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National roundup: Gay trial lawyer, Anderson Cooper, Westboro counterprotest
Special to the online edition of Windy City Times
by Andrew Davis, Windy City Times
2016-06-21

This article shared 778 times since Tue Jun 21, 2016
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Edward H. Gersowitz was installed as the 49th president of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association ( NYSTLA ), the largest state lawyer association dedicated to protecting the rights of consumers and advocating on behalf of injured persons. He is the first openly LGBT president of a trial lawyers association in the United States. Gersowitz is a graduate of Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law with an undergraduate degree from Cornell University. He is admitted to practice in the Courts of the States of New York and United States District Courts, Southern District and Eastern District of New York.

Anderson Cooper spent a lot of a recent show responding to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who accused Cooper of editing an interview with her in the wake of the shooting death of 49 patrons of a gay nightclub in Orlando, Deadline reported. Bondi accused Cooper of cutting out all discussion warning people about donation scams when the interview was subsequently posted online. In part, Cooper noted that Bondi is now championing her effort to help the gay community, including attack survivors, with "the very right which allows gay spouses to bury their dead and loved ones" which he said, is "a right that would not exist if Ms. Bondi had had her way. I think it's fair to ask her about that. There is an irony in that."

In Orlando, Florida, more than 200 people formed a human chain around St. James Catholic Cathedral in a form of counter-protest against approximately a dozen protesters from the anti-LGBT Westboro Baptist Church who arrived to picket the funerals of the Orlando shooting victims, LGBTQ Nation reported. Members of the Orlando Shakespeare Theatre donned giant "angel wings" created from white sheets and PVC pipes to shield funeral goers from the church's hateful shouts and offensive signs claiming "God hates fags." The angels moved in silently to block the view as other mourners sang the hymn "Amazing Grace."

In a visit to the Lutheran Church of Hope in Anchorage, Alaska, Bishop Gene Robinson—the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church—talked about the Orlando tragedy, KTVA.com reported. He said the shooting should serve as a wakeup call: "The very best thing that can come out of the events in Orlando is a recommitment … by us to make sure that everywhere in the United States, that lesbian, gay, bisexual [and] transgender people are protected." Robinson also talked about anti-transgender discrimination and the legalization of same-sex marriage, among other topics.

The management and staff of Neighbours—a Seattle gay nightclub targeted two and a half years ago in an attack with similarities to the mass killings at Pulse Orlando—expressed its condolences over the tragedy, The Seattle Times noted. On the last day of 2013, a man later identified as Musab Mohammed Masmari attempted to set off a crude firebomb in the entrance of the Seattle nightclub, which was packed with more than 750 people; only the quick actions of employees who smelled smoke averted disaster.

The Human Rights Campaign ( HRC ) responded to the U.S. Senate voting down two gun-violence prevention amendments. The amendments to the FY 17 Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies ( CJS ) Appropriations Act ( H.R. 2578 ) were introduced by Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Chris Murphy. In a press release, HRC Government Affairs Director David Stacy said, "We are deeply disappointed in each and every Senator who failed to stand up today for common-sense gun violence prevention legislation. Reasonable gun violence prevention measures are part of the solution to bias-motivated violence, and it's critical that Congress pass common-sense legislation."

Kentucky and Mississippi have joined a lawsuit challenging a directive by the Obama administration advising schools to allow transgender students to use the bathroom of their choice, according to On Top Magazine. The lawsuit, announced late last month, is led by Texas. Other participants in the lawsuit include Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin, as well as Maine Governor Paul LePage, a Republican.

Lambda Legal asked a federal district-court judge to find that a Boulder County property owner violated both the federal Fair Housing Act and the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act when she refused to rent a housing unit she owns in Gold Hill, Colorado, to a same-sex couple, one of whom is transgender, and their children because she worried their "uniqueness" would jeopardize her standing in the community, an organizational press release stated. In a motion for summary judgment submitted to the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, Lambda Legal cited the series of emails landlord Deepika Avanti sent Tonya and Rachel Smith reiterating her concerns about how their "uniqueness" would impact her reputation.

Democrats hope that the words of one New Jersey Republican will come back to hurt him in the general election, Roll Call reported. Incumbent GOP Rep. Scott Garrett has refused to pay dues to the National Republican Congressional Committee because, he said, the committee recruited gay candidates and supported them in primaries. In the months since Garrett's comments were made public, much of his fundraising from the financial-services industry has disappeared. A House Majority PAC ad, titled "Quotes," features critiques of Garrett from New Jersey newspaper editorials.

Lambda Legal has filed papers with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, asking the court for accurate death certificates to aid same-sex couples, a press release stated. One of the couples Lambda Legal is fighting for is Hal Birchfield and James Merrick Smith, who were together for more than 40 years. They traveled to New York in October 2012 and got married; less than a year later, in September 2013, Smith died. Upon Smith's death, Birchfield received a death certificate that failed to list Smith's marital status as married and failed to list Birchfield as his spouse. The motion for summary judgment is at LambdaLegal.org/in-court/legal-docs/birchfield_fl_20160620_memo-iso-msj.

In New York City, a gay Staten Island man has filed a lawsuit claiming that he suffered an anti-gay attack in 2015 by the NYPD, SILive.com reported, citing The New York Daily News. Louis Falcone previously told the Advance that he was planning to sue after four police officers allegedly pulled him out of his home, beat him badly, and yelled anti-gay slurs at him. The suit names the city and Police Officers Phillip Alfano, Robert Ramirez, Erik Miller and Joseph Ranola as defendants.

A bisexual man convicted of murder as a hate crime for shooting a gay man he taunted on a New York City street was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison, with the judge making a reference to the shooting attack at the Pulse nightclub in Florida, The Gazette reported. A Manhattan jury had convicted Elliot Morales in the May 2013 shooting of Mark Carson in the Greenwich Village neighborhood. Prosecutors said Morales had issues with his own sexuality and was jealous that Carson and his roommate were openly gay. At the sentencing, Judge A. Kirke Bartley talked about the Orlando shooting, which he said was a parallel to Morales' crime: "That parallel is revealed in hate, self-loathing, fear and death."

A well-known West Hollywood gay bar is considering making armed security guards a regular presence after the mass shooting in an Orlando, Florida, gay nightclub, The L.A. Times noted. The Abbey Food & Bar—also the subject of an upcoming reality show—upped its security presence during L.A. Pride celebrations in West Hollywood on June 12, hours after the Orlando attack. The bar had 36 guards on duty, including visible, armed guards at the front and back entrances at all times, said Brian Rosman, a spokesman for the bar.

The Los Angeles LGBT Center has released the Transgender Youth Employment Toolkit as a resource for case managers and others to assist them in helping to prepare transgender youth for the workforce, a press release stated. The toolkit is available in print and online at lalgbtcenter.org/transgender-youth-employment-toolkit. The Transgender Youth Employment Toolkit was developed as a part of the Transitions to Work ( T2W ) project, a collaboration between the Los Angeles LGBT Center, University of California at Los Angeles' ( UCLA ) Community Based Learning Program, the City of Los Angeles Workforce Development Board, and the City of Los Angeles Economic and Workforce Development Department.

A documentary about O.J. Simpson that premiered recently on ABC revealed that Simpson's father, Jimmy Lee Simpson, was gay, The Daily Mail noted. The premiere episode also explored the early days of his affair with Nicole Brown Simpson as well, with her roommate recounting his concerns about their relationship after their first date.

A British man accused of trying to take a police officer's gun and kill Donald Trump during a weekend rally in Las Vegas will not be released on bail, LGBTQ Nation reported. Federal Magistrate Judge George Foley ruled that Michael Steven Sandford, 20, was a potential danger to the community and a flight risk. Agents said Sandford told them he had been in the U.S. for about a year and a half, lived in Hoboken, New Jersey, and drove to the San Bernardino, California, area before coming to Las Vegas on June 16.


This article shared 778 times since Tue Jun 21, 2016
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