Posted 10 months, 2 weeks ago at 8:39 pm. 0 comments
Harvey Levin, the gay founder of celebrity tracking website TMZ.com, has told a meeting of industry executives that he intends to pursue legal actions against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) for “abuse.” It was recently reported in the Los Angeles Times that LASD had obtained a transcript of Levin’s home phone records, in pursuit of an investigation of leaks from the police to the media following the arrest of actor Mel Gibson for DUI in 2006. “We are going to stand up not just for us but because it is right thing to do,” Mr Levin said. “It is outrageous what law enforcement has done here. I can only imagine the Pandora’s Box this is going to open up to find out what else has happened.”
Authorities were embarrassed when TMZ reported that, following his arrest, Gibson launched into a profane and anti-semitic rant. Initially, the police report had been suppressed by high-ranking officers, who reported the arrest had occurred “without incident.” Shortly later, the details were leaked to TMZ revealing Gibson had been unruly, attempted escape, and repeatedly threatened the arresting officers. LASD then tried to find out which of their officers had been talking to the press. They found a judge willing to sign off on their secret warrant to spy on Levin.
Legal experts point out that California’s constitution protects reporters from revealing their sources, and that any search of Levin’s phone records would have been illegal.
“We are going to stand up not just for us but because it is right thing to do,” Mr Levin declared in a speech to industry executives this week. “It is outrageous what law enforcement has done here. I can only imagine the Pandora’s Box this is going to open up to find out what else has happened.”
Posted 11 months, 3 weeks ago at 9:39 am. 0 comments
The Ukranian Minister for Family Affairs has refused a request from Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish, who applied to adopt a 14-month-old orphan who is HIV-positive. Family, Youth and Sports Minister Yuriy Pavlenko told The Associated Press that adoptive parents must be married and Ukraine does not recognize homosexual unions as marriage. John and Furnish obtained one of the first same-sex unions under UK law in 2005. Pavlenko also noted that John, at age 62, is too old to adopt an infant.
Openly gay newsman Charles Perez, 46, was pursuing a successful career until recently, working at some of the biggest TV news outlets in the US, including WABC in New York and KCAL in Los Angeles. Some people remember Perez from MTV’s 1992 The Real World, where he was seen as one of painter Norman Korpi’s boyfriends. From 1994-1996 he hosted the nationally syndicated Charles Perez Show. More recently he worked for WPLG, the ABC affiliate in Miami, rising to the position of weekday anchor. Things started to go wrong for him as attention was focused on his personal life.
Perez acknowledges that station management hired him knowing he was gay, but says they expected him to keep a low profile. His coplaint refers to a prior female anchor, Ann Bishop, who was “believed to be gay, though that was never confirmed.” Perez claims he was invited to station events without his partner, as management was concerned they might be seen dancing together. He says they discouraged him from thinking about getting married and having children due to the publicity it would attract.
In July, station management removed Perez from the weekday anchor slot, leaving co-anchor Laurie Jennings on her own at the desk. Perez filed a complaint alleging discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Although Florida state law provides no such protection, Miami-Dade county has an ordinance forbidding it. Four days later WPLG fired him.
Earlier this year, Perez had filed for a restraining order against paralegal Dennis Ricardo Peña, claiming Peña “stalked, harassed and threatened” him, and vowed to wreck his TV career. Perez also accused Peña of mass e-mailing a personal message from Perez to a family therapist, the contents of which, according to Perez, referred to “gender identity issues” that could cause ‘’substantial harm” to his “professional and personal reputation.” Peña and Perez had been lovers since 2006. After they broke up, Perez started dating accountant Keith Rinehard.
Meanwhile, things were getting rocky for Perez at WPLG. He claims he was called in to a meeting with News Director Bill Pohovey (also gay) and told he was “too anchor-like,” “too strong” and needed to lighten up, smile more, and interact with his co-anchor. When the “sexual identity” email dropped, Perez was called in again. On March 16, according to Perez, Pohovey told him he was “too soft,” “not anchor-like” and that he and Jennings were coming across like “two girlfriends” instead of professional co-anchors. Perez was demoted to weekend anchor, and filed his discrimination complaint. Four days later, WPLG took him off the air.
In a blog at The Daily Beast, Perez tells his side of the story. WPLG has issued the standard rebuttals.
The sailor accused of murdering gay seaman August Provost has been found dead in his cell at Camp Pendleton in California. Petty Officer Jonathan Campos had been charged with murder in the June 30 shooting of Provost, who was killed while on sentry duty at the base. Provost’s body was set on fire at his guard post after he was killed.
Campos apparently committed suicide and authorities have reported his death was due to asphyxiation.
Military investigators have said Provost’s sexuality was not a factor in his slaying, but his family has been pressing for answers. Provost had been harassed by fellow sailors for being gay. Provost’s aunt Rose Roy believes Provost may have been killed to keep him from outing Campos. “This guy went the extra mile to make sure that my nephew would never be able to speak about his [the killer’s] sexuality. … My nephew died for reasons other than what the military is saying.”
Posted 1 year, 2 months ago at 8:57 pm. 15 comments
Ian Halperin’s Michael Jackson: The Final Years reveals Michael Jackson’s gay relationships with a Hollywood waiter and a Las Vegas construction worker. The book has just been released in Canada and will soon hit the shelves in the US and UK. But there was another book, published 13 years ago, that detailed the strange habits and pedophilic desires of the King of Pop. Michael Jackson Was My Lover was written by investigative reporter Victor M. Gutierrez based in part on a diary kept by Jordan Chandler, the young man who was paid millions of dollars by Jackson after accusations of sexual abuse. The book is described on its back cover as:
Jordie Chandler reveals how he got to know Jackson, his trips to foreign countries with Jackson, what he saw when Jackson got naked in front of him, the sexual games he played with Jackson and his feelings towards Jackson. Also: The criminal investigation of Jackson, the civil lawsuit against Jackson, child actors that were also the star’s sexual partners, Jackson’s animal abuse at his private zoo, plus confidential documents never before published.
The credibility of Gutierrez’s book has never been seriously challenged, but he later lost a slander lawsuit filed by Jackson regarding other claims. In fact, his work was endorsed by journalist Diane Dimond of Hard Copy, the LAPD investigator in charge of the case against Jackson, and Jackson’s former personal asistant Orietta Murdock who blurbed, “Victor Gutierrez is a voice for all of us who know the truth.”
The book was suppressed in the United States, but it’s occasionally available on Ebay or from used book sellers at prices ranging from $150 to $600. Its 200 pages are filled with private details about Jackson and the people around him. Some of the information was later confirmed by police investigations and it can be expected that more will come out now that Jackson has died. For instance, stories are circulating today that the biological father of Jackson’s children by ex-wife Deborah Rowe was a man named Arnold Klein, who was Jackson’s dermatologist (and Rowe’s employer.) Michael Jackson Was My Lover was published more than a year before Deborah Rowe became a public figure as Jackson’s wife, yet she and Klein are prominent figures in the book. The book was also one of the first to note Jackson’s financial troubles, which came to occupy much of his attention toward the end of his life.
Michael Jackson is dead and millions of fans are mourning. His family are clearly devastated by the loss. He will be remembered as a musical prodigy, a genius, and one of the most charismatic entertainers ever. It’s important at this time, when his final legacy is being formed in the public mind, to keep a perspective on the type of man he was in private as well as the type of performer he was on stage.
In the interest of making sure Jackson’s history does not remain suppressed and lost in the fanfare, Gay News Daily will be featuring a series of articles over the next few days focused on answering the question Was Michael Jackson Gay?
Posted 1 year, 2 months ago at 7:01 am. 0 comments
Anthony Woods was born on Travis Air Force base in California to a single mother who worked as a housekeeper. After graduating from high school, he jumped at the chance to attend West Point military academy, where he became the commander of summer training for his class and graduated on the Dean’s List. He was part of the first deployment of troops to Iraq in 2003, serving as a platoon leader. After a second tour of duty there, he was awarded the Bronze Star. He returned to the US to continue his military career, as a graduate student at the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. His intention was to become a teacher at West Point. During all this time, he adhered to the military policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” by keeping his homosexuality secret.
When he graduated at Harvard in June 2008, he was chosen to deliver the graduate English address at Commencement. By then he had decided he would inform his commander that he was gay, effectively ending his nine year career, and costing him at least $35,000 to repay the military for his education. “As I grew more comfortable with who I was, the less comfortable I was with lying about it.” In November he was told he was to be “eliminated” from the military for “moral and professional dereliction.” A court-martial resulted in his discharge.
Now he’s running in the Democratic primary to replace US Representative Ellen Tauscher, who’s been nominated by President Obama to a State Department position. Without significant government experience, at age 29 he’s campaigning as an outsider, purely on the facts of his exceptional biography. The special election will take place this fall.
Posted 1 year, 2 months ago at 8:14 am. 0 comments
US Congressman Barney Frank, in the course of an in-depth interview with GQ magazine, has defined his criteria:
Q:There’s a new movie out called Outrage, about closeted politicians. Do you still adhere to Barney Frank’s Rule about outing?
A: Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I wouldn’t do it myself, but I think people who are hypocrites…The way I put it is, there’s a right to privacy but not to hypocrisy.
Posted 1 year, 3 months ago at 9:46 pm. 0 comments
Lieutenant Colonel Victor Fehrenbach is an 18-year veteran of the United States Air Force. As a flight weapons system operator he has flown 2,180 hours, including 488 combat hours in places like Afghanistan, Iraq, and Kosovo. On September 11, 2001 he was chosen to patrol the skies above Washington, DC while Dick Cheney and Condi Rice huddled in a bunker below.
In the course of his career, Fehrenbach has earned over 30 awards and medals including nine air medals, one of them for heroism. As a flight instructor he has passed on his knowledge and experience to over 300 Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force officers. He wants to be deployed again to combat, but one thing stands in the way. Lt. Col. Fehrenbach is openly gay.
In September 2008, after a civilian acquaintance outed him, Fehrenbach was informed he was to be discharged under the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” anti-gay policy. His first instinct was to submit quietly, even though he’s only two years away from retirement with full pension.
With encouragement from five of his fellow officers, he decided to fight, in the hope that President Obama would deliver on campaign promises to end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The policy remains in place, however, and over 200 officers have been discharged just since Obama’s inauguration.
Fehrenbach, 39, is the son of Air Force parents. His family supports his decision to fight his discharge. As his sister, also a veteran, says, “This is the only thing he’s ever known in life. It’s all he’s ever wanted to do.”
Fehrenbach has been called the “$25 Million Aviator” because that is the estimated investment from US taxpayers to develop and train him. The Air Force seems determined to throw that investment, and much more, away.
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