Gay men’s beauty pageant: Contestant, judge accused of beating another judge with trophy

Not many beauty pageants end with a judge and contestant attacking another judge — with a trophy.

Two men were ordered held on bond Wednesday after they were charged with beating a judge at a gay men’s beauty pageant earlier this month on Chicago’s West Side.

Leroy Tinch, 28, of the 2200 block of Emerson Street in Evanston and Anthony Johnson, 23, of the 8200 block of Keating Avenue in Skokie were both charged with aggravated battery with great bodily harm, a class one felony, said Andrew Conklin, a spokesman for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

The men were ordered held on $75,000 bond by Circuit Court Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil.See Gay men’s beauty pageant: Contestant, judge accused of beating

Chicago Tribune

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Why Some People Are Gay: Notes (and Clues) from the Animal Kingdom

We have known for at least a decade that hundreds of animal species — including birds, reptiles, mollusks and, of course, humans — engage in same-gender sexual acts. But no one is quite sure why. After all, same-sex couplings don’t usually result in offspring. (I say usually because when male marine snails pair with other males, one partner conveniently changes sex, allowing for reproduction.) Evolutionarily speaking, homosexuality should have disappeared long ago.

A yearlong study just completed at the University of California at Riverside offers several fascinating competing theories about why same-gender sexual behavior has endured. And although it’s gay-pride month — and the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots that sparked the gay-rights movement — not all the theories will give same-gender-loving humans a reason to celebrate. (See the top 10 animal stories of 2007.)

One particularly charged finding is that in most species besides humans, same-gender pairings rarely lead to lifelong relationships. In other words, when one attractive bonobo male eyes another in a lovely patch of Congo swamp forest, they occasionally kiss and then move on to other oral pleasures, but they don’t bother anyone afterward about trying to legalize their right to an open-banana-bar ceremony. In fact, they are likely to move on to girl bonobos: most animals that engage in same-gender sex acts do so only when an opposite-sex partner is unavailable.

And yet the study’s authors, Nathan Bailey and Marlene Zuk of UC Riverside’s biology department, report some exceptions, like the laysan albatross. Last year, researchers studying a Hawaiian colony of albatrosses found that nearly a third of all the couples involved two females who courted and then shared parenting responsibilities. (Albatrosses don’t have U-Hauls, so no lesbian jokes, please.) Male chinstrap penguins also form long-term relationships, at least in captivity. And some male bighorn sheep will mount females only after the females adopt male-like behaviors.

What explains all these variances? Here are some hypotheses I collected from Bailey and Zuk’s paper as well as from some of their original sources:

See Why Some People Are Gay: Notes (and Clues) from the Animal Kingdom

TIME

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Former gay-porn actor guilty of Denver murder

A male escort was convicted this afternoon of the premeditated murder of his boss and former sexual partner, and now will spend the rest of his life in prison.

Timothy Boham, 28, was found guilty by a nine-woman, three-man jury in Denver District Court of first-degree murder after deliberation, felony murder and aggravated assault.

Colorado law mandates that someone found guilty of first-degree murder must spend the rest of their life in prison, without the possibility of parole. Judge Will Hood Jr. will hand down the sentence Tuesday.

The jury took less than five hours to convict Boham, whose lawyers — Amber St. Clair and Kristan Wheeler — claimed that his victim, wealthy Denver businessman J.P. Kelso, committed suicide. They tried to persuade the jury that the murder scene was merely a coverup for a suicide so that Kelso’s life-insurance policy would pay out.

According to four days of testimony, Boham had a paid sexual encounter in late 2005 with Kelso, who owned Professional Recovery Systems, a debt-collection agency where Boham briefly worked twice.

Boham, a former gay-porn actor, said he and Kelso hung out together numerous times in the 11 months they knew each other.

See Former gay-porn actor guilty of Denver murder Denver Post -

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At one Lutheran church, gay, partnered and preaching

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America congregations aren’t supposed to allow gay people in committed relationships to be pastors. But it’s already happening at one Minneapolis Lutheran church.

ELCA leadership will meet at a national convention this summer in Minneapolis to consider changing the rule. The proposal would allow individual congregations to hire gay, partnered pastors – as long as they can show they’re in a lifelong, committed relationship.

But Calvary Lutheran Church already took that step. Pastor Brad Froslee took over the pulpit there in February, even though he was open about his partner of 5 and a half years.

 See At one Lutheran church, gay, partnered and preaching WKBT

 

 

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Galveston gay bar attack draws rare use of law

Galveston prosecutors took the exceedingly rare step this week of filing hate crime enhancements when they charged three men with felony assault for an attack at one of the city’s gay bars.

This marks only the second time the Galveston County District Attorney’s Office has pursued such enhancements, based on the staff’s recollections, said prosecutor Jennifer Ott.

As a result, brothers Lawrence Henry Lewis III, 20, and Lawrneil Henry Lewis, 18, and their cousin, Alejandro Sam Gray, 17 could face an elevated punishment of five to 99 years or life in prison if a jury convicts them of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and agrees they committed a hate crime.

The trio is accused of hurling large rocks or pieces of concrete at patrons inside Robert’s Lafitte in the 2500 block of Avenue Q around 8 p.m. Sunday, injuring two men, including one who tried to chase them.

Marc Bosaw, 57, needed 12 staples to close a laceration to the back of his head, while James Troy Nickelson, 39, was struck in the jaw.

One of the three suspects later told police their intent was to target homosexuals, said Galveston Police Department Lt. D.J. Alvarez. The trio also hurled homophobic insults, authorities said.

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Gay rights advocate punched in Felton

A 22-year-old man advocating gay and lesbian rights was allegedly punched in the face in front of New Leaf Market in Felton on Dec. 10 between 2:10 and 2:20 p.m.

A 22-year-old man advocating gay and lesbian rights was allegedly punched in the face in front of New Leaf Market in Felton on Dec. 10 between 2:10 and 2:20 p.m.

The man’s nose was bloodied, and he refused medical assistance on the scene.

The suspect, a white man in his mid-20s estimated to be 5 feet, 10 inches tall and 220 pounds, reportedly fled the scene in a black pickup after the incident. 

Deputies are treating the incident as a felony battery and hate crime.

“The victim is associated with a group that works for human rights to achieve gay and lesbian equality,” said sheriff’s Sgt. Mario Sulay. 

 See Gay rights advocate punched in Felton
Scotts Valley/San Lorenzo Valley Press-Banner, CA 

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Truth Wins Out Fights Back Against Lie Campaign With Hard-Hitting Full Page Ad In The Salt Lake Tribune

‘We Refuse To Allow Anti-Gay Activists To Rewrite History and Pose As Beacons of Religious Tolerance,’ Says TWO

NEW YORK, NY — Truth Wins Out (TWO) unveiled a hard-hitting full-page ad today that will be published in The Salt Lake Tribune on Thursday, under the headline, “Lies in the Name of the Lord.” TWO’s provocative advertisement is in response to an ad by anti-gay activists in last Friday’s New York Times, that falsely portrayed protests against Proposition 8 – a ballot measure in California that prohibited same sex couples from marrying – as mob violence. The TWO ad also criticized the culture warriors who ran the Times ad under the name, “No Mob Veto,” for their disingenuous claim of religious tolerance and their posture as staunch defenders of the Mormon Church.

“These anti-gay activists are crying wolf on the Proposition 8 protests, but they actually are a wolf in sheep’s clothing that preaches religious tolerance while practicing the most defamatory form of religious bigotry,” said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out. “We refuse to permit this orchestrated campaign to rewrite history, nor will we allow some of the most notorious Mormon bashers in America to pose as friends of the Latter-day Saints.”
TWO exposes “No Mob Veto’s” hypocrisy, after the group wrote in the Times, “Beginning today, we commit ourselves to opposing and publicly shaming anyone who resorts to the rhetoric of anti-religious bigotry, against any faith, on any side of the cause, for any reason.” In its ad, TWO agreed to take the signers of the “No Mob Veto” ad at their word, including convicted felon Chuck Colson, Prison Fellowship; Rich Cizik, National Association of Evangelicals; and William Donohue, The Catholic League, and remind America of their past incendiary statements against other religions, particularly the Mormon church.
“Activists like Colson, Cizik and Donohue must decide if they are ‘people of faith’ or ‘people of fibs’ – they can’t be both,” TWO proclaimed in its ad. “Lying is wrong, especially when it’s done in the name of God.”
“There is a concerted and ongoing effort by anti-gay forces to portray peaceful marchers exercising their First Amendment rights as violent troublemakers,” said Besen. “We hope to set the record straight and refuse to let No Mob Veto get away with their blatant lies.”
Singer Pat Boone contributed to the “Big Lie” this week when he wrote a column in World Net Daily that compared nonviolent Proposition 8 protesters with the terrorists who wantonly murdered nearly 200 innocent people in Mumbai.
Truth Wins Out is a non-profit organization that counters right wing propaganda, exposes the “ex-gay” myth and educates America about gay life.
Web: www.TruthWinsOut.org

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