Unfinished Lives

Remembering LGBT Hate Crime Victims

Cyber-spies’ Lawyers Seek to Soft-Pedal Rutgers Bullying

Newark, New Jersey – The news today reports that lawyers for the the two alleged cyber spies, who trapped Tyler Clementi with a hidden webcam when he was intimate with a same-sex lover, say that the duo really didn’t see anything “sexual” on the night in question.  The lawyers’ point is that their clients were not doing much wrong–that Clementi just took things too far when he jumped off the George Washington Bridge.  I hope the everyone will see what is at stake in this case.  Clementi believed that he had been “outed” in a moment of vulnerability. That is what counted when Clementi was reacting to the smashed future story that had brought him to Rutgers. I am sick of these stories.  Our culture has become more and more tolerant of intolerance, and less and less interested in the youth this society professes to value.  I hope we all will demand zero tolerance for bullying of any kind against anyone.  The gay teen suicide crisis will still be with us as long as school and society cultures tolerate the bullies and place the burden of “normalcy” on LGBTQ youth.  When the news cycle moves on to Election Day and its aftermath, we who believe in justice cannot afford to leave this matter behind.  Every Superintendent of Schools in America needs to hear from us until life-affirming change truly comes, and our children–ALL our children–feel supported and protected in American schools.

Stephen Sprinkle, Director of the Unfinished Lives Project

November 1, 2010 Posted by | Anglo Americans, Anti-LGBT hate crime, Asian Americans, Blame the victim, Bullying in schools, cyber voyeurism, gay men, harassment, Heterosexism and homophobia, Law and Order, LGBT teen suicide prevention, LGBTQ suicide, New Jersey, New York, Perpetrators of Hate Crime, Rutgers University | , , , , , , | Comments Off on Cyber-spies’ Lawyers Seek to Soft-Pedal Rutgers Bullying

Gay Jews in Chicago Targeted by Terrorists

Chicago, IL – A predominantly gay and lesbian synagogue in Chicago was specifically targeted for a terrorist attack this past weekend.  Though the plot was foiled by law enforcement, Chicago’s Jewish community is on alert.  The terrorist plot, originating in Yemen and thought to be the work of Al Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula, involved explosive-filled packages to be delivered to Or Chadesh, a congregation of around a hundred gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people and their families, that worships in space rented from Emmanuel Congregation, on the north side of Chicago.  According to WLS Radio reports, a highly placed Jewish source informed Emmanuel’s Rabbi Michael Zedek that the LGBTQ synagogue his congregation housed one of two Jewish houses of worship to be targeted in the Chicago area.  Zedek, in turn, communicated with the spiritual leader of the Or Chadesh congregation, Rabbi Larry Edwards, to let him know about the plot to attack the LGBTQ congregation.  Rabbi Edwards told WLS that members of his flock took the news “rather calmly,” saying that their identity as an LGBTQ synagogue may have been an added reason for terrorists to choose their congregation for an attack.  Rabbi Edwards said to The Advocate: “Immediately, you kind of think, ‘well, [representing the gay community], maybe that makes us an additional target…. It could be totally random, somebody went on the Internet and picked a couple of synagogues.” The FBI has affirmed that religious institutions in the Chicago area were specifically chosen by terrorists in the Yemen-based plot, but the FBI has refused to confirm that Or Chadesh (and another, predominantly heterosexual Jewish congregation) was singled out for the attack.  Rabbi Edwards says he is puzzled that he and Or Chadesh had not been informed by federal officials.  Edwards told a reporter for WLS: “How did you find me? If you could do it, the FBI could do it. … I haven’t heard anything (from the FBI).” Still, Rabbi Edwards and his congregation are “grateful that the system worked in this case and law enforcement tracked [the plot] down.” Press and police came to the Friday services at Emmanuel Congregation, as well as supporters from the community.  Rabbi Zedek said that Emmanuel routinely provides a security service whenever anyone is in the building, and has done so for a long time.  He did not plan for extra security measures to be implemented at this time.  “We’ll operate as business as usual,” Rabbi Zedek said.  “That is part of the usual business that has come to our world.” According to the Wall Street Journal, Zedek and other leaders at Congregation Emmanuel discovered that the syangogue website has been visited “dozens of times” by sources in Egypt.  Zedek has informed the FBI, and leads are being followed. Prior to nesting with Emmanuel Congregation, LGBTQ-predominant Or Chadesh rented space from Second Unitarian Church in the Lakeview area.  Pastor Adam Robersmith of the Unitarian congregation told reporters that he had heard of the possibility that Or Chadesh had been selected by the terrorist in the failed attack, but he also said that he had no reason to believe his congregation was in any peril.

November 1, 2010 Posted by | Anti-LGBT hate crime, Anti-Semitism, Bisexual persons, Bombs and explosives, FBI, gay men, Hate Crimes, hate crimes prevention, Heterosexism and homophobia, Illinois, Law and Order, Lesbian women, Perpetrators of Hate Crime, synagogue bombing, transgender persons, transphobia, Unsolved LGBT Crimes | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Gay Jews in Chicago Targeted by Terrorists

   

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