NGLTF: RIGHT-WING RHETORIC FUELS ANTI-GAY VIOLENCE
OIA Newsdesk


WASHINGTON - Detectives in San Diego arrested a 24-year-old man and two teenage boys in connection with Saturday's attacks on six men outside the LGBT pride festival in San Diego`s Balboa Park.

According to media reports, the suspects will face charges of attempted murder with a hate crime enhancement and assault with a deadly weapon. The assailants allegedly attacked the victims with baseball bats and a knife while taunting them with anti-gay epithets. One of the victims remains hospitalized with a fractured skull.

"The hatred fueling these terrible attacks is not innate; it is learned. And who is teaching it? Leaders of the right wing, who use their vast resources, media networks and affiliated pulpits to blame lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people for all the ills of society," said Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "We have witnessed years of anti-LGBT organizing in California, and violence is an obvious and potent outgrowth of such malicious activity. It poisons culture and inspires some to believe that it is open season on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

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Activists Will Try To Enlist After Disclosing They’re Gay


Little Rock is among the cities where young gay activists will try to enlist in the military during the next few months. The group is challenging the "don't ask, don't tell" ban on openly gay service members.

Organizers have dubbed the campaign Right to Serve. It was conceived by a Minnesota woman and a coordinator for the Virginia-based gay rights group called Soulforce