This is just a follow up to my previous blog in September titled, "Why should you care about national equality rights?" I'm posting the story as written by the Ventura County Star.

Find more of the story on their website;
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2009/nov/21/though-suit-dismissed-hospital-staffers-to-not/?partner=RSS

By Steve Rothaus

McClatchy Newspapers

(MCT)

MIAMI - Several Jackson Memorial Hospital nurses in Miami personally apologized to Janice Langbehn, a Washington state lesbian who said a Jackson social worker wouldn't allow her to be with her dying partner in 2007.

"We certainly are sorry for the pain and suffering she felt," said Martha Baker, a registered nurse and president of SEIU local 1991, the union representing about 5,000 doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals at Jackson.

"I apologize," said registered nurse Norberto Molina, chairman of the union's gay Lavender Caucus. "I can't imagine what you went through."

The apologies came at a town hall-style meeting Thursday night at Unity on the Bay church in which Langbehn returned to Miami as a speaker. Baker, Molina and two other Jackson nurses, Jim Nicholson and Diane Poirier, along with 60 other people, attended the meeting.

Langbehn, whose lawsuit against Jackson was dismissed in September by a federal court in Miami, graciously welcomed the nurses' personal gesture. But she still wants the hospital to apologize formally.

"The management has to do it," Langbehn said.

She tearfully told the audience of her final moments with longtime partner Lisa Pond, who suffered a fatal brain aneurysm on Feb. 18, 2007, shortly before they were to sail with their three children on a Caribbean cruise for gay families.

At Jackson, Langbehn said, a social worker would not let her visit Pond because Florida is "an anti-gay state." Pond, 39, died the next day.

Langbehn, with the help of Lambda Legal, sued the hospital. The case, which received publicity around the country, was dismissed without a decision whether Jackson discriminated against Langbehn because she is gay. The court determined Jackson had no legal obligation to allow anyone to visit a patient.

"It's my duty to speak out, that this should never happen to another family of ours," said Langbehn, seated next to her attorney, Beth Littrell of Lambda Legal in Atlanta, Stratton Pollitzer of Equality Florida and Miami attorney Elizabeth Schwartz, who specializes in nontraditional-family issues. C.J. Ortuno, executive director of SAVE Dade, moderated.

From the beginning, Jackson has said Langbehn was not discriminated against and defended social worker Garnett Frederick, who denied making the offensive comment.

"We have always believed and known that the staff at Jackson treats everyone equally, and that their main concern is the well-being of the patients in their care," Jackson spokeswoman Jennifer Piedra said in a news release after the case was dismissed in September.

A DC man was sentenced to an inexcusable 180 day jail sentence for the vicious attack on a gay man that resulted in his death a week later from his injuries. Robert Hannah will walk out of jail a free man in 180 days, but where will Tony Hunter be? His body will be buried in the ground... is this justice?

A murderer throws out the "Gay panic defense", claiming that Hunter grabbed his groin and his butt, and the jury/judge let him go scott free. That's the American Judicial system, the US Attorney's office for DC released a 14 page memo stating the government's reasons for not pursing manslaughter charges, claiming that the testimony from Hunter's witness wasn't substantial, and also that there isn't enough evidence to prove that Hunter's death was caused by hitting his head on the pavement during the assault or the blows to the head from Robert Hannah.

So if Tony Hunter would have been standing up and was pummeled to death by Robert Hannah, the US Attorney for DC would probably have released a statement stating that there isn't enough evidence to prove that Hunter's death wasn't a result of the wind hitting him violently as opposed to the pummeling blows to the head. THIS IS VILE!

You're telling me that you need 14 pages of jargon to explain that the beating of a gay man is okay as long as you claim that he touched you first?!??! Hannah said in court that he wishes that he would have reacted differently to being touched by a gay man, and that he's sorry.

-I'm sorry that I lynched your son, but none of this would have happened if he hadn't made me uncomfortable, sorry.-

I picked up this story from across the pond on www.pinknews.co.uk where our British brothers and sisters are calling for justice and action from their American LGBT brothers and sisters! One Brit said, "I'm surprised LGBT Americans haven't had a Riot by now!" another, "America, land of the not so free LGBT". The world is waiting for their American LGBT brothers and sisters to stand against ignorance, to stand against vile crimes against humanity, to stand against the terror and fear that rock our communities to the core with every new death. How will we respond? What will they see as the American LGBT response?

Even better questions... How many more lives have to be lost? How many more families need to be destroyed? How many more parents have to bury their children before the government hears our cries for justice?!?!

NOT ONE MORE LIFE, NOT ONE MORE FAMILY, NOT ONE MORE FUNERAL DAMNIT!!!!!

Mobilize, unite, and organize to stand up to Congress! Make them listen! Go to www.equalityacrossamerica.org to see how you can become involved with a movement in your area, or how you can start one!

God bless America - (I can't hide my disgust in my closer right now)

That's the solution that the African nation of Uganda has presented in their house of Parliament yesterday, the bill is called, the "Anti-homosexuality Bill 2009", and it calls for the execution of any individuals with HIV from having sex with someone of the same sex, it calls for the execution of LGBT's that have sex with disabled people and those who have sex with LGBT's under the age of 18. The bill also goes as far as to enforce life imprisonment for those found or accused of having gay sex or same-sex relations, apparently that's already a law in Uganda, but this bill offers that law more jurisdiction and power. "Promoting Homosexuality" would be illegal in all forms under this law, removing any gay publications, having a shelter for LGBT's, providing services for LGBT's, and "aiding and abetting" homosexuals are crimes that would bring imprisonment under this legislation... gays are now outlaws in Uganda!

I've checked the big websites for their tale on this and their call to action, but there is nothing! I've had to reach across the Atlantic to find anything pertninet other than a few domestic LGBT sites called www.gayagenda.com & www.akawilliam.com those are some of the only domestic sites that I saw to have the story represented.

These are crimes against humanity, and thankfully the Human Rights Watch is on the scene and preparing to mobilize both domestically in the African state as well as globally against this injustice and deliberate attempt to perform a genocide against the LGBT community which is only 500,000 in a country of 34million citizens. This is rediculous, this is evil, and this is something that we can't let go unchallenged, go to this link HRW.org and sign the petition demanding the intervention form the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon now!

It's something small that we can do, but we need to pressure the international community and force them into action for our LGBT brothers and sisters that could very well be exterminated should this legislation go unchallenged by the international community.

Bless God and Bless the Gays! 

Did you know that if you look online that you'll find at least 45 different instances since 2000 that LGBT people have been viciously attacked or murdered because of their sexual orientation.

This was brought to my attention by Kinetickyle on my twitter account (citizen0). Thanks Kyle.

That number may not seem like much to you, but read the reports below of some of those cases. To see if even one of these should have happened.

1) On July 3, 2000, in Grant Town, West Virginia, the victim, Arthur "J.R." Warren, was punched and kicked to death by two teenage boys who reportedly believed Warren had spread a rumor that he and one of the boys, David Allen Parker, had a sexual relationship. Warren's killers ran over his body to disguise the murder as a hit-and-run. Parker pleaded guilty and was sentenced to "life in prison with mercy", making him eligible for parole after 15 years. His accomplice, Jared Wilson, was sentenced to 20 years

2) On June 16, 2001, Fred C. Martinez Jr., a navajo transgender teen and two-spirit student was bludgeoned to death near Cortez,  Colorado by 18-year-old Shaun Murphy, who reportedly bragged about attacking a "fag". Murphy received only a 40yr sentence.

3) The December 2002 homicide of Nizah Morris, a transgender woman in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has gone unsolved. The transgender entertainer collapsed from entoxication outside a bar late at night, and placed into a cop car by onlookers who helped Morris into the car since she could not stand on her own. The police reported dropping her off on a street that was far from where she lived, minutes later a passing motorist called the police after Morris was found lying on the sidewalk bleeding from her head. Morris suffered extensive injuries to her skull and was placed on life support only to die two days later.

4) On July 23, 2003, Nireah Johnson and Brandie Coleman were shot to death by Paul Moore, when Moore learned after a sexual encounter that Johnson was transgender. Moore then burned his victims' bodies. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to 120 years in prison

5) On October 2, 2004, multiple assailants in Waverly, Ohio, attacked Daniel Fetty, a gay man who was hearing-impaired and homeless. Fetty was beaten, stomped, shoved nude into a garbage bin, impaled with a stick, and left for dead; he succumbed to his injuries the next day. Prosecuters alleged a hate crime. Three men received sentences ranging from seven years to life.

6) On March 11, 2005, Jason Gage, an openly gay man, was murdered in his Waterloo, Iowa, apartment by an assailant, Joseph Lawrence, who claimed Gage had made sexual advance to him. Gage was bludgeoned to death with a bottle, and stabbed in the neck, probably post-mortem, with a shard of glass. Lawrence was sentenced to fifty years in prison.

7) On July 30, 2006, six men were attacked with baseball bats and knives after leaving the San Diego, California Gay Pride festival. One victim was injured so severely that he had to undergo extensive facial reconstructive surgery. Three men pleaded guilty in connection with the attacks and received prison sentences. A 15-year-old juvenile also pleaded guilty

8) On May 12, 2007, Roberto Duncanson was murdered in Brooklyn, New York. He was stabbed to death by Omar Willock, who claimed Duncanson had flirted with him.

9) In February 2008, Duanna Johnson, a transsexual woman, was beaten by a police officer while she was held in the Shelby County Criminal Justice Center in Tennessee. Johnson said the officers reportedly called her a “faggot” and “he-she,” before and during the incident. In November 2008, she was found dead in the street, reportedly gunned down by three unknown individuals. This case was never solved.

10) On June 30, 2009, Seaman August Provost was found shot to death and his body burned at his guard post on Camp Pendleton by Petty Officer Jonathan Campos. LGBT community leaders "citing military sources initially said that Provost’s death was a hate crime." Provost had been harassed because of his sexual orientation. Military leaders have since explained that "whatever the investigation concludes, the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy prevented Provost from seeking help." Family and friends believe he was murdered because he was openly gay; Campos committed suicide a week later after admitting the murder, the Navy have not concluded if this was a hate crime.

There isn't anything I can say to make this edgy, witty, or humorous for you... This is what's happening to the LGBT community in this country. Hate crimes aren't a joke and they affect everyone of us in the community,

Be careful out there.