NY GRAND JURY INDICTS MAN FOR BRUTAL ATTACK ON GAY MAN

Last march, Lance Neve was brutally attacked by Jesse Parsons at Snuggery's bar in Spencerport, New York. A GLAAD press release said that a grand jury has indicted Jesse Parsons of Spencerport, N.Y. for the brutal attack.

According to a detailed report by 10 News of Rochester, the police said that Parsons was yelling anti-gay slurs at Neve and when Neve tried to leave, Parsons attacked him from behind. When Neve fell, Parsons continued his assault by punching him and slamming his head into the floor.

Neve was rushed to Strong Hospital with a fractured skull, nose, upper jaw and eye socket. Neve's partner, Ozzie Maldonado, was there. “I don't understand why he did what he did and I don't think I ever will understand.”

The only visible scars left are around Neve's eye but the emotional scars run deep. “I don't like it when people are behind me. I even jump when my loved one comes up to rub my shoulders, I jump.”

The community rallied around Neve and Maldonado and is helping them move forward. “It gave me a lot of strength to realize you don't have to be ashamed of who you are,” Neve said.

Yesterday, Parsons was arraigned in Monroe County court and charged with second-degree assault designated as a hate crime. If Parsons is convicted he could face three-and-a-half to 15 years in prison.

The one good thing that came from this senseless attack is the really strong support that their community is giving them. It's proves that if you take away the fanatic, religious extremists, there are a lot more people out there who are supportive and caring.

SOULFORCE YOUTH CAMPAIGN AGAINST PROP 102

Given my article yesterday, I was delighted to see a press release from Soulforce about a 96 mile walk across the metropolitan Phoenix area. The purpose was to talk with as many Arizonans as possible about how Proposition 102 would negatively impact young people.

According to the press release, the idea for the walk came to Meg Sneed after participating in a three-day walk for breast cancer research. Sneed is a cancer survivor herself and found distance walking both grueling and empowering. She hoped that a similar walk would inspire young people to join the conversation about Arizona's priorities.

Sneed and the six other lesbian and gay young adults who walked with her are members of Soulforce Q, the young adult division of Soulforce which is a national civil rights and social justice organization. The mission of Soulforce is to cut off homophobia at its source -- religious bigotry. It applies principles taught by Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Meg and Soulforce Q collaborated with Equality Arizona and two other statewide organizations, Arizona Together and Wingspan, in the planning and execution of this campaign.

Their walk allowed the young "equality walkers" to share their perspectives with ordinary citizens, elected officials, and local community organizations, including the Tempe Community Council.

Julie Roberts, Programs Director at Equality Arizona said, "These young people truly amazed me. Their dedication to this walk and their sense of purpose was incredible."

C.J. Minott, who was one of the walkers and will be returning to University of Arizona campus this fall to continue his studies in Psychology said, "I realize now just how much difference I can make in my community."

Congratulations to Meg and her fellow "equality walkers." You accomplished a really good thing here. Keep up the good work.

If you want to check out Soulforce, go to: Soulforce.org

ARIZONA'S FIGHT AGAINST PROPOSITION 102 NEEDS YOUR HELP

According to Jim Burroway, the newly appointed co-chair for Vote No On Prop 102 and a contributing editor at BoxTurtleBulletin.com, supporters of Prop 102 have out-fundraised opponents by more than 150:1.

Maybe we've all been enthralled with what's happening in California and forgot about Arizona's fight. Or maybe too many of us think that because the voters here already defeated an almost identical measure in 2006, we don't have to worry about this one. Whatever the reasons are, the fact is that unless enough money is raised to counter the messages that the zealous supporters of this homophobic measure are sure to put out there, we will find ourselves on the morning after regretting that we, each of us, didn't do enough.

California is in a much stronger position to defeat Prop 8 there because the right for same-sex partners to marry has already been granted by their Supreme Court. That means that the voters there will have to agree to take away a legal, constitutional right that already exists. That's a much harder thing for the average voter to do.

Here however, same-sex marriage is not an existing constitutional right. In fact, when the Arizona Defense of Marriage law was passed in 1996 an appeal challenging its constitutionality was brought by two men who were denied a marriage license by a court clerk, but the law was unanimously upheld by a three-judge panel of the Arizona Court of Appeals. And, since the Arizona Supreme Court refused to consider an appeal on October 8, 2003 effectively leaving the law intact, it's unlikely that it will be changed anytime soon.

The problem for supporters of Prop 102 is that if our Supreme Court make-up changes, it is possible that the law could be struck down. As they see it, only a constitutional amendment can solidify and enshrine that anti-gay, anti-rights and anti-american law into the constitution. And you can bet that they're going to spend big bucks to convince the voters to do just that. And they'll try to use the California Supreme Court decision to prove their case and scare the voters into submission.

We need a major media campaign here to counter what is sure to be a mega fear campaign based on lies and misinformation. That will not only cost a lot of money but it will need a lot of volunteers as well.

Remember, they've already out-fundraised us by 150 to 1. That's enough money to mount a campaign that could easily sway a whole lot of undecided or uninformed voters!

THAT'S WHY WE NEED YOUR HELP! AND WE NEED IT NOW!

If you can't afford to donate money then donate your time - that can be just as valuable.

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ALSO - TALK TO YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILIES ABOUT THIS - EMAIL THEM THIS ARTICLE OR GIVE THEM MY URL - WE NEED ALL OF YOU!!