homophobia

Suspected Dallas BBQ Attacker Is Gay: Is His Crime a Hate Crime?

Rich Juzwiak · 05/26/15 11:15AM

The rumors appear to be true: Bayna El-Amin, the man wanted by police after hitting another man over the head with a chair in a fight at the Chelsea Dallas BBQ earlier this month, seems to have been romantically involved with another man. Gawker has discovered what looks to be El-Amin’s Facebook page, which is listed under an alias variation of his apparent birth name and contains several pictures of a man with identical-looking features and facial hair as the man in the Dallas BBQ videos, as well as El-Amin’s various mugshots. There is reference to the page’s owner working the door at a nightclub; Animal uncovered that a now-deleted Facebook page in El-Amin’s full name listed him as “Personal Security for Sketchie ENTertainment,” a nightclub promotion company.

Grindr Pastor Reportedly Told Teen He Was Going to Hell [Update]

Rich Juzwiak · 05/21/15 02:53PM

The potential for anti-gay Pastor Matt Makela’s hypocrisy is apparently sky high—all the way to heaven, even. Jennifer Kish told Saginaw, Michigan’s WNEM that the disgraced pastor, who was exposed for soliciting gay sex on Grindr earlier this week, made her son 17-year-old son Tyler feel like “if he was going to go to hell for being gay that he might as well go to hell by committing suicide.”

The Horrible, Bigoted Texts Traded Among San Francisco Police Officers

Aleksander Chan · 03/18/15 01:53PM

A passel of racist, homophobic text messages sent between at least five San Francisco police officers were released last Friday as part of a motion by the U.S. Attorney's office to deny bail to Ian Furminger, a former SFPD sergeant recently convicted on federal corruption charges and a primary actor in the series of bigoted texts.

Chris Rock's Bad Gay Joke

Rich Juzwiak · 12/11/14 11:38AM

Chris Rock's Top Five doesn't have any real villains, per se, but in it is one truly awful character. The film has been very well reviewed, so perhaps this depiction is hitting me harder than most people. I do think, though, it is worth examining.

FSU Lecturer Loses Job Over Rant Against "Filthy Rodent Muslims"

Adam Weinstein · 12/10/14 11:50AM

A senior business communications instructor at Florida State University left her job but refused to apologize last week after blaming "filthy rodent Muslims" for ruining France and telling a prominent gay hairstylist on Facebook to "Take your Northern fagoot [sic] elitism and shove it up your ass."

OITNB's Subway Hero: "You Must Always Face Evil and Take It Down"

Rich Juzwiak · 11/05/14 05:04PM

Yesterday, videos of Orange Is the New Black's Lea DeLaria handing a prosletyzing subway preacher his ass went viral. For anyone who's been trapped on the subway with some asshole who's tritely thumping his Bible in an attempt to pull you away from the magazine you are reading or the Taylor Swift song you're listening to that's making you feel right at home, the footage of DeLaria shouting over the unsolicited advice on getting to heaven and protecting one's soul was immensely cathartic.

Pennsylvania State Senator Comes Out as Gay in Excellent Fashion

Rich Juzwiak · 09/23/14 01:45PM

This is how you do it. Earlier today at a press conference regarding Senate Bill 42 and House Bill 177, which would expand Pennsylvania's hate crime law to include attacks based on sexuality and gender identity, the former bill's author, State Senator Jim Ferlo of Pittsburgh, came out as gay. He did it like this:

Rich Juzwiak · 09/22/14 04:20PM

A new Pew Research Center poll finds a five percent dip in support for gay marriage (down to 49 percent versus 54 percent in Feburary). Also 50 percent of the public now considers homosexuality a "sin" (versus 45 percent last year). But not casting stones of judgment, imagine that. Keep fighting the good fight.

Uganda's Anti-Gay Law Has Been Struck Down

Rich Juzwiak · 08/01/14 08:15AM

Uganda's so-called "jail the gays" bill, which President Yoweri Museveni signed in February and imposed seven years in jail for "the offense of homosexuality" (gay sex) and lifetime in jail for "aggravated homosexuality," is no more. This does not mark shifting attitudes in the country that has become notorious for its harsh treatment of its LGBT citizens. Rather, on Friday, a court invalidated it on a technicality: it was passed during a parliamentary session that lacked a quorum.

Language School Blogger Fired for Writing About Homophones

Jay Hathaway · 07/31/14 09:53AM

A social media specialist for a Utah language school that teaches English to non-native speakers says he was fired for writing a blog post about homophones—words that sound the same, but carry different meanings—because his boss was afraid readers would think it was about "gay sex."