Sailor who killed self in brig was being watched

(Camp Pendleton, Calif.) Authorities say a Navy petty officer charged with murdering a Camp Pendleton sailor killed himself in a brig that was under video surveillance because he’d made two previous suicide attempts.

Jonathan Campos was on suicide watch when he apparently stuffed toilet paper in his mouth and suffocated Friday.

Pendleton …

Sailor charged with murder commits suicide

(San Diego) A sailor charged with murder who committed suicide in the brig at Camp Pendleton asphyxiated himself by stuffing toilet paper in his mouth, according to a U.S. Navy spokesman.

Petty Officer Jonathan Campos was found unresponsive in his cell about 12:20 p.m. Friday, said Navy spokesman Doug Sayers. He …

Gay activists and union leaders commit to year two of Hyatt Boycott

At a press conference last Friday, GLBT activists and union leaders marked the one-year anniversary of the Manchester Hyatt Boycott, launched last year in response to hotel owner Doug Manchester’s $125,000 contribution to qualify Proposition 8 for the ballot.

“For over a year we have urged San Diegans, Californians and Americans to boycott the Manchester Hyatt because of Manchester’s contribution to Proposition 8 and onerous workloads for the hotel’s housekeepers,” said Cleve Jones, a national gay leader and former aid to slain San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk. “The hotel’s own people have admitted to losing over $7 million in business due to the boycott. This boycott has truly shown the power of our reenergized community and the alliance between the gay community and labor.”

Proposition 8 eliminated the right of same-sex couples to marry in California. Boycott organizers also committed to continue the boycott and expand its scope.

“One of our goals for the next year will be to take the boycott to the next level – global,” said Fred Karger, founder of Californians Against Hate. “We will ask travel planners and tour operators throughout the world not to book meetings and room nights at the Manchester properties. We will put up a virtual bright yellow caution tape around Manchester’s hotels, and ask people not to cross it.”

The boycott has drawn increasing media attention and picked up steam since it began. Early on, several groups announced that they would move or cancel events at the hotel. Recently, the American Association of Justice, a trial lawyers group moved its entire convention out of the Manchester Hyatt to San Francisco to honor the boycott. At a recent gay and lesbian travel exposition, a hotel spokesperson confirmed that the boycott has cost the hotel more than $7 million.

At the July 17 press conference, organizers unveiled more than just a new approach. They came with a new logo and visual aid – bright yellow caution tape reading “Do not cross. Do not support bigotry and discrimination.” Organizers say the caution tape is intended as a reminder for individuals throughout the country not to patronize the hotel.

“We want to send a very simple message to all those planning to travel to San Diego that the Manchester Hyatt Boycott is on and stronger than ever,” said Human Relations Commissioner, Nicole Murray-Ramirez. “The unions, hotel workers and gay community started this fight together and we intend to finish it together.”

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Gay and Lesbian Times

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Football and art against homophobia T

The Justin Campaign will be making a stand against homophobia in football on Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth this Wednesday the 22nd July 2009.

Over the summer, sculptor Antony Gormley has been inviting people to help create an astonishing living monument as part of his “One & Other” exhibition.

Every hour, 24 hours a day, for 100 days without a break, a different person will make the Plinth their own. And on Wednesday the plinth will be the Justin Campaign’s.

Campaign founder and Brighton-based artist Jason Hall will be donning the Justin Fashanu All-stars strip and creating a top-secret installation atop the plinth between 7:00 am and 8:00 am.

The campaign was founded in memory of Justin Fashanu, the first openly gay professional footballer, who committed suicide on 2nd May 1998.

The aim of the Justin Campaign is to demonstrate the prevalence of homophobia in football and show how damaging the consequences of this can be on a society that holds the sport in such high regard.

Through art, events, education and football the organisation hopes to persuade the football authorities in England to observe Saturday 2nd May 2009 as Justin Fashanu Day and more generally, want 2nd May to become the annual international day of protest against homophobia in sport.

Campaign Founder Jason Hall said: “I wanted to use my hour on the Plinth to highlight the fact that gay and bisexual men are equally passionate about both playing and supporting ‘the beautiful game’, whilst increasing awareness as to how absurd it is that there have been no other ‘out’ gay players since Justin Fashanu.”

Like Hall maintains, “gay and bisexual men are equally passionate about playing and supporting” football, as are many lesbian and bisexual women and people in the trans community.

No doubt all LGB&T football and sports fans will be supporting Jason in challenging homophobia tomorrow night.

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Council halts plans to put boy with gay foster parents

A council has halted plans to place a ten-year-old Catholic boy in the care of homosexual foster parents against the wishes of his mother.

The case was highlighted last month by The Mail on Sunday, the day before the boy was due to arrive at his new home, a hotel in Brighton run by a middle-aged male couple.

Brighton and Hove Council has now told the mother it is reviewing its decision after her lawyer argued it was obliged to try to place the boy with foster parents of the same faith.

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Navy: No evidence sailor’s death was a hate crime

The Navy said today there is no indication the shooting death of a sailor standing guard at Camp Pendleton was “terrorist-related” or a hate crime.

Seaman August Provost, 29, of Houston, was fatally shot while standing guard protecting the landing craft facility on base. His body was found at about 3 a.m. Tuesday.

Provost, according to his family and gay-activists, was gay. Two members of Congress, Bob Filner (D-Chula Vista) and Susan Davis (D-San Diego), have asked the military to investigate whether Provost was murdered because he is gay.

A sailor dubbed a “person of interest” is in the brig at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station in San Diego, although no charges have been filed.

On Thursday, Navy Capt. Matt Brown, director of public affairs for Navy Region Southwest, said Provost, who enlisted in March 2008, was a “rising star in our Navy” who was preparing to deploy soon and was considering advanced education and commissioning.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is “continuing to aggressively pursue all aspects of this case,” Brown said.

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Rep. Bob Filner (D-Chula Vista) said today that…

Rep. Bob Filner (D-Chula Vista) said today that he has asked the Department of Defense and the Marine Corps to investigate whether the killing of a sailor, who was gay, at Camp Pendleton was a hate crime.

Filner, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said he wanted a complete investigation of circumstances surrounding the death of Seaman August Provost, 29, of Houston. Provost’s body was found about 3:30 a.m. Tuesday in a guard shack on the western edge of the sprawling base.

Gay leaders in San Diego had asked Filner to intervene. Nicole Murray-Ramirez, chairman of the San Diego Human Relations Commission, said Provost’s family believes the sailor had been harassed by other personnel on the base.

Filner said initial indications are that Provost was shot and his body burned. He said his committee also will investigate the case.

[Updated 7:20 p.m.: In a late afternoon news conference, Navy officials today promised a thorough investigation into the killing. They said, however, that there was no evidence it was a hate crime. A sailor who is considered to be a person of interest remains in the brig. Another sailor, who was initially considered a person of interest, has been released.]

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