of Woodbridge, in the murder investigation of Jose Escobar Menendez.  A third man Handry Colindrez, 24, was arrested and charged with grand larceny for allegedly buying the car from Collins and Hunter.

According to the sheriff’s office, Menendez had agreed to meet Collins in the area of Emerald Point Terrace in Sterling during the early morning hours of July 8. But both Collins and Hunter showed up. During the course of their encounter, police allege that Collins and Hunter attempted to rob Menendez, shooting him fatally. The two then fled the scene, stealing Menendez’s car as well.

Hunter allegedly worked as an escort through the website Rent.Men for the past two years. A former customer provided a copy of Hunter’s page to a local media outlet. On the site, Hunter used the name “Anthony Adams,” and claimed that he was “a very open person with no hang ups and open to all genders.”

According to the FBI 2018 Hate Crimes Report on Sexual Orientation Bias 59.7 percent of the years cases were perpetuated against gay men.

#SayHisName

Virginia GOP Leaders Kill LGBT Non-Discrimination Bills for the 4th. Time

Virginia GOP Leaders Kill LGBT Non-Discrimination Bills for the 4th. Time

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Republican leaders in Virginia’s House of Delegates Thursday removed two LGBT non-discrimination bills from the agenda of the General Laws Committee in a move that if goes unchecked will kill both bills when the House session ends at the end of the month,

The bills include House Bill 2677, which would discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in housing, and House Bill 2067, which would prohibit similar discrimination in public employment. Both bills moved past the House Rules Committee on Monday.

This will be the 4th time, including in this session, in which similar non-discrimination bills have passed in the Virginia Senate with support from both Republicans and Democrats. Each year, the Republican leadership in the House of Delegates has blocked the legislation from receiving a vote on the floor.

“Today’s anti-LGBTQ actions by Virginia House leadership are dramatically out of step with voters, lawmakers, and Americans from all walks of life.” Freedom for All Americans CEO Masen Davis wrote in a statement. “Equality is not a partisan issue, but a human issue — and it’s a shame when legislators who don’t yet realize that fundamental truth have the power to thwart commonsense, bipartisan bills to protect their constituents.”

rump DOJ Files Supreme Court Brief Against Adoptions By LGBTs

Donald Trump Declares War (Again) on LGBT Citizens with “Religious Freedom Day”

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This morning Donald Trump declared January 16, 2018 as  “Religious Freedom Day” to commemorate the 232nd. anniversary of the Virginia General Assembly passing the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom, the first statute of its kind. Using it as a blatant attack on the LGBT community

Trump wrote:

Unfortunately, not all have recognized the importance of religious freedom, whether by threatening tax consequences for particular forms of religious speech, or forcing people to comply with laws that violate their core religious beliefs without sufficient justification.  These incursions, little by little, can destroy the fundamental freedom underlying our democracy.  Therefore, soon after taking office, I addressed these issues in an Executive Order that helps ensure Americans are able to follow their consciences without undue Government interference and the Department of Justice has issued guidance to Federal agencies regarding their compliance with laws that protect religious freedom.  No American — whether a nun, nurse, baker, or business owner — should be forced to choose between the tenants of faith or adherence to the law.

Trump in his discriminatory missive was the Little Sisters of the Poor’s five-year lawsuit against the Obama-era contraception mandate and the Supreme Court case, Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, of a “Christian” Colorado baker who broke the states non-discrimination law by declining to make cakes for same-sex weddings. Masterpiece owner Jack Phillips and with the help of several LGBT hate groups including the Liberty Counsel and Alliance Defending Freedom have taken the case to the Supreme Court. A case in which if found in the cake shop owners favor will make discrimination legal in all 50 states for any business, large or small which claims “religious liberty” for not providing services to gays and lesbians.

The war against us is under way brothers and sisters . It is time for us to stand up and step away from the computers and fight.   This is not a war that HRC can take on.  It won’t be won by galas and pretty words.

GOP Senate Candidate E.W. Jackson: It’s OK to call gay people “perverted” and that homosexuality “poisons culture”

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E.W. Jackson, a pastor at The Called — Exodus Faith Ministries in Chesapeake, Virginia, is running on the Republican ticket for the Senate seat currently held by former V.P, nominee Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine.

Jackson in the past has referred to gay people as “perverted,” “degenerate,” “spiritually darkened,” and “frankly very sick people, psychologically, mentally and emotionally.” He also said homosexuality “poisons culture, it destroys families, it destroys societies; it brings the judgment of God unlike very few things that we can think of.”

Jackson has also said that gay people want to “sexualize [children] at the earliest possible age” and falsely claimed that there is a “direct connection” between homosexuality and pedophilia. When discussing the HIV rate among black men, Jackson said that homosexuality is “killing black men by the thousands.” and has described same-sex marriage as “spitting in the face of every Bible-believing Christian in America.”

But now that he wants a seat in the Senate, Jackson is insists that his past anti-gay statements don’t count.

Speaking to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Jackson tried to back peddle and use the excuse that some of his statements were made “not in the context of a campaign but on Christian radio where I’m speaking as a pastor and minister to Christians.”

Jackson now says he has “regret” for using “words that hurt people.” and that his comments about homosexuals have been taken out of context, and that they were directed not towards the general LGBT community, just its more politically active, fringe members. Of past comments that homosexuality “poisons culture”, he clarified, “What I really said was that the gay rights movement, so called, the homosexual activists, engage in some behavior that is absolutely horrendous, and that’s true, everybody knows that;

Jackson now says he has “regret” for using “words that hurt people.” He still opposes same-sex marriage and other efforts toward LGBTQ equality, like nondiscrimination laws in housing and employment. But he “says he hopes to communicate his conservative values in a less offensive manner.” 

Jackson is the founder and current president of S.T.A.N.D. (Staying True To America’s National Destiny), a conservative non-profit (of course) organization that describes itself as “a national organization dedicated to preserving life, the traditional family and our Judeo-Christian history and values as the Foundation of our Constitution and culture.

Source: ShareBlue

Richard Spencer and White Supremacist Return to Charlottesville: “Russia is our friend!” – Video

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A tiki-torch bearing crowd of about 50 white supremacist led by Richard Spencer reappeared on Saturday night in Charlottesville, VA gathering around a statue of Robert E. Lee in Emancipation Park chanting, “You will not replace us,” singing “Dixie,” and alternating between “Russia is our friend” and “the South will rise again.”

The Lee statue was covered with black tarps as it has been since shortly after an Aug. 11 rally of hundreds of white supremacists and the Aug. 12 killing of protester Heather Heyer,  by Ohio white supremacist James Fields.

“We are here to represent white America’s interest,” Spencer shouted through a bull horn during a brief speech . The gathering lasted less than 20 minutes.

“It was a planned flash mob,” Spencer said. “It was a great success. We’ve been planning this for a long time.”

They promised to keep returning to Charlottesville, which they argued had become symbolic of their right to speak and also had come to symbolize the tearing down of symbols of the nation’s history.

“You will not erase us.”

“We are about our heritage. Not just us Virginians. Not just as Southerners. But as white people . . . we’ll take a stand.”

One Charlottesville city councilor is calling for the white supremacists to be arrested, saying, “When White Supremacists Make odes to White Power, and clearly use torches to send a message to our community that they are the superior race while trying to strike fear and intimidate others, they are breaking the law.” 

 

Start at the 6 minute mark

Richard Spencer Leads Torch Wielding Neo-Nazi Mob To Save Robert E. Lee Statue in Virginia [VIDEO]

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Richard Spencer Leads Torch Wielding Neo-Nazi Mob To Save Robert E. Lee Statue in Virginia [VIDEO]

White Supremacist Richard Spencer led a torch-wielding mob crying ‘Russia is our friend’ and ‘You Will not replace us’, in protest of the removal of a controversial statue of the pro-slavery Civil War general Robert E. Lee  in Charlottesville, Virginia.

In April the Charlottesville City Council voted 3-2, to remove and sell the monument. The debate about the statue had been ongoing for a year and it has attracted leaders from white supremacist  groups and figures including Spencer.

Also at the demonstration was the conservative blogger Jason Kessler, who tried to oust the Vice Mayor, Wes Bellamy and is quotesd as saying “There’s no advocates for white people . . . I’m the only one that has the courage to stand up for white people even though I’m going to be called a racist.”

Charlottesville Mayor Mike Signer shared via Facebook, saying the event was “either profoundly ignorant or was designed to instill fear in our minority populations in a way that hearkens back to the days of the KKK.”

For now, the city council has a legal mountain to climb since a judge issued a court order halting the removal of the statue, for at least the next six months.

There has also been dissent over the council’s decision to rename parks named after Robert E. Lee and Thomas Jackson, also Confederate Civil Wall general.

Watch Spencer’s disgusting speech below.



Liberty Counsel Loses Hateful Anti-LGBT Protections Stay at Virginia Schools

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Liberty Counsel

A judge in Fairfax County Circuit Court Friday has dismissed the lawsuit against the Fairfax County Public Schools board, filed in December by right-wing anti-gay legal hate group the Liberty Counsel.

The Liberty Council claimed that the school board’s May decision to include sexual orientation and gender identity in its nondiscrimination policy violated a law known as Dillon’s Rule, which bars local governing bodies (including school boards) from going beyond state law in such policies. Virginia’s statewide antidiscrimination law does not enumerate protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. 

The court rejected that argument siding with a March opinion from Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, which stated that school districts had the right to amend nondiscrimination policies to include sexual orientation and gender identity under the broad authority granted by the state constitution, although they are not required to do so.

The plaintiffs in the now-dismissed suit included Andrea Lafferty, president of the rabidly antigay Traditional Values Coalition, and an anonymous student identified only as “Jack Doe” who alleged that he was “distressed” about the possibility of sharing gender-segregated spaces with fellow students who may be transgender.

In a press release that denounced the decision the Liberty Counsel vowed to appeal the dismissal, and portrayed LGBT protections as an inherent danger and violation of the privacy of straight students/

“Under today’s ruling, students in Fairfax County Public Schools are told, ‘We do not care if your fundamental right to education and right to privacy have been violated,'” Liberty Counsel litigation counsel Daniel Schmidt said in the release. “Minors in Fairfax County, Virginia, will now be subjected to invasions of their privacy, inside the very school district tasked with protecting them. Once again, the fundamental rights of minors were trampled by a lack of common sense and an appropriate understanding of biology.” 

 

Gay Virginia Man Savagely Beaten, Stabbed on Christmas Day In His Own Home

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Inge bashing

Drew Inge, a hair stylist living in Yorktown, Virginia was assaulted in his home on Christmas day, being called a “faggot” while being beaten and stabbed.

Inge suffered a laceration to his eye, was kicked in the head multiple times, had four teeth knocked out and had one hand and multiple fingers broken by an individual identified only as “someone he barely knew.” The remedy to teeth that have been knocked out is dental implant procedure. For more details, look for denture services weeki wachee fl on the internet.

Inge posted the above picture on Instagram recounting the horrific details of his  before removing them, citing “legal reasons”.

The original post read,

“I was thrown into my bathtub, and stomped in the face and jaw over and over while being called a ’faggot’…He tackled me from behind into my door and slammed my fingers on my right hand into the door, breaking them and ripping them open…I’m telling this story as a reminder of the strength I have, the passion for life, and the miracle that I am alive. I will be out of work for a while, and I don’t know the extent of damage done to my fingers but I will be back to do hair, and I won’t let anything stop me.”

His attacker has reportedly been arrested.

Updating the post without many of the above details, Inge writes,

“I had to delete the story due to legal reasons, I’m being advised that it may not be good to even post photos. I’m mad because I don’t see anything wrong with being open and honest about what happened. It’s makes no sense to me why, but needless to say I was attacked, beaten, held against my will, stabbed in the face with a metal object and am now recovering. I won’t be able to work as one of the injuries I sustained was my fingers I use to cut hair being crushed. Im having dental work to have teeth that were stomped out of my face fixed. Sorry I can’t put details on here. But I’m keeping this here as a reminder of the strength I have, the passion for life, and the miracle that I am alive. When you keep things private and don’t say anything, you give those things power over you, and I don’t like that. I will be out of work for a while, and I don’t know the extent of damage done to my fingers but I will be back to do hair in a few weeks hopefully, and I won’t let anything stop me. I’m so overwhelmed with the love I have felt, and I honestly can’t believe the way I am perceived by my friends and family

A family member identified only as Robert Inge, has set up a YouCaring crowdfunding page to help pay for Drew’s medical bills and to offset his loss of wages while he recovers:

As you probably know, Drew is self-employed and all of his income is based on his ability to use his hands to style hair. You may know his Instagram, @hairbydrewinge. Right now he isn’t sure when he will be able to return to work, or how much he will be able to earn with limited use of his hands. We created this fundraiser to help him pay for his emergency room and medical bills, and to go towards his rent and living expenses. Please consider donating any amount, every little bit helps

Back2Stonewall’s Gay-ly News Round-up 1/11/2015

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*  Rolling Stone tales on TLC’s “My Husband’s Not Gay” even though he really is but misses the fact that some the self -laothing Mormons involved are linked to the very dangerous and Evergreen/Northstar reperative therapy programs that were accused of torture.

* Tea Dance at Tiffany’s – Tiffany Jewelers features a gay couple  male couple in wedding ring ad.

* Virginia jumps on anti-gay hate wagon and introduces heinous “right to discriminate” law hiding behind “religious liberty.  Lets face it.  Virginia is for HATERS.

* Jeb Bush’s unseen anti-gay marriage emails exposed. Will Fred Sainz of the HRC still praise him?

* Evangelical Pastor and grifter Larry Tomczak:  “Taylor Swift will turn your children gay.” Hmmmm, I thought that was pro wrestling?

* Nicole Kidman Thought Jimmy Fallon Was Gay.  Who hasn’t? 

* Gay wedding stalled in Mexico after haters claim the grooms are mentally ill and “suffer from madness”

* Queen’s guards rocked by complaint of gay soldier that he was bullied over period of years by senior colleague as Ministry of Defense launches investigation