Brewster stands up for Kevin Jennings
An Obama appointee, who the right accused of defending rape, was defended by the “victim.”
Tags: Appointee, Kevin Jennings, RapeEnding prisoner rape in Michigan
LINDA MCFARLANE writes:
The Michigan Department of Corrections (DOC) last week settled a class action lawsuit brought by over 500 female prisoners who were sexually abused in the state’s prisons. With the $100-million settlement agreement, hopefully the DOC will also begin to take the proactive steps needed to prevent and address the sexual violence that continues to plague its facilities.
This decision came after more than ten years of litigation, during which the courts repeatedly ruled against the state.
Although the prevalence of sexual abuse in Michigan prisons is well documented, leading officials have insisted that this type of violence is not a serious problem. In 2008, DOC Director Patricia Caruso opposed national standards being developed to address sexual abuse behind bars, stating that they would require that a “disproportionate amount of resources be dedicated to an issue that affects less than 1% of the DOC prison population.”
This claim is in blatant defiance of the facts. A 2007 national survey by the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, which surveyed inmates at three Michigan prisons, found that the proportion of prisoners experiencing sexual victimization in the past year alone ranged from 4.6% to 7.9%.
Rape and other forms of sexual violence cause long-term harm to survivors and their communities. Prisoner rape survivors suffer physical injury, contract HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, and experience severe psychological trauma. The vast majority of inmates ultimately return home, bringing their experiences and medical and psychiatric conditions with them.
See Ending prisoner rape in Michigan
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/ending-prison…
Obama Admin References Incest, Child Rape in DOMA Defense
Obama defends DOMA in federal court. Says banning gay marriage is good for the federal budget. Invokes incest and marrying children.
At AMERICABlogs, John Aravosis writes:
“despicable, and gratuitously homophobic. It reads as if it were written by one of George Bush’s top political appointees. I cannot state strongly enough how damaging this brief is to us. Obama didn’t just argue a technicality about the case, he argued that DOMA is reasonable. That DOMA is constitutional. That DOMA wasn’t motivated by any anti-gay animus. He argued why our Supreme Court victories in Roemer and Lawrence shouldn’t be interpreted to give us rights in any other area (which hurts us in countless other cases and battles). He argued that DOMA doesn’t discriminate against us because it also discriminates about straight unmarried couples (ignoring the fact that they can get married and we can’t).He actually argued that the courts shouldn’t consider Loving v. Virginia, the miscegenation case in which the Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to ban interracial marriages, when looking at gay civil rights cases. He told the court, in essence, that blacks deserve more civil rights than gays, that our civil rights are not on the same level.”
See Obama Admin Defends Federal Gay Marriage Ban In Court Filing
References Incest, Child Rape… DOJ Defends
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/06/obama-admin-r…
Tom Cruise Top Gun Costar McGillis: Yup, She’s Gay E! Online
Who knew when Tom Cruise famously serenaded Kelly McGillis in Top Gun with “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” it would be a foreshadowing of things to come?
In a new interview with SheWired.com, McGillis reveals that she’s gay. Now single, the 51-year-old actress told videoblogger Jennifer Corday that she was looking for a girlfriend. “I’m done with the man thing,” she said. “I did that. I need to move on in life.”
McGillis’ breakout role, as an Amish mother in Witness opposite Harrison Ford in 1985, earned her a Golden Globe nomination. Top Gun followed in 1986, and then two years later, she played an attorney for a rape victim (a role which earned Jodie Foster an Oscar) in The Accused.
See Tom Cruise Top Gun Costar McGillis: Yup, She’s Gay
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/tom-cruise-to…
‘Kite Runner’ and gay penguins
Not everybody loves “The Kite Runner.”
Khaled Hosseini’s million-selling novel about friendship and betrayal between two Afghan boys, a book club favorite that became a feature film, was among the releases most likely to inspire complaints last year from parents, educators and others, the American Library Association announced Thursday.
“The Kite Runner,” which includes a rape scene, has been criticized for offensive language and sexual content. A parent in Champaign, Ill., and a school board official in Morganton, N.C., were among those who challenged “The Kite Runner” last year.
The association listed 513 challenges last year, an increase of 93 from 2007, but well below the levels of 700 and higher in the 1990s. The ALA defines a challenge as a “formal, written complaint filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness.”
For every challenge tallied, about four or five end up unreported, according to the association.
For the third year in a row, the most challenged book was “And Tango Makes Three,” Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell’s award-winning picture story about two male penguins that become parents. “Tango” was cited for being anti-family, pro-gay and anti-religion. See ‘Kite Runner’ and gay penguins @ Barre Montpelier Times Argus
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/04/kite-runner-a…
Jamaica PM stands firm on sodomy law
(Kingston) Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding has told Parliament his government will not yield to “perhaps the most organized lobby in the world” and will not abolish prison sentences for sodomy.
Golding made the comment during debate on a new sexual offences law primarily aimed at combating rape and child abuse. …
Tags: Bruce Golding, Child Abuse, Debate, Jamaica, Kingston, Parliament, Prime Minister, Prison Sentences, Rape, Sexual Offences, Sodomy Law
