Category Archives: lesbian

Puerto Rico House approves non-discrimination bill

Hector Maldonado, Puerto Rico, San Juan, gay news, Washington Blade

Bayamon, Puerto Rico, resident Hector Maldonado stands outside the island’s capital on May 16 before the Senate approved a non-discrimination bill. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

The Puerto Rico House of Representatives on Friday approved two bills that would ban anti-LGBT discrimination in the U.S. territory and add sexual orientation and gender identity and expression to the island’s domestic violence laws.

The voice votes on the two measures that each passed by a 29-22 vote margin took place at the end of a nearly three hour debate. Lawmakers had been scheduled to consider the bills on Thursday, but they adjourned after a marathon session that ended well after midnight.

The Puerto Rico Senate on May 16 approved the non-discrimination measure by a 15-11 vote margin.

“I can serve God without having to discriminate against anyone,” Rep. Lydia Méndez Silva of Sabana Grande said before she announced her support of the anti-discrimination bil.

Rep. Waldemar Quiles Rodríguez of Lares described the proposal to ban anti-LGBT discrimination as “bad, twisted and perverse.” Other opponents of the measures earlier on Friday launched an online campaign that urged lawmakers to vote against it and the domestic violence measure.

“We have expressed our disagreement with SB 238 (the anti-discrimination bill) and HB 488 (domestic violence measure,)” they said in a tweeted image that also contained Proverbs 24:12. “We have given just and solid reasons. We once again remind all lawmakers that God always has the final say.

Gov. Alejandro García Padilla met with lawmakers earlier on Thursday to secure additional support for the anti-discrimination bill that Sen. Ramón Nieves Pérez of San Juan introduced in January. The governor also supports the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity and expression in the island’s domestic violence laws and the extension of second-parent adoption rights to gays and lesbians in Puerto Rico.

Gay Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin on Wednesday also urged lawmakers to support the anti-discrimination measure.

“The rights of gay people are human rights, and human rights are for everyone,”he wrote in an open letter to members of the Puerto Rico House. “The passage of [SB 238] would represent the respect of our brothers and sisters’ rights.”

García has said he will sign the anti-discrimination bill into law. The domestic violence measure will now go before the Senate.

“Today is a thrilling day in Puerto Rican history,” Pedro Julio Serrano of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force said after the vote. “A decade ago, LGBT Puerto Ricans were criminals under the sodomy law, today we’re second-class citizens and when this bill is signed into law, we will be closer to achieving the first-class citizenship that we deserve. Equality is inevitable. Puerto Rico will be for all.”

Democrats, gay advocates blast Virginia GOP ticket

Gay News, Washington Blade, Gay Virginia, Ken Cuccinelli

Virginia Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli hoped to challenge a ruling that overturned the state’s sodomy law. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

Virginia Democrats and LGBT rights advocates have criticized the state’s Republican Party for nominating three anti-gay men as their statewide candidates.

The Republican Party of Virginia on Saturday officially nominated Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli as its gubernatorial candidate to face off against Democratic National Committee Chair Terry McAuliffe. E.W. Jackson and state Sen. Mark Obenshein (R-Harrisonburg) will round out the ticket as the party’s lieutenant gubernatorial and attorney general candidates.

Cuccinelli, who has previously described same-sex sexual acts as “intrinsically wrong,” in March filed an ultimately unsuccessful challenge to a three-judge panel’s ruling that overturned the commonwealth’s sodomy law.

The current attorney general in 2010 recommended Virginia colleges and universities remove LGBT-specific provisions from their non-discrimination policies. Cuccinelli was also among those who spoke at an anti-gay marriage gathering at a Manassas church in October to which the Washington Blade was denied access.

Jackson, who founded Exodus Faith Ministries in Chesapeake, reaffirmed his opposition to same-sex marriage during a speech at the Republican Party of Virginia convention after delegates officially nominated him. Equality Virginia noted he has compared gay men to pedophiles and described them as “very sick people, psychologically, mentally and emotionally.”

Equality Virginia also pointed out Obenshein sponsored Senate Bill 1074 that Gov. Bob McDonnell signed into law in March that bans public universities from denying recognition and funding to student organizations that discriminate in their membership based on sexual orientation and other categories that federal law does not protect. He also opposed a measure in a Virginia House of Delegates subcommittee tabled in February that would have banned discrimination against LGBT state employees.

“Ken Cuccinelli, E.W. Jackson and Mark Obenshain are openly hostile to LGBT families in communities across the commonwealth,” Equality Virginia Executive Director James Parrish said after the state GOP officially nominated the three men.

Democratic lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Aneesh Chopra also criticized the Virginia GOP ticket.

“The nomination of E.W. Jackson and Mark Obenshain shows just how out of touch the Republican Party of Virginia has become,” he told the Blade on Tuesday. “Together with Ken Cuccinelli, they represent a vision of Virginia moving backward and reflect one of the most extreme tickets the commonwealth has seen in a long time.”

State Del. Charniele Herring (D-Alexandria,) who chairs the Democratic Party of Virginia, described the GOP candidates’ rhetoric during a conference call with reporters on Tuesday as “divisive, dangerous and mean-spirited.” She, Parrish and gay state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) stressed their positions could further damage the state’s reputation if voters elect them in November.

“Cuccinelli’s mean-spirited statements do not represent the commonwealth,” Ebbin said. “The truth is Ken Cuccinelli and E.W. Jackson’s cruel comments don’t just represent the biases of the past, but represent a threat to Virginia as a welcoming place to do business.”

A Quinnipiac University poll conducted between May 8-13 found 43 percent of respondents support McAuliffe, compared to 38 percent who back Cuccinelli for governor. A survey the Washington Post released earlier this month shows Cuccinelli led McAuliffe by a 46-41 percent margin.

The same poll noted 70 percent of respondents said they know little or nothing about McAuliffe. Fifty-two percent of respondents said they know little or nothing about Cuccinelli.

A Cuccinelli campaign spokesperson did not immediately return the Blade’s request for comment.

Herring, Ebbin and Parrish said during Tuesday’s conference call they remain optimistic voters will have learned about the Republican ticket’s anti-gay rhetoric by the time they cast their ballots on Election Day.

“It is our job to let people know about the record of Ken Cuccinelli and E.W. Jackson,” said Herring, noting the state’s Democratic Party earlier this year launched a field program to reach out to potential voters. “It’s a dangerous record and is not good for Virginia families.”

Ebbin reaffirmed his support for McAuliffe.

Capital Trans Pride

Award-winning stylist Codie Leone was the keynote speaker at 2013 Capital Trans Pride at the National City Christian Church on Saturday. The event featured workshops, speakers, booths and an awards ceremony. (Washington Blade photos by Tyler Grigsby)

NYC officials condemn alleged anti-gay murder

Greenwich Village, gay rights, statues, gay news, Washington Blade, Christopher Park, gay liberation, Sheridan Square, George Segal

A string of attacks against LGBT New Yorkers in recent weeks has sparked concern and outrage among local advocates and politicians. (Photo by niall62 via Creative Commons)

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is among those who are expected to attend a Manhattan march on Monday in response to the murder of a gay man that police have described as a hate crime.

The New York Times reported Elliot Morales allegedly shouted anti-gay slurs at Mark Carson of Brooklyn, N.Y., as he and a friend were walking on Sixth Avenue in Greenwich Village late on May 17. The newspaper cited New York Police Department officials who said Morales stalked Carson before he shot him to death on a nearby street.

Police arrested Morales a short time later. He has been charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon.

“This kind of shocking and senseless violence, so deeply rooted in hate, has no place in a city whose greatest strength will always be its diversity,” Quinn said in a statement she released hours after Carson’s death.

Carson’s murder comes against the backdrop of a string of attacks against LGBT New Yorkers in recent weeks that have sparked concern and outrage among local advocates and politicians.

“I am outraged by the recent wave of anti-LGBT violence in our city and it is shocking and extremely distressing that a man was shot to death just this morning apparently because he was gay,” New York state Sen. Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan) said after Carson passed away. “Nobody anywhere should have to live with fear of harm because of his or her sexual orientation.”

“We must stand together as one city and declare that New York is not open for bigotry,” New York State Assemblywoman Deborah Glick (D-Manhattan) added. “It is crucial that every instance of senseless violence, against anyone, be met with swift and strong justice. My heart goes out to the friends and family of this young man whose life was senselessly taken by a callous bigot.”

The march from the LGBT Community Center to the intersection of Sixth Avenue and West 8th Street in lower Manhattan is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. An anti-hate crimes rally is slated to take place at the intersection where Morales allegedly confronted Carson at 6 p.m.

Rehoboth Summer Kickoff

The Washington Blade hosted its seventh annual Summer Kickoff Party at the Blue Moon in Rehoboth Beach, Del. on Friday, featuring guest speaker John Fluharty, executive director of the Delaware Republican Party. (Washington Blade photos by Damien Salas)

Thousands attend Puerto Rico LGBT rights march

San Juan, Puerto Rico, International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, gay news, Washington Blade

Marchers carry a Pride flag and crosses with “they discriminate” written on them through Old San Juan on May 17. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Thousands marched through the streets of the Puerto Rican capital on Friday in support of LGBT rights.

San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz and Sen. Ramón Nieves Pérez, who sponsored the sweeping anti-LGBT non-discrimination bill the Senate on Thursday passed by a 15-11 vote margin, unfurled an LGBT Pride flag from the balcony of City Hall as marchers passed. She stood with members of Butterflies Trans Association, a trans advocacy group, while wearing a white hand band with the word “equity” on it as she spoke from the steps of the Puerto Rican capitol at the end of the march.

“I say from the bottom of my heart to those who are listening to us — all of Puerto Rico; we are all equal,” Yulín said.

Alicia Burgos, the mother of Pedro Julio Serrano of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and his father spoke to marchers from the back of a pick-up truck that stopped near Plaza de Colón in Old San Juan.

“We are marching against homophobia,” she said.

The march, which was one of dozens around the world that commemorated the annual International Day Against Homophobia, took place hours after a Puerto Rican Senate committee held a hearing on a bill that would extend second parent adoption rights to gays and lesbians.

The Puerto Rico Supreme Court in February narrowly upheld the island’s ban on gay second parent adoptions in response to the case of Dr. Ángeles Acosta Rodríguez who sought to adopt the child her partner of 25 years, Dr. Carmen Milagros Vélez Vega, conceived through in vitro fertilization. Vélez received a standing ovation from the adoption measure’s supporters who attended the hearing after she finished her testimony with her partner and their 12-year-old daughter by her side.

A third bill that three representatives introduced earlier this year would add sexual orientation and gender identity and expression to the island’s anti-domestic violence laws.

Advocates continue to point to the three aforementioned bills as significant movement in support of rights for LGBT Puerto Ricans since Gov. Alejandro García Padilla and Yulín, who issued two LGBT-specific executive orders on Monday, took their respective offices in January. In spite of this progress, they maintain anti-LGBT discrimination and violence remain rampant throughout the island.

Yulín and others who spoke during the march referenced Jorge Steven López Mercado; a gay teenager whose decapitated, dismembered and partially burned body was found dumped along a remote roadside near Cayey in 2009. One march participant even pretended he was dead on the sidewalk in front of the Puerto Rican Capitol as others outlined his body with masking tape and placed evidence markers above rocks with anti-gay slurs written onto them.

A group from the Puerto Rican city of Ponce takes part in a march for LGBT rights in San Juan on May 17. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

“I, as the mother of a gay individual, say I am proud to be here,” one member of the Butterflies Trans Association said as she spoke to the crowd from the steps of the Puerto Rican Capitol. “We are fighting as a movement to tell (lawmakers) that we are in search of a place where [LGBT Puerto Ricans] can be successful, a place where we can take care of our people.”

Eduardo, who traveled to San Juan from Ponce with a group of 150 people, agreed as he spoke to the Blade near Plaza de Colón.

“We are here because we want equality,” he said. “We want the same equality that everybody else has.”

Puerto Rico Senate committee holds adoption bill hearing

Pedro Julio Serrano, NGLTF, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Puerto Rico, San Juan, LGBT equality, adoption, gay news, Washington Blade

Pedro Julio Serrano of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force testifies in support of a Puerto Rico adoption bill on Friday, May 17 (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – A Puerto Rican Senate committee on Friday held a hearing on a bill that would extend second parent adoption rights to gays and lesbians in the U.S. territory.

“This Assembly must recognize the rights of minorities, even if this recognition is unpopular,” Pedro Julio Serrano of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force said during the Puerto Rico Senate Judiciary, Security and Veterans Committee hearing on Senate Bill 437 that Sen. Mari Tere González López of Mayaguëz introduced in March. “Our democracy is based on the protection of those minority groups from the possible abuse of the majority.”

The hearing took place nearly three months after the territory’s Supreme Court narrowly upheld a ban on gay second parent adoptions in response to the case of Dr. Ángeles Acosta Rodríguez who sought to adopt the child her partner of 25 years, Dr. Carmen Milagros Vélez Vega, conceived through in vitro fertilization.

The dozens of SB 437 hearing supporters who attended the hearing gave Vélez a standing ovation at the end of her testimony.

“Us three are a Puerto Rican family, one among many,” Vélez said as Acosta and their 12-year-old daughter, Juliana María Acosta Vélez Vega, sat next to her. “We are here, not for the sake of receiving special treatment, nor to seek a privilege, but to present ourselves as citizens and daughters of this country and to ask for that which is granted to Puerto Rican families and children, the right to a family and the protections that that includes.”

Representatives of the Psychological Association of Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rico Mental Health and Addiction Administration and the Puerto Rico Department of Justice are among those who also support of SB 437. The Archdiocese of San Juan and other groups remain opposed to the measure.

Carmen Milagros Vélez Vega, right, her partner, Ángeles Acosta Rodríguez and their daughter, Juliana María Acosta Vélez Vega testify in support of a Puerto Rican adoption bill on May 17. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

The SB 437 hearing took place a day after the Puerto Rican Senate approved a sweeping bill that would ban anti-LGBT discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations and government services.

Gov. Alejandro García Padilla supports both SB 437 and the non-discrimination measure that Sen. Ramón Nieves Pérez of San Juan introduced in January.

San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz on Monday signed two executive orders that ban anti-LGBT discrimination against the Puerto Rican capital’s municipal employees and mandate the city’s police department to equally enforce the island’s domestic laws regardless of the alleged victim’s sexual orientation.

Puerto Rico Senate approves non-discrimination bill

Bayamon, Puerto Rico, resident Hector Maldonado stands outside the island’s capital on Thursday, May 16. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico—The Puerto Rican Senate on Thursday approved a sweeping bill that would ban anti-LGBT discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations and government services in the U.S. territory.

The 15-11 vote took place after lawmakers for several hours debated Senate Bill 238 that Sen. Ramón Nieves Pérez introduced in January.

“The country, you and I are sick and tired of the marginalization,” Sen. Mari Tere González said.

Former Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz is among those who spoke against the bill.

“This Senate speaks of tolerance but discriminates against those who don’t have the same political ideology,” he tweeted during the debate.

The bill’s passage comes three days after San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz mandated the Puerto Rican capital’s police department to equally apply the island’s current domestic violence laws, regardless of the reported victim’s sexual orientation. She also signed a second executive order that bans discrimination against the city’s municipal employees based on their sexual orientation or gender identity and expression.

Pedro Julio Serrano of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, lesbian New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and others repeatedly criticized former Gov. Luís Fortuño for not doing enough to curb rampant anti-LGBT violence on the island following the 2009 murder of gay teenager Jorge Steven López Mercado.

Current Gov. Alejandro García Padilla in February told a local newspaper he opposes the Puerto Rico Supreme Court decision that narrowly upheld the island’s gay adoption ban. He also supports both SB 238 and a separate measure on which a Senate committee will hold a hearing on Friday that would extend adoption rights to gays and lesbians.

Thousands of people on the same day are expected to take part in a march in the Puerto Rican capital that will commemorate the annual International Day Against Homophobia.

Dozens of LGBT rights advocates and other supporters cheered Serrano as he walked out of the Puerto Rican Capitol after the SB 238 vote.

“We are celebrating this victory,” he told the Blade while noting Schatz has previously referred to him as a “faggot.” “The people are celebrating with us. It is an extraordinary step forward.”

Bayamón resident Héctor Maldonado and a handful of other SB 238 supporters who stood across the street from the Capitol during the debate waved rainbow flags and held signs that urged passing motorists to honk their horns in support of the measure. One man yelled “maricón” or “faggot” at them as he drove past, but several drivers indicated their support of the bill.

“It’s just about basic human rights,” Maldonado told the Blade.

SB 238 will now go to the Puerto Rico House of Representatives.

Cornerstone

The Point Foundation held its annual D.C. Cornerstone Reception at Room & Board on Thursday. (Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

All-Star

Stonewall Kickball held an ‘All-Star’ game between the best of the JR’s Division and Cobalt Division. JR’s bested Cobalt 13-2. (Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

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