Ryan Fecteau, the Catholic University of America (CUA) student who spearheaded the effort to have CUA recognize an LGBT student group as an official campus organization, announced June 20 his candidacy for state representative in his home state of Maine in 2014.
Fecteau, who was elected CUA's first openly gay Speaker of the Student Association in the spring of 2012, will run as a Democrat for the District 135 seat being vacated by retiring Rep. Paulette Beaudoin (D-Biddeford), and will return home on most weekends during the spring semester of his senior year leading up to the June 10 primary next year.
Ryan Fecteau
In D.C., Fecteau was known mostly for his efforts to have CUA recognize the LGBT student group, CUAllies. The university rejected the group's proposal last December, citing concerns by administrators that the group would become an advocacy organization for causes contrary to Catholic Church teachings on homosexuality, despite the fact that the university had an officially recognized gay and lesbian student organization from 1988 to 2002.
Fecteau also previously served as an elected member of the Biddeford Charter Commission in 2011 and was the youngest and first openly gay chairman of the Biddeford Democratic Committee in 2012. He has since resigned from as chairman to avoid a conflict of interest during the June 2014 primary, according to a press release from the candidate.
Fecteau told Metro Weekly that running for office was an "incredible" chance to make a difference for his home state and believes he will bring good ideas to the table and serve as a "rejuvenating" presence in the State House, where the body is largely made up of retirees and is lacking in younger legislators.
"Our governor is hell-bent on causing as much havoc as possible in Augusta," Fecteau said of Gov. Paul LePage, a Tea Party conservative and anti-gay politician who was elected in a four-way race in 2010.
When asked about LePage's recent comments to Sen. Troy Jackson that "he's the first one to give it to people without providing Vaseline," Fecteau said he found the comments, nasty, unproductive and homophobic, even though Jackson is not gay.
"I'm personally not afraid of Gov. LePage, though some of his fellow Republicans might be," Fecteau said, claiming that several Republican legislators have changed their votes following LePage's vetoes of legislation. "Getting into a war of words with him is not very productive, and he make himself look worse when he speaks."
Although no other Democrats have announced their candidacy, Fecteau expects others to enter the race in the coming months. He is hopeful he will win the primary so that he will be able to run as part of the Democratic slate of candidates in November 2014, hopefully along with U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud, who is moving towards challenging LePage for the governor's office.
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Joseph Alexander “Alex” Ulrich, Jr
(Photo by File photo)
The trial of a Baltimore man accused of killing a gay man in a shooting in Baltimore’s Mount Vernon neighborhood in August 2012 was postponed after the suspect was to appear in court Thursday morning.
The suspect in the case, Quinton Bass, of Raleigh, N.C., was arrested in September for his role in a robbery and shooting that killed Joseph Alexander “Alex” Ulrich, Jr. and injured Lawrence Peterson. Jury selection in Bass’s criminal trial was scheduled to start Thursday. According to a database of active Maryland circuit court records, Bass faces charges of first-degree murder, attempted armed robbery, assault, and charges related to possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime and illegally carrying a handgun on his person.
A representative from Baltimore City Circuit Court told Metro Weekly that the trial had been postponed and rescheduled for Aug. 19 at 9:30 a.am. in Courthouse East. No reason was given for the postponement.
According to Baltimore City police, Ulrich and Peterson were shot just before 4 a.m. in the unit block of East Chase Street, just outside the Empire House bed and breakfast, which Peterson owns. Ulrich was transported to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he was pronounced dead seven hours later. Peterson slipped into a coma following the attack but later recovered from his injuries.
...moreA D.C. Superior Court judge Friday sentenced Ali M. Jackson, 20, of Washington, to eight years in prison and three years supervised release after pleading guilty in January to a charge of assault with intent to kill for stabbing a 16-year-old male while making threatening statements and uttering anti-gay epithets.
Judge Patricia Broderick sentenced Jackson to 90 months, or seven-and-a-half years, in prison for the charges, which carried a bias enhancement. Broderick also sentenced Jackson to an additional six months' incarceration for an incident in which Jackson punched a corrections officer at the D.C. Jail on Dec. 15, 2012.
Howard Theatre
(Photo by JD Uy)
Jackson's two accomplices in the attack on the gay teen pleaded guilty in March to crimes related to the stabbing. Jackson's sister, Alvonica Jackson, 26, pleaded guilty to simple assault and second-degree theft and was sentenced to 360 days in jail, with 330 days suspended, on the condition that she successfully complete two years of probation. Under the terms of her plea agreement, Alvonica Jackson served four consecutive days in jail and then served the remaining 26 days of her sentence on weekends. Her last day in jail was June 23 and she remains on probation.
Alvonica Jackson's boyfriend, Desmond Raimon Campbell, pleaded guilty to simple assault and was sentenced to 180 days in jail, with 150 suspended, on the condition he successfully complete two years of probation. Campbell was also found guilty and sentenced in April on a charge of receiving stolen property, for which he received another 180 days of incarceration, 170 of which were suspended. His lawyer is appealing that sentence.
Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) chief Cathy Lanier and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ronald Machen celebrated Jackson's sentencing in a press release Friday.
"Violence fueled by hate tears at the fabric of our society," Machen said in a statement. "It harms not only its direct victims, but spreads fear and intimidation throughout our community. As this prison sentence demonstrates, in the District of Columbia, we have zero tolerance for violence crimes driven by ignorant prejudice."
"With today's sentence, Ali Jackson must now face the consequences of his violent hate crime," Lanier said. "We hope that other who might consider committing bias-related offenses will pay attention to today's sentencing and choose not to follow in Ali Jackson's footsteps. I applaud the hard-working members of this department for their investigative efforts in helping to make today's sentencing possible and the support of the U.S. Attorney's Office for their outstanding work in this case."
Hassan Naveed, the co-chair of the anti-hate crime group Gays and Lesbians Opposing Violence (GLOV) also praised the sentence Jackson received for the attack.
"Today's sentence, which includes the bias enhancement charge, sends the crucial message that hate violence will not be tolerated in our city," Naveed said in a statement. "GLOV commends the efforts of the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Metropolitan Police Department in bringing justice to the victim and the LGBT community."
According to the government's evidence, Campbell and Alvonica Jackson entered the Howard Theatre, in the 600 block of T Street NW, on the evening of June 26, 2012, at which time Alvonica Jackson stole $2 from a tip jar in the women's restroom.
At the same time, Ali Jackson was outside near the intersection of Georgia and Florida Avenues NW. He recognized the victim and started a confrontation with the teen. Jackson threatened to stab the victim, called him a "faggot" and asked a group of men nearby if they had a knife so he could stab the victim.
When the men did not provide Jackson with a knife, he fled into an alley adjacent to the Howard Theatre, returning with a knife, sneaking behind the victim, and yelling, "I'm gonna poke your bitch ass, you faggot!" and at one point telling the victim, "I'm going to kill you."
As Jackson came closer, the victim sprayed him with pepper spray, at which point Campbell came behind the victim and choked him. Ali Jackson then stabbed the teen in the left arm, the left side of his back and the left leg. During the stabbing, the victim was attempting to swing his arms at Ali Jackson, but Alvonica Jackson grabbed his arms. The three stopped attacking the victim when they heard police sirens. Both Alvonica Jackson and Campbell also yelled homophobic slurs during the attack, and afterwards, when they were in police custody following their arrest a short time later.
The victim, who survived the attack, was taken to Howard University Hospital and treated for his stab wounds before being released.
...moreNow that a major battle in the marriage fight is behind us, the executive director of Soulforce wants to remind Christians to be truly Christlike.
Wedding bells will be heard this season no matter how the highest court in the land has ruled, but to make it to the altar, under the chuppah, or to the chair next to your fiancé(e) without going Bridezilla, you need a plan of action. Whether luxe or budget, this timeline will help get your fête in order. But first â€" have you set a date?
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The rainbow flag, sometimes LGBT pride flag or gay pride flag, is a symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) pride and LGBT social movements in use since the 1970s. The colors reflect the diversity of the LGBT community, and the flag is often used as a symbol of gay pride in LGBT rights marches. It originated in California, but is now used worldwide.
Designed by San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker in 1978, the design has undergone several revisions to first remove then re-add colors due to widely available fabrics. Originally there were 8 colors.
As of 2008, the most common variant consists of six stripes, with the colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. The flag is commonly flown horizontally, with the red stripe on top, as it would be in a natural rainbow. - Today eight colors can be manufactured - but people seem to have embraced the six colors.
The original gay-pride flag flew in the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade on June 25, 1978. It has been suggested that Baker was inspired by Judy Garland's singing "Over the Rainbow" and the Stonewall riots that happened a few days after her death.
Alec Baldwin says a recent Twitter rant defending his wife, Hilaria Thomas, against a British reporter who claims she was tweeting during James Gandolfini’s funeral wasn’t intended to be homophobic. After an article was released in The Daily Mail accusing Thomas of using Twitter to do some self promotion while the service was taking place, [...]
The post Alec Baldwin apologizes for homophobic tweets appeared first on GaySocialites.com.
.Late Friday evening, the Ninth Circuit Court lifted its stay of the federal court decision that ruled Proposition 8 is unconstitutional. Now, gay and lesbian couples can once again get married in California. This move comes after the Supreme Court of the United States issued their decision in Hollingsworth v. Perry restoring marriage equality to California. [...]
The post Breaking News: Gay couples in California can marry again appeared first on GaySocialites.com.
“Two of hearts/ Two hearts that beat as one.†An 80‘s pop song that has been fabulously revamped by one of my dearest friends, and one of New York City’s nightlife elite, Dina Marie Delicious! She performed her cover at Vandam, Sunday night’s “IT†party at Greenhouse. The show was simply amazing and I’m sure [...]
The post I’m Just Saying by Kenyatta Khan: Dina Delicious puts the heart back in Greenhouse appeared first on GaySocialites.com.
.Brandon Voss and his fellow promoters kicked off their new Thursday night soiree at Marquee in New York City just in time for Gay Pride with a guest appearance by Cher. Marquee was packed from wall to wall with gorgeous men and fabulous drag queens as everyone surrounded the catwalk for a show fit for [...]
The post Cher makes guest appearance at Marquee for gay pride in New York City appeared first on GaySocialites.com.
Wednesday’s landmark ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States saved one gay man from deportation as their ruling to over the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) came just in the nick of time. MSNBC has the exclusive story: The Supreme Court’s landmark decision to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act stopped a deportation [...]
The post Supreme Court decision on DOMA saves gay man in New York from deportation appeared first on GaySocialites.com.
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