The tally for July and why I will not back down

Today's news that a 15 year old transgender child in D.C. was stabbed in the back during a disgusting hate crime should serve as a reminder of why we still fight. Why I will not back down. Why I will not play nice. I don't want a pony -- I want basic human rights and dignity for all my LGBTs brothers and sisters. For the LGBT kids who will be be beaten, bullied or left homeless. For the transgender child who will be attacked just for riding the bus. For all the women and men who will be fired from their jobs, denied employment, benefits, marriage. For every LGBT person who's not safe to walk the street, for those who are tortured and imprisoned. For every LGBT living with guilt and shame because they've been told being gay is a sin, an abomination. For every LGBT who will commit suicide because they feel life is hopeless.

I WILL NOT BACK DOWN. Bet on it.

http://www.edgeboston.com/news/crime/News/162549/nm_woman_allegedly_beat_and_sexually_assaulted_teen_daughter_for_being_gay
NM Woman Allegedly Beat and Sexually Assaulted Teen Daughter for Being Gay
Thursday Jul 17, 2014

A New Mexico woman has been arrested for allegedly physically and sexually abusing her 17-year-old daughter for being gay. Local officials have enhanced the charges because they say the incident qualifies as a hate crime. KVIA 7 reports.

According to the Dona Ana County sheriff's office, the incident began when Magdo Haro became upset upon learning her teenage daughter was gay. Haro allegedly attacked the girl with a shoe and threatened to use a plunger on the teen to make her feel what it's like to have sex.

Investigators report that the girl said that her mother gave her three chances to prove that she wasn't a lesbian. Haro was angered by seeing her daughter in a baseball cap and demanded the attend church with her grandmother and refrain from wearing boys clothing...

...According to investigators, the girl also said she was forced to undress in front of her mother "show her she was a woman, and not a man." Her mother also allegedly demanded she perform sex acts on herself....

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2014/07/teen_convicted_of_attack_on_ga.html
Teen convicted of attack on gay Detroit hairdresser at Motor City Pride festival
July 23, 2014
DETROIT, MI -- Christin Howard, a 20-year-old Detroit hairdresser, was beaten by a mob during the 2014 Motor City Pride festival, a gay pride celebration.

One of his attackers, a 16-year-old, on Wednesday pleaded guilty in Wayne County's juvenile court to assault with intent to commit great bodily harm Wednesday, according to a statement from the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office.

Video of the incident taken by a witness showed Howard being attacked by, and attempting to fend off, up to at least five attackers -- he says there were eight -- along the Detroit Riverwalk during the annual Motor City Pride festival on June 8.

Howard said the teens and young men made homophobic slurs, threats of violence and derogatory comments about his long hair he turned around and was attacked.

Howard endured multiple injuries, including bruises and a fractured finger....

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-attack-sf-gay-pride-hate-crime-20140701-story.html
Police: Attack on 2 women after S.F. gay pride rally was hate crime
July 1, 2014, 2:31 PM

San Francisco police say two women who were attacked by five men after attending gay pride festivities were victims of a hate crime..

The group of men approached them about 5:25 p.m. near Mission and 9th streets in the south-of-Market neighborhood, he said.

"These two women were just minding their own business, walking home, when they were singled out by these suspects and attacked," he said.

The men yelled gay slurs at the women and then began kicking and punching them, he said....

http://www.towleroad.com/2014/07/rob-ford.html
07/27/2014
Rob Ford Supporters Attack LGBT Demonstrators At Ford Fest: VIDEO

About six demonstrators protesting what they called Ford's homophobia turned up at Thomson Memorial Park in Scarborough, holding signs that called for the mayor's departure from office.

"He needs to be held accountable," said Poe Liberado, who faced loud jeers from Ford fans. "His buffoonery is dangerous, his positions are dangerous and he needs to be taken seriously."

The mayor's supporters, however, weren't pleased with the anti-Ford sentiment, with a number of individuals getting into verbal confrontations with the protesters.

At one point, a few Ford fans grabbed the signs being held by the protesters, tore them up, and threw them on the ground, stamping on them in the process. One man claims to have been assaulted. Toronto police said they are investigating the matter....

http://www.towleroad.com/2014/07/gay-man-attacked-with-glass-bottle-in-oslo-after-being-asked-if-he-is-gay.html
07/26/2014
Gay Man Attacked with Glass Bottle in Oslo After Being Asked if He is Gay

Keith Brooks-Bekkestrom was attacked in a park in Oslo, Norway by two men who approached him on a bench and asked if he was gay. Brooks-Bekkestrom sais he was confused about why they asked him but replied 'yes' when they did.

The two men then proceeded to attack him and when he fought back to defend himself a third man approached and struck him in the head with a bottle. Another man who was in the park with his family came to help and the attackers fled, according to media reports.

The man helped Brooks-Bekkestrom wash his wounds in a fountain and call police.

Said Brooks-Bekkestrom to Norwegian media: "They had to sew a deep wound, so I have a pain in my head. They had to sew over my eye, and I have a wound on his arm. I do not feel safe here anymore, it will take some time."....

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2014/07/08/video-ukrainian-gay-club-attacked-in-violent-neo-nazi-attack/
Video: Ukrainian gay club attacked in violent neo-Nazi attack
8th July 2014

A video has emerged of the moment 20 neo-Nazis burst into a gay club in Kyiv.

The attack took place two nights ago at the Pomada club, and follows the cancellation of the city’s pride event.

In the video, clubbers are hurried into the building by a bouncer as the thugs approach from out of sight...

...The attackers punch and kick their way through the door before being beaten back and fleeing for reasons that are unclear.

http://gaynewsnetwork.com.au/news/athens-police-officers-attack-two-men-for-holding-hands-14645.html
Athens' police officers attack gay couple for holding hands
Wednesday, 30 July 2014
Written by Sabine Brix

Two men in Athens have reportedly been attacked by up to ten police officers for holding hands.

George Kounanis and Harry Vassilakis objected to verbal abuse from the officers which reportedly led to the attack, with claims one of the policeman grabbed Mr Kounanis' hand before shoving him against a wall. He was told "this is what real violence is," according to the publication Lifo.

After calling an emergency helpline, the men were then referred to Athens' police headquarters...

..."We feel as if we're in a psychological maze. We feel totally helpless. We feel harassed by those who are supposed to protect us."

http://sosogay.co.uk/2014/police-arrests-following-vicious-transphobic-attack-soho-drag-queens/
Police arrests following vicious transphobic attack on Soho drag queens
Elliot Herman
10 Jul 2014

Police in London’s Soho have arrested two men following a vicious homo/transphobic attack on Old Compton Street last night.

Drag artists and members of the performance collective Familyyy Fierce, Maxi More, Ruby Wednesday and Pretty Miss Cairo were walking home when they witnessed two men verbally abusing a young drag queen on the street.

‘There were quite a lot of drag queens out in London,’ More told So So Gay, ‘because it was famous London drag queen Dusty O’s birthday. We saw a guy being very loud and obviously drunk, hurling aggression at a young queen...

...Describing her attacker as ‘ginger haired’, More, who was not wearing drag clothes but still in make up, described how the man instead set upon her: ‘I have long hair which was tied in a top knot; he grabbed my hair, dragging me around for around three minutes while punching me in the head before police arrived and pulled him off. All the time, his friend was standing nearby, pulling him away but without much conviction....

http://www.ottawasun.com/2014/07/14/gatineau-riverfront-robbery-gay-bashing-cops
Gatineau riverfront robbery gay bashing: Cops
By Danielle Bell, Ottawa Sun
Monday, July 14, 2014

A 51-year-old Orleans man, and another man who was thrown into the river in a violent robbery in Gatineau last week, are believed to be the victims of a "gay-bashing."

"He kept screaming, 'I know what you're doing here,'" recalled the man, who did not want his name used.

"He's attacking me, punching me, he's pushing me down. When he attacked me he was in this rage.'"

Gatineau police confirmed Monday that investigators do believe it was a hate-motivated crime, targeted against their homosexuality....

http://www.kentonline.co.uk/canterbury/news/jail-for-thugs-who-attacked-20984/
Canterbury thugs Landon Bruce and Jonathon Proctor jailed for assault after random attacks on innocent people in city centre

Two yobs who carried out “random and unprovoked” attacks on innocent people have been branded an "unacceptable blight on Canterbury".

Drunken jobless railway worker Landon Bruce and shop manager Jonathon Proctor, both 21, were jailed after leaving three people nursing injuries – including one victim losing his front teeth.

The pair – who were out in the city centre with a gang of youths in September last year– also attacked a man who was with a group handing out leaflets ”because they looked gay”....

And that, my friends, is just a sampling.