Orlando Shooting Survivor Still Hears Gunshots (Video)

www.advocate.com/crime/2016/6/13/orlando-shooting-survivor-still-hears-gunshots-video

Owen Jones Storms Off Sky News After Co-Hosts Deny Orlando Was an Attack on Gay People: WATCH

Gay Guardian journalist Owen Jones stormed off the set of SkyPapers, a show which digests headlines from around the world, after his co-hosts would not acknowledge that the attacks on Orlando’s Pulse nightclub were specifically targeted at LGBT people.

Wrote Jones in The Guardian:

I am reluctant to dwell too much on my appearance on Sky News last night, because this isn’t about me, so let’s just use it as a case study. In sum, I walked off in disgust during a discussion about the massacre: it was an instinctive reaction to an unpleasant and untenable situation. The presenter continually and repeatedly refused to accept that this was an attack on LGBT people. This was an attack “against human beings”, he said, and “the freedom of all people to try to enjoy themselves”. He not only refused to accept it as an attack on LGBT people, but was increasingly agitated that I – as a gay man – would claim it as such.

If a terrorist with a track record of expressing hatred of and disgust at Jewish people had walked into a synagogue and murdered 50 Jewish people, we would rightly describe it as both terrorism and an antisemitic attack. If a Jewish guest on television had tried to describe it as such, it would be disgraceful if they were not only contradicted, but shouted down as they did so. But this is what happened on Sky News with a gay man talking about the mass murder of LGBT people.

This isn’t about LGBT people taking ownership of the pain and anguish. People of all sexual orientations have wept over this massacre, and all communities should unite in grief.

Added Jones:

LGBT people are varied, and have different experiences: the life experiences of a young working-class gay black woman and a gay white male multi-millionaire CEO are very different. But we all grow up in a society that still treats us as if we are inferior: we have all repeatedly encountered homophobic abuse, the stress of coming out repeatedly, or the fear of holding hands with a partner in public. To imagine LGBT people who may have endured distress and internalised prejudice – just because of who they are – spending their last moments in terror as a homophobic terrorist hunted them down is just unbearable.

Today, the “we only care about LGBT rights if Muslims are involved” brigade are out in force. As a gay man, I am proud to live in a city represented by a Muslim mayor who has faced death threats for supporting and voting for LGBT people to have the same rights as everybody else. The bigots must not be allowed to hijack this atrocity.

Watch:

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John Oliver Addresses Attacks on Gay Nightclub in Orlando: ‘Right Now This Just Hurts’ – WATCH

John Oliver took a moment at the beginning of Last Week Tonight on Sunday night to address the brutal slaughter of 50 people at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub early Sunday morning.

“Right now this just hurts,” Oliver said.

He added:

“In Orlando, early this morning, the gunman attacked a Latin night at a gay club in the theme park capital of the world. And for the record, I will happily embrace a Latin night at a gay club at the theme park capital of the world as the ultimate symbol of what is truly great about America.”

He also added a message of hope:

“For right now, on a day when some dips**t terrorist wants us to focus on one man’s act of brutality and hatred, it might be worth seeing this video, which was posted to twitter today. It shows hundreds and hundreds of people this morning lining up around the block in Florida waiting to donate blood. And it kind of reminds you that that terrorist dips**t is vastly outnumbered.”

Watch:

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North Carolina HB2 Author Rep. Dan Bishop Compared LGBT People To ‘Taliban’: VIDEO

Contrary to what North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory has said about the intent of the state’s controversial anti-gay HB2 law, a number of recently released documents have revealed its true aim was to discriminate against LGBT people.

The emails obtained by the Charlotte Business Journal reveal that Rep. Dan Bishop, the lead author of HB2, compared gay people and LGBT advocates to the Taliban and specifically said “the LGBT movement jeopardizes freedom.”

RELATED: Watch NC GOP Lawmaker Dan Bishop LIE Through His Teeth About the Anti-LGBT Law

According to the documents, a Bishop supporter emailed the GOP lawmaker telling him not to “cave in to the Politically Correct Taliban!” Bishop replied, “I LOVE that idea. Taliban. Love that too. Not giving up. Ever.”

Preserved boys’/girls’ bathroom policy from destruction by a city acting beyond its authority. t.co/QhxNvg9OJk

— Dan Bishop (@jdanbishop) March 24, 2016

In the same email, Bishop wrote “I don’t fear man. I fear God. So I won’t be backing down.” He also described the outcry against HB2 as “brutal,” noting that he “stepped in front of the train quite deliberately, but the beating is every bit as bad as I expected, and then some. I need the Lord’s help and your prayers.”

In another email, Pastor Randy Browder of Immanuel Baptist Church in Edenton thanked Bishop “for your courage in the face of unfair reprisal! The prayers of God’s people are with you as you continue to stand boldly for that which is morally right and good!”

In an email exchange discussing a Charlotte real estate broker’s criticism of HB2, Republican Bob Rucho told Bishop that it is time to “stop being intimidated and extorted by the political correct police because there is no telling where this ends and the damage to our state and country.”

Bishop told the CBJ that he was “furnishing these [records] voluntarily rather than pursuant to the public records law because they don’t constitute public records in that they are not ‘made or received pursuant to law or ordinance’ or are within statutory and/or common-law legislative privilege.”

Voting against boys/girls bathrooms and statewide nondiscrimination policy would have been hard to defend. #ncga t.co/f5N2FoVx4I

— Dan Bishop (@jdanbishop) March 24, 2016

CBJ legal counsel Jon Buchan said he has asked Bishop to cite any legal authority supporting his position that these are not public records under North Carolina law. Bishop has not responded to the request.

McCrory, Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore have refused to release any of their communications about HB2.

JoDee Winterhof, HRC Senior Vice President for Policy and Political Affairs, said:

“Rep. Bishop’s deep-seated hatred towards LGBTQ North Carolinians has blinded him to reality, so much so that he is is comparing people who support basic fairness and equality for LGBTQ people to the Taliban.

“These documents are just the tip of the iceberg, and clearly demonstrate that the core goal of this legislation was to discriminate and attack the LGBTQ community. It’s unacceptable that McCrory, Berger, and Moore continue to evade their obligation to transparency, and it seems obvious that they are doing so to avoid the public seeing the despicable nature and motivation of this legislation.”

HRC also notes that two month has passed since an open records request was filed seeking information from McCrory, Berger and Moore, in violation of an obligation for lawmakers to respond to such requests in a timely fashion.

Watch a March interview in which Bishop claims that HB2 preserves “every piece of protection that North Carolina law or Charlotte law provided.”

(Bishop image via Twitter)

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Attacking Any Gay Bar Is a Hate Crime

Watering holes and dance clubs are where we grow up, commiserate, and fall in love. An attack on them is an assault on our way of life.

www.advocate.com/commentary/2016/6/13/attacking-any-gay-bar-hate-crime

Orlando Is an Extension of the Marriage Battle, Bathroom Wars

At a Florida dance club, religious- and state-sanctioned hate reached its natural conclusion.

www.advocate.com/commentary/2016/6/13/orlando-extension-marriage-battle-bathroom-wars